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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...
I'm not worried about the world ending in a nuclear explosion or an alien invasion. The robots are what scares me. I am not the only person who worries about robots taking over the world, a quick Google search confirmed. I've been reassured by those who say that robots and AI lack the desires and motivations - say for world domination - that humans do. Others point out that robots and AI are programmed by people and operate within those set limits. But we've all seen the...
Which Super Bowl commercials were your favorites on Sunday? I loved Christopher Walken in BMW's "Talking Like Walken" ad, in which everyone from the valet to the guy at the drive through to his tailor offers their own impersonation of his unique voice. "There's only one Christopher Walken and one ultimate driving machine. The rest are just imitations," the announcer says, in his own Walken-esque style. The ad reminded me of one of my all-time favorite Saturday Night Live...
I wouldn’t describe myself as a huge Taylor Swift fan — although I do know all the words to most of the songs on “1989,” as it was the only music we listened to driving through Colorado on a family vacation in 2015. Of course, you don’t have to be a huge fan to know something about her. Sunday night she claimed her fourth Album of the Year Grammy, making history by surpassing the likes of three-time winners Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder. She’s won a total of 14 G...
“If the story you’re telling doesn’t serve you, tell a different story.” I typed that while taking my morning walk and listening to my current favorite podcast, “Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris.” I wanted to remember the quote to share it with someone, which I did. And I thought I might want to listen to the episode again. If only I had written down which episode I was listening to at the time! I can never remember where I’ve heard things. There I go. Telling a story about...
I'll admit it. I joined a Ted Lasso Fans Community page on Facebook a while back. I was hoping the posts would share lots of great inspirational quotes from Ted. And there are some. But many of the posts are from fans - fanatics, in the truest sense - asking what book Trent Crimm carried through the office in Episode X Season Y or explaining the double in/double out rule during Ted's dart game against Rupert or wondering if anyone else caught the nod to "Hamilton." Oh, and way...
I haven't watched all that many TED talks, but my favorite is one by a Hinsdale resident. Oh, did I mention that he's in preschool? At 4 years, 9 months and 22 days old, Bennet Haried became the youngest TEDx speaker Oct. 23 at an event organized by his preschool, Avery Coonley in Downers Grove. Bennet spoke on "Building Big Dreams: You Have to Make it Stable." It all came about when Kenny Bae, director of STEAM innovation at Avery Coonley, decided to organize a TEDx event at...
"Why would I want to go see 'Hamilton' in Chicago?" I asked a couple of months ago as we were talking about the show in the office. I've seen the original New York cast perform more times than I can count - even if it has been on my TV screen. How could anyone top Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Daveed Diggs and Renée Elise Goldsberry, I asked my co-workers. Lisa, who has been to see the show two times - once for $10 when she won the ticket lottery - assured me I should...
Ahh, the early days of January, when we have yet to disappoint ourselves by failing to live up to our New Year’s resolutions. Since it’s already Jan. 4, I guess that might not be true. A cookie might have been consumed, a morning workout skipped. Yes, resolutions are tough to keep. I wrote last year that part of the problem, at least for me, is the specificity of the resolutions I tend to set. I will walk X number of days each month. I will spend X minutes a day cleaning out...
Have you seen the ads for the new Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro phones from Google? With a feature called “Best Take,” you take multiple shots of a group and then combine everyone’s best look in one photo. Magic Editor — using generative AI, whatever that is — lets you reposition and resize subjects. Audio Magic Eraser lets you erase the sounds of the barking dog or background surf from your videos. I’m amazed by this technology, and I can think of many of my own photos that would have benefited from Best Take. I can’t help...
Waiting is difficult - and we don't get much practice doing it any more. We used to have to wait for our favorite show to be on TV, for the weatherman to tell us the high for the day, for a trip to the library to check out a book. We even used to have to wait for the rotary dials to tch, tch, tch, back to zero seven times in order to make a call. Now TV shows, weather forecasts and books are available in an instant on our phones. We can call anywhere in the world by touching...
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 do...
It’s a privilege to be entrusted with sharing the stories of people’s lives. I feel that often as I sit typing on my laptop at The Hinsdalean office, looking out on First Street. I’ve completed an interview and face the task of transforming my notes into a story that will capture the individual I’m writing about, make sense to the reader — and fit the assigned space. Some days the job is easier than others, but it’s one I always enjoy doing. As we approach Veterans Da...
During my 35 years of working in Hinsdale, I've gotten to know a lot of people - and a lot of groups. Some are quite familiar, like the Hinsdale Infant Welfare Society or the Hinsdale Assembly. Others, like the National Charity League, are more recent arrivals in town. I was surprised to learn a few months ago about a group that has been meeting in town for 120 years - and I had never heard of it. "We say it's the oldest organization in Hinsdale," said Lise Spacapan,...
A fellow Illinois Wesleyan alum recently blasted the school newspaper, The Argus, for posting a pro-Palestinian graphic on Facebook. "This is unacceptable from the Argus," she wrote in her own Facebook post. "The blanket statement that 'we' support terrorists is disgusting." She goes on to say the post is "evil incarnate" and that the newspaper staff apparently supports the genocide of Jews and other atrocities. "Please let the IWU administration know your thoughts on this. I...
Clare Sullivan and Laura Cronin ran their first marathons earlier this month in the Bank of American Chicago Marathon Oct. 8. Both women are familiar faces in town. Sullivan is general manager at Altamura in downtown Hinsdale (and downstairs from our office!). Cronin is the nurse manager of NICU, pediatrics and lactation at UChicago Medicine Advent Health Hinsdale. I ran into Sullivan - a lifelong Hinsdale resident - Friday night before the race as I was ordering a pizza and s...
