Entering August, the Dog Days, the third month of meteorological summer, the heat and humidity every day. Gardens are overgrown and maybe really weedy. Days of day lilies are almost done.

There are seedpods on the milkweeds. Tomatoes and peppers are ripening. And what to do with all the zucchini?

It is a time of ripening fields. In the stores and farmers’ markets, produce is fresh and plentiful. It’s like summer will never end.

And in these endless afternoons, do we still listen to baseball on the radio?

Do we think about mosquitos, and heat exhaustion, floods and thunder?

Do we think about the fall weather forecast, and back to school?

Already, the aisles of school supplies at Walgreens. And ice cream on sale.

And what about ChicagoNow, this site of so many wonderful blogs, such talent and variety, this community of writers? As of now, things remain uncertain. Maybe this will all go away tomorrow….

But even so, I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my postings on Chicago Weather Watch. Thank you to those who have left comments here–especially Jack and Margaret Serious, and Aquinas Wired, who left the very first comment—a perfect haiku on Hiroshige snow. Thank you!

Thank you, Jimmy Greenfield, who built this community, and welcomed me. It has been an honor and a pleasure.

Thank you all for sharing the moon and the weather with me!

Entering August, the Dog Days, the third month of meteorological summer, the heat and humidity every day. Gardens are overgrown and maybe really weedy. Days of day lilies are almost done.

There are seedpods on the milkweeds. Tomatoes and peppers are ripening. And what to do with all the zucchini?

It is a time of ripening fields. In the stores and farmers’ markets, produce is fresh and plentiful. It’s like summer will never end.

And in these endless afternoons, do we still listen to baseball on the radio?

Do we think about mosquitos, and heat exhaustion, floods and thunder?

Do we think about the fall weather forecast, and back to school?

Already, the aisles of school supplies at Walgreens. And ice cream on sale.

And what about ChicagoNow, this site of so many wonderful blogs, such talent and variety, this community of writers? As of now, things remain uncertain. Maybe this will all go away tomorrow….

But even so, I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my postings on Chicago Weather Watch. Thank you to those who have left comments here–especially Jack and Margaret Serious, and Aquinas Wired, who left the very first comment—a perfect haiku on Hiroshige snow. Thank you!

Thank you, Jimmy Greenfield, who built this community, and welcomed me. It has been an honor and a pleasure.

Thank you all for sharing the moon and the weather with me!

Entering August, the Dog Days, the third month of meteorological summer, the heat and humidity every day. Gardens are overgrown and maybe really weedy. Days of day lilies are almost done.

There are seedpods on the milkweeds. Tomatoes and peppers are ripening. And what to do with all the zucchini?

It is a time of ripening fields. In the stores and farmers’ markets, produce is fresh and plentiful. It’s like summer will never end.

And in these endless afternoons, do we still listen to baseball on the radio?

Do we think about mosquitos, and heat exhaustion, floods and thunder?

Do we think about the fall weather forecast, and back to school?

Already, the aisles of school supplies at Walgreens. And ice cream on sale.

And what about ChicagoNow, this site of so many wonderful blogs, such talent and variety, this community of writers? As of now, things remain uncertain. Maybe this will all go away tomorrow….

But even so, I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my postings on Chicago Weather Watch. Thank you to those who have left comments here–especially Jack and Margaret Serious, and Aquinas Wired, who left the very first comment—a perfect haiku on Hiroshige snow. Thank you!

Thank you, Jimmy Greenfield, who built this community, and welcomed me. It has been an honor and a pleasure.

Thank you all for sharing the moon and the weather with me!

Entering August, the Dog Days, the third month of meteorological summer, the heat and humidity every day. Gardens are overgrown and maybe really weedy. Days of day lilies are almost done.

There are seedpods on the milkweeds. Tomatoes and peppers are ripening. And what to do with all the zucchini?

It is a time of ripening fields. In the stores and farmers’ markets, produce is fresh and plentiful. It’s like summer will never end.

And in these endless afternoons, do we still listen to baseball on the radio?

Do we think about mosquitos, and heat exhaustion, floods and thunder?

Do we think about the fall weather forecast, and back to school?

Already, the aisles of school supplies at Walgreens. And ice cream on sale.

And what about ChicagoNow, this site of so many wonderful blogs, such talent and variety, this community of writers? As of now, things remain uncertain. Maybe this will all go away tomorrow….

But even so, I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my postings on Chicago Weather Watch. Thank you to those who have left comments here–especially Jack and Margaret Serious, and Aquinas Wired, who left the very first comment—a perfect haiku on Hiroshige snow. Thank you!

Thank you, Jimmy Greenfield, who built this community, and welcomed me. It has been an honor and a pleasure.

Thank you all for sharing the moon and the weather with me!

Entering August, the Dog Days, the third month of meteorological summer, the heat and humidity every day. Gardens are overgrown and maybe really weedy. Days of day lilies are almost done.

