“So, tell me how you think the death of Curt Cobain will impact music,” a reporter asked me. I stared blankly. “Let me get the manager.” I mean, I knew he died, and it was tragic, but I didn't have a prepared statement for the media. I was only part-time. My early days in Chicago, where I moved on my own a couple of years after college, were filled with the kind of swirling chaos that made sense in your twenties. What also made sense was that in addition to my low-paying, ful

The Hot Chocolate 5k is the biggest race I’ve ever done—by far. I had my doubts about running in November in Chicago. But as Halloween gets packed up and put away and Thanksgiving and Christmas begin to explode everywhere, I thought it would be a fun experience. There is something about winter--and impending winter--that bands Chicagoans together. "Why not?" I heard Ken say in my head. Though I didn’t select this race based on the charity component, I was happy to see tha

Living in a city like Chicago leaves a constant opportunity to explore new places and parts of the city--something I don't do often enough. And something Ken was relentlessly good at reminding me of. He was a curious explorer who showed me the unending surprises ChiTown has to offer. Whenever I try something new or explore a new place, I think of him. More than that, he's with me, reminding me to enjoy the journey, ask questions, be creative with my curiosity. The  606  is

I'm moving. Aside from the Christmas cheer in the air there is also one of excitement. For change. And an equal measure of dread for the same. The normal dread of change. As well as the other kind: the kind that finds me packing up and purging things from my life with Ken in the apartment where we lived together the longest. Saying goodbye to the place where we said goodbye. Not an easy task. I remind myself of lots of things. Constantly. This isn't--in fact--the place whe

My ticket to living in Chicago was Blockbuster Video. I'd always dreamed of living here, and when I found myself working at a franchise in my college town after graduating (and having no real idea what I wanted to be when I grew up), I asked the owners if they knew of any openings in Chicago. Turns out, they did. And so I began working in a store in the northwest suburb of Hoffman Estates in the summer 1992. Being summer, kids were out of school and video rentals were up. So

There is part of me that has great appreciation for easy, quiet days--particularly bright, early summer mornings. It's these kinds of mornings when it's never clearer to me how lucky I am to be who I am and to have what I have and to love whom I love. I greedily devour times like this and steep in all the goodness in my life--which, of course, includes Kallie. She has her own way of expressing the same types of feelings: It's always striking to me that when I'm up and out-

There are so many fun things to do in Chicago I'm ashamed to say I don't take advantage of what the city has to offer nearly often enough. True, winter is typically a time for Midwesterners to cocoon, and truer, Ken was the driver behind most of our excursions. Even in the weeks before he died getting out of the house was always on his mind--even if it was just to sit in the backyard to smell the fresh spring air and look at the life returning after a long winter's sleep. It'

I took Kallie for a longer-than-usual walk last night thanks to the unseasonably Spring-like weather. A few blocks north of our usual route landed us in Ravenswood. I lived there the last few years in Chicago before moving to Los Angeles with Ken. We walked past my old apartment. It's where I lived when I fell in love. My whole experience living in Ravenswood was somewhat magical. I loved living there as I love this part of the city. My old apartment stands next to Ravenswoo