Table of Contents
Introduction 11
Section 1 My Mother 13
Still Getting to Know Her 15
Nothing Like Our Mothers 17
Forever Five Years Old 19
Miss Lil 21
How to Be a Good Mother 23
My Mother's Refrigerator 25
A State of Chronic Emergency 27
The Time That's Left 29
September Light 31
Mama Writes a Poem 32
I Read to My Mother 34
Who Stole My Mother? 36
Canceling My Mother's Paper 38
A Visit From Beyond 40
Section 2 Advice, Etc 43
Wear Sunscreen 45
My Workplace, Myself? 47
The Good Boss 49
You'll Understand, I Feel 51
Big F Friends, little f friends 53
Should College Make You Happy? 55
What I've Learned From Work 57
Panic is My Muse 59
Portions 61
Dad's Work Ethic 63
Show Your Neck 63
Be Like Joe 67
The Perfect College 70
Reunion Time 71
Section 3 Loss And Survival 75
Julia Sweeney, Suburban Mom 76
Kaia and Julia, After the Accident 78
Train Buddies 81
Saved by the Gettysburg Address 85
Running With Bulls 87
Sharon and Wanda, a Love Story 89
The Girl Scout Cookie Queen 92
The Famous Unknown Writer 94
Just a Working Girl 97
After the Quake I: "The Only Child I Have" 101
After the Quake II: "So Much the Love" 103
A Light in Iraq 105
Roger Ebert's Lesson in Dying 107
Waiting by the River 109
Dominika Goes to School 113
The Last Man in New Orleans 115
The Last Man in New Orleans Dies 117
Larry Comes Home 119
Section 4 Family 123
Write Your Father 125
Joe's Daughter's Journey 126
A Google of Mothers 128
Late-Breaking Marriage 130
A Place to Rest 133
I Miss My Brother 134
Family Feuds 136
Uncle Cuyler's Alzheimer's 138
My Father Was a Common Man 140
Making a Parent Make a Will 143
Three Sad Words 145
His Voice Lives On 147
Section 5 Taste of Chicago 149
Royko 151
The Blue Bicycle 153
Up on the Roof 155
Daley Was the Dad 157
The Swimming Twins 158
Sam Cooke's Brother 161
Living on a Street of Ghosts 163
Death at Montrose Harbor 165
Studs Turns 90 167
Chicago Thunderstorms 169
Rod, Before the Fall 171
Rod Goes Running 173
Did You Ever Smoke? 175
Power Reveals 177
The Happy Immigrant March 179
"They Burned My Heart" 181
Jordan Made Us Talk 183
Opening Day 186
Section 6 Travel 189
A Leap of Faith in Rio 191
The Night Betty Grable Died 194
The Need to Get Away 196
Never Travel With Anything You Love 198
Mama Goes to France 200
Mesdemoiselles de la "Cuisine" 203
Section 7 The World We Live In 207
The Gay Marriage Evolution 209
George Girls 210
The Days of Driving Drunk 213
Rape is Not Amusing 215
Going to Ground Zero 217
The Seven Stages of Life Talk 219
The Curse of Options 221
Hillary Didn't Quit 223
TV Binge! 225
The Governess Myth 227
Emma and Obama 229
The Peril of Mental Labels 231
Bob Novak, Pundit 232
Facebook Birthday Grind 234
Bill Clinton, Catholic Schoolgirl 236
More Wrinkled Women, Please 238
A Cell Phone Photo Says it All 240
Section 8 Reading and Writing 243
Warm Regards 245
Don't Lend That Book 247
My Marriage to Kurt Vonnegut 249
Elizabeth Strout in the Toad Hole 251
A Discount Ticket to Everywhere 253
"Rain Light" 255
The "Peanuts" Grind 257
How Not to Write 259
Szymborska, My Companion 261
Doris Lessing's Nobel 263
Miss Birch on "Their" 265
Miss Birch on Ellipses 267
Lie vs. Lay 269
Quote Culprits 271
Art Buchwald on Depression 273
In Honor of Holden 275
Section 9 Cabrini-Green 277
Crossroads of Change 279
The New Dominick's 281
This is Deep 283
Who Will Be Saved? 285
The Gangbanger 289
The Dogwalkers 293
Cabrini in the Year 2020 296
Per CHA 300
The Last High-Rise 303
Ollie's Last Stand 306
Section 10 Holidays 309
Grateful 311
The Troublesome Thanksgiving Guest 313
Turkey Trauma 314
Ode to the Sofa Bed 317
Even the Terrible Things 319
Thanksgiving Pledge 320
Say Thanks While There's Time 322
Forgettable Holiday Meals 324
At Christmas, I Believe 327
The Christmas Tree Therapist 328
Dad's La-Z-Boy 330
To Those Who Can't Be With Us 332
New Year's Purge 334
Section 11 The Seasons 337
Winter: Chicago vs. New York 339
Yours is Itty Bitty 341
Summer Ticks Away 343
When the Cicadas Stop 345
Indian Summer 347
On the Lakefront 349
Section 12 The Journey of Joan Lefkow 353
Part I Rain 355
Part II Home 357
Part III Michael 360
Part IV Goodbyes 363
Part V Mother 365
Part VI Mysteries 368
Part VII Who Am I? 371
Part VIII Judge and Witnesses 374
Part IX Work 376
Part X Alone 379
Part XI A Wedding 380
Part XII Faith 381
Section 13 2012 Pulitzer Prize Winners 385
Gina 387
A Memorial Mission 388
Save a Little Outrage 394
Forget High School 396
The Harris Family 398
Lost, Word by Word 404
Ode to Mayor Daley 407
Dear Rod 410
Marilyn, Big and Bad 412
The Ice Cream Man 414
