Excerpt from just one of the many letters I received after having included the phrase "the current anti-immigrant atmosphere" in a recent column:

Unfortunately you are mistaken in using the phrase 'anti-immigration atmosphere'. Many American citizens with brown, black, white, or even yellow skin are angry with ILLEGAL immigrants and...

Welcome to the brave new world of social (media) government -- a world where you can use mobile phone apps to get information from Uncle Sam so you don't actually have to talk to him.

On July 2, the White House relaunched its usa.gov website and...

The Department of Homeland security provided a keyhole of hopeful light for the reform crowd on Tuesday. They published "Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2009" which was written by Michael Hoefer, Nancy Rytina, and Bryan C. Baker.

The report provides estimates of...

On Sunday I put out this provocative message to all the pals who keep up with me on-line:

twitpic.com/10sdk5 - (picture) The adoption process went through on Friday and I picked up my new 5 & 7 year old boy/girl today.

Our constitutionally protected freedom of speech is a beautiful thing. "The freedom to speak without censorship and/or limitation," as Wikipedia so elegantly puts it, is

the synonymous term freedom of expression, sometimes used to indicate not only freedom of verbal speech but any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information...

I'm sad to say I never had the unique pleasure of meeting the celebrated journalist Carlos Hernandez Gomez.

This is how his obituary in the Chicago Sun-Times described him:

Carlos Hernandez Gomez, political reporter for CLTV, stood out among Chicago reporters not only because of his old-school...

Auto shop, wood shop, metal shop - all horrors of a certain segment of the high school population. Let's face it, shop class never got much respect.

So, when I read Rosalind Rossi's story "Shop Class shake-up" in Tuesday's Chicago Sun-Times I was near giddy. In it, Rossi...

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...