In his 1995 autobiography, Dreams from My Father, Barack Obama writes about the first time he walked into a barbershop in Hyde Park for a trim. “The door was propped open and when I walked in, the barbershop smells of hair cream and antiseptic mingling with the sound of men’s laughter and the hum of slow fans,” Obama wrote of the hair salon he called “Smitty’s” in his memoir. On Thursday morning, when we parked outside the Hyde Park Hair... Read more

Today, Vasco caught 103 fish. In less than three hours. He’s a rock star. The picture above was of No. 100. He caught three more while Uncle Maury was packing up the gear to go home. Read more

The morning we drove to O’Hare to meet Vasco after his 30-plus-hour journey from Malawi to Chicago, my husband and I turned on the car stereo and hit play on the CD in the six-disc changer. What came up was Paul Simon’s album, “Graceland.”These are the days of miracle and wonder, This is the long-distance call, The way the camera follows us in slow-mo The way we look to us all Those are the words from “The Boy in the... Read more

While he recovers valiantly from some heavy malaria and a couple of parasites before his doctors will schedule heart surgery (probably late next week), Wee Man (feeling fabulous, actually, thank you) has continued to soak up Chicago and environs like a thirsty sponge. He’s a champion angler. On Wednesday afternoon – a GORGEOUS spring day in Chicago – we headed over to Columbus Park on the West Side to fish. Lots of bullheads and blue gills to be had. Vasco... Read more

Wanted to update you all on the week that was … Vasco had the cardiac catheter procedure last Tuesday and, as you know, it went very well. But Thursday morning he woke up with a fever and nausea and some pretty impressive projectile vomiting. We took him to the hospital where, after taking some blood and other things, his doctors discovered that V has malaria. We spent a night in the hospital and V felt better in no time. Came... Read more