Columns

When Coco Gauff won this year’s U.S. Open women’s singles title at just 19 years of age, there were immediate comparisons to Serena Williams, who took home her first U.S. Open trophy when she 17 in 1999. With Gauff’s star soaring in women’s tennis, we can view her triumph as a passing of the mantle since Williams retired last year. Also, looking back at Gauff’s first Grand Slam match victory at Wimbledon four years ago against Venus Williams, Gauff getting to championship status was, as tennis great Chris Evert recently stated, “(N)ot a matter of if, but when.”

In the past few months, I was reminded of something from my very distant Chicago past. The reason those memories have resurfaced almost 70 years later is because of something my niece Jessie told me. Having heard much of the family lore surrounding my upbringing over the years from her mom and my sis, Joanie, Jessie was aware that the person she’s always referred to as Uncle Bubby during his first few years growing up in the Chicago suburb of Oak Lawn had a couple of invisible friends. In a neighborhood somewhat lacking in kids my age, my two pals provided sounding boards for some of my earliest chatter.

I seldom write restaurant reviews for the sound journalistic reason that I seldom go to restaurants. That’s because I took a vow of poverty when I went into journalism and can’t afford to eat out too often.

Sometimes bizarre things happen to bizarre people.

One of the biggest surprise movie hits of the summer was “Sound of Freedom,” starring Jim Caviezel. The powerful, thought-provoking film tells the true life story of Tim Ballard, a former Department of Homeland Security agent who relentlessly pursued child traffickers around the world.

It’s been more than 10 years since the “other woman” came into our lives. She drives us both batty. Literally.

Neighbors can be a blessing, a curse or some of both. When neighbors do not respect property lines, those neighbors are trespassing, and trespassing can cause a lot more damage than just hard feelings.

Social Security benefits were once tax-free. That changed in 1983, when Congress decided to tax a portion of benefits for the highest-income recipients.

There’s a reason the name “Jimmy Buffett” elicits immediate joy in the hearts of millions: happiness contagion.

If it weren’t for my wife, I would have starved to death long ago. That’s because Sue not only is an excellent cook who can make even vegetables appetizing (except squash, which should be squashed), but also she does the food shopping.