An assortment of news items (updated and annotated) from my Chicago Sun-Times columns of 22 years ago this week:
#42a We continue to preserve the now
Sep. 21, 2010
It was interesting to read the comments to yesterday’s post and to actually movethrough a day, jumping from one person’s now to another’s.
As a matter of fact, the experience felt real as a tiger’s tooth, and I’m convinced that reading the comments has actually aged me an extra day. I’ve tried to read them backwards, but I can’t quite get a handle on what a cricket’s chirp sounds like in reverse. And, let’s not get into the eating process and what not. I’m easily made queasy.
So, my thinking is that if I can’t go backwards, I will just have to keep going forwards. Eventually, I think, I will end up in the place where I was and had sort of wanted to stay. So, for today, let’s continue moving in the now, on the ledge. Continue to tell us where you are here and now.
Morning news returns to Channel 9 on weekends
Sep. 21, 2010
Just as Phil Rosenthal tipped last month, Tribune Co.-owned WGN-Channel 9 is getting back into the weekend morning news business.
Channel 9 announced Tuesday that it will air an hourlong newscast at 6 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays, starting the weekend of Oct. 2. Public-affairs and paid-religion programming and infomercials now airing at that hour will move to earlier time slots.
Revision Street: Voices from the Whittier Elementary Field House -- Evelin Santos, 23
Sep. 21, 2010You would not be likely to pick Evelin Santos out of a crowd: she’d be in the back, in the shadows of the room, her long curly hair tied out of her eyes, quietly scanning the crowd to make sure everyone’s needs get met. Reasonable fleece in a mild color atop a modest shirt and conservative slacks. Nothing flashy.
In truth, it is people like Evelin Santos you want to learn to see: the collectors, the assistants, the facilitators; the women who don’t want their names plastered on everything, or a megaphone, or attention. Such people understand that real power lies not in visibility. They know that real power lies in the act of listening.
The young Ms. Santos is on the support team at Whittier Bilingual Elementary School.
I’m a community member, and I’m here helping the moms. I’ve been helping them for a while. I’m a DePaul student, and I’ve been helping them out. I’m a volunteer. I’m helping them organize and giving them the support that they need. I study psychology right now, so when it gets hard, I’m here picking them up and telling them, It’s OK. Don’t cry. We’re doing a good thing.
Something You Should Eat: Fish tacos from Flaco's Tacos
Sep. 21, 2010If you've spent anytime in San Diego, or along the Baja Peninsula, you've probably seen fish tacos. Typically fried, these regional specialties are also paired with an avocado crema of some kind, as well as crunchy cabbage. ‚ I've had a pretty good version of the original at Chicks 'n Salsa in Glen Ellyn, but for a good fish taco in the city, I would also recommend Flaco's Tacos in Printer's Row.A bit healthier, thanks to grilling, and the chipotle mayo gives them a rich, spicy kick in the pants.
Concert review: Roger Waters rebuilds "The Wall"
Sep. 21, 2010
The wall during intermission at the United Center on Monday (excuse the crappy cell-phone pix).
In the community of super-geek Pink Floyd fans, of which I have been a lifelong member, I have had three decades of bragging rights for having been among the select few in only three cities (New York, London, and Los Angeles) who saw the group perform its epic double album "The Wall" onstage in its entirety upon its release in 1980.
New 'Comedy Radio' format goes strictly for laughs
Sep. 21, 2010
I can't say I recall Bill Bungeroth as a particularly hilarious guy during the five years he ran WPNT here in the '90s (although he did have the good fortune to employ humorists‚ Steve Cochran and Fred Winston as the station's morning personalities).
Smart businessman? Yes. Funny? No.
Nevertheless, on Monday the same Bill Bungeroth, now known as the founder and president of the Donkey Comedy Network, unveiled plans for "24/7 Comedy Radio," billed as "the first short-attention-span, fast-paced, hits-oriented, mass-appeal comedy radio format."
BGA hires 'dream team' of Reed, Herguth, Conroy
Sep. 21, 2010After 15 months as executive director of the Better Government Association, Andy Shaw hit the jackpot this week with the hiring of three celebrated Chicago journalists to lead the nonprofit watchdog group's expanded investigative unit. Rounding out what he called the BGA's "dream team," Shaw signed Bob Reed, former editor of Crain's Chicago Business who most recently was chief spokesman for Gov. Pat Quinn; Bob Herguth, a former reporter and editor at the Sun-Times, the Daily Herald and the Milwaukee Business Journal; and John Conroy, former investigative reporter for the Reader who most recently covered the trial of former police commander Jon Burge for blogs.vocalo.org.