Author Archives: Mrs. Fitz

It’s fun to invent new labels for people, a pasttime well known in the family I grew up in. When a new beau came a-calling, the best he could hope for was to be called a manly man, as in, … Continue reading →

Why the phrase “perception is reality” is getting so much attention beats me. I think it’s being over-used by the wrong constituency of the human race to explain what we don’t know, or are afraid to know. Poets are the … Continue reading →

Playing ball in Elmhurst during the 1960s was a great leveler, primarily because the playing fields lacked prestige. Nobody was too little, too girly, too nerdy to play on the little patches of grass surrounding our houses. In our backyard, … Continue reading →

On same days, unusual memories take on the patina of great entertainment. Today is a same day. Winter isn’t gone. Spring isn’t anywhere around Chicago. Today’s headlines duplicate yesterday’s headlines. So I am entertained, remembering feeding a rhinosaurus, while writing … Continue reading →

The upside of Chicago weather is it can be so bad, it doesn’t take much to cheer up residents. Yesterday, at the butt-ugly end of a day filmed in black and white with sideways rain for special effect, 200 ticketholders … Continue reading →

I think twitter is great for one reason: It takes away the ridiculous notion that writing is elite, difficult, the domain of the few. That stubborn old belief dates back even further than Medieval Times, when clergy wrote and nobody … Continue reading →

During the 1960s, Mom relied on the tombstone to create her unique brand. With what I considered alarming frequency in our Elmhurst household, she would declare repeatedly she wished her tombstone to read, “She cared. She tried.” I tried to … Continue reading →

On behalf of smiling, here are three items plopped like sandbags on a place that’s a bit flooded with sad stuff: 1. Gabrielle Giffords hasn’t let the tedious and lonely and crummy task of recovering from a brain-battering bullet get … Continue reading →

With practice, it’s possible to grow younger. It’s just a matter of ignoring everything you hear and women are very good at it, since we’ve had to practice. At 25 years old, we hear we are too old to make … Continue reading →

In honor of warmth, which has arrived in Chicago, here are three phrases that should be allowed to melt and disappear: 1. Win-Win situation.In order to feel the giggle-gurgle of winning, somebody has to lose and that somebody ought to … Continue reading →