A spire points to the heavens atop the North Christian Church in Columbus, Indiana. Photograph: Hadley Fruits

An architectural marvel, a Midwestern modernist mecca

My wife and I share a fetish: modernist architecture. The style, with its parallel horizontal lines stretching into eternity, has had a way of tracing the contours of our relationship, defining some of its most significant moments. Soon after we started dating, we joined Chicago Bauhaus and Beyond, a group of modernism enthusiasts (which, sadly, disbanded last year). A few years later, as a gentle evening snow blanketed the Loop, I proposed marriage in the most romantic setting I could imagine: Federal Plaza, beneath the crimson arches of Alexander Calder’s Flamingo, in the shadow of a trio of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe buildings.

And yet one Midwestern modernist mecca eluded us. That is, until last fall. Desperate to shake off quarantine cabin fever, we arrived in Columbus, Indiana, three and a half hours southeast of Chicago. The town of 48,000 stands, improbably, as one of the world’s great museums of modern architecture, with schools, churches, post offices, hospitals, and other buildings by some of the 20th century’s most renowned architects: Harry Weese, Kevin Roche, Robert A.M. Stern, Myron Goldsmith, and Deborah Berke, to name a few.

With walking and bus tours temporarily suspended during the pandemic (they’ve since returned), we embarked on a self-guided outing, beginning on Fifth Street, “the Avenue of the Architects.” The city’s first modernist building, the First Christian Church (1942), by Eliel Saarinen, was the place of worship of the late J. Irwin Miller, the wealthy Cummins engine company chairman, chief patron of the town’s architectural legacy. In the mid-1950s, Miller started a foundation that paid the architect’s fees for any public building designed by a notable architect. The program transformed Columbus from a prairie town into a draw for top executives and their families. Today, it is a place unlike any other, where bold modern masterworks mingle with the buildings of Main Street, USA.

Directly across from First Christian beckoned I.M. Pei’s red-brick, open-plan Cleo Rogers Memorial Library (1969), with Henry Moore’s sculpture Large Arch out front. Next door is Miller’s childhood home (1864; 1910 remodel), whose Victorian and Edwardian flourishes and Pompeii-inspired gardens are preserved as the Inn at Irwin Gardens, a bed and breakfast with rooms starting at $205 a night.

We were drawn to the Irwin Conference Center (formerly Irwin Union Bank; 1954), by Eero Saarinen. The glass-enclosed, open-plan building, capped by a roof with nine domes, represented a dramatic departure from the traditional idea of a bank as an imposing granite fortress. From there, we pointed the car to two more Eero Saarinen buildings: the North Christian Church (1964), a hexagonal sanctuary crowned with a 192-foot spire, and the Miller House (1957), the former residence of J. Irwin Miller, which features one of the earliest examples of a living room conversation pit.

Afterward, we meandered through the neighborhoods between Washington Street and the Flatrock River, observing how the modernism of the town’s landmarks had seeped into the designs of the more common, but still striking, residential developments. My wife and I daydreamed about someday owning one of Columbus’s glass-box houses. Here was a place, we told each other, that seemed made just for us. — Jake Malooley

Filament Tower, a sculpture featured in Exhibit Columbus, opening August 21, and Bartholomew County Courthouse Photography: Hadley Fruits

Writer Elizabeth Gomez finds a giant baseball glove at the FAST Fiberglass Mold Graveyard. Photograph: Courtesy of Elizabeth Gomez

No Trojan horses, just giant kitsch

Nothing pleases me more than seeing giant things. I’m not sure where this love comes from, but it is what makes me take a 20-minute detour to Sparta, Wisconsin, on the way back to Chicago from Menomonie. I cannot miss the FAST Fiberglass Mold Graveyard. We pull into a sprawling horizon of green fields filled with gargantuan shark heads, cherubic Big Boys, and weather-beaten Santa Clauses. My heart sparks as I turn to my husband and say that when I die this is what I want heaven to look like.

Round out your trip The Deke Slayton Memorial Space and Bicycle Museum — a twofer. — Elizabeth Gomez

The atrium of the West Baden Springs Hotel Photograph: Ian McSpadden/French Lick Resort

A pinnacle of elegance — and you don’t even have to leave the hotel

Get a load of the atrium. Once called the Eighth Wonder of the World, the six-story cylinder topped by a dome 200 feet across forms the heart of the 119-year-old West Baden Springs Hotel — one of two historic hotels at the French Lick Resort. A lush space populated by overstuffed divans as well as chessboards and decks of cards begging to be played, the atrium is a vast cockpit encircled by French doors and balconies hanging from well-appointed hotel rooms.

In the evening, guests filter in from their perambulations in the gardens, from golf or a visit to the spa, from bowling in the basement of the sister hotel, from shopping or rolling dice. In these hours, the atrium — manned by a pianist and crisscrossed by servers ferrying drinks from a nifty cocktail bar — never feels crowded or noisy. Even when the sunlight fades, what you hear is a murmuring report of elegance. — Tom Chiarella

(left) The driveway of the West Baden Springs Hotel; (right) the Pete Dye Course, all at the French Lick Resort Photograph: Ian McSpadden/French Lick Resort

The “big-ass tree” at the Byron Forest Preserve District Photograph: Michelle Gerke/Byron Forest Preserve District

Only God can make a tree, and this one’s a doozy

Arboreal grandeur? Northwestern Illinois doesn’t leap to mind. But the redwoods and sequoias of the West Coast are too far away for a weekend, so we have to work with what we’ve got. And what we’ve got — at the Bald Hill Prairie Preserve in Mount Morris — is still something to behold.

