I received the following text at 8:46am on a Saturday morning. I’ve gotten similar ones every few weeks for a while. The number was from outside the U.S. Illinois Official Notice | Enforcement Warning Notice Document Number: IL-DMV-2026-0322 Your traffic fine is overdue under Section 19C-19.173 of the Illinois Administrative Enforcement Code. Statutory enforcement proceedings … Continue reading Scam alert!!!
Category: Americanness
The power of protest
I can’t get enough of the images of the Minnesota anti-ICE general strike that took place yesterday. Tens of thousands of ordinary people gathering in subfreezing temperatures to protest lawless state violence against citizens and noncitizens alike. The murder of Renee Good may have been the catalyzing event, but this was weeks in the making. … Continue reading The power of protest
The exhortations of Andor
[warning: some spoilers ahead] After my family and I finished watching Season 2 of Andor, the Star Wars series about the years leading up to the Battle of Yavin as featured in the prequel movie Rogue One, I rewatched Season 1 on my own over a series of days while folding laundry. Even though I … Continue reading The exhortations of Andor
AI for effort
I don’t really want to read another article about how generative AI is changing everything. But I do read many of them out of a sense of obligation. Working in higher education, overseeing several academic programs, I feel I would not be doing my job if I wasn’t at least familiarizing myself with the discourse … Continue reading AI for effort
goodbye, friend
At first the words confused me. I had glanced at my phone as we were waiting to pay and leave the restaurant, and wondered why my friend Dave was posting about himself in the third person until the meaning of the words sank in: “great sadness,” “passing of my brother…” “Oh, no” I blurted out. … Continue reading goodbye, friend
I will always miss L.A.
After college, I spent most of the ‘90s in California, eight years in Southern California, five of them in Los Angeles. I’ve only been back a handful of times in the past 25 years since my husband and I left to come back east for jobs in 2000. The photographs and videos of the wild … Continue reading I will always miss L.A.
Watching the detectives
After we finished the sitcom “Kim’s Convenience,” my 12-yo and I started watching “Brooklyn 99,” which first aired in 2013. Looking for another show we could enjoy together, I suggested it not only because I remember hearing good reviews, but because I clicked on a clip of the show’s final episode that appeared in my … Continue reading Watching the detectives
American city – notes from a road trip
Over the years, we’ve visited a handful of midwestern cities from our home outside of Chicago. This year, we had one week in between my younger kid’s two summer camps, so we decided to visit Minneapolis-Saint Paul. A six-hour drive mostly on I-90, it was far enough to feel like we were getting away and … Continue reading American city – notes from a road trip
Practical
I’m a very casual gardener, and when a pest eats a seedling I’d just planted or when the lettuce seeds I sowed never sprout because of heavy rains, I think, “thank the gods I don’t need to actually grow enough food to feed us.” My thoughts wander: what practical skills do I have that would … Continue reading Practical
Yes, chef – learning craft on “The Bear”
I, like many fans, really enjoyed season 2 of "The Bear," in which Carmy and his ragtag crew try to open an upscale restaurant in three months in the old Italian beef eatery Carmy inherited from his older brother Michael. I jokingly called this season “Bad News Bear” and “School of Bear,” where (as in … Continue reading Yes, chef – learning craft on “The Bear”
Contrary Frog 