Cool Kids

I didn’t start out being cool. I became Cool 11 years ago when I married my husband, a great guy with just the right combination of rugged and sensitive sides. He’s a true Cool.

I have two children with my ex-husband and to my utter amazement, they’re both talented musicians and performers. Very unlike me. They were Cool long before I was!

Aside from their stage personas, they’re both cool in very distinct ways. My younger, Ana, is artistic. Whether it’s home decorating, fashion, or gourmet cooking, she has a great style. She’s also an avid book reader – belonging to not just one but two book clubs in the Twin Cities.

My son, Al, is a cook, too, but a different sort. He works the kitchen of a Claddagh Irish Pub in Toledo. And he’s a great debater winning every discussion he’s cared to engage in. His future lies in law, he thinks, so he’s applied and been accepted to law school.

They have some traits in common – they’re both smart, charismatic, and great leaders – all very cool traits, I’d say. Even though they have different last names.

I love them both for their individuality.

Big City Big Dreams

When I was a young girl growing up in Chicago, my girlfriends hung posters of Donny Osmond and David Cassidy on their bedroom walls. I displayed an article and picture of our local news anchor - Bill Kurtis.

He was good looking, confident, and smart. And he was compassionate. When Chicago's longstanding and often controversial Mayor Richard J. Daley died in December 1976 - the year I graduated from college with a degree in journalism - Kurtis was clearly moved.

He was my hero. He affirmed that I'd made the right decision in choosing journalism. You could be a tough journalist and interviewer, and still appreciate your subject. Several years later, after taking a rather circuitous route, I'm finally doing what I want to be doing - interviewing interesting people - mostly local women - and writing about them.

This blog will be mostly about what I'm learning along the way, from these women, and from the other amazing people in my life.