by admin | Apr 22, 2026 | Activism, Agriculture, architecture, Business, Chicago, Climate, Environment, Government, Housing, Philanthropy, Public policy, Renewable Energy, Resilience, Technology, Transportation, Urban Planning, Volunteerism
Once I was in downtown Chicago on April 16, at the corner of Adams and LaSalle, my first task was to enter what once was a bank building and pick up a name tag that had a number on the back. The second task was to take an elevator to the 40th floor and start meeting...
by admin | Mar 30, 2026 | Activism, Chicago, Civil rights, Government, Immigration, Personal history, Racism, Veterans, Volunteerism
“What does democracy look like?” the speaker asks from the stage of the No Kings rally in Chicago’s Grant Park before an estimated 250,000 protesters on March 28. “This is what democracy looks like!” they respond. Indeed, democracy looks like many other things,...
by admin | Mar 27, 2026 | Activism, Blogging, Books, Civil rights, Education, Journalism, Political philosophy, Politics, Public policy, Writing
As a long-time member and officer, and past president (1997-99) of the Society of Midland Authors, I am happy to share the announcement below concerning our declaration on freedom of expression and of the press, and the Declaration itself. This declaration was the...
by admin | Mar 13, 2026 | Aging, Books, Careers, Chicago, Civil rights, Climate, Disaster, Disaster policy, Disaster Recovery, Emergency Management, Government, Hazard Mitigation, History, Hurricanes, Immigration, Minnesota, Natural Hazards, Personal history, Politics, Public policy, Public safety, Resilience, Social Equity, Texas, War, Wildfire
Given the almost comically corrupt nature of Kristi Noem’s administration of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as its Secretary, I half-expected that her inevitable meltdown after the most recent Senate hearing would lead to flying monkeys celebrating as...
by admin | Feb 4, 2026 | Chicago, Climate, Coastal Management, Disaster, Florida, Hurricanes, Insurance, Iowa, Journalism, Movies, Parks, Personal history, Restaurants, Sports, Tornado, Urban Planning, Weather
It was about 11:15 a.m. on Sunday, January 25, when my United Airlines flight from Sarasota, Florida, landed at O’Hare International Airport, and I finally started getting text messages again. The very first one was from Angel, our 22-year-old grandson, whom I had...
