I’m visiting my mom in Chicago — here to help her move from one apartment to another at the Selfhelp Home, where she and her husband, my stepfather Frank Rosen, live.

Being back in this city is putting me in mind of when I arrived here in the summer of ’79, to work a summer job at the democratic-socialist newspaper In These Times.

While I’m here, I thought I’d write down some memories I have of that experience, and of others that followed.

Which I plan to do.

But right now, I’m going to go upstairs to meet my mom and Frank for lunch.

Frank has Alzheimer’s, and various other medical afflictions, but he remains, in many respects, the same charming retired union organizer he was when he and my mom first connected around a decade ago, via a personals ad in The Nation.  His three kids (all around my age), two of whom live here in Chicago, are — as befit the children of an organizer — incredibly organized.  Whereas I bring Entropy into the family mix.

More later. …