borrelli.bsky.social

chicagotribune.comThe first performance by a Beatle in America was in Illinois: Benton keeps its historical footnote alive

1w

Months before Beatlemania in America, George Harrison visited his sister in Benton, Illinois, for two weeks in September 1963. The town remembers.

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

chicagotribune.comWhatever happened to the revolution? Zayd Ayers Dohrn’s new memoir confronts his notorious Chicago parents.“Dangerous, Dirty, Violent & Young” is Zayd Ayers Dohrn’s remarkable memoir confronting his parents, Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground.

24 Apr

My piece on Zayd Ayers Dohrn and the moral blind spots of his parents (leaders of the Weather Underground) www.chicagotribune.com/2026/04/23/z...

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

chicagotribune.comSummer books: Our 50 coolest books for your hottest monthsWhat are you looking for in your summer reading? Chicago stories, books about music or celebrities, history lessons, or tawdry, trashy novels that are secretly good? Read on.

7 June

Our annual summer book extravaganza - w/ @isaacfitzgerald.bsky.social @kait.bsky.social @gemmacorrell.bsky.social @paultremblay.bsky.social @cynthiapelayo.bsky.social @colsonwhitehead.com @esglaude.bsky.social And way more www.chicagotribune.com/2026/06/03/s...

chicagotribune.comSummer books: Our 50 coolest books for your hottest monthsWhat are you looking for in your summer reading? Chicago stories, books about music or celebrities, history lessons, or tawdry, trashy novels that are secretly good? Read on.

7 June

Our annual summer book extravaganza - w/ @isaacfitzgerald.bsky.social @kait.bsky.social @gemmacorrell.bsky.social @paultremblay.bsky.social @cynthiapelayo.bsky.social @colsonwhitehead.com @esglaude.bsky.social And way more www.chicagotribune.com/2026/06/03/s...

chicagotribune.comWhatever happened to the revolution? Zayd Ayers Dohrn’s new memoir confronts his notorious Chicago parents.“Dangerous, Dirty, Violent & Young” is Zayd Ayers Dohrn’s remarkable memoir confronting his parents, Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground.

24 Apr

My piece on Zayd Ayers Dohrn and the moral blind spots of his parents (leaders of the Weather Underground) www.chicagotribune.com/2026/04/23/z...

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

Zayd Dohrn

@zayddohrn.bsky.social

24 Apr

The Chicago Tribune calls Dangerous, Dirty, Violent & Young "a remarkable new history and memoir... an unsettling portrait of the idealism of one Chicago family." wwnorton.com/books/978132...

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

trib.alWhen Frankenstein was a Chicagoan, or why Mary Shelley’s creation will never dieThere was a doctor in Chicago years ago named Victor Frankenstein, and one of his jobs was finding medical specimens. When you visit his grave, ponder just how much Mary Shelley’s creation remains alive and well and wandering around…

18 Mar

It’s difficult to say what’s more surprising: That one of the leading surgeons in Chicago from 1900-1940s was named Victor Frankenstein, or that after Victor Frankenstein was born in Chicago in 1869, his parents still named him Victor Frankenstein.

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

trib.alChicago, you’ve been programmed: Meet Julius Mondragon, TikTok’s Computer GuyThe Computer Guy wears Ray-Ban Meta glasses with a camera, through which he records his interactions programming strangers, later posting brief videos on TikTok.

25 Feb

The Computer Guy of Chicago strikes when you least expect. Sitting in a coffeehouse. Reading your phone on the train. Working out. Waiting for food. Walking down the street.

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

chicagotribune.comMake a note: Stationery is booming as we seek out more analog experiencesStationerycore, as many call the culture, is having its moment, with devotees flocking to events such as the recent Chicago Stationery Festival in Ravenswood.

28 Mar

Take a letter: the stationery boom is no joke - my piece on why snail mail, pen pals, journaling, etc are a growing industry www.chicagotribune.com/2026/03/26/c...

chicagotribune.comMake a note: Stationery is booming as we seek out more analog experiencesStationerycore, as many call the culture, is having its moment, with devotees flocking to events such as the recent Chicago Stationery Festival in Ravenswood.

28 Mar

Take a letter: the stationery boom is no joke - my piece on why snail mail, pen pals, journaling, etc are a growing industry www.chicagotribune.com/2026/03/26/c...

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

trib.alChicago, you’ve been programmed: Meet Julius Mondragon, TikTok’s Computer GuyThe Computer Guy wears Ray-Ban Meta glasses with a camera, through which he records his interactions programming strangers, later posting brief videos on TikTok.

26 Feb

Chicago, you’ve been programmed: Meet Julius Mondragon, TikTok’s Computer Guy

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

chicagotribune.comA Rogers Park house was an HGTV ‘Ugliest House in America’ finalist — some say it’s always been anything but.Long a neighborhood landmark, the Victorian home was an art project for its previous owners. Its new owners promised to keep it much as it was. Then HGTV came calling.