To see the tree ranked among the largest in the state, you’ll follow winding country roads along the Rock River to a secluded 380-acre conservation area, home to gorgeous wildflowers, a wooded expanse, birds and butterflies, and scarce native prairie plants (according to the Byron Forest Preserve District, only 0.03 percent of original prairie remains in Illinois). Up and down hills you go (hills!), until it comes into view: the lone eastern cottonwood, 122 feet tall and almost 29 feet around.

Bald Hill Prairie Preserve at the Byron Forest Preserve District Photograph: Lewis McVey

I don’t want to oversell you on the experience — it’s … a large tree. (In a Simpsons-esque touch, from certain vantages you can see the nearby nuclear power plant.) Still, there’s something sublime about it. My family and I keep returning to what we’ve come to call the “big-ass tree” to watch it change throughout the seasons. In late winter, its bare, crooked branches stand stark against moody skies. In high summer, the breeze rustles its innumerable leaves, making a sound not unlike the ocean. Under the massive green shade, it’s hard not to feel an appreciation for where you are and who you’re there with.

Round out your trip Ogle County’s hiking and biking trails; a night in Oregon in one of the nine rooms at the Patchwork Inn, a sustainability-minded B&B in a Greek Revival building dating to the 1840s (Abraham Lincoln was said to have lunched there); and burgers at the retro Jay’s Drive-In. — Deborah Shapiro

A kayak in waters near Elk Rapids, Michigan Photograph: Elk Rapids Chamber of Commerce

The Liam Hemsworth of Michigan tourism

One of my favorite spots to take the kids is Elk Rapids, just outside Traverse City in northern Michigan. If Traverse City is Chris Hemsworth, then Elk Rapids is Liam: One is beefed out and wildly popular, and the other is just better.

Spend the day at Elk Rapids Day Park, a wooded area with gigantic sculptures that opens to a sandy beach with clear, warm water. Water shoes are recommended because of the stones at the bottom of the lake. I saw families hunting for Petoskey stones there and then Googled the precious textured fossil and learned it’s the state rock of Michigan.

Round out your trip Bike, standup paddleboard, and kayak rentals from Right Tree Adventure Rentals, a nonprofit benefiting outdoor adventuring for girls; a trip to Guntzviller’s Taxidermy; U-pick farms along US 31; local brews from Townline Ciderworks; and dinner at Riverwalk Grill & Taproom. — E.G.

The Culinary Vegetable Institute includes a kitchen, a guest suite, a culinary library, root and wine cellars, experimental gardens, and event facilities. Photograph: Michelle Demuth-Bibb/The Chef’s Garden

Fine dining, down on the farm

About a decade ago, I ate a spectacular, if surreal, meal prepared entirely by Michelin-starred chefs (including Ever’s Curtis Duffy) in ruraler-than-rural Milan, Ohio. The occasion was the opening of the Culinary Vegetable Institute, an event space and research facility with a kitchen to rival that of the French Laundry. The CVI was the latest innovation from the Chef’s Garden, a nearby family farm that came to have considerable sway in the world of fine dining as it got chefs hooked on its microgreens and baby vegetables. Head farmer Lee Jones showed up routinely at black-tie food galas in denim overalls and a red bow tie, a reminder to coastal elites that “American gastronomy” springs from the heartland.

Photograph: Michelle Demuth-Bibb/The Chef’s Garden

After the dinner, I stayed in the CVI’s guest suite. It came with a fully stocked kitchen, and the next morning I had the fixings for a grand farm breakfast — churned butter, honeycomb, and fresh eggs counted among the highlights — and a basket of produce to tuck into my suitcase. Over the past year, the Jones family has begun offering this experience on Airbnb. Coupled with a tour and shopping spree at the farm, it reminds you that getting back to the earth and pampering yourself needn’t be mutually exclusive. — John Kessler

The Bavarian-style architecture of the historic Bavarian Inn hotel and restaurant adds to the city’s charm. Photograph: River North Photography

It’s always Christmas here

Call me a reformed Santa denier. I learned early on there was no such thing as Santa Claus, and at age 6, I thought my fellow first graders were naive. One day, a girl given to bursting out in song and dance started going on about what St. Nick was bringing her.

“But he’s not real,” I announced.

We went back and forth until our librarian gathered everyone in a circle and asked us to consider why we believed the things we did. She pulled out a variety of books about Santa, St. Nicholas, and Father Christmas, not telling us what to think, just how.

I could finally appreciate the Christmas spirit. And if I ever need to experience pure holiday joy midyear, I can find it in Frankenmuth, Michigan, near the thumb of the mitten-shaped state. Fueled by Mackinac Island fudge and other sweet treats, festive lights, Nativity scenes, and quirky tree ornaments, Frankenmuth is one of a handful of places in the world that celebrate Christmas all year.

Family, tradition, and sense of place anchor the picturesque town known as Little Bavaria, which was founded by German settlers. I know I’ve arrived because of the charming timber-framed buildings, the state’s largest covered bridge, a 35-bell glockenspiel, and walkable flower-lined streets that subtly invite me to tap out of the Sturm und Drang of workaday life.

Delicious high points of the Frankenmuth experience are the crispy fried chicken at the iconic Bavarian Inn, known for its German-style meals, and Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth, a 2020 James Beard winner. The menus surface memories of bygone family meals; the secret ingredient must be love.

