Evanston RoundTable, Jan. 15, 2020 Some of my friends are expecting 2020 to be a difficult year. One of them told me she believes it will be “apocalyptic.” Gosh, I

Evanston RoundTable, Jan. 1, 2020 So far the weather has been mild: no sustained snowfall, no frightening ice storms, no polar vortex. It is downright balmy for mid-December. But we

Evanston RoundTable, Dec. 18, 2019 In my column of Nov. 14 (“Goodbye to All That”) I argued that the vast changes and trends that have swept through our world in

Harry Cawley was a veteran train man, a conductor for the North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad, when the opportunity came along to try a different trade: the hardware business. He

Evanston RoundTable, Nov. 14, 2019 “When you come to the end of one time and the beginning of a new one, it’s a period of tremendous pain and turmoil.” –

Evanston RoundTable, Oct. 31, 2019 A high school classmate of mine, diagnosed with end-stage cancer, wrote that in his despair he went online searching for the best end-of-life joke. This

Evanston RoundTable, Oct. 17, 2019

Steve Winwood is having a moment. His Grammy-winning “Higher Love,” a No. 1 hit in 1986, has gone to No. 1 again, this time in a recording by Whitney Houston from 1990 and recently rereleased. Another version, performed by the Ndlovu Youth Choir, was awarded Judge’s Choice on America’s Got Talent last month and has almost 3 million views on YouTube.

It’s a great song, especially the original Winwood version with his incredibly powerful high tenor voice, complex arrangements, joyful melodies and harmonies and the exuberant, ecstatic coda.

Is there is a more brilliant musician who enjoys less fanfare and recognition? Probably not. Few people appreciate the enormity of Mr. Winwood’s amazing talent or the scope of his career. He has sold 50 million records and won numerous awards, from Grammy and Jammy honors to BMI Icon for his “enduring contributions to the music industry.” In 2008 he received an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College of Music, where he told students that at the age of 15 he was kicked out of . . .

Evanston RoundTable, Oct. 3, 2019

For the first time since 2014, the Cubs will be missing the National League playoffs. In the end it wasn’t even close. They finished the season nine games behind the Nationals and five games behind the Brewers for the two Wild Card playoff spots.

Worse yet was the crushing way they were eliminated, losing their last four home games to the rival Cardinals. It was the Cards’ first four-game sweep at Wrigley since 1921.

More humiliation? The Cubs lost their last five games at Wrigley by one run. You’d have to go back to 1915 to replicate that sad streak.

All this when they had a 3½ game lead in the division as recently as Aug. 9. Despite having a fabulous lineup . . .

Evanston RoundTable, Sept. 19, 2019

Thirteen hundred miles straight west is that other Evanston, the one we occasionally get confused with, the one we sometimes think about, the one in the southwest corner of Wyoming.

What’s it like?

“It’s a really nice town with good people,” says Mayor Kent Williams.

The mayor should know. He has lived there 35 years and raised a family of four, with two grandchildren and two more on the way—all of whom live nearby.

In many ways the two Evanston cities are dissimilar. Our western namesake is 90% white, with few people of color. (We’re 66% white, 17% black and 10% Asian.) The western Evanston lies at an elevation of 6,750 feet, in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains. (We’re 585 feet, with no foothills in sight, unless you count Mount Trashmore.) Their closest metropolis is Salt Lake City, 90 miles west. (We are across the street from the nation’s third-largest city.) Hunting is popular, so as with the rest of Wyoming, guns are widespread. “We like our Second Amendment rights,” says Mayor Williams. And the western Evanston is a lot more sparsely populated: 1,200 people per square mile vs. almost 10,000 here.

Still, there are some similarities, . . .