The Blog

Ina Pinkney: I'm Happy When I Have the Blues (RECIPE)

2009-07-10T22:51:17Z

Most of the berries go into our Whole Wheat Oatmeal or Buttermilk Pancakes each day and then into a crisp that I think is the best way to savor the rest of the blueberries.

I make a lot of this crisp topping to keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator and use it on all fruits, from summer through fall. Baked fruit is a taste luxury most people don't experience.

And be courageous, use any fruit, or a combination! It's all good.

So, pile in the fruit, sprinkle on the topping and pop it in the oven when you begin dinner. It will be ready when you are!

CRISP TOPPING

7 oz. flour
4 oz. sugar, white
4 oz. sugar, light brown
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
6 oz. butter, unsalted, cut into small pieces

Put all dry ingredients into a food processor and combine.

Add butter and 'pulse' 7-10 times until the butter pieces are quite small -- about the size of rice.

Fill an 8 oz. ramekin with blueberries, mounding them a bit, and put 1/4 cup of topping on each ramekin, covering the berries.

Bake the crisps at 375 degrees for 15-17 minutes.

Brian Dickie: Change in Chicago

2009-07-10T22:49:54Z

I have been working here for 10 years and much has changed. And most of it for the better. The construction of Millennium Park has been transforming. I was giving thought to that as I walked to the Park Grill at lunchtime. Ten years ago this was an unattractive wasteland bisected by rail tracks. It is now one of the great attractions for tourists, as well has having contributed to a major regeneration of South Michigan Avenue.

And north of the river we have the addition of the Trump Tower, which appears at last to be completed, externally at least. Here you see it this morning sandwiched between two Chicago architectural icons, the Mies van der Rohe IBM tower and the Wrigley building.

I have had another useful day getting to grips with some important things. An early morning breakfast meeting with a board member started things off. And I have begun slowly to figure out the details of the 2011 season, my schedule for the autumn when much of the detail of that season will be put together, and how we are going to manage the change occurring as we come to the end of the current Board presidency cycle. New faces and a new dynamic are in prospect. This will provide great opportunities. I hope that we will be able to get it right.

I am happy to be moving at a slower pace than that of the last four weeks -- pause for breath is good!

Ari Bendersky: Understanding German Riesling: It's Not All Sweet

2009-07-10T22:47:33Z

Riesling is possibly the most misunderstood grape varietal in the wine world, especially when it comes to American palates. Ask your average wine drinker in the U.S. what they think of Riesling and they'll undoubtedly say it's sweet. In many instances they're right. But Riesling runs the gamut from super-sweet dessert wines to bone-dry bottles that you could even pair with a steak. Riesling, which can show peach, apple and pear notes, pairs with a variety of food from soft cheeses, pork and fish or sushi to spicy Thai dishes and Indian curries and more.

In May, I had a great opportunity to take a trip sponsored by the German Wine Institute to visit German wine-growing regions. Germany has 13 distinct growing regions, with most centered around or near the Rhine river. We spent four full days hitting three of those regions -- Rheinhessen, Pfalz and Mosel -- and learning all about the diversity of the Riesling grape, and let me tell you, it's diverse.

Riesling, like most German wines, are classified by a number of things. With Riesling, the wine can be a kabinett (a more basic wine that tends to be drier), spatlese ("late harvest," and is sweeter), auslese ("select harvest," and even sweeter) and on to beerenauslese (a late harvest dessert wine that tends to be a bit more syrupy and sweet). The quality of the wine and whether it's trocken (dry) or suess (sweet) all depends on where it's grown and how long the grapes remain on the vine. And one of the more impressive qualities of the vineyards, at least in the Mosel region, is that many reside on very steep slopes, giving the grapes better access to sun, wind and other elements that help them grow and produce more robust, juicy fruit.

Although I tried and enjoyed many different types of Riesling, even some Pinot Noir (locally called Spätburgunder) in the three areas, I most enjoyed the wines from the Mosel (you may recognize the former official name of the region as Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, as is printed on many classic German wine bottles). The Mosel is a colder region (where the Pflaz is the warmest and therefore is more accommodating for red wine) and therefore produces very crisp wines with pronounced acidity and brightness.

All in all, I tasted dozens of wines over the course of the trip from wineries including Gysler (a totally biodynamic winery with a beautiful, modern tasting room and is part of the "Message in a Bottle" association of young wine growers), Fitz-Ritter (Oprah loves their Gewürztraminer, which can be found in Chicago at Bin 36 and Randolph Wine Cellars); Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt (owned by the super classy Annegret Reh-Gartner, who produces award-winning and high-scoring wines that are sold in 25 countries worldwide) and Schloss Lieser, which was possibly my favorite of all. Schloss Lieser winery was in disrepair in 1992, but after four years, owner Thomas Haag brought it back to life and now his wines generally get rated between 88 to 98 points by Wine Spectator and the Wine Advocate.

One of the biggest disappointments about German wine is that more Americans don't understand and appreciate it. When I went seeking it out around town, I found most wine shops have small selections, reinforcing my theory that most people don't realize Riesling is more than a sweet dessert wine. Ask for the wines above at your favorite shops or check out Truly Fine Wine, a San Diego-based store (with a comprehensive website) that sells only limited-production German wine from micro vintners.

In addition to the wines mentioned above, here are a few more to check out.