Round out your trip The Frankenmuth Bavarian Inn Heritage Farm (a.k.a. Grandpa Tiny’s Farm), ziplining, hay or carriage rides, and farmers’ markets. — Deborah D. Douglas

(middle) Balloons Over Bavarian Inn (event), Frankenmuth; (right) Horse-drawn carriage in Frankenmuth Photography: (boat) iStock Editorial; (balloons, carriage) Courtesy of the Frankenmuth Convention & Visitors Bureau

The Taliesin living room Photograph: Travel Wisconsin

Come for Taliesin, stay for the hills

The attractions of the Spring Green area are well known: From Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin — where the docents will not mention the arson and murder of Wright’s mistress and her children even if you raise your hand and ask, with a knowing look, “So, what started that fire in 1914?” — to the American Players Theatre. Not to mention the House on the Rock, the Taj Mahal of kitschy roadside attractions that author Neil Gaiman suggests is a nexus point between the worlds of gods and humans. It’s as good an explanation for its existence as any I’ve come up with.

The town itself has weathered the pandemic well and has slowly opened back up, with a new pizza restaurant in the old bank building on Jefferson Street and the return of the local music venue, the Shitty Barn (it is, in fact, a shitty barn — bring your own chairs).

But that’s not why I come here. I come here for the hills. That’s right: The ground itself undulates, rising up in large protuberances, some higher than a quarter mile! The only thing I miss of my coastal roots after 23 years in Chicago is topography, the pleasures of cresting a rise to see a river valley or a plain, or just another hill. Spring Green is on the eastern edge of a geographical region, untouched by ancient glaciers, called the Driftless, like something also out of a Gaiman novel. I don’t know if pedaling or running up and down those hills will eventually bring me to the realm of the gods, but I do enjoy trying. — Peter Sagal

(left) Tower Hill State Park; (right) Lower Wisconsin River in Spring Green Photography: Travel Wisconsin

The Art Preserve at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center Photograph: Travel Sheboygan

Step outside — for art, for nature

It’s always made sense to me that Wisconsin, with its secretive woods and shifting dunes, would be a wonderland of visionary and outsider art. The state’s scenic byways are studded with sculpture gardens and grottoes where self-taught artists have crafted stunning intuitive displays. So I was thrilled to learn earlier this spring that Sheboygan, just two and a half hours from Chicago, was about to celebrate the opening of the Art Preserve.

An extension of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center — where every iota of space is exquisitely curated, right down to the artist-painted stalls and urinals in the restrooms — the space showcases entire artist-built environments. With such holdings as the sculptures, painting, and decor of Mary Nohl’s cottage from the Milwaukee suburbs — known locally as “the witch’s house” for its arresting carved figures — the Art Preserve gives an immersive sense of the in situ appearance of work not adequately captured in other museums.

The Art Preserve alone was worth the 300 miles of round-trip driving, but happily, I discovered far more to see, including the Tellen Woodland Sculpture Garden, where, beginning in 1942 and continuing until his death in 1957, James A. Tellen installed more than 30 of his cast concrete statues across the grounds of his family’s summer cottage, a magical dreamscape.

The Kohler-Andrae State Park holds a wealth of biomes, from shimmering beaches to pine forests. After hiking, I had to try a Mudpie  and chocolate-cinnamon brioche doughnut  at Johnston’s Bakery, and I foraged picnic fixings from the store inside the restaurant Il Ritrovo and ate near the Harbor Centre Marina. There, the reconstructed schooner Lottie Cooper, wrecked during a gale in 1894, awaited, a free outdoor exhibit conveying how dangerous the timber and shipping industries were and remain.

On the way home, I stopped to walk along the Lake Michigan bluffs at Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve outside Grafton and to stroll the boardwalks above the delightfully soggy Cedarburg Bog a little way inland. They didn’t turn me into a visionary artist, but these singular landscapes supplied visions for days. — Kathleen Rooney

(left) Writer Kathleen Rooney on a driftwood couch in the Kohler-Andrae State Park; (right) Bookworm Gardens Photography: (Rooney) Martin Seay; (gardens) Visit SheboyganRead More

Explore IWC’s Big Pilot’s Watches

Over its 150-year history, IWC Schaffhausen has developed a reputation for creating functional complications, especially chronographs and calendars, which are ingenious, robust, and easy for customers to use. A pioneer in the use of titanium and ceramics, IWC today specializes in highly engineered technical watch cases manufactured from advanced materials, such as titanium aluminide and Ceratanium®. Preferring the principle of “form follows function” over decoration, the Swiss watch manufacturer’s timeless creations embody their owners’ dreams and ambitions as they journey through life.

A faithful interpretation of the iconic observation watch design, the new model features an ergonomic 43-millimetre stainless steel case. Available with either a black or blue dial, it is powered by the IWC-manufactured 82100 calibre with Pellaton winding, which is visible through a sapphire glass back. A user-friendly EasX-CHANGE system, as well as comprehensive strap options in calf leather, rubber and stainless steel, establishes the Big Pilot’s Watch 43 as the quintessential modern utility sports watch, ready for adventures in the air, on land and by water.

The Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 features a stainless steel case in a compact size of 41 millimetres and is available with a blue or green dial. To underscore the brand’s expertise in the development of in-house movements, it is powered by the IWC-manufactured 69385 calibre, which is visible through a sapphire glass back. With the new EasX-CHANGE system and a choice of straps made of calfskin, rubber or stainless steel, the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 is the ultimate sports watch.

