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Covering the final Uniquely Thursdays concert last week for the final installment of our Summer Days series brought back lots of memories. Since I've worked in Hinsdale forever, I was around when the concert series launched in 2002. That year, and for the five summers that followed, the event took place on First Street between Garfield Avenue and Washington Street. I remember those early concerts well. So does Washington Street resident Lynette Lovelace, who was involved with...
Summer 2024 is over, if you’ve headed back to school, or about over, if you listen to meteorologists. This week I wanted to reflect on some of the highlights that I’ve enjoyed — or plan to enjoy — before summer officially ends Sept. 22. • visiting family After a few years of texting and Zooming, I had the chance to meet my birth mom’s older sister, Barb, while we were in Maryland in June. We traveled there for my birth mom’s husband Steve’s memorial service, which was beautifu...
Every two years I, like so many others across the country and around the world, love watching the Olympics. Two seasons of basketball poms were the extent of my athletic endeavors, so it's not an affinity with the athletes that draws me to the television set each night for 17 days. I do love watching people perform at their absolute best - and hearing so many inspiring stories about the athletes. NBC broadcasters and TV personalities (mainly Jimmy Fallon) seem to agree that...
I miss the days when Ainsley was little and Friday night was pizza and movie night. We’d watch the latest Disney release or sentimental favorites like “Because of Winn-Dixie” or “Fly Away Home.” Every Friday I still suggest a movie night — and we still have pizza. But now that Ainsley is older, it seems she has better things to do, like go out with friends or babysitting. Some nights she even prefers hanging out in her room alone to spending time with me and her dad! Earlier this summer she agreed to a series of throwback m...
One of my favorite episodes of The X-Files is called "The Field Where I Died." Usually the show is about aliens (which might or might not exist, depending on which season you're watching), but this one is about an investigation of a local cult that supposedly has a cache of weapons and is abusing children. During the investigation, FBI special agent Fox Mulder experiences deja vu, which leads him to find the cult leader and his six wives, hiding under a trap door and...
I am sorry to report Hinsdale once again has fallen short of the North Shore. One of those fancy "W" towns - Winnetka - beat out Hinsdale for the No. 1 spot on the latest list published by HomeSnacks. What is HomeSnacks, you ask? We're not entirely sure, but it produces lots of lists - safest states, most dangerous states, even dumbest states. You can read all of these lists on its Facebook page (which contains no information about who is preparing them or why). And what does...
When I heard of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, I mentally ticked off the same list many others did - Lincoln, JFK, RFK Jr., Reagan. Then I heard a news report about an attempt on former President Teddy Roosevelt's life as he sought another term. I was surprised to hear about an assassination attempt that I didn't remember learning about in school. Then I did a little research online and discovered the list of assassination attempts on presidents...
“Hope you and the family had a terrific holiday weekend,” Susan O’Byrne emailed me Sunday along with her column to run in today’s paper. “We became the new home of three pet rats and a rather large rat cage,” I responded. “Not sure that qualifies as terrific!” Susan was much more enthusiastic about the pet rats than I was, although I have to say they are growing on me. Ainsley brought the rats home July 3 after she and a friend got them for free from a lady outside a pet s...
A lot of Facebook posts will tell you what books you should be reading right now. I tend to look at these posts the same way I used to look at summer reading lists when I was in high school. I wanted to read all of the books so I could be as prepared as possible for the first day of school. But I’m not in school anymore, and so I don’t have to be tortured with the incomprehensible prose of William’s Faulkner’s “Light in August.” Nor do I have to find regionally appropriate...
Church has been a part of my life since before I can remember. And since I haven’t had to move from town to town over the years, I’ve been able to attend only four churches since I was a kid. The one I spent the most time at, and the one where I experienced the most spiritual growth, is the First United Methodist Church of Western Springs. I attended my last service there last month. Actually it was the final service for the church at 4300 Howard Ave., which started in 188...
I am sorry to report Hinsdale once again has fallen short of the North Shore. One of those fancy "W" towns - Winnetka - beat out Hinsdale for the No. 1 spot on the latest list published by HomeSnacks. What is HomeSnacks, you ask? We're not entirely sure, but it produces lots of lists - safest states, most dangerous states, even dumbest states. You can read all of these lists on its Facebook page (which contains no information about who is preparing them or why). And what does...
The newspaper business, like many others, is seasonal. Our schedule mirrors the school year in many ways, with our busiest times occurring while classes - and high school sports - are in session. And then summer rolls around, and with it comes a slightly different to-do list. One of my responsibilities each June is to thank a group of contributing columnists who have been writing for us for the past two years and to invite interested writers to apply for one of the openings....
I can't make up my mind most days whether I find cicadas fascinating or disgusting. I can't deny, though, that they provide a great writing opportunity. I wrote my first cicada story in 1990 for The Doings. My father-in-law, John Litster, was a letter carrier in town and had recorded interviews with homeowners on his route about the emergence of these rare insects. Their comments were hilarious. Seventeen years later, in 2007, before this paper had even turned a year old, I wr...
