Up until now, I thought the most ill-timed publication of a book award went to my friend Bill Ayers. His book, Fugitive Days, an account of his years in The Weather Underground included, among many other events of the time, stories of the group’s bombings of public buildings to protest the Viet Nam war. The book  emerged just as The Twin Towers were falling on 9/11/2001. Bill now has a...

Ever since the National Museum of African American History and Culture opened in 2016, we’ve been trying to score tickets to see what one very discerning friend said, after an early visit, was “nothing less than transformative.” We make several trips every year to the DC area to visit our daughter and her family. Before each visit Elana waged a determined online campaign to reserve tickets, to no...

Although we’ve lived in Chicago for 28 years now, we moved a lot before landing here –San Francisco, Boston, Mississippi, New York (Brooklyn actually), New Hampshire, Houston. We’re proud to say that we never left one step ahead of the law or out of unhappiness with the place. It was always pursuing a new opportunity or exciting experience. Each time we moved, there was that nagging question: how...

One of the most impressive products of the era of school reform in Chicago which began in 1989 was the creation of Catalyst Magazine. Its founder Linda Lenz, with a long history of covering the city’s education scene, saw the need for a watchdog to monitor the reform efforts. For the next several decades, Chicago was unique among cities in having investigative journalists tracking its every move...

Let me reintroduce someone who has been a character in my blog postings almost from the beginning. Alex was my student in the University of Chicago’s Urban Teacher Education Program 12 or 13 years ago. Our relationship didn’t end with her graduation. In fact, it’s grown and deepened. I have been her thought partner and sympathetic listener through her work in classrooms in Chicago and LA. I’ve...