6 Feb

Rogers Park house officially declared NOT the ugliest in the nation - but definitely one of the most interesting in Chicago www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/06/r...

chicagotribune.comA Rogers Park house was an HGTV ‘Ugliest House in America’ finalist — some say it’s always been anything but.Long a neighborhood landmark, the Victorian home was an art project for its previous owners. Its new owners promised to keep it much as it was. Then HGTV came calling.

6 Feb

Rogers Park house officially declared NOT the ugliest in the nation - but definitely one of the most interesting in Chicago www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/06/r...

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

chicagotribune.comNorthwestern's Daisy Hernández and her new history of the (quickly) changing meaning of citizenshipDaisy Hernández’s new book, Citizenship: Notes on an American Myth,” is partly a family memoir and partly a world history.

29 Jan

What did it even mean to be a US citizen anymore? Northwestern's Daisy Hernández on the history of citizenship itself www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/29/n...

chicagotribune.comNorthwestern's Daisy Hernández and her new history of the (quickly) changing meaning of citizenshipDaisy Hernández’s new book, Citizenship: Notes on an American Myth,” is partly a family memoir and partly a world history.

29 Jan

What did it even mean to be a US citizen anymore? Northwestern's Daisy Hernández on the history of citizenship itself www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/29/n...

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

chicagotribune.comDon’t fear the reaper. Unless you’re on this list.Ghoulish Mortals in St. Charles runs an annual death pool to predict the celebrities who won’t live to see out the year. The guesses are in for 2026.

24 Jan

My piece on Ghoul Pool, the history of betting on dead celebrities and who they expect to die in the next 12 months. No. 1 is a tie… www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/21/g...

chicagotribune.comDon’t fear the reaper. Unless you’re on this list.Ghoulish Mortals in St. Charles runs an annual death pool to predict the celebrities who won’t live to see out the year. The guesses are in for 2026.

24 Jan

My piece on Ghoul Pool, the history of betting on dead celebrities and who they expect to die in the next 12 months. No. 1 is a tie… www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/21/g...

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

chicagotribune.comWhat’s like got to do with it? Evanston’s Sara Levine on the art of ‘difficult’ women.Her 2012 novel “Treasure Island!!!” remains a cult classic. Her new book, “The Hitch,” arrives some 15 years later, with some important elements in common.

18 Jan

My piece on Evanston’s Sara Levine, and the art of writing “unlikeable” heroines www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/13/w...

chicagotribune.comWhat’s like got to do with it? Evanston’s Sara Levine on the art of ‘difficult’ women.Her 2012 novel “Treasure Island!!!” remains a cult classic. Her new book, “The Hitch,” arrives some 15 years later, with some important elements in common.

18 Jan

My piece on Evanston’s Sara Levine, and the art of writing “unlikeable” heroines www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/13/w...

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

trib.alWhat’s like got to do with it? Evanston’s Sara Levine on the art of ‘difficult’ women.Her 2012 novel “Treasure Island!!!” remains a cult classic. Her new book, “The Hitch,” arrives some 15 years later, with some important elements in common.

14 Jan

What’s like got to do with it? Evanston’s Sara Levine on the art of ‘difficult’ women. trib.al/gX5BUjM

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

chicagotribune.comThe 10 best books of 2025: Censorship, crime and compassionFrom “Clam Down” to “Murderland,” these are the 10 books out of my tall stack of best books of the year that I couldn’t get out of my mind. How do you pick yours?

4 Dec 2025

The Chicago Tribune’s 10 best books of 2025: a bit of horror, a little graphic biography, a resonant history lesson (@risenc.bsky.social) and a touch of Chicago true crime www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/03/t...

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

Becky Spratford

@raforall.bsky.social

3 Dec 2025

Chicago Tribune Top 10 books of 2025 list includes @johnlangan.bsky.social! www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/03/t...

chicagotribune.comThe 10 best books of 2025: Censorship, crime and compassionFrom “Clam Down” to “Murderland,” these are the 10 books out of my tall stack of best books of the year that I couldn’t get out of my mind. How do you pick yours?

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

chicagotribune.comA ceremony remembers the Edmund Fitzgerald 50 years later, gales of November includedFriends and family members gathered at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to ring the bell and remember those who died 50 years ago.

15 Nov 2025

On the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, I attended a memorial service at the ship’s nearest shore, Whitefish Point, at the very top of Michigan. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/11/a...

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

chicagotribune.comFrom cradle to grave: There was something for everyone alive and otherwise at the Chicago funeral directors conventionYou can learn a lot about your options for the afterlife at the annual trade show, which recently ended at McCormick Place. It was not a solemn gathering.

9 Nov 2025

My visit to the National Funeral Directors convention was lively: Rather be water or ashes? Turned into mulch or left to rot? Released over the ocean by a jet? Buried in a mushroom casket? Turned into a rock? www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/04/f...

chicagotribune.comFrom cradle to grave: There was something for everyone alive and otherwise at the Chicago funeral directors conventionYou can learn a lot about your options for the afterlife at the annual trade show, which recently ended at McCormick Place. It was not a solemn gathering.