Gysler 2006 Weinheimer Riesling Kabinett ($16.99 at Sam's Wines & Spirits). I had the 2008 while at the winery in the Rheinhessen and really enjoyed it, with its touch of sweetness, citrus notes and high acidity. This is a great wine for fresh seafood. If you want a real treat, seek out the Gysler 2005 Huxelbrebe, a beerenauslese dessert wine that sells for $41.99, but when its chilled viscous honey notes slink down your throat after a great meal, you'll be happy you spent the money.

Max Ferd. Richter 2007 Mulheimer Sonnenlay Riesling "Zeppelin" ($16.99 at Sam's). This winery is one of the older and more respected in the Mosel. All the wines are fermented in oak barrels and are all estate-bottled. This wine features a 1920s art deco label and is a creamy yet sweet wine with gorgeous peach, apple and honey notes. According to winemaker Dirk Richter, it's his best-selling wine in the U.S. market. He also says, "A glass of Riesling a day keeps the doctor away." Who can argue with that?

Zilliken Estate 2007 "Butterfly" Riesling ($16.99 at Wine Discount Center). This is another great example of a Mosel wine: crisp and dry, lots of nice peach notes and a whole bunch of acid and minerals from the slate where the vines grow. This is a great wine to have with any spicy food since the acid will help reduce the heat from overpowering your mouth.

Paul Klein: Summer Art Exhibits Highlight Local Talent

2009-07-10T22:34:10Z

Is it the middle of summer already?

This is fabulous time to view art in Chicago galleries. For a lot of reasons there is much less pretentiousness in summer than at any other time of the art year. It is in summer that galleries anticipate fewer sales and less traffic, so they hold back the "stars" and put out the "kids," typically in group shows.

Instead of seeing art that you know is supposed to be good, because you've read about it in some self-inflated NY publication, you are looking at art that you've likely never seen before, have never heard about and lo' and behold you need to judge it, appreciate it and ponder it on your very own terms. Damn, this is a healthy experience.

You know I try really hard to only do previews, but one of the best shows of the year opened two weeks ago and I couldn't write about it until now. That show is at Zolla/Lieberman and was curated by the two kids who work there for William. They thoroughly kicked ass, selecting mostly Chicago artists, though some of my favorites are from downstate. This is just a glorious mishmash of good art in lots of divergent media, from ceramics, to packing tape on glass, to sandwiches of paint, to barely painted drywall cutouts, to photography. It is all fresh and new. The exhibition insists that I order my own aesthetics. There is so much there to like it is hard for me to keep it all in perspective. I'm very proud of Brian and Rachel, who did the curating. There is talent here.

Two shows opening this weekend are right around the corner. Fabulous, approachable, conscientious, caring and insightful Catherine Edelman has one of her recurring group photography exhibits of a dozen new Chicago photographers. Great work here, too.

You know what else? In summer the art on exhibit is cheaper.

Jean Albano has been a wonderful Chicago art dealer for two decades and has mounted a beautiful exhibit celebrating her 20 years of presenting some of Chicago's best. What a pleasure to see a fresh Margaret Whartons and Karl Wirsums.

There's something special and new while also old and familiar about Anna Joelsdottir's art. Dividing her time between her native Iceland and Chicago, Anna brings a unique perspective in her work that melds Chicago influences with global forces. Sometimes I'm reminded of facets of Joan Mitchell in her art, and sometimes her linear quality is reminiscent of Cy Twombly, but I find him pretentious and Anna accessible. There's a love of art and process here. Joelsdottir spent 18 months making the painting that cascades from the windows, drawing and painting on both sides of the vellum -- and it isn't for sale. It's just a prototype. She's good and getting better and I already own one.

Over in River West, Three Walls is opening a fun, interactive, multidisciplinary exhibition and performance. Invariably Three Walls presents fabulous artists who most often get international recognition shortly after their shows. Prescient, talented and friendly.

There are also a dozen artists in Packer Schopf's new exhibit, which is cutely titled Size Matters, mostly because all the pieces are large. All the group shows I've just seen, comprised significantly of Chicago artists, are quite strong. As in touch as I like to think I am with what's going on here artistically, I'm constantly impressed with how much new talent I discover. Not only that, I think it is important to acknowledge that they are many mid-career artists here who continue to make the best work of their lives, often while guiding, teaching or mentoring.

Take a look at the show at Corbett vs Dempsey where we have another fine selection of Chicago talent -- this time recent graduates of the School of the Art Institute. If you look closely here it is hard to avoid the influence of Ray Yoshida. It may be difficult to quantify what constitutes a 'Chicago School' but we have one -- and it closely resembles Chicago's personality.

Lastly, I want to share my enthusiasm for Tom Torluemke, whose opening at the Michigan Avenue Galleries of the Cultural Center I missed. Tom is a wonderful artist and human being, who also ran Uncle Freddy's Gallery in NW Indiana with his wife, Linda. Creative, talented, multifaceted and responsible, Tom is a good role model for how an artist can function and succeed. Well done, Tom.

I'm only scratching the surface of what's on view in Chicago this weekend. There's a lot of good, fun, accessible, mostly local art to see. Enjoy!

Thank you

Paul Klein

Lorraine Forte: Tougher Tests Just the First Step to Improving Chicago Schools

2009-07-10T17:57:58Z

The release of the latest state test scores for Chicago Public Schools show another year of modest gains. Good news, although as Chief Education Officer Barbara Eason-Watkins noted, "Small gains are never enough."

What's more interesting is the news surrounding the scores. For one, Mayor Daley now says the state needs tougher tests. Those remarks come just days after the release of a report that says school reform is a big failure and the test score gains of recent years nothing but smoke and mirrors because of changes made to the tests in 2006. Catalyst wrote about this three years ago, pointing out the hyperbole. Besides rehashing old news, the report also fails to acknowledge the views of respected researchers who have said that not all the gains are due to easier tests.

