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Tuesdays at 11:30 a.m. I talk with WGN-AM 720 host John Williams about what’s making news and likely to be grist for the PS mill. The WGN listen-live link is here.
Yes, it was clever, but no, the Sun-Times did not come up with ‘Da Pope.’
A Monday story in the Sun-Times proudly referenced “Da Pope” as “the Sun-Times’ own line.” Allow me to call that papal bull.
Almost instantly after Chicago-area native Robert Prevost was announced as Pope Leo XIV, my social media feeds were filled with many delightful memes, including dozens of uses of the obvious yet amusing line, “Da Pope.” Clearly hundreds of people had the same thought at nearly the same time.
I suppose some credit is due to the often clever Sun-Times headline writers for thinking to steal that joke for the next morning — most of their whimsy and wordplay is original or at least new to most readers — rather than to go with an anodyne headline along the lines of the Tribune’s “Chicago’s Pope.” But when you can’t be original, at least strive to be humble.
Notes and comments from readers — lightly edited — along with my responses
Dandy-lions
Nancy Shugan — Regarding Barbara Brotman’s guest column: I love dandelions: I smile when I see these bright yellow wildflowers dotting my yard, the silly yellow blush on your nose when you inhale their fragrance, the whimsical ballet of dandelion fluff on the breeze entertaining four year olds and inspiring them to join nature's frolic. Every aspect of this wildflower delights my soul.
Who made the silly rule that lawns must be an undulating sea of boring green? Who cares so little for the environment and the lives of all the insects and birds harmed by foul chemicals? Glue down astroturf if you must have a green lawn, and then spend your weekends enjoying sports or creating warm memories with your family.
Time, money, environment. Healthy savings all around.
Mark K. — The hate on the dandelions is misplaced and the classic suburban ideal of a manicured green grass lawn is outdated. Lawns are bad for the environment and a huge waste of water, time, and money. Here's just one article going into more detail. Here is another arguing against the idea that dandelions are invasive.
Brotman already touches on the importance of dandelions to bees and other pollinators, and her dismissal of that argument is not convincing.
Cate Plys — I see your point Mark, truly I do. But we all have some personal preference that overrides our love of the planet and pollinators, so I forgive Barbara on that, admittedly in large part because I love her writing so much. She’d probably be the first to admit her dandelion hate isn’t entirely rational. They say you can’t choose who you love but maybe you also can’t always choose what you hate. Quite a few of her Trib columns pop up in my head often still, and this one brings to mind the time she took a week off work and tried to clean out her basement. More Brotman please Eric if you can get it!
Zorn — I’ll let her know!
Monica Metzler — Brotman is awesome but monocrop lawns that are completely devoid of any animal life are awful! Thank you for speaking up against them, Mark. People need to stop being brainwashed by Scotts and Roundup into thinking a sea of green is attractive, instead of completely devoid of life. They should save their poison money, their sore backs and their witty prose for better uses.
Miner matters
Jim Anderson — The late media columnist/ Chicago Reader editor Michael Miner always struck me as fair, and even-handed with his prose. He was a critic minus venom. He stood in remarkably stark contrast to Steinberg's merciless Bob Greene bashing.
That Rob Feder speaks highly of Miner is not surprising. Feder himself has been a class act and wisely chose not to follow Gary Deeb's playbook.
Deeb made a big splash as a media writer here in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. His columns sparked my interest in local media. When Feder retired, I wrote to Par Ridder at the Tribune and suggested they give Robert Channick a media column. Not a peep in response.
Do you foresee anyone emerging to cover local media?
Zorn — There’s a place for both withering and measured criticism. It’s been almost 30 years since Steinberg wrote the incandescently scathing “Bob Watch” columns for the Reader, and we’re closing on 23 years since Greene was forced out of the Tribune (those of you who weren’t around then can catch up on the story with this Chicago Magazine piece). And it’s been 42 years since the famously acidic columnist Gary Deeb left the Sun-Times media beat (after a stint at the Tribune) to try his hand at television.
The chances of a local news outlet hiring a full-time media critic are about the same as the chances of Par Ridder answering a polite email.
Tony Fitzpatrick — Michael Miner was a moral, resonant and reasoned voice in this media landscape. I will miss him. He was also an astute student of American Political Cartooning and had a deep knowledge of the history of this art form. We'd had a couple of long discussions about the late, great Bill Mauldin, whom Mike regarded as among the best of them. When young journalists begin in this racket or approach any subject they should ask themselves WWMMD? What would Michael Miner do?
