Jim Slusher

2 days ago | dailyherald.com | Jim Slusher

Jim Slusher It is, of course, far more consequential to consider issues surrounding President Trump’s authorization of dropping actual bombs on another country than to wring one’s hands over his willful dropping of the “F-bomb” on Israel and Iran while talking to reporters on the White House lawn. But from a publishing perspective, the latter does deserve some attention.

2 weeks ago | dailyherald.com | Jim Slusher

Jim Slusher I’ve seen two very different pictures of journalism and journalists last week. One that is prominent and almost everyone sees. One that is more isolated and rarely rises to the level of the public consciousness. Ironically, it is the latter that is the more common and more truly reflective of the profession. It is, sadly, the former that often defines the popular narrative.

3 weeks ago | dailyherald.com | Jim Slusher

Jim Slusher Colorful asters are just one among hundreds of varieties of flowers that decorate the suburbs every spring and summer. AP File As a person of words, I was inspired some years ago to think in those terms as I reflected on the lush form of literature that thousands of amateur soil poets produce for our suburbs every spring and summer.

1 month ago | dailyherald.com | Jim Slusher

Jim Slusher I know you think you’ve seen these pictures before. But you haven’t. Not really. Yes, they bear striking similarities to each other. Hundreds of flat-topped caps in blue or red or black or crimson or green or whatever the color that defines a particular school. Huge smiles on bright young faces in groups of two and three and more. A young man or young woman speaking from behind a podium. Caps and tassels frozen against the sky like flocks of spring birds.

1 month ago | dailyherald.com | Jim Slusher

Jim Slusher The Daily Herald’s front page from Oct. 6, 1979. Some statisticians claim that each of us is no more than six degrees of separation from any other person on the planet. With that as a rough measure, Chicagoans were cheered to learn last week that their distance from probably the best-known religious leader in the world was at least a step or two closer than that of almost everyone else.