Chicago 2050: Mary Schmich writes her dreams for the future of her ‘complete city’
Chicago has some of everything. And it’s full of people dreaming of ways to make it better.
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Scarred but blessed, shooting victim Tavon Tanner graduates
Cheered by those who helped heal him, a young man who was wounded while sitting on his Chicago front porch when he was 10 proudly picks up his high school...
Column: Not so long ago — 29 years — I started writing a column. This will be the last. Thank you.
In the many years that I've had the good fortune to write a column for the Chicago Tribune, I've received a remarkable education, much of it from the paper's readers....
Column: In 93-year-old Frances Hall’s life, there’s a history of race and America
On the day after Father's Day last year, Frances Hall wrote me a letter. She was responding to a column in which I mentioned that my father had hoped I'd...
Column: 9 Things to Like Right Now: Long days, Bisa Butler’s quilts and ‘Lupin’
Every now and then I make a list of 9 things I like. Here's one for the beginning of summer 2021. 1. Early mornings As we approach the longest day...
Column: Above and beyond: How one school superintendent has helped protect his whole community from COVID
It's a Monday morning, and in the big union hall of Sheet Metal Workers' Local 73, a tall, masked man in a blue suit is darting around with the zeal...
Column: A pig roast. A ride in a Mustang convertible. A music teacher leaves life still searching for joy.
Scott Baeseman, known as Scootie to his friends, rejoiced a few weeks ago when he saw the first rose of summer in his yard. He posted a photo of the...
Column: It’s Pride Month. Let’s take a moment to remember Jon-Henri Damski, Chicago’s gay philosopher and chronicler
On Wednesday morning, at the beginning of Chicago Pride Month, the city finally broke ground on AIDS Garden Chicago. Out along the lakefront near Belmont Harbor, an assortment of officials...
Column: It’s summer. Again. Make your summer resolutions before it’s gone again.
And the summer's come again. That's a line from Jennifer Warnes' song "Lights of Lousianne," one of the best summer songs ever written, and it starts pecking at my brain...
Column: That time in France when Sen. John Warner hoisted me on his shoulders. And no one took a photo.
Remember back a long, long time ago, before the cellphone and the selfie, before Instagram and TikTok, way back when not every photo-worthy memory was preserved in a photo? It...