Jack Spatafora

The dreaded battle cry is in the air: Spring cleaning! To the mothers of my generation, that meant a charge-of-the-light-brigade assault on whatever pockets of resistance a grimy winter had...

Ever find yourself in a different part of town, suddenly remembering how much your life has been lived in other neighborhoods? This happens a lot in March when, spying our...

Oscar night is when a billion people gather around their TV sets to find out who are the winningest people in the entertainment world. Well I guess such attention and...

There have probably been as many ways of gearing up for tonight's Super Bowl as there are TV viewers--which makes it a kind of psychodrama about life circa early-21st Century...

This is the season when everyone is asking you for something. Kids. Bell ringers. Churches. The usual suspects. But as a fellow Tribune reader, might I ask one more thing:...

The holiday season is often the season of superlatives--in parties, decorations, festivities and especially gifts. At the same time, thoughtful writers and wise clergy advise us to cut back and...

Remember Marley's ghost? Well I met him recently in my morning mirror. Chains and all. The chains I saw there were all those many past mistakes . . . missed...

Whatever our faiths, we can all agree this is the season of memories. Good ones, bad ones, cherished ones and dreaded ones alike. Despite the blaring noises and glaring lights...

Now that the elections are over, what do we see when we look around us? November. Sure. But let's think about this forgotten month for a moment. Tucked in between...

By going to City Hall for early voting, I just learned how a broken system can still work. And I'm not talking about the machines. The early voters there came...