| 136 years of Oak Park newspapers |
| From the florid to the lurid, from courageous to just cranky |
| By KEN TRAINOR |
In Wednesday Journal's first issue, July 30, 1980, the late, great Frank Walsh, whose column, The Spectator, graced these pages for our first decade, set the tone, describing this upstart weekly as "a David with slingshot loaded, now on the prowl finding men biting dogs. Youth, energy, responsibility ¡ª that's the platform this paper is running on."
Tuesday, September 07, 2010 |
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| From the clubhouse to the schoolhouse |
DOOPER'S MEMORIES
I was 9 when the Clubhouse was built on a plot of land next to our garage. It took my friends, Charlie and Eric, and my Uncle Gene and I a month of weekends to put up the walls and add the roof, floor and door. As you can guess, my uncle did the real carpentry work. We got all of the wood from the shed that was attached to the garage. My uncle even attached three benches to the inside walls so six guys could easily sit in the building.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010 |
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| Found God in the ambiguity |
| Native American by birth, Stephanie Escher was adopted by German Americans, raised in small town Wisconsin, returned to the reservation, got angry at God, went to seminary, is now a pastor in Oak Park and ... |
| By TOM HOLMES |
Some students find seminary disorienting, especially if they grew up in homogeneous congregations in which every question seemed to have an answer. To their shock, they discover that their theology professors themselves ask seemingly unanswerable questions instead of giving them pat talking points. The lack of black and white answers creates an ambiguity which can feel spiritually threatening.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 |
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| A kid and his canvas |
| Oak Park Art League program connects autistic kids, like Matthew, with art |
| By TERRY DEAN |
Matthew Biegaj is a pretty prolific little painter, but also works at his own pace.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010 |
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| Sweet corn like you've never tasted |
Frank on Food
Ah, sweet corn! Fresh from the field, cooked to perfection, lavishly slathered with gobs of butter, a smattering of salt and a bit of black pepper. I ask you, dear reader, what could possibly be better on a warm summer evening in August?
Tuesday, August 24, 2010 |
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| A teen uprising in Oak Park |
| All-out organizing for ‘Mockingjay’ release touts village as ‘home of the ultimate book party’ |
| By BRONWYN SOELL |
It's a warm Sunday afternoon and the atrium in the lobby of the Scoville Square Building on Oak Park Avenue is echoing with laughter and shrieks. Teenage girls are clustered within a circular game board taped onto the tile floor. Reading instructions from index cards, they're rolling dice to "attack" one another, forage in the "woods" for food, search for fresh water, and hunt in the "arena" - a clock face whose sections they must navigate in order to win "the hunger games."
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 |
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| Schneller and Bird take NYC by horn |
| Oak Park luthier and sculptor wants audience to see the forest for the speakers |
| By KEN TRAINOR |
On Aug. 5, Oak Parker Ian Schneller was the toast of New York City - along with musician Andrew Bird. Schneller, a sculptor, engineer and luthier (maker of stringed instruments), collaborated with Bird on a concert, featuring the latter's music and the former's "sonic sculptures," described as "a 'prairie' of dozens of 3-foot-tall 'hornlings,' a 'forest' of 8-foot-tall horns, and a two-headed spinning speaker horn."
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 |
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| Robin's nest? Or mail delivery? Hmmm ... |
| Julianne Wood |
I don't ask for much, really: a phone call from my kids every once in awhile, no parking tickets when I come out of Pier 1, to find the last Heineken in the back of the fridge on a hot day. My needs are pretty simple. But what I truly do need every day is to get my mail - which recently had not happened in, oh, close to three weeks.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 |
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| Through their eyes |
Web Extra! Slideshow
Ever wonder how kids with autism view the world around them, especially when their words are trapped inside them? Photographer Jeff Ebert, of Ebert Photography, has. This dad is on a mission to help kids with autism tell their stories through Ebert's Kids with Cameras project.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 |
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| When cleaning becomes cleansing |
| In flooded basement, a grieving momcould no longer put off opening ‘the’ boxes |
| By JACKIE MOORE |
This past weekend I felt as though I was in the presence of a miracle. I would appreciate the impressions and comments of all my readers in the comments section. Thank you. On Friday night, torrential rains steadily pounded the roof and windows of my house all night.
Tuesday, August 03, 2010 |
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| Fun found in 'Love's Labour's Lost' |
THEATER REVIEW
It's not an easy act to pull off. Love's Labour's Lost is not familiar comedy territory for most of us like, say, Midsummer Night's Dream or As You Like It. Known for its verbal virtues - rhymes and puns unlimited - rather than sight gags or comedic physical "action," it's one of the least performed of all Shakespeare's works
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 |
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| An Austrian twist on a picnic staple |
Frank on food
Summer is here and I'm craving potato salad. Until recently, my usual take on potato salad has been rather lukewarm. Ever-present and popular at just about every picnic and outdoor barbecue I have ever attended, potato salad was for me a typically uninteresting side dish, pretty much taken for granted and nothing much to get excited about.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 |
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| That's my name, honest! |
| To be perfectly honest, names fascinate us. Even the name for name collecting—onomatology—and the name for the study of "the origin, history and use of proper names"—onomastics—enthrall us. |
| By BOB SULLIVAN and KEN TRAINOR |
Ycleptomania" is the name for the urge to name, but that could get misinterpreted.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 |
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| A high society take on relationships |
| Circle Theatre perfectly retells ‘The Philadelphia Story’ |
THEATER REVIEW
A spirited, liberated and self-assured young socialite suddenly finds herself pursued by three eligible suitors. This is the storyline that has women often worshipping at the altar of the 1940 romantic comedy The Philadelphia Story, which starred Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 |
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| At home with Hemingway |
| By KEN TRAINOR, Staff Writer |
Ernest Hemingway ended up a long way from Oak Park. He ended his life in Idaho, but that was just the denouement. He really ended up in Cuba.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 |
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| Clay courts, open to the public |
| Oak Park Tennis Center tries to get the word out: ‘We’re not a country club’ |
| By KEN TRAINOR |
The Sunday before last, passholders gathered in the 1930s-era clubhouse to partake of strawberries and cream and watch Rafael Nadal dismantle Tomas Berdych in straight sets during "Breakfast at Wimbledon." Then they went out and played some tennis themselves.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 |
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| Partying with the Hawks |
| Ferrara Pan’s president, a veteran fan, has drunk from the Stanley Cup |
| By MARTY FARMER |
We share it here for the joy of everyone who has ever stuck with a team that was an underdog, and for those who remember Sal Ferrara from his days as a River Forest resident.
Tuesday, July 06, 2010 |
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| The Oak Parker who assassinated a president |
DOOPer's MEMORIES
My grandfather, a history buff, often talked about people of note who had lived in Oak Park. He told me that the man who killed President James Garfield had once lived in the village, but he didn't know exactly where the assassin had lived. Recently, I decided to learn more about Charles Guiteau, and the following story is what I discovered:
Tuesday, June 29, 2010 |
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| Local chefs tapped by White House to help kids |
Parents, students, teachers, and concerned culinarians everywhere, proclaim it loud and clear: "The White Coats Are Coming! The White Coats Are Coming!"
Tuesday, June 22, 2010 |
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| Ecumenical experiment |
| Lutheran students find harmony at Temple Har Zion |
| By TOM HOLMES |
You might say the marriage between Janel Dennen, a Lutheran, and Marc Stopeck, a Jew, has been an experiment in ecumenical relations. First, they had to decide whether the wedding should be celebrated in a church or a synagogue.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010 |
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