The Monthly Memo — August Edition

Between 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. 

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The Monthly Memo — May Edition

I 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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The Monthly Memo — April Edition

This month I want to preview an article that I am currently writing. The Great Altars of the Catholic Church (like the one above from St. John Cantius in Chicago) are artistic treasures. But more than that, they fulfill an aesthetic need that centers and grounds the rituals of the Mass by reminding us of the celebration's solemnity. Unfortunately, post-Vatican II churches have largely done away with their altars and replaced them with bland ones, usually made of simple cuts of marble. 

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The Monthly Memo — March Edition

In this month's article for The Federalist I argue that the Democratic Party is facing extinction. Hillary Clinton's upset loss in November finally put the nail in the coffin of the "demographic destiny" theory. Her defeat also threw into contrast the deficiencies of the Democratic coalition assembled for President Obama's two electoral victories and demonstrated that the fissures in the party run deeper than we assumed pre-election day.

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