Neil Steinberg

3 weeks ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Neil Steinberg

Bill Clinton won reelection in 1996 promising to “build a bridge to the 21st century.” But when newsman Jim Johnson went to read that memorable phrase on the radio, it came out as “build a bridge to the 21st secretary,” a malapropism echoing the president’s famous roving eye. “Jim Johnson was a professional news gatherer and on-air reporter with amazing punchlines lurking in the weeds,” said radio icon Steve Dahl.

3 weeks ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Neil Steinberg

Darren Ritter didn’t know he was gay when he joined Firehouse 51 in 2018. “My character was only going to be around for a few episodes, so I don’t think there was a lot of thought put into who guy was,” said Daniel Kyri, the actor who plays Ritter on “Chicago Fire,” now in its 13th season on NBC. “I just played the character as I saw him; I wasn’t throwing out rainbows.”Lt. Paul Clark certainly knew he was gay when he started as an actual Chicago firefighter at the Wells Street Station in 1997.

3 weeks ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Neil Steinberg

So the wife and I went out to a party downtown Wednesday night. Which is unusual for me, because I don’t normally go to parties, through an effective combination of a) not being invited and b) not wanting to go, as parties typically involve conveying myself somewhere and encountering unfamiliar people. I’d rather be home.

4 weeks ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Neil Steinberg

What do geese know that we don’t? The value of organization, for one. While the structure of the United States government, built over centuries, is being torn apart in a matter of months, we can still look up and see those tight Vs in the spring sky as flocks of Canada geese return north. Though many geese never leave the Chicago area. A pair showed up at my feeder last week. Most of the birds we get are “LBBs” — little brown birds, sparrows, wrens, finches — shamed by the occasional red cardinal.

1 month ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Neil Steinberg

We remember feminism of the 1970s without also recalling exactly what women were being militant about: their voices being muffled, their power minimized, their issues ignored. Pagan Kennedy’s new book, “The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story,” is a disturbing journey back to the bad old days of Chicago a half century ago. And maybe, the way we’re going, a glimpse into our future, too. The book begins with the sexual abuse of the author, trauma both specific and universal.