An acupuncturist pokes back
Tom Hurrle, Licensed Acupuncturist — I have often enjoyed your journalism in the last 30 years. However you took a great drop in my estimation with your May 8th comment “claims for acupuncture do not survive rigorous scientific scrutiny.”. Zero reporting was involved. The 8-year-old post you link on quack watch is factually wrong on a number of items and does not correspond to current reality. Most Chicago hospitals, if not all, and Veterans Administration hospitals around the country, employ acupuncturists. Why? because experience shows that Chinese medicine is effective. Physicians see their patients helped again and again.
Should you care to consider the actual evidence instead of an uninformed rant from a quack, here is a place to start.
Zorn — Thanks for that link. the National Library of Medicine seems like a more objective site, but it generally supports your view.
You want good news? Try science
Monica Metzler — There’s an incredibly easy way to add positive/uplifting content but for some reason it’s impossible in Chicago. What is nearly always positive is a subject that the Tribune stopped covering 15 years ago, the Sun-Times and WBEZ virtually never do, and that only The New York Times does well (but only one day a week) is science: The dedicated effort of thousands of people following innate human curiosity. It’s nearly always positive because it always gives the dopamine hit that comes from a better understanding of our world.
Chicago has an extraordinary science sector (and I mean truly incredible in the U.S. and possibly the world): Four top research universities, five major medical centers, six science museums, two national laboratories, two internationally recognized zoos, and two major botanic gardens. It’s a multi billion-dollar industry in our region, and every one of those institutions would throw open its doors to any reporter. Yet not a single media outlet covers our science sector. I’ve given up trying to understand why that is, but I do believe the failure to cover science contributes to a loss of hope in society.
Zorn — You should write to Par Ridder! I do understand that budgetary constraints these days make it difficult for most news outlets to assign full-time science beat writers.
You want good news? Read this story about Twister
David Leitschuh — The quip of the week entry about the game Twister — "my favorite party game, hands down” — gave me a huge smile, one that I wanted to share with everyone.
About four decades ago, my wife and I hosted a backyard party for the mostly younger people she worked with.
At one point I found myself sitting on a picnic bench next to a beautiful and very visibly pregnant young lady I had not previously met. To my surprise, she challenged me to a game of Twister that was set up in front of us. I accepted, and to my even greater surprise, she very handily beat me at it!
Upon conclusion of the game, I don't know what possessed me, but I turned to the young lady and told her that if she did not know what to do with her baby that we would be very honored to have it. (For context, we had been attempting to get pregnant for some time unsuccessfully.) To my utter shock and amazement, she stared back at me for a few moments and then replied that she was indeed seeking parents for her child to be.
Fast-forward 40-some years, and my beautiful adopted daughter Amanda and I still recall fondly how we became family because of a game of Twister. You will never convince me this was not God in His infinite wisdom and a large dose of humor, working His plan for us in our lives. Love Twister!
Zorn — Great story. Milton Bradley works in mysterious ways.
Unpopular opinions?
I’m not Catholic, so my opinion — that it’s sexist and backward that the Church still refuses to ordain women —doesn’t really matter. It baffles me that this antique prejudice is countenanced by so many otherwise fair-minded, devout and lovely people who would revolt if the prohibition were against, say, Black priests or obese priests. And, yes, the Catholic Church is not alone in keeping women out of the pulpit, it just happens to be very much in the news these days.
I have read the 1998 Committee on Doctrine of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops justification about the practice, and here is an excerpt:
The Church is bound to follow the example of the Lord, who chose only men as his Apostles. The sacrament of Holy Orders—which hands on their office of teaching, sanctifying, and governing—has always been reserved to men, in fidelity to Christ's example and to apostolic practice. The Church considers this constant and universal tradition to be in accordance with God's plan and to constitute a permanent norm. … The Church cannot determine the recipients of priestly ordination in a manner that contradicts the actions of Christ.
A 2023 column in the Liberty Champion, the student newspaper at Liberty University, supports the practice by citing scriptural authority:
1 Corinthians 14:34-35 provides a good starting point for any discussion. The passage begins with, “as in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches.” …
1 Timothy 2: 11-15 provides more clarity: “Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing — if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.” …
Titus 1-2 along with 1 Timothy outline requirements for leaders within the church. Each qualification refers to elders, overseers and deacons as male: “the husband of one wife,” “he must manage his household well” and “he must not be arrogant.”…
God created man for authority and woman for help. Men need help. However, women also need authority. Women should not help through an arrogant understanding of their necessity but through humility.