The Big Pilot’s Watch Heritage is inspired by the design of the iconic Big Pilot’s Watch Calibre 52 T.S.C. Thanks to this, the timepiece with an impressive diameter of 46 millimeters features a striking retro look. The case is made from durable and light titanium and weighs less than 150 grams. As on the famous original model, the chapter ring, the Arabic numerals and propeller-like hands are all beige. A soft-iron inner case protects the movement against the effects of magnetic fields. The watch is powered by the IWC-manufactured 52110-calibre movement. It features an efficient Pellaton automatic winding system with parts made from black or white ceramic. With the help of two barrels, it builds up a reserve of seven days. The brown calfskin strap further underscores the heritage character of this timekeeper.

In 2016, IWC took a step back toward the roots of the Big Pilot’s Watch and gave it a gentle face-lift. The IWC-manufactured 52110-calibre movement unites some of watchmaking’s greatest achievements. It features an efficient Pellaton automatic winding system with parts made from black or white ceramic. With the help of two barrels, it builds up a reserve of seven days. The display at “3 o’clock” indicates the time remaining until the movement comes to a stop. The Big Pilot’s Watch has a date display at “6 o’clock” and the central seconds essential in any watch used for flying. The 46-millimetre case, which is water-resistant to 6 bar, encloses a soft-iron inner case that protects the movement against magnetic fields. The watch also features a striking conical crown. The legendary Junkers JU-52 plane is engraved on the case back of the Big Pilot’s Watch. This model comes with a black calfskin strap, which perfectly complements the watch.

In the Big Pilot’s Watch lineup the Spitfire is one of the most stylish of them all. That said, the Annual Calendar is one of the most complicated. With a Day, Date and Month complications, this watch is truly an amazing piece of engineering and something to behold on your wrist. Plus, with a dark brown calfskin strap, Deployant buckle and a beautiful gray brushed metal dial, the Big Pilot’s Watch Annual Calendar Spitfire stands alone in the International Watch Company brand lineup — and that’s saying something with the amount of IWC heavy hitters like the Portugieser, Le Petit Prince, etc.

Learn more at: https://stores.iwc.com/united-states/il/chicago/iwc-schaffhausen-boutique—chicago

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For many, the iconic streets of London’s Soho and Camden embody a world of inclusive and unique fashion and style and, Chicago folk can grab a slice of the Brit action at the Streets Of London salon on West Diversey Parkway.  

Bangs and bobs for Brit abroad, Lisa

Established in 2008, Streets Of London is the brainchild of Lisa J, a British national who trained with Toni & Guy before moving to America.  Lisa’s vision was a non-pretentious salon which combined good vibes and great styles inspired by the trendy streets of England’s capital city – a vision that is clearly evident today.

As well as employing some of Chicago’s most talented stylists, Streets Of London offers specialist treatments including Balayage and, also, stocks Olaplex – a bond multiplier used to seek out and fix broken bonds (also known as split ends) that have been caused by damage by chemical, mechanical or thermal factors.  

Customers visiting Streets Of London rave about the sleek modern interior and the cool sounds from over the pond and, despite enduring lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the salon continues to thrive under it’s owner’s watchful eye.

“Enjoying a cup of tea while Lisa (stylist/owner) had me doubled-over laughing about an American version of Yorkshire pudding that some pub tried to serve her…I came out of here lighter and brighter from inside to out”.  Bonnie E, Phoenix

Street smart

Streets Of London’s talented stylists and funky salon mean that, post pandemic, business is once again booming.  In fact, so much so, that the salon – which offers eyebrow threading, extensions and bridal hair as well as regular color and styling, has its work cut out in keeping up with the demand for appointments.  

Like many other salon owners, Lisa J has turned to Booksy’s scheduling software in order to keep her salon as full as possible while maintaining distancing for the safety of employees and customers.  

Shaving time and cutting hassle

Booksy lends a helping hand to salons with its affordable and effective suite of tools which has been created specifically for the hair and beauty industry.  Anything but ‘just a scheduling system’, Booksy’s bag of tricks is like an extra pair of hands for salon owners who are better able to manage their businesses with a number of features including:

Appointment App 

The Booksy app allows salon customers to schedule their own appointments with just a couple of tappety taps.  They’re also able to manage their own appointments by rescheduling and cancelling through the app; saving salon owners time which can be spent doing what they do best.  This also saves salon owners money on staff as they no longer need a dedicated receptionist to take calls for appointments. 

Scheduling

AI technology packs a punch for salon owners with intelligent scheduling and management of appointments.  Unlike the humble homo sapien, this technology is able to work out how long is needed for each appointment based on previous visits and other factors within the salon, such as social distancing.  This is an incredibly important tool for salon owners looking to maximise their space while keeping customers and staff safe.

Payment

Contrary to Neil Diamond’s famous lyric, ‘hands touching hands’ is no longer considered a good thing and, as such, the handling of cash and cards within salons is very much discouraged.  Booksy can help here by allowing customers to quickly and easily make payment through the app; cutting down on hand to hand contact on the premises.  Salon owners can also take advantage of this tool by taking prepayment for appointments – something which makes the salon more efficient and, more importantly, helps to cut down on those costly and annoying no-shows. 

Marketing

In 2021, salons like Streets Of London quite literally have their hands full with serving their customers and keeping their salons as safe as possible and, this leaves little time for other tasks such as admin and marketing.  Thankfully, Booksy saves the day by serving as a marketing assistant for salons owners, providing some essential tools, including email outreach, to allow owners to keep existing customers updated with news and special offers as well as reaching out to new ones. 

