The Electoral College convenes today in state capitols across the country to stamp its imprimatur on our recent, horrifying election. This antiquated, anti-democratic convocation was much on my mind two weeks ago when I returned to Chicago to appear at...  read

I'm delighted to be appearing tonight at a very special edition of Chicago's Tuesday Funk reading series. It's the 100th episode of the long-running series. In honor of that occasion, current hosts Andrew Huff and Eden Robins have invited all...  read

Unaware of the severity of the storms on the horizon, two men and a dog set out on harrowing car trip from Chicago to New York City.  read

I'll be appearing next week in not one but two of Chicago's most electric reading series—or "live lit," as we call it 'round these parts. They'll be on consecutive nights, no less, so please block out April 16 and 17...  read

Biking on Bryn Mawr Avenue, clear sky, afternoon sun, I pull over to the curb for the ambulance hurtling my way. But it turns on Clark, and as I pass through the intersection I see the gapers gathered, the body...  read

Some of you know I co-produce and co-host a monthly reading series, Tuesday Funk, at a great little bar here in Chicago. At our October event about three weeks ago, I read my story "The Visitors at Wriggly Field," which...  read

Golfers in the rain with travel mugs of coffee, like this is their job.  read

First off, I must say that I made it home and back safely. There was some debate about whether or not this month's Tuesday Funk reading would even happen, what with the blizzard and all going on here in Chicago....  read

The sidewalk trees drop their skirts of dirty snow for a silver-tongued winter rain, exposing a careless mulch of cigarettes butts, not to mention the occasional dog turd and chicken bone. Nothing better to do, trees, than eat, shit, and...  read

This morning, with a high of seventy degrees in the forecast, amazing for a November in Chicago, I drove the dog to Warren Park. That's where we go for a special treat instead of our usual neighborhood walk, because the...  read