Jim Slusher
-
Two events on one day: A disparity in scope, a familiarity of purposeOct 30, 2025 4:00 am - Columnist Jim Slusher: Stories about two very different museums on the same day expose the commonality between them in appealing to the heart and mind through visual arts.
-
Tweets, reality TV and confused excitementOct 23, 2025 3:02 pm - Columnist Jim Slusher: I wonder if you can guess which part of this phrase, which I noticed while reviewing X one day, got me to click on the link that followed: “that is not how you use an exclamation mark, kim kardashian.” That’s right. It was “exclamation mark.”
-
A lesson about lessons and getting outside our comfort zonesOct 16, 2025 4:00 am - Columnist Jim Slusher: I have written in the past about the many unexpected things we can learn about subjects other than what a news story is actually about. Today, I write about how unexpected lessons can form the central theme of news events themselves, and the lesson we all can take when that happens.
-
The meat of newspaper week is in what happens every dayOct 09, 2025 4:00 am - Columnist Jim Slusher: It’s difficult, if not impossible, to summarize why National Newspaper Week is important. That answer comes from the work local journalists do every day.
-
An opportunity to make connections was overwhelmed by divisionsOct 02, 2025 4:00 am - Columnist Jim Slusher: Sadly, a system of communication in which we once had high hopes online became overwhelmed by participants who “debate” by personal insult, bullying and name calling and believe that “free speech” means the right to state any outrage in whatever offensive language one chooses.
-
A link between trust, skepticism that can combat ‘fake news’Sep 25, 2025 4:00 am - Columnist Jim Slusher: Addressing the rise of "fake news," an expert explains the importance of news literacy - teaching discernment in evaluating information from various media sources.
-
Memory, meaning and the pursuit of magicSep 11, 2025 4:00 am - Columnist Jim Slusher: The number 24 may not be special in itself, but on this anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we are reminded that what matters is not simply that we remember. It is how we carry the memories forward in our daily lives
-
When fingering a scar helps define, strengthen our resilienceSep 04, 2025 4:00 am - Columnist Jim Slusher: Our two-part retrospective on the Joe Gliniewicz case, where a beloved cop tried to hide financial crimes through his suicide, examines the trauma a community felt and the lessons and character that were revealed.
-
The true courage in ‘telling it like it is’Aug 28, 2025 4:00 am - Columnist Jim Slusher: There is a lot to unpack in Gov. JB Pritzker’s appeal to news media to “tell it like it is” and not “pretend there are two sides” to the story of a possible National Guard deployment to Chicago.
-
The obituary as perspective on the news and what mattersAug 22, 2025 9:34 am - I have been writing this column about newspaper issues for more than 25 years. How does it come to pass that I have never talked about obituaries? Apparently, I needed a ...