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| Charlie Meyerson (photo by Todd Bannor) |
This blog owes a lot to former WXRT newsman Charlie Meyerson — it was he who convinced me to send out a morning email link, extending my reach to literally hundreds of readers. When I wrote that I was having surgery, he reached out to say, in essence, "Hey asshole, how'd you fuck yourself up so badly?"
While I had his attention, I asked if he wanted to use one of the infinity of days I have staring me in the pain-twisted face to plug his own contribution to Chicago's media blogosphere, and he of course snapped at the opportunity, because that is what we do. Take it away, Charlie:
Consider for a moment the hubris involved in promising to post something to a blog every … goddamned … day—a commitment from someone evidently unable to envision a time when rotator cuff surgery would leave him potentially unable to type for six weeks.
Dear Reader, I give you Neil Steinberg.
His lack of foresight has put him in a position to seek the kindness of friends and fans, like me, to slap together something—anything—to fill this space.
As a survivor of that surgery myself—hey, 20 years ago this summer, after what I sarcastically refer to as my last skiing injury ever—I’m happy to help:
Going through Steinberg withdrawal? You’ll find fresh news and commentary awaiting you daily (well, almost daily, because I’m not so committed as Neil) via my free email newsletter, Chicago Public Square, which has over the years been acclaimed by the Chicago Reader as the “best free daily roundup in your inbox” and by his and my former colleague Mark Jacob as Chicago’s “smartest daily news aggregation.”
Me, I just think of it as my honor to share journalism from some of the smartest (and funniest) people tracking news of importance to the Chicago area.
I look forward to the day when you’ll again have direct access to Neil’s insights—every goddamned day.
Speedy recovery, sir.
Do you have a venture you want to ballyhoo? You see how minimal it can be. Send it along and I'll consider posting it, as much as I can consider anything through a fog of narcotics.*
* Comic exaggeration. The pain ebbed after the second day and I’m getting by on Advil.
I told him long ago, that he should call the blog "nearly every gd day" and not put pressure on himself.
ReplyDeleteGreetings, Mr. Myerson.
ReplyDeleteAnd NS, when you can, please tell us if you had to seek medical treatment in Portugal after your fall and if so, how was it?
And can you tell us if insurance covered it?
DeleteGreetings back!
DeleteNo, I toughed it out and went on with the trip, which was mostly unaffected.
Deletetwo of my favorite Chicago writers.
ReplyDeleteThanks, D-B!
DeleteI hope the recovery continues to go well. I haven't had that injury but broke my shoulder a few years ago so I have some idea of what you're going through. Fortunately didn't require surgery, but was also my dominant side, which definitely complicates matters.Sleeping sitting up is no fun, and dressing can be a real ordeal.The last ability I recovered was fastening my bra, so at least you don't have to worry about that! I was very diligent about PT and got back about 95% of my range of motion.
ReplyDeleteCourage!
Finding Charlie Meyerson here this AM was like unexpectedly running into a friend at the airport. I agree with Mark Jacob- The Public Square is the smartest daily news aggregation newsletter out there. Just the right mix of local and national news, with some humor thrown in, too. I can't recall the exact year, but decades ago Mr Meyerson began curating a newsletter for the Chicago Tribune. I enrolled with my work email address but had delivery issues. Mr Meyerson personally intervened to trouble-shoot the problem and fixed it. He also organized community lectures in the past - I attended a couple and enjoyed his interviews with David Axelrod and Peter Sagal. Our community has been blessed with excellent journalists - Mr M and Mr S among them!
ReplyDeleteI’m honored, Jill!
DeleteTwo of my favorite Chicago journos teaming up. Wow. It wuddda made my morning, but I finally got to it at 12:05 pee-yem. Ah, the non-leisure life of retirement!
ReplyDeleteThanks, John!
DeleteHell, even though I agree with Neil about as often as Brandon Johnson says something intelligent, I wish Neil a speedy and painless recovery; -- Dennis
ReplyDeleteFor the record, the inquiry that Neil paraphrases as “Hey asshole, how'd you fuck yourself up so badly?” was in fact worded thusly:
ReplyDelete“Whaa—?
“🤞”
I became aware of Mr. Meyerson's newsletter either through a previous contribution posted at EGD, or from some of his items being shared via Eric Zorn's Picayune Sentinel. Not sure which came first. Regardless, his is a fine newsletter, indeed. I particularly appreciate the frequent gift links to paywalled articles that he provides. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteIf it's not just a problem for me, the link today to "my free email newsletter, Chicago Public Square" only directs one to the Blogger sign-in page, FWIW.
A weird glitch that sometimes crops up. Fixed now.
DeleteThanks, Jakash, for the kind words—and the link glitch, which was my fault.
ReplyDeleteThis is where it was supposed to point: sub.chicagopublicsquare.com
Nice Charlie! Joan Berman
ReplyDelete