Chicago Sun-Times

Hollywood antics fall flat in the real world

Sun, 15 Sep 2013 02:34:21 -0500

SUE ONTIVEROS: It would be nice if we could tell our young girls that when an entertainer like Miley Cyrus takes it all off, nothing good happens. But that’s not exactly true.

School cuts highlight parent role as teacher

Thu, 19 Sep 2013 09:52:02 -0500

Though I liked school, as a little kid I was anxious as each new year began. If I were a parent sending a child back to Chicago Public Schools, I know those knots would be in my stomach again, and for good reason. No matter how CPS tries to spin the school closings, you’d have to be pretty naive to think there won’t be schools in upheaval. The massive layoffs and tough budget cuts the schools face have to have an impact, particularly in art and music education. So while I am all for parents continuing this fight for quality …

Reality nothing like television

Thu, 22 Aug 2013 06:43:39 -0500

Keep an open mind, I told myself the day I opened the press kit for “Pregnant & Dating,” a show that debuted in May on WE tv. But honestly, I thought my head was going to explode. Really, this is Women’s Entertainment? I am not a fan of reality TV. I don’t get the fascination with watching people behave badly. Everyone talks sooo slow, like forming a thought takes too much effort. No one sounds as if they ever have read the side of a cereal box, let alone a book. I take issue that so many of these shows …

Dad’s gone; time for Chinese food!

Wed, 17 Jul 2013 06:47:33 -0500

SUE ONTIVEROS: There’s not a whole lot to laugh about when you’re watching your father die of cancer, especially in those last weeks. You witness a once strong body grow too weak to even stand unassisted, see an independent man who was always on the go now confined to spending his days in a solitary room. But the multiple requests for Chinese food never ceased to make me laugh for one simple reason: he never ate Chinese food before!

Billboards make you wonder, what if males were the ones who got pregnant?

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:16:02 -0500

SUE ONTIVEROS: The most provocative part of the Chicago Department of Public Health teen pregnancy prevention campaign is the billboards at L stations, bus stops and sprinkled through neighborhoods that have the highest rates of teen pregnancy.

Sing out for the U.S. after Boston

Wed, 22 May 2013 06:26:54 -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 …