Picture an idealistic Northwestern University cello student, circa 1993, playing a tune for a crowd of colorfully-robed monks from all over the world and you'll have visualized Michael Fitzpatrick.

Since his years in Chicago, Michael -- golden-curly-haired, tall, and possessed of a chill-axed surfer dude vibe -- has been featured...

What's far scarier than the thought of Guantanamo Bay terrorism suspects cooling their heels behind maximum security bars in Thomson, Illinois?

Fear-mongered people -- already stretched to the limits due to the ravages the economy has inflicted -- acting out against anyone who looks like a foreigner because the TV...

Looking back on it, I just don't know how I made it in.

Growing up at Addison and Lincoln there was no question where I wanted to go to high school: the gorgeous, ivy-covered walls of Albert G. Lane Technical High School up the street at Addison and Western.

The...

It's been about a year since I last wrote about women's economic advancement and diversity initiatives in the context of the Great Recession.

Things were starting to get rough back then and they're still not great. Despite some nice indicators of national economic health, for the most part,...

You're thinking things are going to the dogs?

Nah, things went to the dogs well before the Great Recession, and -- as if to prove that Americans have no capacity to learn from their own hubris -- we're already on our way back.

The first sign I saw was the...

Let's celebrate! And let's celebrate fish! And fishing!

Yes, you heard me right.

Between the shootings that happen steps from school boundaries and the domestic violence that splatters on the very kids who are supposed to grow up and lead us to a brighter, better tomorrow, it seems like...

I went to see the movie Zombieland on Saturday, right in the middle of what seemed like a ferociously cold day, what it being early October and us on the verge of perishing from this global warming and all.

You might imagine that a post-zombie-apocalypse-survival movie might bring a girl...

Yes, it was a shock when Chicago was so easily, so cavalierly knocked out of the bid. After all the years put into making a Chicago 2016 Olympics a reality, the dream faded away in a matter of moments.

But then later, when the final winner was announced tears...

Regular Joe and Jo-ettes don't spend enough time thinking about how federal policy shapes their lives on a day-to-day basis. Even in good times, most people are just too busy trying to keep their heads above water and makin' a wave when they can -- and these times are far...

There's really only one good reason to watch a boxing match: ass-kicking.

Face it: you can talk about sportsmanship, you can talk about guts, grit and determination, you can talk about technique. But when it all comes down to it, there are two men in a ring and one of...

There really shouldn't be much suspense here - the man said it plain-as-day during Wednesday's White House rah-rah for Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid.

"I would make the case in Copenhagen personally, if I weren't so firmly committed to making -- making real the promise of quality, affordable health care...

The health care debate has been hijacked by angry people who have health insurance, don't want their applecart upset, and thusly have resorted to spreading out-and-out lies about the current attempt at reform.

Some so angry, they'll catcall the president during a nationally-televised address to congress. Thanks for being so...

I am not a curandera -- healing woman -- nor do I play one on TV.

Also, I am not an abuelita -- granny -- old world to me means fax machines.

But seeing how the health care debate the country is having with itself has devolved into shouting...

There was no "me and Bob Novak" per se, it's not like we'd walk out of the Chicago Sun-Times building together -- back when it wasn't the basement of the Trump Tower --
and head over to the Billy Goat for a cold one after deadline had passed...

I had never noticed it in all the years I've been attending the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce's annual Business Expo breakfast, but about five minutes into the remarks I started keeping score of each speaker's use of the Spanish language.

Last week's event started off with ABC 7's...

I love numbers. A lot.

I am a geek, a closet demographer, and a sucker for statistical analysis. I've accepted this and those who dare engage me in conversation know enough to nod politely when I go all Cliff Clavin on them - they understand I must eventually come...

At approximately noon Monday I got so angry I sent out this Tweet:

"Note to the world: as lovely as it is, ALL of Chicago's Hispanics DO NOT live in Pilsen!"

Not five minutes after that, my Blackberry started going crazy -- my Tweet had hit a nerve.

Let me...

"StreetWise, StreetWise, getcher StreetWise right here!"

If I'd heard it once, I'd heard it a million times. But never before like this.

In the sixteen years that StreetWise has been around, helping people "help themselves to self-sufficiency through gainful employment," its street sellers have historically been mostly African-American men on...

Let us, for just a moment, remember back to oh, let's say, the year 1980.

The U.S. boycotted the summer Olympics, Jimmy Carter bailed out Chrysler, Mt. St. Helens erupted in Washington state, and Bruce Springsteen's latest hit "Hungry Heart" was playing on seemingly every radio across the country....

Let's see, it's been a whopping 22 months since my favorite cyclist, Isai Madriz, mounted his rickety bicycle -- the one with the picture of his girlfriend, Danielle, taped to it -- to pedal from the suburbs of Chicago to Argentina and back up to Venezuela to raise money for...