This weekend’s newspaper column from The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

Taking a few more swings at Hall of Fame voting

The WISCH LIST

Jan. 21, 2012

Last weekend in downtown Chicago, the Cubs Convention passed for the second straight year without Ron Santo in attendance. Come this summer in upstate New York, Major League Baseball’s annual Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will do the same.

Even though No. 10 is finally in its lineup.

Last month, I got riled up after Santo – the longtime Cubs third baseman, WGN radio announcer and Cooperstown pariah – was voted in to the Hall of Fame almost a year to the day after he had passed away at the age of 70.

If he’s good enough now, I asked, then why wasn’t he before?

Today, I’m riled up again because last week former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin was voted into the HOF Class of 2012, where his living self will join Santo’s ghost in Cooperstown this July.

The reason for my irritation is that Larkin, a player whose career numbers (.295 average, 198 home runs, 960 RBI) are no more impressive than Santo’s (.277, 342, 1,343), had to wait a mere three years to be voted in to the Hall after he became eligible. Santo, on the other hand, had to wait a lifetime to have his ticket punched.

Quite literally.

And that makes no sense.

In fact, there’s no sense to the entire Hall of Fame voting process, which in large part inducted Larkin because he was in the right place at the right time. In other words, he was eligible during a year when there were really no other worthy candidates up for vote.

I don’t think there’s any doubt that the Hall of Fame is under pressure to induct at least one recently retired player every year, whether it’s truly merited or not. After all, the show must go on.

That fact creates a bizarre inequity in HOF induction as players simply don’t become more eligible after spending multiple years on the ballot. For example, it’s not as if Santo’s statistics improved after his death. They were the same numbers he had when he first became eligible for the Hall of Fame in 1979. Nothing has changed except for his death.

As I wrote last month, I think there should be first-ballot Hall of Famers (the true elites) and then Hall of Famers, who should then be voted in during their second year of eligibility. If a player doesn’t earn the required 75 percent of the vote by his second year on the ballot, he should fall off it. If that had happened with Santo’s HOF bid, so be it. At least it’s logical, standardized and fair.

Instead, though, voters undergo this silly practice of making some borderline players (such as Andre Dawson) “bide their time” while others (such as Larkin) are voted in quickly because, well, somebody had to get in this year.

A friend of mine actually proposed the idea that players should only be eligible for Hall of Fame induction once. If they earn 75 percent of the vote in their year of eligibility, they’re inducted, he said. If they earn better than 90 percent, they’re then placed in the Hall’s “Elite Wing.”

At first, that sounded like a pretty good idea to me. That is, until I realized that undisputable “elites” such as Joe DiMaggio (89.16 percent), Mickey Mantle (88.22) and Sandy Koufax (86.87) are among those who didn’t earn 90 percent of the Hall of Fame vote, while questionable “elites” Jim Palmer (92.57), Ozzie Smith (91.74) and Roberto Alomar (90.1) are among those who did.

Like I said, Hall of Fame voting makes no sense.

In fact, I’d say it’s a bust.

From the Saturday, Jan. 14, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

Chicago’s Chinatown celebrates its first century

The WISCH LIST

Jan. 14, 2012

The drive from downtown Ottawa to the corner of Cermak Road and Archer Avenue on Chicago’s South Side is a distance of only 82 miles.

But by making that trip, you’ll find yourself an entire world away.

Home to the heart of Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood, the area centered surrounding the intersections of Cermak, Archer and Wentworth Avenue is one of the oldest Chinese settlements in America.

Old enough, in fact, that Chicago’s Chinatown celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, making now as good as time as any to visit one of the most distinct areas in all of Chicago.

That’s just what I did this past Sunday, as I made my first ever trip to Chinatown Square to sample the area’s unique culture and, of course, taste its cuisine. Today, in recognition of Chinatown’s 100th birthday, I thought I’d let you know a bit about the neighborhood.

The history

In 1912, the Republic of China was formed, putting an end to China’s last dynasty – the Qing – and more than 2,000 years of imperial rule.
That same year in Chicago’s Armour Square neighborhood, Chinatown was officially founded, providing a permanent settlement for the Chinese residents who began arriving in the city in 1869 when the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed.

By the 1920s, Chicago’s Chinatown leaders decided that a Chinese-style building should be built to provide a strong visual announcement of their new presence in the area. But, with no Chinese-born architects in Chicago at the time, the community turned to a pair of Chicago-born Norse architects who studied texts on Chinese architecture.

