Putting it on the line

Chicago’s teachers are out on strike, and probably will be until further notice. The threat of a strike made the four days of last week’s back to school week seem like a pointless exercise. And it turns out that we’ll have the “real” first day of school at some point in the future. I was

Feels something like summertime

Today is the final day of Summer for my family and I. It doesn’t start on Memorial Day, like most people’s summer does, because my kids are in school until the middle of June. This year, it was almost as though summer began in March, when it hit 90 degrees on the day of the

The Sanctuary on Paradise

I’m in Florida this weekend, trying to get a final few days of Summer before school starts up again. Or maybe it won’t if the Chicago teachers go out on strike. But either way, Summer is coming to and end, and we want to end it with something to remember. Our visions of fun in

Jake-on-the-spot

It’s now two months away from the Bruce Springsteen show at Wrigley Field. Now that my much-anticipated trip to Cape Cod is over, that’s the next big thing I have to look forward to. The Cubs are usually how I mark my time in the summer, and that won’t work this year. The heat wave