Monthly Archives: August 2023

Every Monday at the Unique on Halsted is half-price day. It’s kind of a zoo with aggressive bargain hunters but I brave it every few weeks. It helps that all I ever look for is frames and canvases. Thrift-store shoppers are a taciturn bunch for the most part. Many act like sleepwalkers barely aware ofContinue reading “Unique Thrift”

I picked up Bonnie Jo Campbell’s short-story collection, American Salvage, at Myopic and got sucked right in. I’d heard her name a long time but didn’t have too much of a frame of reference. I knew she was related to the ex-girlfriend of a friend. But that’s not a reason to read a book. SheContinue reading “The Yard Man”

Across the street a house was demolished and a new one has gone up within a couple months. It’s an astonishing pace compared to the gut rehab of the upper stories of the one I live in. That took a year and a half. The sounds of construction are relentless, whether above my head orContinue reading “Lock Street”