Frugal Poet's Guide to Life

Before Park Ridge, Illinois, was famous as Hillary Clinton's home town, it was famous for the Deep End Club, one of the few venues that ...

This poem, inspired by Wallace Stevens' "13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" traces 12 moon months according to the names given...

Finally getting out news about the 2009 Printers Ball in Chicago a week late, but wanted to include a fun photograph of Audrey Niffenegger, ...

What pleased me most about visiting the Galos Salt Caves spa and health experience on Chicago's northwest side was its cleanliness. Ton...

Look it up now in the 2009 update ofMerriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, Eleventh Edition. Hardworking word-lovers everywhere can n...

My husband Carlos and I were fortunate enough to attend Naropa University's ceremony honoring Allen Ginsberg, poet, activist and co-fou...

I suppose this post is more about photos than text. And more about lasting poets than passing fancies. During the third week of Naropa Unive...

Back home in Chicago after spending a jam-packed week with my husband Carlos at the Naropa University Summer Writing Program /Jack Kerouac S...

I have a day job, but I don't necessarily want to dialogue with it. I may argue with it a good portion of the eight hours I punch in, bu...

Dur ing a recent visit to Michigan, which is known for its fruit orchards, I came across a short list of dates when various fruits are ripe ...

I just heard that a writers' colony I've written about previously on this blog, The Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Spring...

Visited somewhere this weekend I've never been before -- Saugatuck, Michigan. Joined friends Maura and Jim, and husband Carlos, to what ...

The best writing employs the use of the five senses to explore metaphor, to show instead of just tell. In the book, "The How to Think ...

It took a month and a half of weekends to clear our 25-foot Chicago which included hauling ten yard bags of leavings away. I found, as usual...

I've been to a literary reading at Woman Made Gallery before, and it is more than a reading -- it's an experience. Not only can you ...

I met Audrey Niffenegger last night, author of "The Time Traveler's Wife." My husband Carlos and I attended a benefit for the ...

What better precedes a long evening of music with Leonard Cohen then a dining experience of short courses of cheese, hummus and soup at nea...

It's been more than 15 years since Leonard Cohen played Chicago, and I was fortunate to grab two tickets only 1/3 back -- through a prev...

I was aware of the poet Deborah Digges as someone close to my own age who was beautiful, talented and a respected teacher at Amherst. You mi...

Chicago is a city of neighborhoods, each with a distinct feel, a unique style. Become the creative bard of your neighborhood. Set your imagi...