James Burrows Reveals TV Sitcom Secrets

In his 2022 memoir, Directed by James Burrows, this famous and prolific television director recalls highlights of his productive and highly successful career in directing and sometimes co-creating situation comedies, which included Taxi, Cheers, Frazier, Friends, Mike and Molly, Will and Grace, and more. The son of Abe Burrows, a prominent …

History’s Personal Costs

When she illustrates history’s personal costs, Barbara Kingsolver, in her 2007 historical novel The Lacuna, makes history come. alive. She tackles Mexico’s culture from the sixteenth century Aztecs’ battles with Montezuma to the exile of L. D. Trotsky in Mexico during the 1930s and beyond, into twentieth century North American …

Becoming an Architect: My Voyage of Discovery

“How did you decide on becoming an architect?”  a colleague asked me not so long ago, Back then, I hadn’t given my rocky path to the profession much thought. “It was a voyage of discovery,” I would have to reply today.  I learned that discovering its scope and then restoring …

Military families: WW II vets and women at home

Military families come to mind this Veterans’ Day this year. Not not only our own military heroes, past and present, but also their families, especially the women, help defend our home front and our way of life. My friend E. Tracy Beckette, Brigadier General, USA  (Ret.), has hosted and produced …

Good reviews, elves fill workshop shelves

Good reviews continue to arrive for Chicago’s Designs,  the latest two from authoritative sources, encouraging our elves to keep the benefits flowing from the Greenskills workshop. James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief, Midwest Book Review, Oregon, Wisc., wrote: A deftly scripted mystery with more unexpected twists and unanticipated turns than a Disney …

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