Daley's not the first to say that the ISAT is too easy. Recently, the group Advance Illinois, co-chaired by mayoral brother Bill Daley and former Gov. Jim Edgar, made the same point. The group issued a comprehensive report to make a strong case for higher standards, noting that students throughout Illinois -- not just those in Chicago -- are not getting the rigorous academics they need. One telling statistic: Only 1 in 4 Illinois high school students will graduate ready for college or the workplace. The report ought to be required reading for every politician and policymaker in Illinois.

While the Advance Illinois report makes a well-reasoned argument for tougher standards, among other changes, it's gotten less attention in the media than the Civic Committee report blasting Chicago's public schools. That's unfortunate, given the quality of Advance Illinois' work, compared to the finger-pointing of the Civic Committee report.

It's easy to write a report saying CPS is a failure, given that far too many students still drop out, fail tests and graduate completely unprepared for college. It's easy to blame "special interests" and teachers for the problem, then turn around and use the resulting outrage to argue that charters are the silver bullet.

Easy, yes. But such arguments don't accomplish much. In fact, they do nothing except raise the hackles of educators who are working hard to help students learn, and do little to advance the cause of charters, since anyone who knows anything about education knows that structure alone is not the answer. Transform every school overnight into a charter, with non-union teachers and no rules except to raise performance, and you'll still have to solve the equation: How to educate students, especially students who often face troubled home lives and come to school woefully unprepared to learn.

As the Advance Illinois report rightly points out, tougher standards are needed -- but that's only a first step. Schools and teachers -- especially teachers in struggling urban schools -- need resources to get kids to meet higher standards. Parents must be involved, and principals and teachers need outreach training to bring in parents who aren't engaged in their child's education. And so on.

In fact, the Advance Illinois report ought to be required reading not just for politicians and policymakers, but citizens throughout Illinois.

Shawn Healy: A Cook in Congress

2009-07-08T23:59:54Z

The field for Cook County Board President is growing by the day. On Monday, seven term Congressman Danny Davis (D-Chicago) said that in "all likelihood" he would enter the Democratic primary set for next February. Fourth Ward Alderwoman Toni Preckwinkle has already declared, and Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown is mulling a bid. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, and County Assessor James Houlihan are also contemplating running.

In the background is current President Todd Stroger, who entered office through the back door when he was slated to replace his father who suffered a stroke days before the primary, yet concealed his condition and prevailed despite a strong challenge from primary opponent Forest Claypool. He would go on to beat Republican challenger and current Commissioner Tony Peraica decisively in the November 2006 general election.

Stroger has since presided over a sales tax increase that elevated Cook County's share to the largest in the nation and beat back successive attempts to repeal it, all along feeding a bloated budget. Nepotism remains the rule of the day as the Stroger kin fills more than 20 county offices, drawing combined salaries in excess of $2 million annually. Stroger intends to seek reelection, but it's hard to see him weathering an ultra-competitive primary with such shaky credentials.

Just a month ago, the field appeared set with Claypool expected to take on Stroger, while former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas strategized a return to his former haunts, this time as a Republican candidate for Cook County Board President. Within weeks of one another, Vallas said he would remain in New Orleans to continue his work rebuilding the post-Katrina public school system, and Claypool announced that he would leave elected office altogether.

The door left ajar, the field expanded rapidly.

Preckwinkle, an independent alderwoman representing Chicago's South Side since 1991, has repeatedly taken on Mayor Daley over issues ranging from affordable housing, diversity, corruption, and the city's 2016 Olympic bid.

Brown has served as County Clerk since 2000, winning reelection in 2008 despite charges that she fundraised through her staff and used them for campaign functions. She worked previously as Auditor for the Chicago Transit Authority from 1991 to 2000.

Davis was a West Side alderman for eleven years, then a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners for six before running successfully for the Seventh Congressional District seat in 1996. He has solid roots in city politics, serving on former Mayor Harold Washington's campaign committee and transition team in 1983, and running against Mayor Daley in the 1991 primary.

Chicago is, of course, not immune from racial politics, and with three formidable African-American contenders set to take on the current black incumbent, the door may be open for a caucasian candidate who could capture the white ethnic and lakefront liberal vote. Should Suffredin, Dart, and Houlihan all decide to take the plunge, then all bets are off. Moreover, the cache of a sitting congressman with deep roots in city and county politics along with a solid base on the West Side cannot be underestimated.

Before long, we'll have a better idea of the scope of the field. Petitions will be circulated starting next month. Add the statewide and national races to the mix, and 2010 promises to be a topsy turvy year for local politicos.

Mike Elk: Wells Fargo Illegally Cheats Union Families by Cutting Off Health Care

2009-07-08T15:48:00Z

Last week, I wrote about workers who were fighting back against Wells Fargo after the bank cut off credit to Quad City Die Casting factory on Moline, Ill., causing the factory to close. This week Wells Fargo has cut off health care benefits to the workers, according to the union, which says the decision violates federal labor laws.

The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) Local 1174, which represents the workers, filed charges yesterday with the National Labor Relations Board. The company also informed employees that Wells Fargo would not approve the expenditure of owed vacation pay, and the company has refused to pay a two percent wage increase due the employees under their legally binding collective bargaining agreement.