Analytics

These days, it’s incredibly important to know how your small business is performing – after all, if you don’t know how you’re doing, how can you hope to do better?  Booksy has some great analytic tools to help salon owners to dig down into their performance and then to make improvements and adjustments where necessary, for a more successful business. 

Notifications

With busy lives, it’s easy to forget about appointments – which can be frustrating for customers and costly for salons.  Booksy lends a hand by sending reminders and notifications to customers in order to help cut down on no-shows.

Conclusion

In a post-pandemic world, time is tight and budgets are tighter.  Booksy allows salons to manage and grow their businesses without having to hire additional staff – meaning that they can keep profits high and overheads low.

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I am now 45 years old, dubbing it my Jordan year.

To be sure, it’s humbling. The weight takes longer to shed. Crinkles frame the eyes. I fashion myself as cosmopolitan and stylish but I’m probably not hip.

This month I scanned the Lollapalooza lineup and recognized only a few names. Janet Jackson is sampled in a new record, a reminder that her sad song is more than 30 years old. I’m waiting for my children to mock New Edition and Jodeci songs as V103 radio “dusties” the way I referenced Motown music and oldie records played by my parents when I was growing up.

The 1990s were a golden era for music and culture. Exposure to A Tribe Called Quest and Mary J. Blige is essential to impart onto a new generation. But again, it’s probably old people’s music to them. Soon enough I’ll be pop-culture clueless in a way that not even Twitter can save me.

And while I am in denial about the sun rising on middle age, some of my friends and peers are shrieking “get off my lawn!” in a manner that’s disconcerting to me. Every generation thinks the one behind them is worse, disrespectful and hapless when it comes to music — and general simply not as good as theirs. In the words of R&B crooner Keith Sweat, something just ain’t right.

We should check ourselves. Reminiscing about the good ole days can beget a form of amnesia that distorts reality. Can we seriously think we are the moral authority on music when we listened to misogynists AMG and Snoop? Do we really think we weren’t disrespectful to teachers or authority figures?

When my contemporaries complain about the violence in Chicago today being worse than in the past, or talk about how we’re the last generation that could play outside without fear, I am dumbfounded. I went to high school in Chicago in the 1990s. I remember hanging out in co-ed groups and the threat of gang violence based on colors and territories could threaten a night out bowling.

One time on a CTA bus, a girl from a rival high school tried to cut my hair. Neighborhood boys worried about getting jumped and often had to put on a show of exaggerated masculinity to keep out of trouble. Fights broke out at the mall. We knew people who dabbled in gang life. These stories aren’t urban badges of honor. They are simply the truth. The crime stats alone show that things weren’t better back then.

For many, those experiences are washed away when they become parents. Adulting is hard and we compartmentalize our past. Feelings of youthful invincibility are shoved out of the way when you have your own children. I get it — you don’t want to take risks with your children or use bad judgement.

The flip side is that while every family wants to make sound decisions, the leash we put on our children can paralyze them. I do wonder if that anxiety projects on children. Playing with friends solo in a park, riding public transportation and exploring neighborhoods during the day are normal activities. Too many restrictions can stunt our children’s growth and development.

I know the headlines are scary; yet fear is its own prison. I live in this city and do not approach this as a pundit but as a resident and a mother. Smothering doesn’t protect my children in the long run.

And instead of wagging our fingers at young people or disparaging their cultural tastes (as our parents and grandparents did to us at times) let’s figure out a better way to settle into middle age. The kids can stay on the lawn as long as they’ll listen to a little New Jack Swing.

Natalie Moore is a reporter for WBEZ.

Send letters to [email protected].

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NEW YORK — A key accuser at the R. Kelly sex-trafficking trial returned to the witness stand on Thursday, saying he often videotaped their sexual encounters and demanded she dress like a Girl Scout during a relationship that began when she was a minor.

Jerhonda Pace resumed her testimony in Brooklyn federal court a day after telling jurors she was a 16-year-old virgin and a member of Kelly’s fan club when he invited her to his mansion in 2010. While there, she said, she was told to follow “Rob’s rules” — edicts restricting how she could dress, who she could speak with and when she could use the bathroom.

She said Kelly — born Robert Sylvester Kelly — sometimes demanded she wear pigtails and “dress like a Girl Scout” during sexual encounters that Kelly often videotaped.

On cross examination, defense attorney Deveraux Cannick sought to show Pace hid her true motivations regarding Kelly and deceived him by lying about her age.

“You were in fact stalking him, right?” Cannick asked.

“That is not right,” she responded.

Pace had testified earlier the she told Kelly she was 19 when they met but had informed him she was only 16 by the time he sexually abused her.

Cannick confronted her with a lawsuit settlement she signed indicating she agreed she never revealed to Kelly that she was a minor. She said it was in exchange for hush money.

The questioning fit a theme that defense lawyers have repeatedly pushed early in the trial: Kelly was victimized by groupies who hounded him at shows and afterward, only to turn against him years later when public sentiment shifted against him, they allege.

To bolster their claims against Kelly, prosecutors showed jurors screenshots from Pace’s phone showing several communications with Kelly in January 2010, including a text from him reading, “Please call.” There was also a photo of her with “Rob” tattooed to her chest. She said she’s since “covered it up with a black heart.”

Pace, the trial’s first witness, was among multiple female accusers — mostly referred to in court as “Jane Does” — expected to testify at a trial scheduled to last several weeks. Other likely witnesses include cooperating former associates who have never spoken publicly before about their experiences with Kelly.

