Rahm Emanuel, (occasional) Chicago resident The residency flap over Chicago mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel is just a variation on the “Silly Season” theme in Chicago-area politics. Six years ago, one of the central characters in the Emanuel controversy, Burt Odelson, was in the midst of a scrum in Cicero that I covered for the Chicago Tribune. […]
Category Archives: Journalism
Will the Chicago Cubs ever win another World Series? Who was the genius who decided that there should be a “p” in “raspberry”? And just what are the emerging trends in real estate for 2011? While I can’t answer the first two questions with any level of confidence, I can at least point you in […]
A few days ago, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley was named the 2010 laureate for the Urban Land Institute J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. Through my ongoing writing engagements for the ULI’s Chicago District, I had the privilege of being at the Art Institute of Chicago to chronicle the event. In addition to […]
A quarter-century ago, I was fooled–hook, line and sinker–by an April Fool’s story in Sports Illustrated. It was about “Sidd Finch,” a newcomer to the baseball scene purported to be able to hurl the ball 168 mph, or roughly 68 mph faster than anybody else. Turns out that I would move to the community (Oak […]
I have a weakness for alliteration. Actually, it may be more apt to acknowledge an affinity for alliteration in my assignments. So when an aspiring journalist recently asked me to answer some questions about the “Art of the Interview,” a pair of P’s popped to mind. To make the most of our interviews, I told […]
Someone recently asked me for some tips on the “Art of the Interview.” From a journalistic perspective, I have led all-day workshops on the topic and feel like I barely scratch the surface. So my ambition in this small space will be confined to one key principle that is as elementary as it is overlooked […]
A year ago, I began writing summaries of panel discussions of the Urban Land Institute’s Chicago chapter. Two days ago, after a summer hiatus, the ULI resumed those meetings with “The Future of U.S. Retail-How a Changed Consumer Will Affect Retail Real Estate.” As usual, the speakers were brimming with insight, which I did my […]
Today I had the pleasure of interviewing a top journalist and author for whom I have the utmost respect, David Mendell. We spoke for 45 minutes, non-stop, on a Scoville Park bench for an upcoming segment of “Oak Park’s Own.” Produced by Joe Kreml, the village’s video production maestro, the segment is the third one […]
Between 2000 and 2004, I worked on about 85 assignments as a freelance reporter for Time. Easily, one of my favorites was reporting on LeBron James during his senior year at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio. To see some of my first reporting on LeBron, while he was in high school, see […]
It is fascinating to learn that the late, great director John Hughes apparently had a teen-aged pen pal, Alison Byrne Fields, for a two-year period in the mid-1980s. (To the left, that’s his signature from one of his missives to Fields, according to her blog.) But another intriguing element of this story is the blazing […]