Middling.Industries

After A Visit To New York, Some Reflections On American Cities

November 19, 2018November 19, 2018

[caption id="attachment_295" align="aligncenter" width="533"] Second Ave. and 60th St in New York City, taken by me from the Roosevelt Island Tram, which floats above the street.[/caption] I visited New York...

American Politics

Gov.-Elect Pritzker, Let’s Heal Illinois’ Cultural Rift

November 10, 2018November 10, 2018

Embed from Getty Images Dear Governor-Elect J.B. Pritzker, I write to you with serious concern about our divided state. While Democrats have won a tremendous victory in Illinois, winning not...

News Media

My News Diet

November 5, 2018

[caption id="attachment_280" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Fallow newspaper boxes in downtown Chicago, January 2012. Credit: Dan X. O'Neil.[/caption] Because I work in politics, friends often assume I like to talk about the...

American Politics

A Letter To My Conservative Friends

November 2, 2018

Dear Conservative Friend, I have admired many conservatives. George Will, Jack Kemp, Bill Kristol, William Safire, and Peggy Noonan among them. Their thinking was strong and robust enough that it...

American Politics

Prepare To Be Dissatisfied This November

October 28, 2018October 28, 2018

Here in the city of Chicago, there are few visual signs that a critical national election is less than two weeks away. Our six Congressmen and two Senators mirror the...

Uncategorized

Saturday Morning Again

October 13, 2018October 13, 2018

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMZ3Jn7hZow[/embedyt] When it comes to making videos, there's really nothing more fun than getting friends videos from around the world and then assembling them into one piece. Last week...

Personal

I Hate Swimming, But I’ll Never Stop

October 13, 2018

[caption id="attachment_247" align="aligncenter" width="533"] The Welles Park pool in Chicago where I swim. In the summer, the walls slide aside to the open air. On winter mornings, sunlight streams in.[/caption]...

YouTube

What Did You Do On Saturday Morning?

October 7, 2018

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gIjM8m9O8U[/embedyt] Last week over a dozen friends sent me amazing videos from around the world to show what they were doing on their Saturdays. First, I want to say...

American Politics

The End of Sympathy And Compromise

October 7, 2018October 8, 2018

Embed from Getty Images I was raised in a decidedly left-wing family. My mother and father both marched on Washington in 1963 with Martin Luther King, Jr., and when I...