The Associated Press doesn’t name alleged victims of sexual abuse without their consent unless they have shared their identities publicly. Pace has appeared in a documentary and participated in media interviews.

Kelly, 54, has denied accusations that he preyed on Pace and other victims during a 30-year career highlighted by his smash hit “I Believe I Can Fly,” a 1996 song that became an inspirational anthem played at school graduations, weddings, advertisements and elsewhere.

The openings and testimony came more than a decade after Kelly was acquitted in a 2008 child pornography case in Chicago. The reprieve allowed his music career to continue until the #MeToo era caught up with him, emboldening alleged victims to come forward.

The women’s stories got wide exposure with the Lifetime documentary “Surviving R. Kelly.” The series explored how an entourage of supporters protected Kelly and silenced his victims for decades, foreshadowing the federal racketeering conspiracy case that landed Kelly in jail in 2019.

The trial is occurring before an anonymous jury of seven men and five women. Following several delays due mostly to the pandemic, the trial unfolds under coronavirus precautions restricting the press and the public to overflow courtrooms with video feeds.

The New York case is only part of the legal peril facing the singer. He also has pleaded not guilty to sex-related charges in Illinois and Minnesota.

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WASHINGTON — A man sitting in a black pickup truck parked on the sidewalk outside the Library of Congress told police he had a bomb Thursday, triggering a standoff in the heart of the nation’s capital.

Officials evacuated a number of buildings around the Capitol and sent snipers to the area after officers saw the man holding what looked like a detonator inside the pickup, which had no license plates. Congress is in recess this week, but staffers were seen calmly walking out of the area at the direction of authorities.

Police negotiators were communicating with him as he wrote notes and showed them to authorities from inside the truck, according to three people who were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity. They were trying to determine whether it was an operable bomb, the officials said.

“My negotiators are hard at work trying to have a peaceful resolution to this incident,” U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said. “We’re trying to get as much information as we can to find a way to peacefully resolve this.”

The episode began about 9:15 a.m. when the truck drove up the sidewalk outside the library, Manger said. The driver told the responding officer that he had a bomb, and was holding what the officer believed to be a detonator, The truck had no license plates.

The nation’s capital has been tense since the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.

Fencing that had been installed around the Capitol grounds had been up for months but was taken down this summer. A day before thousands of pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol, pipe bombs were left at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee in Washington. No one has been arrested yet for placing the bombs.

The RNC, not far away from where the truck was parked Thursday, was also evacuated over the threat.

The area was blocked off by police cars and barricades, and multiple fire trucks and ambulances were staged nearby. Also responding were the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police, FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The White House said it was monitoring the situation and was being briefed by law enforcement.

___

Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston, Tom Foreman Jr. in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Zeke Miller, Nathan Ellgren, Ashraf Khalil, Alex Brandon and Michael Biesecker in Washington contributed to this report.

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NEW YORK — A key accuser at the R. Kelly sex-trafficking trial returned to the witness stand on Thursday, saying he often videotaped their sexual encounters and demanded she dress like a Girl Scout during a relationship that began when she was a minor.

Jerhonda Pace resumed her testimony in Brooklyn federal court a day after telling jurors she was a 16-year-old virgin and a member of Kelly’s fan club when he invited her to his mansion in 2010. While there, she said, she was told to follow “Rob’s rules” — edicts restricting how she could dress, who she could speak with and when she could use the bathroom.

She said Kelly — born Robert Sylvester Kelly — sometimes demanded she wear pigtails and “dress like a Girl Scout” during sexual encounters that Kelly often videotaped.

On cross examination, defense attorney Deveraux Cannick sought to show that Pace mixed up dates about when she interacted with Kelly and that she deceived him by at first lying about herself.

“You were in fact stalking him, right?” Cannick asked.

“That is not right,” she responded.

His questioning fit a theme that defense lawyers have repeatedly pushed early in the trial: Kelly was victimized by groupies who hounded him at shows and afterward, only to turn against him years later when public sentiment shifted against him, they allege.

To bolster their claims against Kelly, prosecutors showed jurors screenshots from Pace’s phone showing several communications with Kelly in January 2010, including a text from him reading, “Please call.” There was also a photo of her with “Rob” tattooed to her chest. She said she’s since “covered it up with a black heart.”

Pace, the trial’s first witness, was among multiple female accusers — mostly referred to in court as “Jane Does” — expected to testify at a trial scheduled to last several weeks. Other likely witnesses include cooperating former associates who have never spoken publicly before about their experiences with Kelly.

The Associated Press doesn’t name alleged victims of sexual abuse without their consent unless they have shared their identities publicly. Pace has appeared in a documentary and participated in media interviews.

Kelly, 54, has denied accusations that he preyed on Pace and other victims during a 30-year career highlighted by his smash hit “I Believe I Can Fly,” a 1996 song that became an inspirational anthem played at school graduations, weddings, advertisements and elsewhere.

The openings and testimony came more than a decade after Kelly was acquitted in a 2008 child pornography case in Chicago. The reprieve allowed his music career to continue until the #MeToo era caught up with him, emboldening alleged victims to come forward.

The women’s stories got wide exposure with the Lifetime documentary “Surviving R. Kelly.” The series explored how an entourage of supporters protected Kelly and silenced his victims for decades, foreshadowing the federal racketeering conspiracy case that landed Kelly in jail in 2019.

