Chicago Sun-Times

Sing out for the U.S. after Boston

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 02:49:43 -0500

No doubt about it, watching — and listening — to video of the crowd in Boston sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Bruins game Wednesday night really tugged at our collective heartstrings. There it was, the first sporting event in Boston after the terrible tragedy inflicted Monday on that city — and the rest of us. Tight security outside TD Garden. Inside, an anxious crowd ready for the emotional release of some hockey. Walking down your familiar streets and seeing law enforcement in hazmat jumpsuits can’t be easy. Then in that darkened stadium the singing began, gaining strength as more …

Memorials reveal a sense of helplessness

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 06:26:44 -0500

Those memorials drive me crazy. You know the ones I’m talking about. The piles of teddy bears and flowers sitting below balloons at the site of where yet another person has been gunned down in Chicago. Those memorials that TV cameras flock to, where they’ll capture images of yet another crowd of young people writing on poster boards, not for a school project but to scribble words of sympathy. Those memorials that will be in the photos that newspapers — and now social media — take of crowds wearing buttons and T-shirts with the victim’s photo, manufactured in what seems …

For-profit joints can’t beat an SIU

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 06:31:37 -0500

The conversation between the mom and daughter walking in front of me had grown quite animated, so I decided to listen in. From what I could gather, Mom herself hadn’t gone to college and admitted it wasn’t something she knew much about. Still, she had her reservations. But that wasn’t stopping the teen from putting on the hard sell about why she should do this. And with that, they walked into one of those for-profit colleges. No, I wanted to shout, don’t do that! Just last summer U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) headed a committee that released a highly critical …

Adele is patron saint of new moms

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 06:19:19 -0500

SUE ONTIVEROS: In this season of awards for entertainers, I would like to nominate Adele as patron saint of new moms.

Latin superstar Jenni did it all

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 06:23:05 -0500

Like so many others, I was shocked by the sudden death of Latin superstar Jenni Rivera. Just hours before the plane she and her entourage were traveling in went down last weekend, the Diva of Banda had performed before thousands in Monterrey, Mexico. Many in mainstream America might have been unfamiliar with Rivera, despite the Mexican-American entertainer having record sales rivaling Taylor Swift and a host of other successful businesses. But that was just about to change, and it’s that lost opportunity for not only Rivera but Latinos in general that has me wistful. In the week before her death …

Cranberries are much more than a side dish this Thanksgiving

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 11:42:51 -0500

I f you were to compare the days of my Dad’s life to an hourglass, you’d see the sand racing to the bottom, with those around him having little chance of stopping it. Dad was diagnosed with end-stage prostate cancer in late May; it now was in his bones. This pretty much surprised us all because until then it seemed as if the disease was being held at bay. Yes, he’s 83, but this is someone who was up on his roof cleaning leaves out of the gutters only last fall. But boy, have things changed rapidly since that diagnosis.My …

We can’t take abortion rights for granted

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 06:06:12 -0500

As one male GOP candidate after another has stepped up to play “Father Knows Best” when it comes to abortion — particularly when it involves a rape victim — I keep asking myself how has it come to this: that women’s reproductive rights are in such danger and decisions about them are potentially in the hands of so many misinformed men. In the recent past, I have written about and wondered how the educated Republican women I know can give a pass to their party platform, which clearly states: “We assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the …

‘GIRL POWER’ A RECENT VICTORY

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 06:18:02 -0500

One day a younger male colleague asked if there were things I hadn’t been able to do because I was female. Before I could answer, a female co-worker his age jumped into the conversation. “What a stupid question,” she snapped, before adding that there wasn’t anything I couldn’t do. While I appreciated her confidence in my abilities, I had to set her straight. Actually, I told them, there were a lot of things I couldn’t do. Couldn’t be an altar boy. Couldn’t be a paper boy. Almost couldn’t be the editor of my high school paper (I put up enough …

Todd Akin, GOP women and the ‘Dirty Dancing’ factor

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 23:05:47 -0500

SUE ONTIVEROS: Todd Akin may have others obsessing over election chances and party politics. Me? I’m thinking about”Dirty Dancing” and Republican women. Hang around, you’ll see where I’m going with this.

