NYT Illustration/ Paul Rogers

====FEED THE BEARS====
It is time to entertain a new tradition Chicago.
Location, location, location.  
It is not just where it is. 
It is what it is next to.
It is what it is between.
It is how you get there.
It is what you do when you get there.
It is how long you plan to stay.
The it factor.
What it means.
Common Community. 
The distinction between you and me. 
The distinction between you and us=== and we and them.
The distinction between Chicago, the place== and Chicago, the people.

====FEED THE BEARS====
Should the city offer George Lucas the park site 
between the Shedd Aquarium and McCormick
Place, Chicago sports fans could embrace a new
tradition. A new tradition that would engage fans
in preparing foods and beverages by chill'n-n-grill'n
without the need for tailgates. In a park that does
not require parking. How cool. Think about it.
It would be a parking mullet. All business (parking)
below. All party-ing above. Just taste the sizzle.

Photography and Graphics from The Chicago Tribune

Link to The Chicago Tribune 
Article May 21, 2014/ Phil Rosenthal: 
"George Lucas' Shrine to commerce, art- and negotiation."
"As Chicago vies for museum, filmmaker's business savvy stands out."



Link to The Chicago Tribune
Editorial June 1, 2014
"Welcome a Lucas Museum------ but not on the Lakefront." 

"It's impossible to replicate nature---It is too good", Jeanne Gang says.
"It's about trying to find that space where it's art."
Photograph By Jenny Hueston /The New Yorker, May 19, 2014 
Profile Article By Amy Waldman

CHICAGO ARCHITECT
JEANNE GANG PROFILED
IN MAY
ISSUE OF
THE NEW YORKER

Blue Sky Ahead
An open letter
to my favorite
Chicagoist's,

Greetings from Salem, Oregon; one of Chicago's most distant suburbs. Spring has arrived and I feel that I should spend much more of my free time tending to nature than eyeballing social media and the like.

In 2008 I started the blog bullfrogspincycle.blogspot. com. 
It was a riff on the Chicago Tribune blog "the swamp", and a reaction to Mr. Zell's takeover thingy. Initially, and naively,  I thought that the cultural changes would be good for the company. Gasp. Sorry. I still like Lee Abrams, rock on, but so much of what happened with the purchase of Chandler shares and sale to Mr. Zell lacked reasonable corporate conduct. Is that only my opinion? 

Over time one blog site led to another as I use them to experiment with electronic platforms. They are private gardens in many ways. Eventually I decided to focus on weeklyICEcafe as my favorite site and have dedicated it to Chicago stuff. I hope you can appreciate that and my love for the city.

I do have an agenda. I want the entire board of the McCormick Foundation replaced and a charter implemented that will promote a true sense of community involvement be enacted in the direction and execution of all activities funded through the resources of the McCormick Foundation. 
Having the same leadership team that contributed, if not manifested, the very foundering of the Tribune Company continue to lead the McCormick Foundation is an absolute
travesty with total disregard to the ethical principles of the
gentleman who funded the foundation. I just have to say it.

The McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum was closed and replaced with a "bread truck" that was not even an Navistar- International and even "it" is now parked. The administrative
offices were moved to a lofty-leased site, while the foundation-owned Wheaton property has 500 acres to house sustainable office projects. The foundation promotes journalism with a program, while foundation sites host dismally low social media participation. The board no longer actively promotes the distribution of printed annual reports and staggers it's IRS 990's to shield some administrative compensation factors from full view by the shear volume of reportage. The foundation assets were diminished in 2003-2004 by 800 million fluid "George Washington's".  Oops.

There should be some avenue for reckoning the current state of the McCormick Foundation board leadership with the crucial premise of what the legacy of the McCormick, Medill, Miller, and Patterson families have intended to foster. Our families are composed of a gentle and private people. Please do not disgrace our name(s) and the community causes that we  have worked so diligently to nourish. Time.

Blue sky ahead. The Chicago Tribune looks good again. 
Mr. Kern seems to doing a good job as editor. I understand that two people that came over to the Trib from the S.T. brought their vision to the fold as well. Thank you all and every one who stayed with the paper through the incredible
"stuff". I enjoy reading it, albeit electronically. Life is good.

Tim

Photo/ Mark Robert Millan and Curiosity Link Via New York Magazine

For the Record, Chicago Had 
Absolutely Nothing to Do 
With That Woman, Maybe

So, we can devote our short
attention spans to nobler
concerns.  Like weekend
barbecues.  Unlike NYC.

Just saying
"If it isn't in Jet, 
it didn't happen."

The New York Times
Article By Leslie Kaufman
"Jet Magazine to Shift to
Digital Publishing Next Month

Photo and Article Sources/ The Chicago Tribune

Chicago's Own  =Hot Dougs= 
is Slated for Closure, Octoberish

Chicago Area Cab Driver
Holds Literary Talents 
on Steady Course

Photo/ Nathan Weber For The New York Times
The New York Times
 Article By Larry Rohter