9 Nov 2025

My visit to the National Funeral Directors convention was lively: Rather be water or ashes? Turned into mulch or left to rot? Released over the ocean by a jet? Buried in a mushroom casket? Turned into a rock? www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/04/f...

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

chicagotribune.comColumn: Why changing problematic high school nicknames is back in the spotlight — and a lesson in historyAs playoff football games unfold across the state, two prospective bills are resurfacing in Springfield that insist the village of Freeburg, and many other Illinois schools, rethink their problemat…

8 Nov 2025

I wrote a bit about the Illinois tradition of insane high school mascot names everyone takes for granted - and the legislation that could change a few www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/07/i...

chicagotribune.comColumn: Why changing problematic high school nicknames is back in the spotlight — and a lesson in historyAs playoff football games unfold across the state, two prospective bills are resurfacing in Springfield that insist the village of Freeburg, and many other Illinois schools, rethink their problemat…

8 Nov 2025

I wrote a bit about the Illinois tradition of insane high school mascot names everyone takes for granted - and the legislation that could change a few www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/07/i...

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

chicagotribune.comHow old is too old to trick or treat? The answer is more complicated than it sounds.For the record, there is no statewide age restriction on trick or treating in Illinois. But many small communities around the country set formal and informal age limits.

31 Oct 2025

I wrote about a timeless Halloween question: How old is too old to trick or treat? That question, and its history, has shaped the holiday in more ways than you know. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/31/t...

chicagotribune.comHow old is too old to trick or treat? The answer is more complicated than it sounds.For the record, there is no statewide age restriction on trick or treating in Illinois. But many small communities around the country set formal and informal age limits.

31 Oct 2025

I wrote about a timeless Halloween question: How old is too old to trick or treat? That question, and its history, has shaped the holiday in more ways than you know. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/31/t...

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

chicagotribune.com‘Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind’ at the MCA upends assumptionsThis new Yoko Ono retrospective is epic but intimate, impossibly earnest but funny and full of irony, without a single wink.

25 Oct 2025

The MCA’s wonderul - and very fun (despite this picture) - corrective of every assumption you ever held about @yokoono. You crawl into sacks, you hammer nails into canvas… www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/23/y...

chicagotribune.com‘Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind’ at the MCA upends assumptionsThis new Yoko Ono retrospective is epic but intimate, impossibly earnest but funny and full of irony, without a single wink.

25 Oct 2025

The MCA’s wonderul - and very fun (despite this picture) - corrective of every assumption you ever held about @yokoono. You crawl into sacks, you hammer nails into canvas… www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/23/y...

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

chicagotribune.comEndless Halloween: The haunting life of Michael Myers of Decatur, IndianaA few years back, Evan Zimmerman started dressing up as the killer from the “Halloween” movies. Videos of him in character have been viewed many millions of times.

19 Oct 2025

I wrote a profile of Michael Myers (of Decatur), who has been haunting his Indiana subdivision (and millions on social media) for 12 years. Once the mask goes on, HE WILL NOT TALK TO YOU. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/16/m...

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

Gregory Pratt

@royalpratt.bsky.social

20 Oct 2025

A lot of darkness going on but this is a worthwhile read and respite from the always awesome @borrelli.bsky.social

borrelli.bsky.social@borrelli.bsky.social

I wrote a profile of Michael Myers (of Decatur), who has been haunting his Indiana subdivision (and millions on social media) for 12 years. Once the mask goes on, HE WILL NOT TALK TO YOU. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/16/m...

chicagotribune.comEndless Halloween: The haunting life of Michael Myers of Decatur, IndianaA few years back, Evan Zimmerman started dressing up as the killer from the “Halloween” movies. Videos of him in character have been viewed many millions of times.

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

trib.alEndless Halloween: The haunting life of Michael Myers of Decatur, IndianaA few years back, Evan Zimmerman started dressing up as the killer from the “Halloween” movies. Videos of him in character have been viewed many millions of times.

16 Oct 2025

A few years back, Evan Zimmerman started dressing up as the killer from the “Halloween” movies. Videos of him in character have been viewed many millions of times.

chicagotribune.comEndless Halloween: The haunting life of Michael Myers of Decatur, IndianaA few years back, Evan Zimmerman started dressing up as the killer from the “Halloween” movies. Videos of him in character have been viewed many millions of times.

19 Oct 2025

I wrote a profile of Michael Myers (of Decatur), who has been haunting his Indiana subdivision (and millions on social media) for 12 years. Once the mask goes on, HE WILL NOT TALK TO YOU. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/16/m...

borrelli.bsky.social reposted

trib.alSpeaking truth to power: Tom Morello on his Goodman debut, activist art and growing up in Libertyville“Revolution(s),” by Chicago playwright Zayd Ayers Dohrn, has music by the Rage Against the Machine guitarist and was inspired by his legacy of musical bomb-throwing.

10 Oct 2025

“Revolution(s),” by Chicago playwright Zayd Ayers Dohrn, has music by Tom Morello and was inspired by his legacy of musical bomb-throwing.