Columns

We’re finishing up another great summer in Chicago, with fond memories of many activities and so much to look forward to. Here in Pullman, the Pullman Artspace Lofts project is nearing completion and the first tenants are brimming with expectation while they wait for their move-in date. The construction fence is gone and the larger construction vehicles have done their job and the buildings are looking more Pullman-like than they did in the artist’s renderings. After ten years, the community will see how the added designation of “artist colony” melds with the national reputation Pullman has as a preservation community …

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I’m a stubborn person. Most people who don’t know me well believe I’m stubborn, too! Every so often, I write a column to ask you to do something that I’m not that good at, partly to push myself into getting better as a genealogist. I have been spending a lot of hours going through records I already have, in an attempt to better document my research. Why should we do this? I know where all my copies are. The papers are in piles and in boxes, and the digital images are all named …

Social media has transformed traditional real estate marketing, numbering the days of door-to-door sales and cold calling. As with all other areas of business, social media has moved the market. With so many new ways to advertise and connect, the possibilities are endless. Social media is relate-able, accessible and affordable to everyone. For clients and professionals alike, this means business. And the options are endless, including photo forums, discussion forms, social networks, videos, testimonials, reviews, blogs, check-ins, tags, and everything in between. There are certainly generational issues when it comes to social media marketing, and though the technology may be …

There are times when I have to wonder what I’m going to write about, and then there are serendipitous times like this! We’ve had reunion picnics, a garden tour, progress on the artists residence, the loss of the Gately’s building, a St. Anthony’s festival, the loss of Roselandites who we’ve known from years gone by, and the initiation of the Kickstarter campaign for my book.” “Petals from Roseland: Fond Memories of Chicago’s Roseland, Pullman, Kensington Neighborhoods.” Summer always provides us with plenty reunions but the best seem to hold off until August and that’s why it gets top billing. There …

Even though I have mountains of genealogy work to do, I am often sidetracked by other projects. These projects start out with a simple question, and then my Problem Solver takes over. If you haven’t met Problem Solver, he’s 9 feet tall, lifts weights and gets his way no matter the cost! So I am looking at marriage licenses for Cook County. The top two-thirds of the page lists the groom, the bride, the date of the license and the signature of the Cook County Clerk. (For a few years, the County Clerk was the future Mayor Richard J. Daley!) …

You have placed your property on the market and an offer or even multiple offers have been received, but how do you know if the offer is good for you? Your broker is obviously there to assist you and offer you guidance, but the ultimate decision belongs to the property owner. You always want to achieve the highest price for your property, but believe it or not, the choice may not always come down to price. Take a look at the amount of earnest money a buyer is offering to deposit. Earnest money is the amount the potential buyer is …

Similar in spelling but different in meaning, false cognates can be sources of embarrassment and laughter when unleashed. As I work on making travel reservations for a coming trip to Italy, I’m reminded of a verbal blunder I once made while corresponding with the proprietor of a bed and breakfast. After agreeing on the dates and cost, I asked how I could send the deposit. I didn’t know the word for deposit and didn’t want to take the time to look it up, so I just called it the deposito, because I was pretty sure I had heard that word …

Both a haven and a springboard for exploring Italy and the rest of Europe, Loyola’s Rome Center has been attracting generations of families like the Turanos since opening its doors in 1961. Ivy League schools are known for their legacy enrollments: students who attend because their parents attended and so on through the generations. It’s a point of pride for the families and a tribute to the quality of the institutions they attend. But East Coast powerhouses like Harvard and MIT don’t hold the patent on generational devotion. The John Felice Rome Center has been inspiring family loyalty since Loyola …

Since both my driving and language skills are severely challenged in Italy, I always hire Marcello, a driver/interpreter, when I’m researching a new novel. A few years ago, Marcello and I were speeding along the highway hugging the western bank of the Serchio River north of Lucca when we saw a mammoth stone footbridge at Borgo e Mazzano. Its beautiful humpback shape was obviously the work of many experienced craftsmen. “Wow! What’s that?” I asked. “The Ponte della Maddalena,” Marcello said. “But nobody calls it that. It’s Ponte del Diavolo.” The Devil’s Bridge? With a straight face, Marcello went on …

In Italian we need to learn how to use three important verbs and we are all set to talk about what we are wearing—vestirsi, mettersi, and indossare.  If we learn how to use these verbs properly, we will be able to tell others how we dress and make “small talk” about how well others are dressed — part of “fare la bella figura” (making a good impression) in Italian — just as we do in our native language! Vestirsi Let’s start with the Italian verb “vestirsi,” which carries the general meaning of “to get dressed.” To use this verb, just conjugate it as …