As Wells Fargo cuts off credit to Quad City and forces it to break its collective bargaining agreement with its workers, the bank has $25 billion in federal bailout funds that were intended in part to make credit more available to businesses.

"Wells Fargo first ends financing, forcing our company to close, and now they won't pay us what we are owed by law. To us, our vacation, insurance and wages mean everything to our families. But to Wells Fargo it's pennies, not even a blip in their billions. Yet they choose to cheat us out of what we have earned," said Deb Johann, a union member employed at the factory.

According to management officials, Wells Fargo approves all expenditures by the company on a weekly basis. Workers are calling upon federal officials to investigate the practices of Wells Fargo.

The UE that represents workers at the plant is the same union that occupied Republic Windows and Doors last summer. Its members are engaging in direct action against Wells Fargo, calling on the bank to keep the plant open. Workers continue to demand that Wells Fargo do what is necessary to keep the company in business until a sale of the company is finalized. According to parties familiar with the discussions, there are currently several interested parties looking to make a bid to purchase Quad City Die Casting.

The union says that after having received $25 billion in bailout money, Wells Fargo has an obligation to promote economic recovery by keeping the plant open. UE Director of Organization Bob Kingsley said, "We can't let this giant bank default on its obligation to the American people and the people of the Quad Cities. Wells Fargo is a roadblock to economic recovery."

Brian Dickie: Back to Chicago Summer

2009-07-08T02:15:04Z

Back to work today: air conditioned office too cold, al fresco lunch at the pub too warm. So probably the best place would have been sun bathing in the park, any park -- in the case below, Lincoln Park, just down the road from our apartment. This one is a bit of a cheat, though -- my photo is two years old -- but all the same, the sun worshipers are out in force, the beaches are full and the city has a really nice summer holiday feel about it.

We are spending time just now on trying to come to grips with the new behavior of audiences. They are not doing what they used to do and what we think they ought to do. They are now giving us the run-around. They are even deciding that they prefer to go on some other day than the Wednesday that has ruled their lives for so long. And so they are waiting until a much later stage before taking the plunge and committing as long as nine months in advance. I cannot complain -- I rather sympathize with them. But given that the whole model for American opera, and other performing arts, companies makes assumptions about a predictable pattern of behavior, this is making us think. And so we will be giving pretty weighty consideration over the coming months to whether we should be doing things somewhat differently.

What we do know is that on the whole they like what we do. The question is more about whether we are doing it at the right time in the right place. We are entering a serious reassessment period -- we need to ensure the future of this company. So we will be looking at everything we do, and how we do it, so that we can guarantee that COT is here in 2020. Not just here -- but also doing work as finely as it can possibly be done.

We have a brand new development director starting tomorrow. Taking over from Marla Krupman, who has left us for the Museum of Contemporary Art, will be Elena Reinert who joins us after a very successful stint at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. We are greatly looking forward to working with Elena -- we know her well since she she was the co-chair of our Opera Underground group; she is a passionate music lover and a delightful energetic personality. She is here to raise money -- and she is good at it!

Tomorrow I have an early meeting with a Board member -- then to work!

Michael Jones: 'Public Enemies' Reviewed

2009-07-08T02:03:52Z

It takes a while, but this movie finally gets under your skin, and you lose yourself in Michael Mann. As I sat there and ticked off things to criticize -- comparisons to 'Bonnie and Clyde,' little attention paid to the Depression, why a Welshman plays Melvin Purvis -- what happened is what always happens at a great movie. The movie-lover shuffles off his mortal coil by losing himself at the movies.

I sit, shortly after, still in awe of Michael Mann. In Public Enemies the camera glides like Roger Federer on a tennis court, always in the right place at the right time for the great shot. Sure, the script doesn't do the director any favors, and logic, even movie logic, is an early victim, but great direction trumps all.

Any story about John Dillinger has the elements of great Americana: all sound and fury, pistols, machine guns, fast cars, molls and tough men. Hollywood has never gone wrong in choosing actors to be Dillinger, be it Lawrence Tierney, the great Warren Oates, or, now, Johnny Depp.

I remember going to see Bonnie and Clyde when it came out. Seeing it without the knowledge and hype that accompanies every major movie release these days. Walking into the theater and sitting in the darkness as the credits began. The clear white letters on a black screen slowly turning to blood red. Little knowledge of the stars, well, maybe, Warren Beatty. But, no one knew Gene Hackman, no one had ever heard of Faye Dunaway and I only knew about Arthur Penn because he had made The Chase. And, only because my brother and I were connoisseurs of Marlon Brando getting beaten up in movies. No one ever in the history of movies was beaten up more convincingly on film (or worse) than Marlon Brando.

An aside: Karl Malden died a few days ago, one of our greatest actors. To some he will always be Dad Longworth, the one-eyed jack of 'One Eyed Jacks.' When he beat up Marlon Brando (well, actually whipped him ... Marlon Brando was as convincing being whipped as punched), Brando tied to rail, Marlon Brando, playing Rio looked back at Dad and growled, "You better kill me..."

Ah, what a movie.

The point is that no one knew Arthur Penn either.

But we all know Michael Mann and await, with fingers trembling for popcorn, his new movies. From Miami Vice the TV show, Miami Vice the movie or the incredible Manhunter, we know him. As we do the stars of Public Enemies: Johnny Depp and Marion Cotillard and the great Christian Bale. So, unlike Bonnie and Clyde there are and were "expectations." Which can be impediments to enjoyment.