There are seedpods on the milkweeds. Tomatoes and peppers are ripening. And what to do with all the zucchini?

It is a time of ripening fields. In the stores and farmers’ markets, produce is fresh and plentiful. It’s like summer will never end.

And in these endless afternoons, do we still listen to baseball on the radio?

Do we think about mosquitos, and heat exhaustion, floods and thunder?

Do we think about the fall weather forecast, and back to school?

Already, the aisles of school supplies at Walgreens. And ice cream on sale.

And what about ChicagoNow, this site of so many wonderful blogs, such talent and variety, this community of writers? As of now, things remain uncertain. Maybe this will all go away tomorrow….

But even so, I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my postings on Chicago Weather Watch. Thank you to those who have left comments here–especially Jack and Margaret Serious, and Aquinas Wired, who left the very first comment—a perfect haiku on Hiroshige snow. Thank you!

Thank you, Jimmy Greenfield, who built this community, and welcomed me. It has been an honor and a pleasure.

Thank you all for sharing the moon and the weather with me!

Entering August, the Dog Days, the third month of meteorological summer, the heat and humidity every day. Gardens are overgrown and maybe really weedy. Days of day lilies are almost done.

There are seedpods on the milkweeds. Tomatoes and peppers are ripening. And what to do with all the zucchini?

It is a time of ripening fields. In the stores and farmers’ markets, produce is fresh and plentiful. It’s like summer will never end.

And in these endless afternoons, do we still listen to baseball on the radio?

Do we think about mosquitos, and heat exhaustion, floods and thunder?

Do we think about the fall weather forecast, and back to school?

Already, the aisles of school supplies at Walgreens. And ice cream on sale.

And what about ChicagoNow, this site of so many wonderful blogs, such talent and variety, this community of writers? As of now, things remain uncertain. Maybe this will all go away tomorrow….

But even so, I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my postings on Chicago Weather Watch. Thank you to those who have left comments here–especially Jack and Margaret Serious, and Aquinas Wired, who left the very first comment—a perfect haiku on Hiroshige snow. Thank you!

Thank you, Jimmy Greenfield, who built this community, and welcomed me. It has been an honor and a pleasure.

Thank you all for sharing the moon and the weather with me!

Entering August, the Dog Days, the third month of meteorological summer, the heat and humidity every day. Gardens are overgrown and maybe really weedy. Days of day lilies are almost done.

There are seedpods on the milkweeds. Tomatoes and peppers are ripening. And what to do with all the zucchini?

It is a time of ripening fields. In the stores and farmers’ markets, produce is fresh and plentiful. It’s like summer will never end.

And in these endless afternoons, do we still listen to baseball on the radio?

Do we think about mosquitos, and heat exhaustion, floods and thunder?

Do we think about the fall weather forecast, and back to school?

Already, the aisles of school supplies at Walgreens. And ice cream on sale.

And what about ChicagoNow, this site of so many wonderful blogs, such talent and variety, this community of writers? As of now, things remain uncertain. Maybe this will all go away tomorrow….

But even so, I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my postings on Chicago Weather Watch. Thank you to those who have left comments here–especially Jack and Margaret Serious, and Aquinas Wired, who left the very first comment—a perfect haiku on Hiroshige snow. Thank you!

Thank you, Jimmy Greenfield, who built this community, and welcomed me. It has been an honor and a pleasure.

Thank you all for sharing the moon and the weather with me!

Entering August, the Dog Days, the third month of meteorological summer, the heat and humidity every day. Gardens are overgrown and maybe really weedy. Days of day lilies are almost done.

There are seedpods on the milkweeds. Tomatoes and peppers are ripening. And what to do with all the zucchini?

It is a time of ripening fields. In the stores and farmers’ markets, produce is fresh and plentiful. It’s like summer will never end.

And in these endless afternoons, do we still listen to baseball on the radio?

Do we think about mosquitos, and heat exhaustion, floods and thunder?

Do we think about the fall weather forecast, and back to school?

Already, the aisles of school supplies at Walgreens. And ice cream on sale.

And what about ChicagoNow, this site of so many wonderful blogs, such talent and variety, this community of writers? As of now, things remain uncertain. Maybe this will all go away tomorrow….

But even so, I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my postings on Chicago Weather Watch. Thank you to those who have left comments here–especially Jack and Margaret Serious, and Aquinas Wired, who left the very first comment—a perfect haiku on Hiroshige snow. Thank you!

Thank you, Jimmy Greenfield, who built this community, and welcomed me. It has been an honor and a pleasure.

Thank you all for sharing the moon and the weather with me!

The fat lady’s singin’, the swan has his song. Hit the lights on your way out … ’cause baby, we gone.

In 2019, a hedge fund called Alden Global Capital bought out the Tribune Companies.

