It’s printed in big bold letters on my airline ticket: PRIORITY BOARDING. I paid $75 extra for those words, but it will be worth it. Right? I’ll get on the plane before all these other passengers. By the time they board, my smug body will be comfortably seated, my bag securely stored overhead. I might…
Sometimes, a simple question is all it takes to achieve a dream. Brian McCauley is living proof. Legally blind since birth, the result of retinopathy of prematurity, the 22-year-old Tewksbury, Mass., resident recently lived out every rock and roll head banger’s fantasy: singing onstage with the artist you’ve long worshipped through wall posters, CD purchases…
I have decided my kids’ college educations, my retirement nest egg and my overall financial well-being may rest with Kylie Jenner. The youngest sibling of the Kardashian reality TV clan recently sent Snapchat’s stock plunging more than 7 percent — over $1 billion in market value — via a single tweet confessing she was turning…
This column originally appeared in the Chicago Tribune February 20, 2018 I always feel neglected when a recent poll or survey is cited in news reports. Never have I been asked to comment about events shaping, or about to shape, our society. On election days, I dutifully vote but never encounter an exit pollster asking…
The Pentagon is reportedly discussing options for President Trump’s requested military parade, “options” being another word for “Maybe he’ll forget about the whole idea.” Like most of Trump’s ideas, this one is being met with opinions so diverse, a GPS is required to navigate them. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called the request “kind of cheesy…
This column originally appeared in the Chicago Tribune Feb. 6, 2018 It finally happened. Alex Trebek snapped. As a longtime Jeopardy fan, among the thousands of avid watchers convinced they could win fortunes on the show but too intimidated to apply as contestants, I’d been predicting a meltdown for years. The seemingly unflappable Trebek, however, has kept…
Corporate comedian Greg Schwem encounters a miniscule sized mattress and must choose between a comfortable night’s sleep and marital bliss
This column originally appeared in the Chicago Tribune and on Medium January 23, 2018 A recent trip to what remains of my local shopping mall left me with a range of emotions beginning with depression and ending on a euphoric high. Sort of like how I felt watching the 2016 presidential election returns. In reverse. My…
This column originally appeared in the Chicago Tribune January 16, 2018 I’m old enough to remember when email began its ascent into mainstream communication, a phenomenon embraced by everyone who didn’t make their livelihood via the telephone industry or the U.S. postal service. Somewhere around 1994 I found myself licking fewer stamps and picking up…
This article originally appeared in the Chicago Tribune and on the Today Show website January 2, 2018 Thanks to retail giant Amazon, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may want to ponder creating a new “endangered” list containing the following HUMAN species: –People who leave their homes to shop (Scientific name “mallwalkerus spendicus”) –People who…