Chicago or the suburbs? Depends on your attitude

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 06:13:11 -0500

A letter writer on our editorial page last week started out by admitting she could never survive in the city, and she gave 10 reasons why. I was OK with her not being a city type. I could never make it in the suburbs, having learned that the day I was visiting a friend in her very neat tree-lined suburb. Lovely place. But as we pulled out of the driveway, she sighed, looked at a neighbor’s pumpkin that was out front and said, “Don’t they know Halloween is over?” It was Nov. 2. In that moment I realized that if …

Why bikini onesie is not a joke

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 10:32:41 -0500

It should be just another goofy gift for baby. But it’s not, and that’s what’s got me mad — and for a variety of reasons. I’m talking about the latest “fun” onesie. Anyone who has a child or has been to a baby shower knows the product — and the evolution — that I am talking about. It used to be that onesies — one-piece cotton bodysuits for babies — were plain and white, like T-shirts. Now, like everything else, that’s not enough, so they come in a slew of colors and prints, many with illustrations or words. This latest …

Sending NBC a loud message

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 06:12:59 -0500

I’m thisclose to breaking up with NBC. I was going to keep my mouth shut about it, but then I ran into that woman on the elevator last week. Thicker than she probably was at a younger age, yet her body language told me she was OK with that. She was comfortable with herself, so didn’t mind striking up a conversation with a stranger. Intelligent, self-deprecating in her humor. I would have liked to talk to her longer. Something about her seemed familiar and then it hit me: She reminded me of Kathy Bates’ character Harriet Korn of NBC’s “Harry’s …

Let moms just enjoy their special day

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 08:21:58 -0500

On this Mother’s Day, I want to visit with my sweet little mother, something I am lucky to still be able to do. Spending time with my boy is on the list, too. So is relaxing, maybe finishing what I’m reading for book club. I do not want to be made to feel guilty because I don’t choose to spend the day saving the world. I should have spoken up about all this when the breast cancer movement decided that Mother’s Day was when we — mostly women, and a whole lot of moms — should get up before dawn …

Reunions beat Facebook hands down

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 17:24:46 -0500

Awhile back, a co-worker wrote a column about skipping his high school reunion. With Facebook and other social media you can find out what your classmates are up to, he reasoned, so the need for an in-person get-together wasn’t there. I was shocked. Yet it turns out he’s not alone. While social media has made class reunions easier to organize, the schoolmate get-togethers are down, particularly for the 10-year reunion, different news stories report. This amazes me. I have spent much of my adult life hoping I’d see the kids from the Class of 1972 from Bowen High School on …

TV shows give Englewood one-sided rap

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:49:29 -0500

TV writers have latched onto Englewood, and not in a good way. First time I noticed was on “Boss,” which is centered around fictional Chicago mayor Tom Kane (Kelsey Grammer). In an early scene, a young man, Darius, brings his ailing uncle to a clinic run by Kane’s estranged daughter, Emma. She seeks an address. “Englewood,” is all that’s said, Emma flashes a knowing look and that’s that. What? Englewood is so troubled it has no street addresses? Later, Emma gets involved with Darius, who is intriguing, but a drug dealer (a plus — she’s a user). Last I saw …

So much for the myth Latinos are a drain on local economy

Wed, 09 May 2012 10:01:54 -0500

It would be so easy to just crow in this column. Because a report released Wednesday by the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies substantiates with solid numbers what I have said all along: Latinos just want a better quality of life for their families and are willing to do the hard work that it takes to attain it. I knew that from what I’ve witnessed: the woman selling tamales from a curbside cart with snow piled around her; busboys riding worn-out bikes (before pedaling became “cool”) to their Loop gigs; the dad and son riding in a …

New twists for Taste fine for this fest fan

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 08:17:50 -0500

It was the Italian ice quest last summer that made me realize Taste of Chicago was in trouble. A friend and I had just watched Loretta Lynn perform. Maybe we were perspiring in sympathy for the country queen, who was dressed in a long-sleeved sequined gown with a high neck and full skirt. All I know is that we were hot, hot, hot. We needed something cool — and fast. And we got it. That was the problem. See, as a veteran of more Tastes than I can count, I knew what the crowd should have been like after that …

What the Bible really says about gays

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:40:12 -0500

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