There Was A Yellow Plastic Radio On Her Kitchen Table, Usually Turned To The Polka Station, Though Sometimes

There was a yellow plastic radio on her kitchen table, usually turned to the polka station, though sometimes she'd miss it by half a notch and get the Greek station instead, or the Spanish, or the Ukrainian. In Chicago, where we lived, all the incompatible states of Europe were pressed together down at the staticky right end of the dial.

Stuart Dybek, "Pet Milk"

Strange days on the lakefill.

Graduation Faces

Northwestern University Commencement 2014

The Hispanic-majority neighborhood of Little Village was one of many communities across Chicago that launched peace marches on Friday calling for an end to gun violence. Nearly all demonstrators had lost a personal friend or family member.   

Photos taken for The Chicago Sun-Times Homicide Watch.

Tiananmen Square in Beijing on June 4, 1989, was the stage of a massive government crackdown on pro-democracy student protesters. The worst thing is, a quarter of a century later people are still afraid to talk about it. Chinese textbooks don't mention it. You can't Google it. The newest generation of children growing up in the PRC have no idea. Members of the diaspora demonstrating in commemoration of the Tiananmen Square massacre get blacklisted, and so it goes.

Another completely crack doodle bound for the Bible study leader.