Archive for April, 2010
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April 8, 2010

A Son’s Easter Sunday

  Me, with natty tie and brother Doug, circa 1967.

Monday, April 5, 2010

The north wing of Edward Hospital in Naperville featues a cul-de-sac a bit smaller than the loop-de-loop I grew up on a couple miles away. On Easter Sunday I visited my Mom in the hospital. Basking in the sun of a promised summer, two families wheeled out new borns in spiffy carriages tied up with congratulatory balloons. A proud father smiled and said ‘Good morning.’ My Mom, 88, was having her blood clots dissolved.Such is the circle of life.My Mom is a strong minded coal miner’s daughter from downstate Taylorville, Illinois. My Dad, which you may have read in previous blogs, came up through the [...]

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April 8, 2010

Dave Hoekstra’s 25 years of ‘adventure and discovery’

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

The future of newspapering depends on thinking outside the box.One dream I can’t shake is to have Sun-Times news boxes hand painted in a folk art motif by young Chicago students. I first saw this on the sleepy streets of Fairbanks, Alaska during the summer of 2005 when I attended the Midnight Sun Baseball Game (that starts at midnight on June 21; Summer Solstice). The boxes were quirky, colorful and drew attention. The boxes depicted cartoon figures and regional landmarks.

When I returned from that trip I mentioned this to my friends at the Hideout music club who said they would be willing to coordinate students and host an art [...]

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April 8, 2010

Two Brothers at Wrigley Field

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

The save is a big part of being a brother.I didn’t understand this on August 21, 1975. My brother Doug and I were in the left field bleachers at Wrigley Field. Doug was 13 years old. I had just turned 20.The Cubs were playing the Dodgers and we were keeping score—-just as we sometimes did into our adult lives. Andy Messersmith was the starting pitcher for Los Angeles and Rick “Big Daddy” Reuschel (one of my all time favorite Cubs) took the mound for Chicago. It was a meaningless game. The Cubs were in 5th place with a 58-68 record. Only 8,377 fans were in attendance.

I’m looking at my scorecard now. Rick Monday went 2 for 4 and [...]

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April 8, 2010

A Region of Place

Sunday, February 7, 2010

WHITING, Ind.—-Surely there is no place like this place.While the name of the Purple Steer restaurant suggests a 1968 acid trip from Haight-Ashbury, the 24-hour diner is in fact at the working class corner of Indianapolis Boulevard and Calumet Avenue in Whiting. On the west corner the Purple Steer faces the Robertsdale Inn, a ramshackle tropical drink roadhouse. The north side looks out over Oasis Discount Liquors.This is Caribbean escapism for the Calumet Region, one of the grittiest sections of America.On the clearest of days the skies can be gray.The countryside is dotted with “Tank Farms,” a series of mundane white septic [...]

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