Back to School   -   Back in the Day        September is coming so it’s “back to school time.”  It’s time to go shopping to buy new clothes, new shoes and school supplies.  As a growing young boy and with brothers; this was not a solo trip because we had to get measured from head to toe for clothes and shoes!  A tradition,  I suppose in many a family, however there were issues.  ...

When I was growing up on the Northside of Chicago as a kid I remember many sights and sounds that have long since disappeared. Let me share a few with you and maybe you'll recall these sights and sounds. There was the horse-drawn junk man. Now you must realize this is not his hay-day (pardon the pun) but actually the last couple of years that any one would hear, "Old Rags and Iron" or as we kids would say "Old Rags Alion." He was usually along driving his horse up and down the alleys lo...