Twitter has been blocking or otherwise impeding links to Substack newsletters, so this page has become my workaround.
Picayune Sentinel for 5-25-23
- Relax! The big chickens are too scared of the big babies to put the nation into default
- Last week’s winning tweet
- News and Views — The National Enquirer turns on Donald Trump; The Triibe is killin’ it!; The “human composting” bill in Springfield is dead; Activists fighting for a different school-board districts map.
- Land of Linkin’ — Where I tell readers where to go
- Race to the slop — The 2023 Oakland A’s are on track to be the worst team in baseball’s modern era. And I’m there for it.
- Mary Schmich — On newspapers at kitschy deli wrap
- “The Mincing Rascals” preview — Monica Eng of Axios Chicago joined the small panel this week to talk about her series on property tax appeals.
- Re:Tweets — Featuring the winner of the visual tweets poll and this week’s finalists.
- Word court — Your verdict, please, on “lie” and “lay” and “theater” vs. “theatre.” Plus an rumination on “accident” and a look at one of the strangest sentences you’ll ever see.
- Polling position: How readers rated the best months in Chicago an a question about banana splits.
- Tune of the Week — “Mighty Mighty” as nominated by my Songs of Good Cheer bandmate Jim Wynton
Picayune Sentinel for 5-18-23
- Brandon Johnson makes trouble in alluding to Adam Toledo
- Last week’s winning tweets
- Promo for tonight’s event at the Hideout
- News and Views
- WFMT-FM’s “The Midnight Special” turns 70
- Land of Linkin’ — Where I tell readers where to go
- Word Watch — What do you call that last bit of food that everyone wants but no one wants to grab?
- Mary Schmich — On her mother’s yellow coat
- “The Mincing Rascals” preview
- Ranking the months in Chicago — 1 through 12
- Re:Tweets — Featuring the winner of the visual tweets poll and this week’s finalists
- Tune of the Week — “The Mary Ellen Carter” nominated by Peter Sagal
Picayune Sentinel for 5-11-23
- Lightfoot’s defiant, unapologetic exit reminds us why she lost
- Last week’s winning tweet
- “Chicago Tonight” moves time slots again
- The Picayune Sentinel regrets the Tribune’s errors in an editorial calling for a balanced budget amendment
- News and Views on Donald Trump’s appalling locution, Tiger Woods’ breakup technique and bellyaching about “robo umps.”
- An interview with author Mark Guarino about Chicago’s country music and folk history
- Land of Linkin’ — Where I tell readers where to go
- Is ‘semi-permanent tattoo’ an oxymoron?
- “The Mincing Rascals” preview
- Re:Tweets — Featuring the winner of the visual tweets poll, this week’s finalists in the regular and dad-joke division, and the results of a poll on the funniest way to agree to sex in just five words.
- I am pleased and irritated to tell you how I cut $50 a month off my satellite TV bill
- Tune of the Week — “Waltzing on Top of the World”
Picayune Plus for 5-9-23
- A dissenting view on Willie Wilson, columnist
- Some thoughts on the new Biden/Trump polling
- Visual tweets poll
Picayune Sentinel for 5-4-23
- Now? Now can we have political ethics reform?
- Last week’s winning tweet
- Tune of the Week — From Gordon Lightfoot, naturally
- News and Views — On striking Hollywood writers, Willie Wilson’s new column and more
- Yes, we need more critics. And local staff columnists, too
- Land of Linkin’ — Where I tell readers where to go
- What should a journalist do if a subject will only offer answers in writing to questions?
- Mary Schmich — Thoughts on the demolition of a neighboring building
- “The Mincing Rascals” preview
- Re:Tweets — Featuring the winner of the visual tweets poll and this week’s finalists
Picayune Plus for 5-2-23
- Z-mail on insurance industry practices, Dylan Mulvaney, Kim Foxx’s failure to prosecute R. Kelly, school funding discrepancies and more
- The flimsy case against ‘human composting’
- Results of reader polls on the value of social media and the great waffles vs. pancakes debate.
- The visual tweets poll
Picayune Sentinel for 4-27-23
- Kim Foxx’s legacy is still on the line
- Last week’s winning tweet
- Unlike a good neighbor, State Farm drops a longtime customer over storm damage
- News and Views— on Tucker Carlson, Brandon Johnson’s endorsement of Joe Biden, John Greenfield, Bob Fioretti and Dylan Mulvaney
- Word Watch — A farewell salute to a fellow language lover
- Land of Linkin’ — Where I tell readers where to go
- Homeless advocate on housing asylum seekers in Chicago — ‘What’s going on here?’
- Mary Schmich — A skyline photo of our wondrous city
- “The Mincing Rascals” preview
- Re:Tweets — Featuring the winner of the visual tweets poll and this week’s finalists
- Tune of the Week — Picking just one Harry Belafonte song as a valedictory was a challenge!
Picayune Plus for 4-25-23
- I would gladly pay $8 a month for Twitter— but not under these circumstances
- Visual Tweet of the Week poll
Picayune Sentinel for 4-20-23
- Last week’s winning tweet — … and some close runners up
- News and Views — Don’t stand in the doorway, Sen. Feinstein. Don’t block up the hall
- Land of Linkin’ — Where I tell readers where to go
- Kass strikes back — Sort of
- Mary Schmich — Regrets her error
- Re:Tweets — Featuring the winner of the visual tweets poll and this week’s finalists
- Results of the reader poll on pennies and nickels — They make a lot of cents
- Tune of the Week — “Georgia Hard” nominated by Mark Guarino
Picayune Plus for 4-18-23
- Johnson mulls ousting Arwady
- Zmail on John Kass; Adam Toledo and more
Picayune Sentinel for 4-13-23
- John Kass and “The Chicago Way ™“
- Last week’s winning tweet
- Another reason to support journalism
- News and Views — On the Democratic convention, the Adam Toledo case and more
- Land of Linkin’ — Where I tell readers where to go
- Dump the nickel as well as the penny!
- Play the retro version of Never-Have-I-Ever
- “The Mincing Rascals” preview
- Re:Tweets — Featuring the winner of the last two visual tweets polls and this week’s finalists
- Tune of the Week — A fiddle tune with a timely name and good story behind it
Picayune Plus for 4-11-23
- Is “butt-hurt” an anti-gay slur?
- Z-mail on my “present” vote for mayor and more.
- Visual tweets of the week — a reader poll
Picayune Sentinel for 4-6-23
- Mayoral election review
- I voted and yet I didn’t
- Two shining moments — The Tweet Madness winners
- The epic concession speech in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race
- News and Views
- Land of Linkin’ — Where I tell readers where to go
- Mary Schmich — A brand new TrumPoem
- “The Mincing Rascals” preview — This week, Alice Yin from the Tribune joined the panel
- Re:Tweets — Featuring a plea to Elon Musk, a visual tweet that I won’t put in the poll and this week’s admirable crop of finalists
- Tune of the Week — Nancy Nall Derringer nominates a Shadow Show song