can i pimp my sorta new favorite charity?

so, i have one of the all times great dogs ever in the person of my victorian bulldogge, biff.
he and i are hospice volunteers. usually we work at a hospital in patient unit. sometimes we get special requests for home visits, or visits to other locations. usually we go once a week, tho we have been on a sick leave since i just had my rotator cuff glued back together.

today was our first chance to visit the local ronald mc donald house. it is attached to the new, renamed, children's hospital in chi. lurie children's hospital.
biff nearly exploded w joy when he realized we were going to work.

i have a very sick kid who is now 23, disabled, and still searching for answers to her never ending cascade of physical ailments. it started at 6, w pain problems. at 9, she started (excuse me) shitting bright red blood.
this is a long story, but i will just say that i spent a fair amount of time pacing the halls of the children's hospital.
i never had to get that most horrible of news- your child is going to die.

i feel like i can talk to the parents who did get that news, and say, i have not worn your shoes, but i have tried them on. the news you have received is always just wrong. no one should have to bury their child.
i am a tough old broad now, w very broad shoulders.
this work floats my boat.

the saddest thing about today was that the place is so full of hope. i talked to a mom whose 16 yo had just had a heart transplant.
i saw many who wore my face of "this is today's fresh hell, but i will persevere." "i know there is a miracle here for my child"
but there was no miracle for this sweet boy, who was from the phillipines.

i was so blessed to have this amazing hospital here in my city. i got to sleep in my own bed.
but people come here from all over to get in line for their miracle.
they leave family members behind. they leave their beds and their kitchens.
and ronald's takes care of those families.
mom's, dad's, siblings, whoever needs to be their for their seriously ill child.

i was so impressed w the place. the virtual welcome mat is a mile wide. it is a beautiful place, fulllll of art. full of play. full of hope.


do you indulge in the occasional greasy burger, or the daily greasy burger, cuz, who doesnt need to just drive through sometimes?
do you feel guilt?
here is your antidote.
drop the change in the box.
i tend to grab a smoothie and some fries on my way to the hospital, it is $6.72. i give them a tenner, and drop the change.
they get the holiday donations that i used to give to the red kettles.

think what you will about the corporation, i dont blame you if you hate on them. but ronald mc donald houses are as pure good as anything that you can do w your charitable giving.
and you will hardly even notice that you did it.
do it.

Question submitted by mopinko

poor little snowflakes. they ruined their own business by jumping on the

trump train, in one of the bluest cities ever.
can we get a big aawwww poor babies?

https://www.gofundme.com/MusicStoreRescue

never going back.

for every turn of the wheel of human progress, there are those who want to turn it 2 turns back. those for whom every bit of progress sticks in their craw.

i think the current gang of thugs to infest our body politic mostly doesnt actually think that way, or certainly act that way. they are just garden variety thugs and authoritarians. plain as mud.

but they got where they are by firing up those who want to turn back time, selling them the snake oil that they had the power to do so. but in their sheer stupid number, they have pushed us back.

and we all feel like we are in a hole. and indeed we are.

but ya know, i am sure a lot of you have seen this commercial. i have seen it a whoooole bunch of times on the msnbc feed.
it still makes me smile.
we are never going back.

a trumpanzee gets backed around a cul de sac.

so, my kid sis lives in a red suburb. we fb a fair bit about politics, to which she has recently become a lot more woke.
she has an idiot neighbor who is all gunz and drumph and o'bummer.

since the inauguration, he has been a lot quieter. recently, he realized that his sorta grown kids might lose their health insurance. after a few heated rounds about what to replace the aca with, he concluded that the only thing that could possible work better than the aca (which, of course, is a commie plot) is,





wait for it



















single payer.

it think a lot of people are gonna come to the same conclusion from a hella lot of different directions.

interesting times.

you guys still considering a like button for replies?

so many important replies these days that often connect the dots to other stories. it would be really good to be able to raise their profiles. they so often get lost about the time things get interesting.
i wish for this more every day it seems.

a fun bit of urban archeology

from a theater that sorta got lost to time.
https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170307/logan-square/congress-theater-eric-nordstrom-urban-remains-hidden-treasure-candy-containers?utm_source=Chicago&utm_campaign=bd19da3e8c-Mailchimp-CHI&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4061d3bea7-bd19da3e8c-174081213