And, first impression roadblocks there were ... Christian Bale ... why him? I wasted time carefully listening for accent mistakes. Marion as the love interest, why her? Only in Hollywood, the Hollywood of blue-eyed Native Americans in old Westerns, would cast a Frenchwoman, Edith Piaf, Mon dieu, as a Native American from Wisconsin. Critical checklists were being checked for 20 minutes; potential complaints were stacking up as I sat there, thinking, oh God, two more hours of this?

Then Michael Mann did his movie magic. I was swept up in his vision, into his movie, in the way he moves the camera, in the way he frames a scene, in the way he uses music. One second I was a critic and the next just a moviegoer.

My reactions reminded me of another movie I saw by an equally talented director.

Terrence Malick and his The New World.

So idiosyncratic, so personal, such visuals, such a languorous style telling a complicated story, such long takes and sometimes nothing seeming to happen on the screen. I fought against The New World, started shifting in my seat and wondering how to gracefully exit, but then, somewhere in the movie, I stopped fighting, me against an artist's vision and talent, and let it go. Let myself slide into the unknown, except through art, world of 17th century America. Let it go into the kind of movie experience that is created by a genius like Terrence Malick. Or, in Public Enemies, Michael Mann.

John Dillinger's story by Michael Mann. Actors subsumed by his direction, the action scenes arresting and violence made lyrical. A two-and-a half-hour movie that seemed over far too soon. Johnny Depp becoming John Dillinger, strange accent and all, Marion's fragile toughness becoming Billy and Christian Bale's ferocious intensity making me forget accents or YouTube rants.

There is something ineffable about Michael Mann's direction in this movie. Something about his use of colors, as is his signature style, the use of swelling, bass heavy music to make his scenes reach from the screen and grab your emotions, what he shows you on the screen. It's so Michael Mann. The texture of his movies, so personal, literally filled and made special by his Mann-erisms. Take any frame from his movies, and, like Fellini, Ford, Scorsese, Ridley Scott, every movie lover would know, from one shot, who the director was immediately. Probably, every movie lover could close their eyes and listen to just how music was used and know, as well.

It's a great movie experience, despite the script, because of Michael Mann's talent.

Perhaps, style over substance, but movies have always been more than the sum of their parts. Great ones are anyway.

Shawn Healy: Planet Palin

2009-07-08T01:54:39Z

Last August, Senator John McCain plucked political novice Sarah Palin, the upstart Governor of Alaska, from relative obscurity to constitute an unlikely Republican presidential ticket. Her rise was meteoric and instantly embraced by a party base that was never enamored with its less-than-conservative standard-bearer. The pick of Palin brought tremendous energy to an otherwise lackluster convention, and her vice presidential acceptance speech elevated the self-described "pitbull in lipstick" to iconic status.

However, controversy surfaced even before the convention began. Her teenage daughter Bristol was pregnant, much to the chagrin of the socially conservative wing of the party that Palin represents, but rather than flee, the base rallied around the hockey mom from the "coolest" state. An ethics probe examined Palin's firing of an Alaska state trooper, who was also her former brother-in-law, where her husband, Todd, intervened at several junctures. Even Palin's wardrobe drew disdain when it became apparent that the Republican National Committee spent hundreds of thousands of dollars outfitting its emergent "queen."

By all counts McCain and Palin had a successful convention, and they enjoyed a bounce in the polls that yielded a fleeting lead of nearly 10 points over Obama-Biden in early September. Soon, Lehman Brothers and the financial sector would collapse, and with it McCain-Palin's hopes of an upset bid. McCain was unfairly portrayed as a stooge of the unpopular incumbent, clueless on the economy and a captive of the neoconservatives who led us into two Middle Eastern wars. Palin didn't help matters with disastrous performances in the national media, specifically in one-on-one interviews with ABC's Charlie Gibson and CBS' Katie Couric.

Palin became the object of slapstick when Saurday Night Live's Tina Fey parodied her on a weekly basis. She would later embrace this humor at her expense, as would thousands of women who wore up-do's, wire-rim glasses, and red business suits for Halloween. Palin continued to draw massive crowds and proved an impressive orator, in some cases eclipsing her running mate, but when the dust settled, the two parted ways in a devastating defeat.

Monday morning quarterbacks suggested that McCain may have prevailed if he made a parallel pick to Obama's Joe Biden. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and current Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty would've sufficed. By my count, they may have tightened the contest, but the stars were truly aligned for Obama. 2008 was a Democratic year, and when he dispatched Hillary Clinton, the race was his to lose, and of course, he ran a remarkable campaign just in case.

Palin returned home and resumed her duties as Governor. The ethics probes and Freedom of Information requests continued, as did her run-ins with the national media. Her pre-Thanksgiving pardon of a turkey turned embarrassing with the sound of slaughter in the background, and her public spat with David Letterman forced an apology from the funnyman but did little to restore her family's dignity. Then came her surprising announcement on Friday: she would resign her position before the end of the month.

The implications of her decision are far from clear the following week. If she truly has national political aspirations, why leave behind her best shot at bolstering her resume? True, running for re-election next year was probably off the table, given the challenges of traveling the lower 48 while burdened by gubernatorial duties. Firming up her national resume is next to impossible since Alaska has only a single House seat, occupied by a 19-term congressman, Don Young, who is also a Republican. Palin is also blocked in the Senate, where Republican Lisa Murkowski will likely seek her second full term next fall.

