The Doings Oak Brook

Low on bullets, but still plenty of blame

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:36:01 -0500

If your son comes home from summer camp without his shooting merit badge, blame President Obama, who will immediately blame Bush. I’m only half-kidding about blaming Obama and Bush. But no matter which true believers you believe, the little guy ends up getting hurt.

Time to clean house in nanny state

Fri, 03 May 2013 16:23:48 -0500

While you’ve been busy bailing water out of your basement, scratching together enough cash to pay taxes, and hoping the FBI stops a loser/terrorist before they can blow up your kid, here’s what the state has been doing to make life better for you.

The beautiful, shining soul of a diplomat

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:54:02 -0500

Anne Smedinghoff, the River Forest woman and Fenwick graduate killed in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan, had a beautiful face. I mean that her face, with her gentle smile and her deep brown but bright eyes, reveals the beauty of her soul.

The days that time begins again

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 17:18:01 -0500

Here it is the end of March and all I can think about is Opening Day, the greatest of all days. In Chicago, we will have two great days.

So much more for Catholics to discuss

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:08:01 -0500

Is the pope Catholic? I know that’s the start of an old, tired joke, a sarcastic way of answering someone who questions an obvious truth. I was reminded of this after watching news coverage of the election of Pope Francis.

Hawks skated onto uncharted ice

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 10:26:01 -0500

Guys love sports because every once in a while, something that has never happened before happens. Between the monotony of thousands of balls and strikes, running plays that end with no yards and a cloud of dust, or the first 47 minutes of every NBA game, sometimes lightning strikes. Remember the Miracle on Ice in 1980, or Kirk Gibson’s limp-off home run in the 1988 World Series, or Boston College’s last second Hail Mary pass to beat Miami in 1984? When it happens to a team you love, it makes the devotion you give your team worth it. For the …

Leaving was Benedict’s final lesson

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:48:26 -0500

As a Catholic, the death of a pope was a monumental event in the life of the church and the personal life of individual Catholics — bigger than first confession, first communion or confirmation, the big three sacraments. I still remember where I was when I first heard the news of the death of the last three popes. I was painting a house in Bloomington when Paul VI died in 1978, walking down Beacon Street in Boston when John Paul I died less than two months later, and driving down I-57 on the way home from Kentucky when John Paul …

Facing the truth, even when it hurts

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 11:38:01 -0500

It’s at the forefront. When you research Native American history, you don’t have to go far before you come to what is known as the Sand Creek Massacre. I first learned of it in high school — not in class but when I read the great book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown, at the time a professor at the University of Illinois. Everyone should read his book, which details what can only be described as America’s attitude of genocide toward Native people. Brown’s description of the Sand Creek Massacre, which occurred Nov. 29, 1864 in Colorado, …

Stopping to think on a snowy eve

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:40:02 -0500

Winter returned last week, and I was glad for it. For the last few months, I had been been given the false idea that I hated winter. It was cold and wet, with little one could do outdoors to enjoy weather. For a while, I began to accept our cold, snow-less and boring winter as the new norm. I thought, so this is global warming locally: Illinois politics with Kentucky weather. Yuck! But winter came back with 10 inches of snow on my block. I was ready for it, but then again I wasn’t. I’ve always taken good care of …

They never meant for that to happen

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:12:42 -0500

There is a law of unintended consequences at work in the universe. It goes something like this: You do something over here, and something over there happens that no one considered would happen.

No easy answers to gun-control questions

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:38:04 -0500

One can’t go into a sporting goods store or log on to the Internet without noticing the gun debate that is raging. While shopping at my favorite suburban Bass Pro Shop, I couldn’t help but notice the long line queued up at the gun counter. A co-worker went out and bought an AR-15 as an investment. He reasoned that once they are outlawed, which is on the horizon, his gun’s value will skyrocket. Another friend, a lifelong hunter, only takes to Facebook to post links to anti-NRA rants. Another friend only posts images of pledges to the 2nd Amendment. Meanwhile, …

Cheaters should be denied Hall admission

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 14:54:20 -0500

It is time for Major League Baseball to acknowledge what everyone knows: Cheating by players taking steroids was so rampant in the 1990s that the heart of the game — the statistics, which connect one generation of players to the next — was rendered meaningless.

You’ve got to know when to let go

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 14:13:48 -0500

How far would you go to keep an eye out for your son or daughter in college? Would you install monitoring software on the laptop he uses while away at school?

What kind of luck will ’13 bring?

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 15:10:01 -0500

Can anything good come from 2013? With a year ending in unlucky No. 13, will it go down as one of the worst years in history?

Vetting those vinyl records at Val’s Halla

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 14:56:02 -0500

I still remember my first visit to Val’s Halla, the longtime Oak Park records store on Garfield near Oak Park Avenue. It became a ritual for me. Get paid on Friday, cash my check that afternoon, and head to Val’s to buy some new music.

Searching for true meaning of Christmas

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 07:38:03 -0500

In this information age, there is no reason for anyone to be uninformed. Misinformed, perhaps, but not uninformed. Need an answer to a question? Just search the Web. Had Charlie Brown lived in the Internet age, he would not have agonizingly pleaded, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” He would have Googled it. So that’s what I did, searching for the “true meaning of Christmas.” My search returned what I would call the usual suspects of holiday answers. Christmas celebrates God incarnate coming into the world as Jesus Christ. Christmas is a time to bring those …

When Christmas goes to the movies

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:42:03 -0500

’Tis the season for holiday movies, with the airwaves filled with movies about Christmas. From “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” to “Christmas Vacation,” everyone has their favorites they must see during the season. Ever the contrarian, I’m a bit different. I like movies that aren’t really about Christmas but include the holiday. One wouldn’t think of “The Godfather” as a holiday movie, but Tom Hagen is shopping for Christmas presents when he is picked up by Sollozzo. They take Tom to a Christmas tree lot. And lest we forget, Michael and Kay are returning from a movie when he first learns …

Hazing incidents are more than a little troubling

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 18:10:02 -0500

For educators, job one is high academic standards and a safe learning environment. That is why the recent news coming out of Maine West, allegations of a ritual of hazing, bullying and sex assault, is so troubling to everyone involved in a school community.