In the spring of 1926, construction of the new On Leong Merchants Association Building was completed with the Norsemen’s final design an example of Orientalism, considered to be a Western architect’s interpretation of Chinese architectural forms.

Today, the neighborhood’s anchor and most recognizable feature is Chinatown Square, a two-level mall built in the late 1980s along Archer Avenue and consisting of restaurants, beauty salons and various business offices.

The cuisine

It was Chinatown Square that my girlfriend and I visited on Sunday for lunch at Cai (2100 S. Archer Ave.), one of the area’s newest and most popular restaurants.

After accidentally entering the dining room through a back door (note: don’t do that, use the mall entrance), we were seated and ordered an array of dim sum dishes from an American-friendly picture menu.

The entrees were bite-sized, but big ones, as the shrimp and pork dumplings, sticky rice and chicken wrapped in lotus leaves, short ribs, bean crepe-wrapped pork and seafood soup was far too much food, but still cost only $42 for two people. And we departed with leftovers – delicious ones.

The travel tips

Beyond its restaurants, of which they are many, Chinatown Square’s atmosphere simply differs a great deal from anywhere else in Chicago. It’s like taking a trip overseas in your car, and the experience of exploring Chinatown’s shops and bakeries and admiring its sculptures is certainly worth a visit.

Getting there is easy. From the southwest, simply take the Stevenson Expressway (I-55) to the Cermak Rd. exit and head west to the Chinatown Gate.
Metered street parking is plentiful during the week, but on weekends you may need to use a pay lot. One across from Three Happiness Restaurant (2130 S. Wentworth Ave.) costs only $2 for three hours with validation from participating restaurants. Another lot at Wentworth and 24th Street does not offer validation, but is still relatively inexpensive.

Chinatown can also easily be accessed via the CTA Red Line at the Cermak-Chinatown stop.

This weekend’s newspaper column from The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

Start the New Year off right in Chicago

The WISCH LIST

Jan. 7, 2012

The holidays are over (according to the Gregorian calendar) and the end of the world is nigh (according to the Mayan one).

But in between now and Dec. 21 – the day when the Mayan calendar runs out of, well, days – there’s still plenty going on, especially up in Chicago.

Now, I wouldn’t say I’m particularly concerned about Armageddon arriving this December – no matter what the might have crunched down in ancient Mexico – but I suppose you might still want to live it up a bit in 2012.

You know, just in case.

And if you do, here are a few fun ways to start the New Year right in the Windy City this month. You can thank me later that none include watching a John Cusack disaster flick.

Skate in the sky

This past Tuesday afternoon while walking through the Loop, I stared with amusement as a man strolled past me while carrying an ice cream cone in each hand.

It was 23 degrees at the time.

I suppose the cones didn’t melt, at least.

So far this winter, Chicago’s mild temperatures – which returned again on Wednesday – have pleased most city-dwellers, except perhaps those wanting to ice skate. On Jan. 1, however, a remedy for the warm weather arrived when the John Hancock Observatory opened its “Skating in the Sky” for a second season.

Through April 8, visitors to the Hancock Center’s 94th floor can skate on a synthetic indoor rink perched more than 1,000 feet above Michigan Avenue. Billed as the “highest skating rink in the world,” the venue offers unobstructed views of Lake Michigan and the city. A 25-minute skating session costs $5, on top Hancock’s general $15 admission for ages 12 and up and $10 for ages 3 to 11. Skate rental is available for $1. For hours and additional information, Visit jhochicago.com.

Or skate at Wrigley

For years, Carlos Zambrano skated on thin ice at Wrigley Field. Now that he’s finally gone, if you’d like to imitate him by doing the same – on thicker ice – the Rink at Wrigley Field is again open through Feb. 26. But, please, leave the water coolers in peace.

Located at Clark and Waveland, the rink costs $5 for adults and $3 for children on weekdays and $10 for adults and $6 for children on Friday, Saturdays and Sundays. Skate rental is available. For hours and additional information, visit cubs.com.

Live high-brow

At one million square feet, the Art Institute of Chicago (111 S. Michigan Ave.) is the second largest art museum in the U.S. behind only the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

And from now through Feb. 10, it’s free for all Illinois residents to explore it on weekdays. That’s a savings of up to $18 per visitor, so if your resolution was to class things up in 2012, there’s probably no better time to get started than during the next month. For more information, visit artic.edu.

