I started my plan to read one book about every country in the world back in the pandemic. More than three years later, I’m still plugging away. I’ve read more books and watched more movies that fit this theme than I’ve written up, because writing them up takes a lot of time! Also, there are… [Read More]
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Recapping Velvet: Season 1, Episode 13, “Blue Velvet”
Warning: there are many, many spoilers about the Spanish drama Velvet ahead. You can see it on Netflix. It’s daybreak, and all the magazines feature photos of Princess Grace walking out of Velvet. Rita takes a copy of one to Clara and finds Mateo hiding in her room. Mateo sneaks out and runs into Don… [Read More]
Fun with population pyramids
Last week, I spoke at FinCon, a conference for people who work in personal finance. My presentation was on Generation X and retirement, and I included a spiffy population pyramid showing that the generation is smaller than the age cohorts born before and after. And to my surprise, very few people in the audience were… [Read More]
Malta: Sites for Coin Collectors
Most travelers go to Malta for the gorgeous weather or the history. Because of its strategic location in the Mediterranean, the island has been taken over by one group after another. History forms literal layers that you can see almost everywhere you look. And among those layers are lots of coins. If you’re interested in… [Read More]
Refugee Community Connection is helping new Chicagoans
Recently, I decided to write a bit about things that are really getting worked up—in a good way—and one of these is Refugee Community Connection. It’s a grass-roots mutual aid society operating in Chicago, started by a group of people who wanted to provide assistance to people arriving in Chicago under the State Department’s Special… [Read More]