The trial is occurring before an anonymous jury of seven men and five women. Following several delays due mostly to the pandemic, the trial unfolds under coronavirus precautions restricting the press and the public to overflow courtrooms with video feeds.

The New York case is only part of the legal peril facing the singer. He also has pleaded not guilty to sex-related charges in Illinois and Minnesota.

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DETROIT — Bill Freehan, an 11-time All-Star catcher with the Detroit Tigers and key player on the 1968 World Series championship team, has died at age 79.

“It’s with a heavy heart that all of us with the Detroit Tigers extend our condolences to the friends and family of Bill Freehan,” the team said Thursday.

The cause of death was not disclosed, but family members in recent years have publicly said that Freehan had Alzheimer’s disease.

Freehan played his entire career with the Tigers, from 1961 through 1976. Besides his All-Star appearances, he was awarded five Gold Gloves.

“The guy was the best catcher I ever pitched to. … Nobody did it better,” said Denny McLain, who won 31 games for the Tigers in 1968.

In Game 5 of the 1968 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Freehan tagged out Lou Brock in a crucial play at home plate. Detroit won the game and the series — a result best captured by a famous photo of pitcher Mickey Lolich jumping into the arms of his catcher at the end of Game 7.

Detroit Tigers catcher Bill Freehan puts the tag on Lou Brock of the St. Louis Cardinals at the plate in the fifth inning of Game 5 of the 1968 World Series at Tiger Stadium. AP

Willie Horton, an outfielder who made the throw that nailed Brock, said Freehan was one of his greatest teammates.

“His entire Major League career was committed to the Tigers and the city of Detroit, and he was one of the most respected and talented members of the organization through some difficult yet important times throughout the 1960s and ’70s,” Horton said.

Freehan also coached baseball at the University of Michigan and in Detroit’s minor league system.

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The Chicago Park District’s deputy inspector general said Thursday he was placed on “indefinite, unpaid emergency” suspension last week in what he called an illegal attempt to whitewash an investigation into rampant sexual assault, sexual harassment and physical abuse among the district’s lifeguards.

Until he was walked out of Park District headquarters last week, Nathan Kipp led the internal investigation of lifeguards at Chicago’s pools and lakefront beaches that has implicated Park District Supt. Mike Kelly in an alleged cover-up.

One of only two investigators assigned to the probe, Kipp had spent a year as acting inspector general. He was a candidate for the job that went to Elaine Little, ex-wife of State Rep. Curtis Tarver (D-Chicago).

Kipp said he was given no reason for his suspension. He called it “shocking”, “meritless” and “illegal,” since it was not ordered by Little and, he added, only the inspector general has the “authority to recommend discipline” for her staff.

Nevertheless, Kipp said he has no doubt about the motivation behind his suspension.

“This meritless action is a clear attempt by Park District officials to impede and obstruct a devastating investigation into widespread sexual assault, sexual harassment and physical abuse throughout the District’s Beaches & Pools Unit,” Kipp was quoted as saying in a four-page statement.

The investigation by the park district’s inspector general “is not independent, as Mr. Kelly falsely assures. Instead, the Park District and its Board of Commissioners have repeatedly and unsuccessfully exerted improper influence over the OIG [office of the inspector general] with the apparent goal of ending the investigation prematurely and as quietly as possible.”

Kelly has been under fire for giving his top managers the first crack at investigating a female lifeguard’s complaints about physical abuse, sexual harassment and drug and alcohol use by lifeguards at Oak Street Beach, instead of referring those allegations immediately to the inspector general.

That’s what he promised the young woman that he would do in an email applauding the lifeguard for her “courage” in coming forward.

Though required by park district rules, Kelly did not contact the inspector general until a second lifeguard’s more graphic complaint of more serious allegations was forwarded to him by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office.

Earlier this week, Kelly ordered the suspensions of two high-level officials — the assistant director of beaches and pools and the manager of beaches and pools. He told reporters he hopes to receive the inspector general’s final report next month.

Kipp branded the “September deadline” highly inappropriate and proof positive that Little’s final report will be a “whitewash.”

“I am perplexed why information regarding the status of the OIG’s ongoing investigation was shared with Mr. Kelly given that he, himself, should be considered a person of interest in the investigation,” Kipp wrote.

By all rights, Kelly should be at the very least a “material witness” because he received a complaint.

“Moreover, he is a potential subject of the OIG’s investigation because of, among other things, his admitted six-week delay in reporting that same complaint to the OIG, and his apparent abuse of authority when allegedly asking the complainant in April 2021 to keep him ‘in the loop’ of any future contact that she may have with OIG investigators,” Kipp wrote. “Despite these alarming facts, the OIG has not sought to interview Mr. Kelly, and I am not aware of any intention for the Office to interview Mr. Kelly.

“This is not how responsible and independent Offices of Inspectors General conduct investigations.”

While serving as interim inspector general, Kipp said he told Kelly and Park District Board President Avis LaVelle a year ago that the inspector general’s office had “severe staffing shortcomings.” His concerns were “wholly ignored.”

“When viewed in the larger context of the Park District’s repeated influence over the OIG’s investigation, I am left to conclude that the District and its Board have intentionally refused to provide the OIG with necessary resources to prevent it from uncovering the full extent of the criminal misconduct within the Beaches & Pools Unit,” he wrote.

“I have watched the OIG gradually abandon its role as the Park District’s independent oversight agency. Instead, the OIG has been methodically neutered to resemble an internal compliance department that exists to satisfy the Park District’s and its Board’s demands.”