This means Palin must assume the pitfalls of "movement" candidacies, running for the nation's highest office on the basis of lofty ideals and downplaying the importance of tried-and-true experience. She certainly has her loyal fans interspersed throughout the party base, but Republicans are known to work off of a pecking order. First-time candidates rarely gain the nomination. Since Richard Nixon's victory in 1968, only Gerald Ford in 1976 and George W. Bush in 2000 served as the party standard bearer in their first run for the White House. Ford was an unelected incumbent president and Bush the son of a former president.

At the same time, the Republican Party is in a state of disarray. Two of its presidential hopefuls, Nevada Senator John Ensign and South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, were cast aside with awkward news of extramarital affairs. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal delivered a not-yet-ready-for-primetime response to the president's address to Congress last February. Utah Governor Jon Huntsman was sent overseas by the Democratic president on a diplomatic mission. This leaves retreads Romney and Mike Huckabee, and perhaps radioactive former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, as Palin's potential opponents. Intriguing possibilities include the aforementioned outgoing Governor Pawlenty and Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, but neither are household names.

Bottom line: It's too early to write Palin off, especially with the Republican Party clearly sentenced to the backwoods for at least the foreseeable future. Her rise and fall taught us to expect the unexpected. So pull up a chair and watch as the hockey mom brings her act to the continental U.S.

Michael L. Millenson: A Second City Warning to Obama

2009-07-07T17:06:16Z

For all those Obama-ites confident that they won't make the same mistakes pushing health care reform that the Clinton administration did, might I suggest a trip back home?

Just a few minutes into the Second City comedy troupe's latest show, America: All Better!, the usual japes about the Jesus-like hopes projected onto our 44th president gave way to a quick bit about health care reform. A doctor was telling a woman that her diagnosis gave her only three months to live. When she pleaded for help, he told her that the good news was that Obama's health reform plan meant she was scheduled for her next visit just six months from now.

Bad news for Obama -- the audience laughed.

Conventional wisdom says that the shopworn distortions and deceptions that killed health care reform in the past have lost their sting due to combination of middle-class economic worries and soothing on-message reassurances. Perhaps. But comedy works only when it connects with real anxieties. The fact that Second City comics in the heart of Chicago are successfully playing to GOP-fueled fears of rationing should raise a bright red warning flag at the White House.

Here's another warning sign: I was talking with a liberal physician friend who's spent his career serving people in the kinds of Chicago neighborhoods where Obama worked as a community organizer. But my friend's instant reaction to my optimism about reform was concern: "I hope Obama doesn't just open up the government's checkbook." This from a primary care physician whose patients are overwhelming poorly insured or have no insurance at all! But he's also a middle-class guy with taxes to pay and kids to put through college.

A similar warning sign flashed on the recent ABC News special featuring questions for the president. Pastor David Hattenfield of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Cumberland, Maryland rose to address President Obama . He did not ask about the 46 million without health insurance or the estimated 20,000 men and women who die every year -- roughly 55 people every single day -- as a result. Instead, he was concerned about government "taking over" health care and his taxes going up.

In answering the good pastor, Obama, no doubt on autopilot, provided fiscal reassurance, citing his plan to cap itemized deductions for those making over $250,000 a year. Conspicuous by its absence was any reference to morality, Christian principles or the common good.

Yes, I know the administration is constantly rolling out stories featuring average Americans hurting because of inadequate health care. But are the 85 percent of Americans with health insurance listening? There is nothing Republican opponents would like better than for the debate over health care to devolve into a discussion about taxes.

Finally, there is the balancing act of when to roll out specifics. At some point, supporters of reform like myself need specific legislative language we can use to debunk the overarching sense of danger and dread opponents are seeking to instill. Yes, specifics are supposedly on their way, and yes, the upcoming full-court press by the administration to sell reform to Congress and the public may indeed culminate in America, All Better!

But right now, that's going to take one heck of a second act.

Bill Sweetland: Education in Chicago: Chicago Public Schools Have Improved? Baloney!

2009-07-07T01:44:04Z

The latest education report ("Still Left Behind: Student Learning in Chicago's Public Schools," June, 2009) of the Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago prompted me to think: What if these crude, vulgar businessmen and lawyers who live in the suburbs, hampered and blinkered as they are by their upbringing, training and class on the subject of "education," are closer to the truth about schooling in Chicago than our Chicago Public Schools bureaucracy, our State Board of Education and Mayor Daley's publicity team?

After having read and reflected on this report, I think the Civic Committee has a much firmer grasp of the realities of public education than our professional educators, politicians and publicists.

The Civic Committee report urges us not to trust Daley and former CPS chief Arne Duncan's claim that they have turned around the massively failing Chicago Public Schools since 2000.

The reform supposed to have taken place in the last 15 years in the Chicago Public Schools is a lie, a fraud whose victims are not only the public, but also the politicians and educrats and teachers unions themselves.

They justify their blindness, their convenient self-delusion, by telling themselves that Illinois needs more federal money -- the awarding of which is partly based on showing you've raised test scores -- in order to finance further reform that will have real teeth and meaning in it.

The authors of "Still Left Behind" assert that in 2006, "changes in the [Illinois Standards Achievement Test, or 'ISAT'] test (and testing procedures) made by the Illinois State Board of Education made it much easier for Chicago public school students to achieve scores that met state standards."

In the subject of reading, the Civic Committee says, there was no huge, miraculous 21-point gain from 2004 to 2008 in the percentage of city eighth-graders who met Illinois standards.

Same thing for math. The official figures say that the number of eighth-graders who met Illinois standards increased from 33 percent in 2004 to 70 percent in 2008.

No, says the Civic Committee. It's all bunk.

