The fable begins with a child walking softly through a jungle, lost in thought. Unexpectedly he comes upon a snake looped luxuriously over a lower branch. The child stops and gasps. The snake smiles charmingly and greets the child. “Hello! Don’t be afraid. I am only a snake.” The child …
Our oldest son texted us: “He is born!” After 30 hours of labor, our first grandchild had entered the world. “Glory to God in the highest!” We hurried into Chicago to hold him as soon as we could. His uncles and aunts traveled from Texas and Minnesota to meet him. …
A dozen towns are strung like worry beads along the Lake Michigan shoreline from Milwaukee to Chicago. Worry has been particularly palpable in three of those towns—Kenosha, Waukegan, and Evanston—this year. Violence erupted in Kenosha in August after police shot Jacob Blake during an arrest. Peaceful marchers in Waukegan have …
Freddie Gray, a 25-year old black man, died in April of 2015. His spine was severed while in police custody in Baltimore. Not long after, I read a column written by Chicago Tribune columnist, Clarence Page, in which he used the words Systemic Discrimination. I believe it was my first …
After giving it four months, I finally unsubscribed to the daily emails from a particular news website. In early March I was hungry for news and commentary. There was a lot going on. The Cubs, with new manager David Ross, were off to a lackluster start in spring training. The …
We had endured weeks of stay-at-home restrictions. Our elected officials consulted medical experts while appraising their political fortunes, before imposing numerous regulations and stipulations on our daily lives. We were admonished to isolate ourselves to the greatest extent possible, for our own health, but also for the good of everyone …
It’s been almost one year since the state of Illinois passed the Reproductive Health Act on June 12, 2019. Supportive legislators applauded, and the governor grinned as he signed the bill that implicitly allows abortion up until birth*, and explicitly declares that a fetus has no rights. In the zero-sum …
Here in Illinois we’re nine weeks into the COVID-19 mandated shutdown, and by all objective measures, I am doing well. I’ve had disappointments and frustrations. I’ve felt restless and bored. I miss many features of my pre-virus life. But I am not suffering—not even close. I’ve been buffered from the …
Michigan is being hit hard by COVID-19. Governor Whitmer must make decisions using incomplete and imperfect information, because there are so many things no one yet understands about this virus. The stakes are literally life and death. And yet, scientists are reasonably confident about several aspects of the disease. 1. …
Twenty years ago today our family hiked along the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China. A couple of days earlier, we had flown to Beijing from Hong Kong. Our good friends, Doug and Becky, who were living in Beijing with their four children, graciously hosted us in their …
