At the risk of making you think I’m weirder than you may already think I am . . . Sometimes when walking alone late at night, I talk to friends and family who have died. Been doing it for a couple of years now. Going back to the pandemic when the streets were so deserted […]
Tag: Karen Lewis
Posted inOn Politics
Happy birthday, Harold
It was just unofficially Harold Washington week in Chicago as the city celebrated the 100th anniversary of his birth. That’s right—had Harold lived, he’d have been 100 years old on April 15. Everywhere I look I see articles proclaiming Harold’s greatness. Oh, if only he had so much support when he was mayor. Look, I […]
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Teflon Rahm
I suppose it’s only appropriate that President Biden announced Mayor Rahm’s nomination as ambassador to Japan at roughly the same time as the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. The war in Afghanistan, like Rahm’s reign as mayor, has come to symbolize the deceit and treachery of leaders who claim they’re looking out for us when, […]
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Now they love her
Karen Lewis knew you don’t make a lot of friends in high places when you stand up for teachers and poor kids.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
The show goes on
One era ends and another begins for our beloved First Tuesdays.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Busted priorities
Even with a teachers’ strike looming, the city is investing in the wrong things.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Celebrating Acero’s successful teachers’ strike—and the belated victory for Karen Lewis
Chicago’s City Council hates taking from the schools and giving to the rich but sometimes they do it anyway.
Posted inBlogs
Looks like Karen Lewis may have defeated Rahm after all
As I watched jubilant teachers, wearing union red, from the Acero charter school network celebrate the new contract they’d won after a four-day strike, I had a flashback to the way things used to be. The Chicago Teachers Unions were in the midst of their 2012 strike, which had shuttered all the public schools in […]
Posted inColumns & Opinion
An expression of gratitude for political and local events over the last year
Good job, Illinois voters. Bravo, Jeff Bezos (in a backhanded sort of way).
Posted inBlogs
It’s that thankful time of year
For the most of the year I rant and rail about the really bad ideas and behavior of our elected officials—and, trust me, I’ll get to Mayor Rahm’s $800 million or so Lincoln Yard TIF handout, in a subsequent column real soon. But with Thanksgiving just around the corner I figured I’d keep up with […]
Posted inBlogs
Here’s hoping that the myth of the bad teacher is finally laid to rest
Even Mayor 1 Percent is backpedaling away from his earlier support of charter schools and his refusal to
Posted inBlogs
Rahm and Rauner’s phony Ryan feud: Don’t be fooled by the Twitter barbs
Here’s hoping voters are too sophisticated to fall for the supposed discord over the protest that shut down the Dan Ryan.
Posted inBlogs
You can thank Karen Lewis for the national wave of teacher insurrections
The red-shirt-wearing teacher activists from Kentucky, West Virginia, and Oklahoma obviously learned a thing or two from Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis.
Posted inBlogs
The Sun-Times published a pre-death obituary for Karen Lewis. What’s wrong with that?
The only thing wrong with landing a glowing obit is that you have to be dead to get it.
Posted inBlogs
Emanuel proposes ride-sharing fee increases, 911 phone tax increases in 2018 budget, and other Chicago news
Also, CTU president Karen Lewis is recovering from a stroke in the hospital.