This is properly of little to no concern of those of us who don’t belong to faiths or belief systems that practice this kind of discrimination, so I’m providing extra options in the click poll:
My faith does not ordain women and I’m OK with it
My faith does not ordain women and I disagree with it
This matter does not impact me directly but I think it should be OK to ordain women
This matter does not impact me directly but I’m OK with whatever other faith traditions want to do
Last week’s result
Bob E. — Using log-in credentials paid for by another when not watching with the paid subscriber is against the rules — it's called stealing. When did stealing become OK?
Mark K. — I let someone else use my Netflix account and I almost never watch it myself, to the point that it's basically a gift. Their location is now considered the "main" household for Netflix’s log-in sharing purposes. I'm sure that together we watch far less than an average household. What exactly are we stealing and what is the dollar value of it? Sure, it's against the rules (I’m assuming, because, like you and everyone else, I was basically coerced into signing the unwieldy agreement.)
John N. — Wow. 57% of your poll respondents say it is perfectly fine to share passwords to streaming services outside their home. That's a lot of people stealing from the services. I guess I was just raised better.
Michael M. — Most of the people sharing passwords aren't gonna get their own account so you could argue Netflix isn't really losing anything. I'm willing to bet the Venn diagram of the people calling "password sharing" stealing and the people who live in the city but have their cars registered to their parents' house in the suburbs to save money on city stickers and insurance is a bit of an overlapping circle.
This occasional Tuesday feature is intended to highlight opinions that are defensible but may well be unpopular. If you have one to add, leave it in comments or send me an email, but be sure to offer at least a paragraph in defense of your view.
From the suggestion box
I’m responding for the next few weeks to some of the hundreds of anonymous suggestions/comments that readers posted to my recent reader survey:
Suggestion: More diversity in the Zmail feature in Picayune Plus. Every week we read views from the same few correspondents. Surely there are more people with worthy correspondence?
Response: I am very grateful for the often thoughtful and thorough responses from my most diligent commenters/respondents. They spark often vigorous but usually respectful conversations in the comments area and provide bracing dissents from my views. I look for new or less familiar voices every week when I go through the comments and my email. I really encourage those who haven’t written before to weigh in.
Suggestion: More debate/dialogues. I like when you and Austin Berg hash out opposing views on “The Mincing Rascals” podcast, and seeing some of that in print would be interesting.
Response: I hope to incorporate dialogue features again. Years ago in my column and blog, I occasionally featured “The Rhubarb Patch” in which I either pitted foes against one another in written debates or I tangled with an advocate myself. Many readers told me they found these very polite back-and-forth offerings informative and clarifying.
Suggestion: More interviews. I’ve enjoyed your recent interview with the portrait photographer and the biographical interviews with Mincing Rascals panelists. Perhaps you can add interviews between you and some interesting guests in sports, politics, science, academia, economics, etc.
Response: I enjoy doing those interviews a lot, but they do take time to edit for clarity, even with the use of a good transcription program. I hope to do a least a few of these every year. It often strikes me that there are media figures, in particular, who you see, hear or read almost every day and about whom you really don’t know very much.
NewsWheel
Inspired by the WordWheel puzzle in the Monday-Friday Chicago Tribune and other papers, this puzzle asks you to identify the missing letter that will make a word or words — possibly proper nouns; reading either clockwise or counterclockwise — related to a story in the news or other current event. The answer is at the bottom of the newsletter.
The week’s best visual jokes
Here are some funny visual images I've come across recently on social media. Enjoy, then evaluate:
There’s still time to vote in the conventional Quip of the Week poll!
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Info
Eric Zorn is a former opinion columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Find a longer bio and contact information here. This issue exceeds in size the maximum length for a standard email. To read the entire issue in your browser, click on the headline link above. Paid subscribers receive each Picayune Plus in their email inbox each Tuesday, are part of our civil and productive commenting community and enjoy the sublime satisfaction of supporting this enterprise.
Contact
You can email me at ericzorn@gmail.com or by clicking here:
I read all the messages that come in, but I do most of my interacting with readers in the comments section beneath each issue.
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Answer to the NewsWheel puzzle
ALCATRAZ
Considering my views of Liberty University, it doesn’t surprise me that someone defended the practice of barring women from the priesthood. Nor does it shock me that the Bible would have such misogynistic passages he could use to make his argument. What disappoints me is that in the 21st century there are still people not embarrassed to take such a bigoted stance.
Re Monica Metzler's astute observation re the lack of science reporting in Chicago, and how fabulous and positive it can be: Monica is being modest here by not mentioning that she's the founder and executive director of a fantastic organization, the Illinois Science Council, which hosts all kinds of interesting and fun science events around town. Check it out! Everybody here would love it. https://www.illinoisscience.org