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Sarah Tang—Saving Chinatown
Twenty-nine aldermen take a stand against themselves. Say what? Ben riffs. Sarah Tang explains “categorical exclusion”—a policy weaponized by Trump to allow developers to do what they want without oversight. In this case, moving a railroad maintenance facility to Bridgeport, so a billionaire can build a new Sox stadium on the vacated land. Sarah is director for programs for the Coalition for a Better Chinese-American Community.
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Sept. 29, 2026
Remarkably Idiotic Creatures
So, there I was last Saturday afternoon, watching the big game--Texas versus Tennessee--when I saw something I'd never seen in all my years of watching sports. Which is a whole lotta years, let me tell you. This Texas defensive lineman named Colin…
Sept. 24, 2026
While I Was Eating Shrimp Dumplings...
Read an article the other day in The New York Times by a reporter named Teddy Rosenbluth, who I presume is a real person. Though in these days of A.I., you never know. It's about Zou and Pak, a couple of scientists at Stanford, who oversaw a team o…
Sept. 20, 2026
How Could They Forget About The Daleys?
In the category of if you live long enough, you'll see it all... How is it possible that a developer, even a billionaire, would try to build something in Chicago without really running it by the Daleys? Especially if that developer wants to buy th…
Sept. 16, 2026
A Friend Of Kafka
From time to time, I find myself compelled to read the stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer. Or re-read, to be exact. As I'd read most of them by the time I was 30. Which was, as you might imagine, a long time ago. Reading all those stories is no smal…
Sept. 15, 2026
The Aging Road
As soon as word broke that Stevie Wonder was playing the United Center in November, my wife and I did what we've been doing with big-time concerts since 1972. Hopped into our car and drove on down to the United Center to buy our tickets directly fr…
Sept. 13, 2026
Wanda Hickey's Night Of Golden Memories
Let's start by carving this into stone... Should the Bears make good on their threat to move to Hammond, Indiana--as I still don't believe they will. As I still believe they want to stay in Illinois, but having painted themselves into a corner by e…
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