The Civic Committee reasons like this: If our middle-school kids had made solid, impressive advances in reading and math from 2004 to 2008, we would have seen a significant rise in the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE) scores of our 11th-graders in 2007 and 2008.

In fact, the percentage of Chicago 11th-graders who met state standards in reading, math and science in 2008, as determined by the results of the PSAE, was exactly the same as it was in 2001: 27.2 percent.

And that 27.2 percent figure is more than four points below the mark (31.4 percent) achieved by Chicago high school juniors in 2005, before any eighth-grade classes who made those alleged big gains in their ISAT reading, science and math scores starting in 2004 could have possibly progressed to the 11th grade.

The committee's logic is compelling.

The stark conclusion: Nothing that Paul Vallas, Mayor Daley or Arne Duncan did in the last 15 years has had any significant effect on the number of CPS students who can read and write acceptably and do arithmetic, fractions and elementary algebra easily. It's all an illusion.

There is a weakness in the Civic Committee report. The writers of "Still Left Behind" don't tell us how these changes in the test and test procedures were made in 2006. They don't tell us what these changes were. They don't give real examples from the tests before and after the changes were made. They don't show how, in detail, the old test was harder than the new.

Yes, I know that there are substantial legal issues in bringing the facts before the public. Perhaps the Civic Committee couldn't cite chapter and verse from the two tests. Perhaps it would have been illegal and impossible to put them side by side to show how the difficulty of the older test had been lessened.

But surely the Civic Committee could have found some way to discuss the changes in test content and procedure so as not to give away critical information or to compromise the next administering of the easier post-2006 version of the ISAT test.

(In my next blog, I'll discuss the diminishing likelihood that any Chicago school reform will ever take place.)

Esther J. Cepeda: Chicagoan Isai Madriz Riding the Rails in Argentina

2009-07-03T23:18:49Z

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 low-income students to go to college.

I've written about him several times (read the September post on him here, and the most recent post from March here), chronicling his amazing adventures as he rides 22,500 miles from Montgomery, Ill., a tiny 'burb outside Aurora, to Tierra del Fuego (''Land of Fire'') at the southernmost tip of Argentina, then up to Caracas, Venezuela.

Why in the world would anybody do that? He's doing it because after struggling to pay tuition and board at Humboldt State University in California, he wanted to make it easier on other young Latino students pursuing their college degrees. So he decided to make the bike trip to raise funds for college-bound low-income Hispanic students.

On this incredibly long journey he's been chased by dogs, broken several bones, been bitten by truly horrifying bugs and fought off several debilitating viruses.

He crossed into South America August 11, 2008, and was in Colombia in early September. In February 2009 he crossed into Argentina and just this week he sent me a note from Buenos Aires.

"During these last three months I've been a volunteer at the Patagonia Nature Foundation," Isai wrote in Spanish. "During my stay I've [helped] rehabilitate vultures, liberated a small, hairy armadillo, and served only the best lettuce leaves and roots to a very discriminating turtle.

"In mid-May I met a new friend, Adrian Marino, an Argentinian from the Silver City -- who I met, ironically, one morning out on a deserted road back in January when he, too, was riding his bike. We hooked up and he introduced me to an engineering student named Javier Grange who let us use his garage to make a contraption to ride the rails."

Apparently, the boys designed, built, ripped apart and rebuilt this two-bike frame five times before they got it to work on the rails serviceably, though screechily, but the friction on the rails made for too many sparks and they shortly abandoned the contraption for just regular biking (folks, I am NOT making this stuff up!).

Not to be discouraged, Isai and his traveling companion decided to try again.

"Right now we are preparing to continue our journey anew and we have constructed a new and improved apparatus for riding the rail so we can traverse the next 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) to Bolivia by rail," he gushed in his note. "I will keep you abreast of what happens."

No mention of how his fund raising efforts for the low-income college students are going, but in his earnest and self-effacing dispatches he seems to be having so much darned fun I just don't have the heart to ask what I already know: you can't squeeze blood from a stone -- folks in South America are even poorer than "starving" college kids in Illinois.

But that's where you come in!

As Isai continues on his way I'll keep sharing his stories with you. If you'd like to help him help poor college kids you can send donations -- which will go to the education fund, not to Isai's travel expenses -- to: Jesus Guadalupe Foundation, 902 S. Randall Road, Suite C-322, St. Charles, IL 60174. Write "For Isai" on the check.

Esther J. Cepeda writes about dreamers, bicyclists, Latin America, and much, much more on www.600words.com

Mike Doyle: CTA Surveys Customers ... Badly

2009-07-03T23:10:32Z

This week, the Chicago Transit Authority is surveying riders on the front page of its Web site. As you might expect (especially in the still-turbulent wake of Ron Huberman's exit), the agency is doing a rotten job of it.

Especially for a transit provider with a historically bad relationship with its riders, customer surveys should be brief, friendly, well crafted and easy to understand. The CTA's current survey is none of those things.

Instead, it is full of industry jargon (How many of you take "CTA Rail" to work?), double-barreled questions and closed-minded assumptions about its own ridership. And if you work in a number of fields, including communications, the very first question tells you they're not going to trust your answers -- no matter how regular a CTA rider you are.

This unfortunate survey is obviously a rush job. CTA just lost $35 million from its budget by dint of an RTA vote last Thursday and needs to figure out how to prioritize the money that's left and lobby for aid in the future. You'd think the agency would have been attending to both issues already. The haphazard nature of this survey says otherwise.

