Chicago bicyclists, police yourselves
Though Mayor Rahm Emanuel is crowing about Chicago being named America's most bike-friendly city, I don't think it's a big deal. If we gave bank robbers a pass from prosecution,...
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Hottest ticket in town? When Sarah Bernhardt took Chicago by storm
More than a century before Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Hamilton" became the hottest ticket in town, Sarah Bernhardt wowed Chicago, repeatedly drawing throngs of crazed fans desperate for a glimpse of "the...
Facts today take the fun out of arguing
My strongest memories of the summer evenings of childhood are incessant street-corner arguments. One was revived every baseball season. It concerned the Trapper Mitt, an exotic first baseman's glove with...
Of taco trucks and pushcarts, and waves of American immigrants
The corner of 26th Street and Homan Avenue offers a view of either the American dream or its impending doom, depending on who is looking. Recently, a Republican campaign official...
U. of C. ‘safe spaces’ letter is a victory for the nerds
Being an alumnus, I wasn't a bit surprised by the University of Chicago's announcement that its campus has been inoculated against an epidemic of political correctness currently infecting the academic...
Transgender ruling and ‘deeply troubling’ executive action
For me as a liberal, this presidential election campaign has been one, long nightmare. I have visions of a President Donald Trump ripping up the U.S. Constitution, instituting a religious...
Tidye Pickett: Chicago track star was first African-American female Olympian
As the African-American members of the 2016 U.S. women's track and field team step into the starting blocks this month at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, they are...
It took a billionaire to help Americans understand social class
It was in second grade that it dawned on me that my classmates could be sorted into two groups according to which Crayola box they brought to school. Most of...
Circus graveyard: Showmen’s Rest and the Hagenbeck-Wallace tragedy of 1918
Sometimes the living have to guess where the departed wanted to be buried. Under a 1943 headline, "Final curtain finds Curly in the big time," the Tribune reported the death...
Curtain falls on the remarkable, theatrical life of Sulie Harand
The final curtain has fallen on Sulie Harand's act, and it's not likely to be reprised by a younger chanteuse. The stage set was struck long before her death last...