Kipp called on State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to step in and take over the entire investigation, saying, “The dozens of survivors of sex crimes that have been brave enough to come forward deserve their justice.”

The Chicago Sun-Times reported earlier this month that in February 2020, an Oak Street Beach lifeguard sent 11 pages of explosive allegations to Kelly, detailing a frat-house environment at the beach during the summer of 2019. She said she’d been pushed into a wall, called sexually degrading and profane names by fellow lifeguards and abandoned for hours at her post for refusing to take part in their drinking parties and on-the-job drug use.

“I take your assertions very seriously,” Kelly responded, assuring the young woman he was forwarding the complaint to inspector general Little. “Thank you for your courage and call for change.”

But he didn’t forward the complaint, the Sun-Times has learned, for about six weeks — not until after a second woman wrote her own letter to Lightfoot, who forwarded it to Kelly.

That delay runs contrary to Park District rules, which require alleged wrongdoing be reported immediately to the inspector general. The Park District’s sexual harassment policy also mandates allegations be reported “as soon as possible,” or within five business days, to human resources.

Kelly was appointed by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel to his $230,000-a-year post, and retained by Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

He has acknowledged having second thoughts about the way he handled the first woman’s complaint.

“In hindsight, should I just have turned it over to the inspector general that day? Maybe I should have. I always knew it was going there. And it’s my word against whomever’s. But, I gave it to my managers. The second letter came in, and I realized one is terrible. Two is too many,” Kelly has said.

Kelly has said he forwarded the first complaint he received in February 2020 to his chief programs officer, Alonzo Williams, who then had Eric Fischer, the district’s assistant director of recreation, look into it.

Fischer’s daughter is also mentioned as a lifeguard who allegedly participated in hazing and bullying on Oak Street Beach, sources said.

“This is all part of the investigation, and it’s all going to come out,” Kelly said when asked about a possible conflict of interest Monday. “I don’t want to get any further into talking about my employees’ names.”

Kelly and LaVelle could not be reached for comment about Kipp’s allegations.

The mayor’s office had no immediate comment.

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DENVER — Jake Arrieta got clobbered by Colorado and left with an injury in his Padres debut, and the Rockies beat San Diego 7-5 Wednesday.

C.J. Cron had two hits and three RBIs and Trevor Story homered for the Rockies, who scored five runs in 3 1/3 innings against Arrieta before he departed with an injured left hamstring.

Arrieta (5-12) was signed Monday after being placed on waivers by the Cubs. He allowed seven hits and let his ERA rise to 7.13 on Dom Nunez’s solo homer before grabbing his hamstring and exiting the game.

The 2015 NL Cy Young Award winner said he felt the hamstring when he landed on his left leg, but he thinks the injury is minor and he shouldn’t miss much time.

“I’ve had two of these in the past that were significantly worse than this one,” Arrieta said. “Testing the strength with the trainers postgame, all the tests were good. Strength is at a pretty high level, which was something that wasn’t the case with the two previous hamstrings that I had, and I came back pretty quick from those two.”

Arrieta was signed to help bolster a rotation hit hard by injuries, and he was planning on pitching deeper into the game before the hamstring flared up.

“Felt great, felt really good,” said Arrieta, who also singled and scored a run. “More than capable of going upwards of 100 pitches. That was the game plan going into the start. Would have loved to give the team at least two more innings.”

Wil Myers homered twice for the slumping Padres. San Diego has lost seven of eight but still leads Cincinnati by 1 1/2 games for the second NL wild card.

“The standings are what they are, but the standings will be different in a month and a half from now,” Myers said.

The Padres dropped four straight before avoiding a sweep at Arizona on Sunday but suffered their seventh straight loss at Coors Field. Colorado swept two straight home series from San Diego.

“We haven’t been great on the road, we haven’t been good against some of the teams with below .500 records,” manager Jayce Tingler said. “This place is a little bit different. It’s extremely tough to win here.”

The Rockies took a 3-0 lead in the first on Cron’s two-run double and Ryan McMahon’s single. Myers hit his first homer, a two-run shot, in the second, and Manny Machado drove in Arrieta in the third to tie it.

Myers’ 15th homer in the fourth evened it again before Nunez’s shot.

Story’s 16th home run of the season, a two-run shot in the fifth, gave Colorado a three-run cushion.

Ben Bowden (2-2) allowed one run in an inning and Daniel Bard, the fifth Rockies reliever in the game, pitched the ninth for his 20th save in 26 chances.

The bullpen allowed just two runs over the last six innings.

“The five guys who pitched, they got punched a little but they put their dukes up and responded back with some swings of their own,” Rockies manager Bud Black said.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Padres: LHP Matt Strahm was placed on the 10-day injured list with right knee inflammation. Strahm, who started Tuesday in a bullpen game, missed the first four months of the season right patella tendon surgery.

Rockies: To make room for starter Chi Chi Gonzalez on the active roster, OF Yonathan Daza (left thumb laceration) was placed on the 10-day injured list. … OF Raimel Tapia (toe) is improving but there is no timetable for a return, Black said.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Colorado outfielder Connor Joe has performed well since moving atop of the lineup. He reached base in his first at-bat in all three games — a home run on Monday, a single on Tuesday and a leadoff walk Wednesday. He scored the first run Monday and Tuesday and was thrown out at home Wednesday.

UP NEXT

Padres: LHP Blake Snell (6-4, 4.80) opens a three-game home series against the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.

Rockies: LHP Austin Gomber (9-7, 4.09) returns from the paternity list to open a weekend series against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night.

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