In the wake of that event – and I do mean wake – several fine national newspapers and at least one legendary radio station ended up eviscerated. Award-winning journalists of skill and long-standing, fine editors and loyal staff were knocked-off like victims in a mob war. Some saw rats early and jumped for the lifeboats, hiring on elsewhere, or starting podcasts, websites or blogs. Some stayed tied to the mast and foundered. None deserved their fate.

Chicago, by God, was a newspaper town. Arguably moreso than New York or the west coast, ink was in our blood. Hardscrabble, dedicated professionals toiled here, from the lowliest copy boy to Pulitzer Prize winners. We were Sandburg and Hecht and Royko. Ebert, Schmich and Zorn. Kass, Kogen, Kupcinet and Condon. Bentley, Telander and Feldman. And of course, the iconic Col. McCormick.

It was a town of tough journalistic mothers who could – and often did – get the story before the rest of them. The cat’s ass, above and below the fold.

Alas, all eras come to an end. The cyber world has effectively lamed print media, rendering it old-school and worse, financially impotent. Even the highest art will fade away without proper stewardship.

Today, exponentially, it’s talent and skill be damned. Money talks and bullshit walks. It’s disgusting to realize that the hedge funders and arbitragers and deeep-pocket investors behind this takeover shit have not one scintilla of regard for the worth, the flesh and bones of its victims. Monetize, baby; all else is the aforementioned “bullshit.”

Yeah, I know that we’re capitalists and that takeovers and mass job-loss have been going on for aeons. Throw a rock and you’ll hit someone who lost a job or jobs in a pogrom. My objection is when the conquerors ham-handedly gobble up businesses they know nothing about. It’s the same as health insurance companies making medical decisions. It’s just WRONG.

Which brings us to little, ol’ ChicagoNow. What started as a Trib side hustle became a vital platform, entertaining and informative, with a talented, diverse group of writers. Some of Our Own went on to write books, form companies, become college instructors, rule the Chicago social and charity scenes, and generally enrich tens of thousands of readers and the world around them. A lot of fine writing has been done here.

Sadly, we scribes who remain at ChicagoNow have it on excellent authority that the site is being shut down.

We don’t know when, as for well over a month now there has been radio silence from on-high, i.e. whomever is running the show, Wizard of Oz-like, behind the curtain. Alden sorely lacks civility; we have no manager and absolutely no one to contact regarding our fate. Even in the cesspool of takeovers, it’s unconscionable.

And so, post by post, most of us are downloading our oeuvre and heading for bylines unknown.

I have known some incredible people in my seven years at ChicagoNow – former community manager extraordinaire Jimmy Greenfield, the incandescent Candace Jordan, our ever-prolific raconteur Howard Moore, controversial political pundit Bob Schneider, and my friends Margaret Laing, Terry Parrilli and Carole Lago. To all others I’ve communed with here, you have my sincere respect and regard.

I’ve no idea where I’m going, but if you Google “Planet Michelle” occasionally, my new digs will show up eventually.

To you who have read the musings of my little monkey brain and came back for more – I thank you. Whenever I felt like I was writing in a bell jar, thinking that there was even one person digging what I was doing made it more than worthwhile.

As my girl Amy Winehouse sang, “We only said goodbye with words.” See you in my next incarnation.

Peace out!

I have read the posts, eloquently penned by fellow CN Bloggers about the demise of our reign here at ChicagoNow. The latest one was by my friend and fella writer at Planet Michelle, and another by I’ve Got the Hippy Shakes

https://www.chicagonow.com/planet-michelle/2022/08/greed-arrogance-integrity-adieu-chicagonow/

https://www.chicagonow.com/hippy-shakes/2022/08/a-change-is-gonna-come/

Please check out the sidebar on the CN page and read them while you can. Don’t be distracted by the June 29th date on the page. That was the last date that anyone updated these pages and unfortunately that is the way this has gone.

Had I not started my time here with such a perfectly competent “cat herder,” I’m sure I would not have gotten as far with this writing thing at all.

Our original boss-man, Jimmy Greenfield was not only my own personal Perry White, but he was supportive, encouraging and gave me plenty of opportunities to challenge myself with my writing.

We had a blogapalooza every month where Jimmy would throw out a challenge topic and we would have one hour to write and post an appropriately themed blog. The first ones were definitely challenging for a novice, but I learned to look forward to them. Not only did it shake the cobwebs off, but it let me know that I could do something I thought was impossible.

After Perry, I mean Jimmy, left, the support and encouragement left with him. My writing waned for a while, but I do believe it is possible to pick up and begin again.

So, that is what myself and my writing buddies will be doing. We will go off and continue to write, but it will not be here at ChicagoNow and it makes me sad.

Some of us have found a new place to blog and I’m sure some of us are still looking for a new home. At any rate, we are on our own to find our way, direction has not been forthcoming.

This is a new beginning for me and although I don’t know where I will land at the moment, I don’t believe you’ve heard the last of me.

I’m sticking around until the bitter end here, hopefully I will have my new digs before the final curtain falls. Thank you for following me.