Chicago is not an “oasis of interest in a Midwestern desert,” contributor Jacob Bruggeman writes, “but an epicenter of regional activity that shares in the rich environments, diverse cultures, and a revival of the heartland on the national stage.”
Read MoreThe Final Table offers a new way to confer culinary recognition: great chefs recognizing another as their own. With some adjustments, season two will be essential food television.
White Sox manager Rick Renteria speaks about his faith life. “I don't believe that I'm above anybody else,” he said in an interview. “I mean, I'm from very humble beginnings. And I think that we all have a place alongside of each other.”
Read MoreIt is good for the country to hear the Midwest’s voice, and good for for the Midwest to exercise it. This is because in hearing it, the nation has a better shot at being more integrated and balanced, and in speaking it, the Midwest might become more truly itself.
Read MoreIf you are big into politics, the odds are you've heard of RealClearPolitics. Around election years they come up in the news about their polling aggregation method, which usually turns out to be a more accurate predictor of an election's outcome than any one poll would be individually. But RealClear is also well known for it's homepage, which collections news and opinion from a variety of sources, regardless of partisan bent.
Read MorePart of my goal in rebooting The Monthly Memo has always been to launch an interview series. On the website I put up a brief article laying out what this series will entail: interviews with prominent Chicagoans about Chicago. I have noticed over time that a lot of very famous and well known people get their starts here, even if they move out eventually. My goal with this series is to shine the spotlight on Chicago by talking to the people the city has put out into the world.
Read MoreI realize that it is now April and I am sending out March's Memo. When Loyola made the NCAA tournament earlier in March I figured I would send this out once they lost and March's Memo would be a good recap of things. But then they won. And they won again, and again, and again. They made the Final Four for the first time since 1963, where they finally, heartbreakingly, lost to Michigan.
Read MoreChicago is losing it's civic language, and when words disappear they don't come back.
Read MoreThe Monthly Memo is changing! Read more here about what you can expect in the near future.
Read MoreI recently visited Europe for the first time in four years, and the first time not as a student. Europe does not change; it is the Old World for a reason. A priest friend of mine I met in Rome put it nicely: “It’s not like they move the buildings.”
Read MoreThis month I had a great opportunity to read Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law, Faith, and Life Well Lived, a new collection of mostly unpublished speeches by the late, great Antonin Scalia (in the above photo he is wearing a hat that well-known jurist and Catholic saint Thomas More was known to wear)
Read MoreFor those who have been subscribed to this newsletter from the start you may remember this article from all the way back in April(!). After a number of delays and a few rejections, this article finally found a place at The Federalist.
Read MoreBetween Second City and the nation's third largest media market it makes no sense to me why Chicago doesn't have a late night talk show. In this article I speculate about it -- the media and comedians don't intersect here like they do in New York or Los Angeles. But beyond that, America largely functions on a bi-coastal mentality. For a number of reasons, New York and L.A. run things. But Chicago is a respectably large city, and it would only be fitting if it reclaimed it's place in American culture.
Read MoreThe case of sick baby Charlie Gard has reignited the debate on the role of state in making health care decisions for those who are incapable of doing it themselves. In this case, should Charlie's parents be allowed to bring him to the United States for experimental treatment, or is it really in his "best interest" to be taken off life support, as the state claims?
Read MoreI find myself in a very odd situation. During the Republican primaries I was a #NeverTrump conservative. I never voted for him, I never advocated for him, and I was frustrated when the party decided time and time again to keep him on the ticket. To a large extent I'm in that same position today -- except now I find myself having to defend the president from the hyperventilating coastal media and politicians calling for his impeachment and removal from office.
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