Chicagoing’s On

A couple of interesting news items from Chi-town:

The R. Kelly trial continues. There’s talk of a surprise witness who will rebut the 10 previous witnesses’ identification of Kelly and the girl in the video. But this alleged witness has also given a false Social Security number to authorities conducting a background check, presumably because s/he’s trying to avoid getting caught up in some other issues.

Now, I’m no fan of R. Kelly’s. There’s only 2 songs of his that I like; the rest I consider garbage. Do I think he’s guilty? Probably. But if the woman says she’s not the one on the tape and the defense says that the mole-less man is not Kelly, do I think he’s going to jail? Probably not. I believe he slept with underage girls. My question is why they aren’t going after him for statutory rape rather than child porn.

Northwestern graduates are up in arms over the choices of commencement speaker. First, the law school grads had a hissy when Jerry Springer was chosen as their speaker. (Truthfully, I probably would have laughed.) Now the undergrads are up in arms because Mayor Richard Daley has been chosen. Apparently, he’s not prestigious enough for them.

I’m no fan of either man. But I read the text of Springer’s speech. It was thoughtful and encouraging. I’ve always thought he was a smarter man before he started pandering to the lowest forms of society. As for Daley, he’s one step short of being indicted for corruption. He’s a terrible public speaker. But he probably has a good speechwriter. It’ll be fine.

Here’s the thing NU grads: who really cares? When all is said and done, the only thing that will matter is the diploma in your hand. No one is going to say, “Hey, that’s right, your school sucks because you had Jerry Springer/Richard Daley as your speaker.” I know it’s been a while, but I can’t remember any of my commencement speakers. I can’t even remember what they said. What I do remember from graduation is wearing my cap and gown, standing with my classmates, getting that amazing feeling when I saw my diploma. At my college graduation, I remember the collective tears of our graduating class as we awarded posthumous degrees to two of our fellow classmates, one who was killed only a week before graduation. I still get misty-eyed remembering the courage of David Koole’s father – having just buried David, knowing that he should have been among us — standing on the stage with David’s degree and encouraging us to move forward.

As for the speaker – who remembers?

NU grads – who cares? Let it go.

Anatomy of a (soon-to-be) Bestseller – the Prologue

It all started with a song.

Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men did a duet, “One Sweet Day”. The lyrics were beautiful: “And I know you’re shining down on me from heaven/Like so many friends we’ve lost along the way/And I know eventually we’ll be together/One sweet day.” The song got me thinking about my mom (who was still with me at the time) and I knew that one day she’d be gone. That got me thinking about a character who had lost the people most precious to her and how she’d react. I couldn’t get the story out of my head. So I went to Borders, bought a journal and started writing down the stuff in my head.

Thus, “One Sweet Day” was born. At least the first 3 chapters.

At the time (2000), I had no idea how to write a novel or even if I could. I wrote down plot points and where I thought the story was going. And I wrote down the scenes as they came.

Then – nothing.

I put it aside and forgot about it. Or tried to.

Later that year, I started writing fanfic based on The West Wing. I asked a couple of my friends what they thought about my stories. Their response? “What happened to the other story – the novel? Finish that!”

But I couldn’t. So I concentrated on creating fanfic. But little by little, “One Sweet Day” kept creeping back into my consciousness. So I worked on it. And worked on it some more. And I kept dropping it and picking it back up. The whole time, my long-time friend and (soon-to-be) editor, Michelle, kept after me to finish.

And I did.

Or so I thought.

To be continued…

Whinin’ Ryan

Former Governor and now-convicted felon, George Ryan, lost his appeal for a new trial today. The Supreme Court refused to hear arguments that his trial was unfair because the judge replaced two of the jurors with alternates during deliberation. Alternates, mind you, that sat during the entire trial and had to make their decisions based on the evidence presented.

Ryan was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison. He may wind up only serving half that time, if his influential friends have anything to say about it.

Six years. One year for every child that Rev. Duane Scott Willis and his wife Janet lost in that tragic auto accident in 1994. The same accident that triggered the corruption investigation that led to Ryan’s conviction.

Ryan is 74 years old. For 74 years, he’s been able to live his life, see his children and grandchildren grow. If he’s lucky, he’ll still walk out of prison and have some viable years left before he dies to be with his family.

Scott and Janet Willis lost 6 children who won’t grow up, won’t get to go to school and graduate, won’t have families of their own.

Ryan has never apologized for his actions or to the family. The Willis’ don’t expect one.

Ryan and his supporters are whining. The Willis family is moving on.

If there were true justice, Ryan would have been sentenced for the rest of life in prison to answer for the deaths of the six Willis children. Instead, he got a slap on the wrist. Ryan and his supporters should shut up, go away and be thankful that he may get a few more years with his family.

The Willis family never will.

In Him,

Donna