Columns

Here we are headed into fall, another seasonal change — which we know we have no control over, other than doing our part to lessen climate change. Autumn in Pullman is an interesting season because a whole new view of the community is revealed to us. As the leaves change color and fall from the trees, decorating the ground in lyrical shades of sienna, auburn, red and yellow, we begin to see more clearly the urban masterpieces created by architect Solon S. Beman and landscape designer Nathan F. Barrett. Beman’s Queen-Anne style was exactly what George Pullman wanted to see. …

At its 2019 National Convention, the National Education Association (NEA) passed a resolution to have Columbus Day renamed Indigenous Peoples Day, stating, “As an education association, recognizing, observing, and celebrating factual history is important to maintaining our academic integrity.” Really? Come on! How hypocritical. The current onslaught of politically correct hysteria foisted upon the Great Discoverer is just plain false. Shame on the NEA for being complicit in this nefarious conspiracy to obfuscate the facts and perpetrate the rewriting of history. So, NEA, let’s look at actual FACTS. The New World was no “Garden of Eden” when Columbus arrived. Slavery, …

An icon of the silent film era, Louise Brooks has a special place in the hearts of Italians thanks to a groundbreaking series of comic books and strips. Black-and-white photos from the silent film era have an aura of mystery and nostalgia, and one of that era’s favorite subjects was actress Louise Brooks. Famed for her bob hairstyle and iconic flapper costumes, her influence has reached across the decades and far beyond American shores. “Louise Brooks is my favorite actress,” Italian director Marco Tullio Giordana revealed when we spoke at the 2018 edition of Lincoln Center’s Open Roads: New Italian …

Reciprocal reflexive verbs are used when two or more people perform the same action together; this will make all people involved the subject of the action. To express this type of situation in English we simply add the phrase “each other” after the verb that describes the action. Italians employ the -si ending, as with regular reflexive verbs with actions that revert back to the  speaker. Listed below are verbs that commonly use the reciprocal reflexive form: abbracciarsi to hug each other aiutarsi to help each other amarsi to love each other baciarsi to kiss each other chiamarsi to call …

Film aficionados have hungered for the return of Casa Italia’s beloved feast of Italian cinema, and the wait is finally over. The Casa’s 2019 Italian film series will reboot on Sept. 13 and run for seven glorious Fridays. The host of this year’s series will be Pam DeFiglio, a veteran Chicago editor, columnist and arts critic. The following film descriptions were provided by Casa Italia: Sept. 13 — Un Paese Quasi Perfetto (An Almost Perfect Town) (2016) — Pietramezzana offers stunning mountain scenery, but all the jobs have left town. To save it, residents deploy improbable and highly comic schemes, …

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 …

A feeling of dread always comes over me when I read a passage like this one from the news release for “Bottom of the Ninth,” which trumpets its Italian-American street cred. “The film is about a man who returns to the Bronx after serving 17 years in prison for a violent mistake he made as a kid, ultimately robbing him of a professional baseball career and the love of his life.” “Here we go again,” I thought. “Another film that leans too heavily on tired Mafia tropes instead of standing on its own two feet.” The foreboding persisted throughout my …

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 …