Maybe CTA President Richard Rodriguez should spend less time driving to work and more time attending to the system that 1.5 million riders a day depend on to get around Chicago. In the Sun-Times article linked above, he says he does it to spend more time with his kids. Hands up other captive CTA riders reading this who'd like to have the same option? How dare the head of any transit agency drive to work in his own city?

Here's the comment I submitted to the CTA near the end of the survey, when they finally asked my opinion. Of course, I work in communications, so who knows if they'll ever get around to reading it.

"I cannot believe how badly written and edited this survey was. It was obviously a rush job, and if it wasn't, then it's even more of an embarrassment you took time on it and it still resulted in such a wooden, wordy, badly written document.
You have jargon dropped in all through it. You ask riders to rate 'Your CTA Rail'? Our CTA Rail what? You mean our local L line? The L line we use most regularly? Do you honestly think your riders use the same jargon your internal planners do?

In the question asking why riders use CTA, you were so closed-minded you didn't even include the potential answer, 'Because I prefer to.' I do. I don't drive. Don't know how. Have never paid a gas tax in my life. I am the kind of rider who should be your biggest advocate.

Congratulations on creating a customer-aimed document so badly realized that all I intend to do now is show it to my friends as yet another example of how clueless the CTA is internally. Your lack of commitment to your own agency seriously makes me want to learn how to drive."

Though I'd probably never follow through on that last part, I meant every (other) word. Rodriguez, if you don't mind, get out of your car and attend to our transit system, please.

And hire a new survey writer while you're at it.

Sarah Lovinger: Health Care Rationing? The US Has Been Rationing Care for Years

2009-07-03T16:48:00Z

Conservative pundits and politicians so quickly jump all over the Democrats' attempts to provide health care for all, bemoaning that any expansion of government programs will lead to health care rationing. Images of middle-aged men standing in line at the local hospital, clutching their chests and popping nitroglycerine pills while waiting endlessly for the artery-cleaning heart operations they need lest they drop dead may come to mind -- in the style of a make-believe Canadian or British 'socialist' health care system -- where basic medical needs are delayed for months or years, as opposed to our shining, efficient, and above all, fair system where, true to our democracy, Americans get the care they need when they need it. I am not sure in which alternate reality these Conservative nay-sayers live, but as a primary care doctor working with uninsured patients, I can assure you that health care has been rationed in the US for years.

Since I completed my internal medicine residency in 1996 and started to work in community health centers in Chicago and Boston, I have seen the plight of my uninsured patients go from bad to worse as fewer people become eligible for Medicaid, county hospitals start to charge for services, and waits for an appointment with me become longer. But as a doctor married to a doctor, I have always had great health insurance coverage, getting all the care I need. How fair is that?

Yesterday, an uninsured woman in her mid-20s came to my clinic for her first visit with me and her annual Pap test. In discussing her concerns -- she is currently healthy -- it turns out she has a strong family history of early breast cancer. Both her mother and her maternal aunt were diagnosed with pre-menopausal breast cancer, and this young woman was naturally concerned about her own risks. As a doctor, I talked about her concerns and her risks and her rather limited options, given her lack of health insurance. But as a patient and another human, I could naturally relate. I too have a strong family history cancer history.

My mother died of ovarian cancer about 23 years ago, and age 57, and my brother, now 50, was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer at age 41. He had a rocky course at first, but his tumor responded to chemotherapy, and he is now in complete remission. When he was first diagnosed, I knew that I needed to get a colonoscopy, the best test to detect colon cancer and pre-cancerous polyps. The wait for a routine colonoscopy can take months, but I found a doctor willing to add me to her schedule within a few weeks. Certainly my private insurance did not hurt my chances for getting the test I needed quickly.

I have also undergone intensive genetic counseling and screening for 2 family cancer syndromes: hereditary breast and ovarian cancer and HNPCC, or Lynch syndrome. As a Jewish American of Eastern European ancestry, my mother's ovarian cancer imparts on me a higher risk of having either the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. My brother's early colon cancer together with my mother's cancer also increases my risk of having Lynch syndrome, or a set of genes that increase my risk for colon, ovarian and uterine cancer. How do I know all of this? Being a doctor does not hurt, but mostly having private insurance has given me access to experts in the field of medical genetics, lot's of helpful counseling, and ultimately, expensive genetic tests. I have been tested for both the BRCA1 and 2 genes and my brother's tumor was tested for the Lynch syndrome genes. All the tests came back negative, and my doctor and her assistant were able to conclude that I do not appear to have a genetic predisposition to the kind of cancers that have struck my family members. I still need routine screening and more frequent colonoscopies than the general population, but my private health insurance pays for it (well 80% -- that's another story), and so I can get the care I need.

But what about my patient? I was able to refer her for a mammogram, and unless the looming Illinois budget catastrophe cuts the free mammogram programs offered here, she will be able to get a mammogram now and hopefully, periodically, but that is only a small amount of the care she truly needs. I did refer her for genetic counseling which would most likely lead to genetic testing because I need to practice income-blind care, but will she really get genetic testing? I doubt it. As a single mom, currently unemployed and struggling a bit, I doubt she could pay the $3000 or so out-of-pocket for the test to determine if she does have the BRCA1 and 2 genes that put her at a higher risk for early, potentially deadly breast cancer. Without insurance, she probably will forgo not only the genetic testing, but also the frequent breast MRIs or even preventive mastectomy that a medical geneticist would possibly recommend, if her genetic testing revealed a risky set of genes. I told her to try to get a job that would give her health insurance and hope the federal government can provide health insurance for all soon. Until then, she might as well keep her fingers crossed. I know I will.