For years I have kept my innermost thoughts on one particular subject in check. While there have been multiple situations -particularly at family gatherings and dinner parties, where I’ve wanted to challenge my friends or relatives and make them justify…
This post originally appeared as part of the Tribune Content Agency’s Humor Hotel feature. Since joining Facebook more than 10 years ago, I have amassed nearly 1,200 “friends.” I place that word in quotation marks, for I have grown skeptical…
This piece originally appeared as part of the Tribune Content Agency’s ‘Humor Hotel’ series Three years ago I moved back to the city of Chicago after spending 29 years in the suburbs. Newly divorced, I was eager to return to…
Last week I had the pleasure of helping organize a large-scale rummage sale, also known as a “yard sale” or “garage sale,” depending on your location and the amount of space set aside to unload items the proprietor no longer…
Now that summer is in full swing, a flood of memories, spanning 40 years, returns each time I pass a community pool. As a kid growing up in suburban Chicago, the community pool tripled as a playground, athletic facility, and…
In my time on Earth, I have lost one parent, four grandparents, a few close friends and one child. OK, the last one occurred at Target and I found her after a few panicked runs through the aisles but it…
I slid my check across the counter to the Chicago bank teller. The amount was nothing special; thirty dollars for a 10-minute set at a comedy club the previous evening. “Deposit or cash back?” the teller asked. “Just cash it,”…
Imagine sitting silently on a stage while your friend, sibling, or co-worker, armed with a microphone and PowerPoint slides, reveals your life’s details to a roomful of strangers. Within five minutes, that audience could learn about your job status, annual…
I am starting to realize that if, heaven forbid, I need help in my neighborhood and emit a scream, nobody will hear me. Unless someone not wearing headphones happens to be nearby. Which seems unlikely based on observations. Gen Zers,…
Forgive me if this column reads like I nodded off while writing it. For I am only trying to prove a point. To be honest, I took a power nap mid-sentence. For me, napping, specifically POWER napping, has never been…