Chicago Sun-Times :: Today's Columists ::

What makes God smile? -- and other questions for Lama

Fri, 5 Dec 2008 04:00 CST

On Tuesday, I wrote about the documentary film "10 Questions for the Dalai Lama" and what I'd ask if I ever had the chance -- as the filmmaker did -- to spend 45 minutes alone with the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists.

Only feds' cash can unclog the Wall Street traffic jam

BY BOB CHIRINKO — Fri, 5 Dec 2008 04:00 CST

The financial crisis has brought with it a vocabulary all its own. Terms like credit default swaps, subprime mortgages, tranches, collateralized debt obligations, and more leave all but the specialist in a fog. Perhaps two parables concerning Chicagoland expressways can help shed light on how we got into this situation, and the direction out.

Time to breathe life back into our big cities

DICK SIMPSON simpson@uic.edu — Fri, 5 Dec 2008 04:00 CST

It is time for an Urban New Deal with the beginning of the Obama administration.

A dead issue? A Ryan report . . .

Fri, 5 Dec 2008 04:00 CST

It's no secret that former Gov. George Ryan received international praise for his moratorium on the death penalty when he was in office.

Obama thanks 'early investors' event

Fri, 5 Dec 2008 04:00 CST

The Standard Club, 320 S. Plymouth Ct., is just down the street from President-elect Barack Obama's Chicago transition headquarters, and near 6 p.m. Thursday Obama and wife Michelle headed over there to thank a group crucial to his White House win: the powerhouses of the Illinois political donor community, who in the first quarter of 2007 raised enough to give Obama financial parity with Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Williams ready for morning challenges

Fri, 5 Dec 2008 04:00 CST

Lewis Lazare: Maybe it doesn't rank up there with tapping Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential nominee, but a lot of people in the know in the Chicago radio biz didn't see John Williams coming. By almost all accounts, WGN-AM (720) General Manager Tom Langmyer's decision to install mid-afternoon host John Williams in the all-important morning drive slot (starting Dec. 15) at Tribune Co.'s news/talk radio outlet was a surprise.

Williams ready for morning challenges

Fri, 5 Dec 2008 04:00 CST

Reinventing the pen pal for the digital age

TED PINCUS theopincus@hotmail.com — Fri, 5 Dec 2008 04:00 CST

Ted Pincus: What if you could enable 200,000 American kids to work with 2 million of their peers abroad -- online, real time -- on projects that teach them what global trade is all about? Today those subjects and many more are being pursued jointly through a remarkable network that is bringing today's technology to the old-fashioned "pen pal" concept.

Hendry, Williams join GMs for big-money swap meet

Fri, 5 Dec 2008 00:01 CST

Chris De Luca: Trying to get a clear read on the baseball landscape is tricky at this time of year because so much major talent still is sitting in the clearance aisle. But a week from today -- once the winter meetings conclude in Las Vegas -- we should have a much better feel for the six divisions.

Hendry, Williams join GMs for big-money swap meet

Fri, 5 Dec 2008 00:01 CST

Career, life shot to pieces

Fri, 5 Dec 2008 00:01 CST

Jason Cole sighs as he sums up his feelings about Plaxico Burress: ''What I would say about Plax is he's created a mess he can't correct. You just want to say to him, 'Dude, what were you thinking?'''

Horatio Alger musical is where the 'Boys' are

Fri, 5 Dec 2008 04:00 CST

During his summers as a kid, director-choreographer David H. Bell used to head to the library of UCLA with his dad, a professor, and choose about 10 books that would keep him going for a couple of weeks. Along the way he probably read about 40 of the approximately 270 "dime novels" penned by Horatio Alger Jr.

Updated 'Figaro' off the mark too often

Fri, 5 Dec 2008 04:00 CST

You will not hear Mozart's glorious arias in the Remy Bumppo Theatre Company production of "The Marriage of Figaro." Nor will you get a strong sense of what was really being said by Beaumarchais -- the dramatist whose landmark comedy, first staged in 1784 at the Comedie Francaise, not only inspired the opera, but whose tale of an exceedingly clever and uppity pair of servants is sometimes playfully credited with helping trigger the French Revolution.

Hubbard Street is an avenue of smiles in extraordinary winter program

Fri, 5 Dec 2008 04:00 CST

Although Hubbard Street Dance Chicago hasn't attached an umbrella title to its extraordinary winter program -- a collection of four works running through Sunday at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance -- "Comedy Tonight" would be a fitting one to append, even if it suggests only a small portion of the sensational choreographic invention, dance brilliance and pure sense of edgy fun now being displayed by the company.

He's taken aback by an invite from ex's boyfriend

BY ELLIE TESHER — Fri, 5 Dec 2008 04:00 CST

DEAR ELLIE: Three years ago, I dated a girl for four months until she broke up with me. I was madly in love and would've done anything to remain friends. For two years we were emotionally co-dependent, as neither of us was in a relationship. It ended amicably six months ago.

Local artists dish up unique 'Blue Plate Specials'

Fri, 5 Dec 2008 04:00 CST

Dave Hoekstra: The Blue Plate Special was first served into the American vernacular in 1892. Today, though, nearly 100 special blue plates were designed by 50 Chicago artists for a show that opens tonight and runs through Dec. 21 at Veeck's August House Studio, 2113 W. Roscoe.