Opening Ceremonies & Isolationism

The Opening Ceremony of the Rio Olympics was a delight. From beginning to end, the game designers, producers and International Olympic Committee united to attempt something truly ambitious and profound. Instead of focusing the Ceremony on the home country, a long-standing tradition of glorious patriotism – as seen in London 2012 – and extravagant pageantry … Continue reading

Things I Like — Social Media

Confession: Some days  scrolling the endless supply of updates is plain old boring. Humblebrag: Some days housekeeping for your feeds and maintaining your “Expert” status is humdrum. Truth: But some days brim with genuine connection, shared moments, and emotion contagion that make it totally worth while. In case you’d like to delve into the mishmash … Continue reading

Things I Like — Sonja Thomsen

After success with free concerts, and my eternal love of free museums (fueled by my need to put pretty things in my eyeballs daily), I popped into DePaul University’s Art Museum. The semi-truck turned giant-pinhole-camera photographs were neat. But Sonja Thomsen‘s arresting explorations of light, prisms and rays stole the show. There was a large … Continue reading

Things I Like — Virginia Woolf

If you told Dumas-loving-14-year-old me she’d ever be into the Hemmingway-Iceberg theory of modern novels and unspoken things she’d give you the squinty-two-eye. If you promised tightly-wound college me she’d indulge in meandering, obtuse sentences as long as the night which go nowhere at all (and that’s beautiful) she’d laugh derisively. If you tempted the … Continue reading

Things I Like — Oldies

As a true member of the Oregon Trail Generation, I am expected to wax nostalgic before something is even over, and reminisce regularly about 80s pop culture staples (I do. I have. Since 1988.). But it cannot explain my undying love for old music. And not trite hipster Johnny Cash effusions and LPs, but plain … Continue reading

American Surprises

An incomplete list of surprising things upon our return and since: People use the phrase “I like to service my clients” and “How can I service you better?” with straight faces. Texting my sister is easy because I don’t have to do any math to know if she is awake. Hardly anyone notices Bean has … Continue reading

Our Neighborhood

About a million years ago I joined #MakingTime, a month of daily prompts to reclaim life and find balance in the little spaces between Stuff. It had some pretty awesome things about it and I enjoyed my escapades. One of my daily challenges was to take 20 pictures of my day and really spend time … Continue reading

All the news that’s fit to click: News in the Age of the Internet

This morning as I buttered toast, my mind flitted to the Huffington Post. Or rather, the day it launched. I remember the day it launched in 2005. I remember writing about it for a now-defunct blog. I remember discussing it with my nerdy grad school friends who went on to become journalists and Google execs. … Continue reading

Chicago Botanic Garden

One of the true hidden gems of our Chicago explorations so far. Despite the first part of the name being slightly misleading — the Gardens are a full 25 miles north of downtown, on the edge of a pretty suburb named Glencoe, I can attest it is absolutely 100% worth the journey. A traditional Botanic … Continue reading

#MakingTime: Day 3

Today’s assignment was to read something outside my comfort zone. I love reading articles and ideas from all sorts of people, and social and cultural commentary are one my secret loves. I am glad to be alive today (not exclusively) because the advent of internet periodicals feeds an heretofore unmet need in my word-hungers. Beyond … Continue reading