May 16, 2016

I first heard it as a child, watching on television or hearing it on the radio. “Chicagoland.” It was used in commercials: “Your Chicagoland Ford Dealer!” or “Chicagoland jewel stores!” They said it on the news: “Chicagoland was stunned by striking union workers today.” The word made it sound like a mystical, magical, fantastical place […]

April 18, 2016

I’m busy. Start here: I’m booked at the Hilton in New York City, the one in mid-town, the convention hotel with the high prices and endless hallways and conference rooms that stretch for a couple of blocks. My client is a lobby, an on-the-way-to-extinction energy industry group (guess which one!) and I can safely use […]

March 22, 2016

I just watched the latest Disney Studios major motion picture release, “Zootopia.” It’s great. Maybe one of the best movies I’ve seen in the last couple of years. Go see it. Before you say, “Taylor, you’re a homer for Disney,” allow me to defend myself. Yes, I work for Disney (in a very minor capacity). […]

March 14, 2016

Let’s get this out of the way first: it is “Daylight Saving Time.” Singular. It is not “Daylight Savings Time.” We’re not talking about banking sunlight, or investing some non-dark hours that we can reclaim next winter. When someone calls it “Daylight Savings Time” it has the same affect on me as when I see […]

February 22, 2016

My mother had a collection of sayings and clichés, she’d call them colloquialisms, which my brothers and I actually numbered because she used them so regularly. So that at dinner, when she’d begin one, for example, “Let your food stop your mouth!” we’d laugh and say “number 11!” before she got to the word “stop.” […]