Mick Dumke--The Circus Comes To Town

There I was, walking along Wabash Street through the heart of Boyle Heights, a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood in Los Angeles, when who did I see looking back at me? Melania! Well, not in person. She was on a bus-shelter poster beneath a plate…

It’s sort of a miracle that I even checked A Terrible Country out of the library, much less read it. It’s a sad book. A sweet and sad book, it’s true. With absurdly funny moments that made me laugh. Also true. And a “happy&r…

In the aftermath of the Bears' stunning come-from-behind playoff victory over the dreaded Green Bay Packers, it's time to reveal the inside story of the behind-the-scenes hero, who made it all possible. Here goes… I was in California, visit…

In my desperation to find something positive to say about Trump's invasion of Venezuela, I've come down to this... He’s telling the truth—sorta. That is, after he's done lying. So you might say he's the most truthful liar in the histor…

In most coming-of-age novels, there occurs that life-changing moment when the protagonist comes face-to-face with the realization that grown ups can be abundantly full of shit. I love that moment in part because I’ve been motivated to expose …

Peter Orner’s latest novel–The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter–is so good, I wish I hadn’t read it. So I could enjoy the first-time experience of reading it again.  It deals with a subset of Chicagoans from the last h…