Amy Owens had undergone a cancer diagnosis, a total mastectomy and chemotherapy when I first met her in 2007. She had generously agreed to meet with me once a month for a year as she recovered from a rare form of breast cancer, invasive triple negative ductile carcinoma, as part of our Making a Difference partnership with Wellness House. I talked to her again in September 2009, about a year after my story was published and days before she celebrated her second year of being...
The Mother's Day images we see always show the perfect celebration. Handsome husbands present their expectant wives with a stunning piece of jewelry. Gorgeous young children bring breakfast in bed to their beautiful mom (who looks like she's been up for an hour doing her hair and makeup). Multi-generational families enjoy fabulous brunch spreads in amazing outdoor gardens. We all know that's not the reality many women will experience on Sunday. Some will face their Mother's...
I'll never forget a phone call I got one December when I was a kid. It was an elf calling from the North Pole! My own personal elf, he told me. I asked his name and was surprised when he said "Wee Wee." "Wee Wee?" I asked, wondering if he had a bed-wetting problem. He explained that was his name because he was a wee little elf. He told me a bit about Santa's preparations for the big day and after a short talk, hung up. I was too little to know that Santa's real elves don't...
I couldn't help but notice the headline of a Poynter article in a recent "E&P" digital newsletter: "AI is already reshaping newsrooms, AP study finds." The real shock was in the subhead: "Despite ethical concerns, nearly 70 percent of newsroom staffers recruited for an Associated Press survey say they're using generative AI to create content." As I'm sure you might guess, I fall into the 30 percent who are not using generative AI. Apparently, others are using it to create soci...
I was really looking forward to having dinner with a friend last Friday night. My husband and daughter were both going to be out, and I was excited for the chance to relax and catch up with her. I was all ready to go when I decided I had time to throw a load a laundry into the wash before I left the house. That way I wouldn’t have to stay up late waiting for the clothes to come out of the dryer. I headed downstairs to the laundry room and was still sorting clothes when I h...
I really wasn’t paying a lot of attention to the eclipse Monday — until I realized my 1:30 p.m. interview at village hall about Restaurant Week (insert shameless plug here — see story on Page 17) would end at just about the right time for me to join the Hinsdale Public Library’s viewing party on the front lawn of the Memorial Building. So I headed outside, picked up an Eclipse Shade (all the actual glasses were gone already) and took a peek at the sun. It was pretty cool to...
I'll never forget the day I went in to meet with Ainsley's fifth-grade teacher at the start of the school year. The teacher asked if I had anything I wished to share, and I provided what I believed to be an honest assessment of my then 10-year-old daughter. "Wow. That was really grounded," she replied. I was surprised. I wondered if she meant that I was an exceptionally observant parent who had offered a particularly accurate portrait of her child. But I think what she really...
My senior year in college, as part of a January "short term" group trip to France and England, we traveled by bus to Wales to read William Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey" at Tintern Abbey. I'm not a huge fan of poetry in general or Wordsworth in particular, but the memory of that day has stayed with me. Last week I had a similar experience - this time, set to catchy tunes. Dan and I took Ainsley to Liverpool and London to see the stomping grounds of her favorite band, The...
I first met Cristina Henriquez in 2007. I wanted to do a story on a new mom for the issue before Mother’s Day, and she fit the criteria. As often happens when interviewing Hinsdale residents, I discovered there was so much more to the story. In addition to giving birth to her daughter, Sofia, Cristina had published her first book of short stories and a novella the previous year. Since that time, she has published three more novels. And her latest — “The Great Divide” — recen...
Many Women's History Month pieces focus on women whose names we all know - pioneers like Marie Curie or Rosa Parks. Or they might highlight less prominent figures like Rosalind Franklin, the British scientist whose work led to the Noble Prize-winning discovery of the double helix, the credit for which went to a group of men. I'm taking a different approach and saluting women who, during the time they lived or worked here, left their mark on Hinsdale. And on me. • Ly Hotchkin I...
The 96th Academy Awards will be presented Sunday night. And, as usual, I will have not seen most of the films up for awards. I am a big fan of one of the best picture nominees this year — “Barbie” — which also earned nominations for best supporting actor and actress, a pair of nominations for original songs and nods for costume design, production design and adapted screenplay. I even saw this one in a theater. I appreciated the performances of Annette Bening (best actress...
Signs provide us with all kinds of information. "Slow, children playing" lets us know kids reside on a particular block. (Since kids live on many blocks that don't have such signs, these warnings also might indicate worried parents live on the block as well.) Signs indicating downtown Hinsdale and the Robbins Park subdivision are on the National Register of Historic Places demonstrate the importance of the village's past to Hinsdaleans - or at least to those who are...
