Chicago’s history of violence began at Fort Dearborn

It’s time to reflect on our beginnings and not surprisingly, they are violent. Years before a city of the world would stand astride the Chicago River, Fort Dearborn was built on the south bank near what is today the Michigan Avenue Bridge. Nothing says “in …

Flying High

Over the past decade, through my association with the USO, various veterans’ organizations and the military, I have had one amazing experience after another. I’ve traveled the world to visit and perform for our troops in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Italy, Korea, …

Sweeping Change

A few months ago, the gym of Sir Miles Davis Academy in Englewood was the setting for a high-stakes challenge –– but it wasn’t a game of hoops and it didn’t involve points or layups. Instead, I watched as forty middle school children, rather frantically, …

Debi Lilly wrangles her kids in Paris

Today, I braved Laduree on the Rue Royale, with two children in tow.

It was late in the day.

I should have known better.

We sat in the hushed first-floor dining room, among gilded molding, turn-of-the-century hand-painted frescoes, mirrored paneling and towering tiers of marvelous …

Supertrainer Jim Karas recalls a grand exit

What’s your final exit strategy?

I know you’ve heard this expression before, but I’m not using it to describe your plan to leave a bad job, relationship or excruciating dinner party where the host and hostess are drunk and fighting.

I have one, but I’m …

Mayor Emanuel says local economy is booming

Here’s my economic quiz for the day: Which city led the country in job growth in the past year and experienced the largest drop in unemployment at 14.8 percent? Chicago. Which city saw the greatest rise in home prices, 4.5 percent, in the latest Case-Shiller …

Jaslene Gonzalez unleashes powerful alter ego on modeling shoots

I grew up on a stage. I started dancing at the age of four and soon after started a singing and dancing group with my aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and some kids from my neighborhood. We were called Viva La Gente, meaning “up with people.” …

TIME IS (BETTER THAN) MONEY

In these tough economic times, we could not do without the social service industry and all they provide in every sector of our lives. Some big non-profits like Feed America or the National Catholic Charities are well-known and well-appreciated, but there are small ones like …

Pete Wentz inherits his dad’s summertime traditions

I remember looking back at a baseball ticket from August 9, 1988: the first night game ever held at Wrigley field. I remember the way my Dad had always made summers memorable for me; he took me to Wilmette Centennial Pool during the day and …

Putting On Air(s)

I f I were to write my own bio, I would likely do so in the third person so as to give the illusion that I have “people” to handle such duties for me. Nobody needs to know that by “people,” I mean me, on …

Art Smith says his birds are of a different feather

Growing up in my Southern home, everyone was invited to the dinner table regardless of color or gender. Feeding people was the way folks showed their love. I’ve continued that tradition in my career as a personal chef and now as the owner of five …

A Grassroots Effort

I often wonder what the first French explorers thought when they saw the grassland that washed up against what we now know as the Chicago megalopolis. Starting at the edge of the onion patch for which we were named, an ocean of grass stretched to …

Buddy Guy remembers a time when life was simpler and cyber-free

When I was growing up in Letts­worth, La., my parents didn’t have a lock on our house. When my daddy got his first car, we never even took the key out the ignition. In Lettsworth, you couldn’t pay anybody to steal that car or go …

Marlee Matlin discovers she’s her mother’s daughter

By the time I was a teenager, my desire to be daring and taste everything got me in trouble. Just a few weeks ago, at the outset of summer, my teenage daughter — independent just like her mom — asked if she could throw a party for her and her friends. Trying (like every mom) to be her best friend seemed to blur my memory of how too much independence had gotten me in trouble.