If you’re a publicist and want to avoid controversy, then there’s a simple formula: take no risks and go to great lengths to avoid offending others. In short, prepare to fail. With any worthwhile pursuit, if you bring enthusiasm and creativity to the task, you will leave yourself open to naysayers, hecklers and all manner […]
Here in Chicago, the countdown is on, ticking down the days before Barack Obama is inaugurated as President of the United States. While I understand and appreciate the excitement, it strikes me as a tad overblown to have the countdown be by the second, as it is on the Trib’s website. Tempering the Tribune’s online […]
I receive zero compensation for sick days and vacation, I pay for my family’s medical insurance out of my own pocket, and my boss–the guy I see in the mirror–often orders me to show up for work before 7 a.m. But as I approach my 10th anniversary of self-employment, I wouldn’t have it any other […]
You may have heard of this woman who lives in Chicago. She goes by the unusual name of–what was that name again?–oh, yeah: Oprah! I jest, of course. Oprah may be more popular than her good pal, President-elect Barack Obama. And she has staying power, now in the midst of what would probably be her […]
My kids’ bedtime stories are of the Biblical variety. Just last night, I enjoyed reading to them again about the manna–the sweet-tasting food from the heavens–that God provided to Moses and his beleaguered crew of nomads. It’s the perfect metaphor for some of the assignments that I’ve been fortunate to receive over the years. In […]
Remember Drew Peterson? He’s still in the news, still a free man, and his fourth wife Stacy’s whereabouts remain a mystery. In contrast to his national media exposure (NBC’s “Today” show, People magazine cover, among others) of last November, the intensity of interest has waned since he first became a dubious household name in America. […]
The mass dog wedding that I publicized, I Do, Doggone It!, may have set a record for the most same-sex dog “marriages” on Saturday in downtown Oak Park. However, that is not yet a sanctioned Guinness World Record category. So the 87 total marriages, while certainly one of the biggest in pooch history, fell shy […]
It’s not every day that you invite the President-elect’s daughters to come to a mass dog wedding. But when it comes to a great cause, has a logical link to a pledge that Barack Obama made before the world on Tuesday night, and Sasha and Malia just happen to be in the neighborhood anyway…well, it […]