Or laugh low-brow

If high art isn’t your thing, then perhaps silly humor is.

If so, Chicago has it for you this month.

The 11th annual Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival is the nation’s largest and runs Jan. 5-15 at Stage 773 at 1225 W. Belmont Ave.

The festival began in 2000 with 33 sketch groups and now features 138, selected from 250 local, national and international entrants by a panel of judges. Last year, 10,000 fans from around the globe attended the eight days of shtick in the heart of Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. To purchase tickets and get additional information, visit chicagosketchfest.com.

Today’s newspaper column from The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

Wisch Lists are for New Year’s

The WISCH LIST

Dec. 31, 2011

Wish lists are for Christmas.

But Wisch Lists? Well, they’re for New Year’s.

And as we prepare to turn the page on 2011, I wanted to beat Dick Clark – or, I guess, Ryan Seacrest – to the punch and drop the ball on my year-end Wisch List well before they drop the ball in Times Square.

Speaking of which, you might be interested in knowing that a ball has dropped from the flagpole of One Times Square in Manhattan on every New Year’s Eve since Dec. 31, 1907, except for 1942 and 1943 when New York City was under wartime lighting restrictions in case of an enemy attack.

With no restrictions of my own, let’s get this ball rolling …

I Wisch the mild December that we’ve enjoyed means can expect an equally warm winter. But, after weathering Snowmageddon last February, I’m not holding my (visible) breath.

I Wisch the ill-advised 75-year agreement that Mayor Daley struck with a private parking meter company wasn’t the gift that keeps on, well, taking. Yes, street parking in Chicago is about to go up again by 25 or 50 cents. Beginning Monday, it’ll cost you $5.75 per hour to park in the Loop, $3.50 in the rest of downtown and a $1.75 elsewhere in the city.

I Wisch Theo Epstein had signed a player – say, Prince Fielder – who’s worth paying the price of Wrigley Field admission to see next season. I support rebuilding, but Manny Corpas and David DeJesus don’t exactly have me itching to buy tickets.

I Wisch that in lieu of a significant signing, the Cubs had dropped the prices for tickets stadium-wide in 2012. At least bleacher prices are going down, though.

I Wisch Jay Cutler was healthy. Or that Caleb Hanie was good.

I Wisch North Koreans didn’t have to fake grief for creepy propaganda footage.

I Wisch more years saw the likes of Moammar Gadhafi, Osama bin Laden and Kim Jong-il leave the Earth – enough years, at least, that we didn’t have the likes of those men around any longer.

I Wisch that when it comes to celebrating sports figures our society would cool it on creating myths out of mortal men.

I Wisch I’d never heard Jerry Sandusky’s name this year and that the authorities in Pennsylvania heard it a lot more about a decade ago. Or well before then.

I Wisch that since Chief Illiniwek is gone from the University of Illinois, his critics would just leave him alone. Now, however, there’s a campaign to eliminate the school’s 3-in-1 halftime song because it reminds fans of the Chief. Enough already with the thought control in Champaign.

I Wisch I believed that after Rod Blagoejvich, all Illinois politicians would get their acts together. But I doubt that they will.

I Wisch Derrick Rose the best of luck against the Miami Heat this season. It looks like the kid is probably going to need it.

I Wisch the violence and killing would stop in Englewood, where Rose grew up on Chicago’s South Side. This year, murder dropped by 2 percent overall in Chicago, but it still increased by 40 percent in that neighborhood.

I Wisch there was an easy answer to Englewood’s problem.

I Wisch I could blame Lovie Smith, Mike Martz and Jerry Angelo for the Bears’ collapse this season, but I can’t. Hard not to blame the injuries, instead.

I Wisch that Illinois’ freakishly talented 7-foot sophomore Meyers Leonard would stay in Champaign for one more year.

I Wisch that 2012 included 28-hour days. I’d get more done. And more sleep, too. But not tonight. Happy 2012, everyone.

From the Saturday, Dec. 24, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

Nine things you might not know about Christmas

The WISCH LIST

Dec. 24, 2011

You know about “The Nutcracker” by the Joffrey Ballet. No doubt, you’re familiar with “A Christmas Carol” at Goodman Theatre. And, this year, “A Christmas Story” – the new musical based off the ubiquitous holiday film featuring Ralphie and his father’s legged lamp – is all the wintertime rage at the Chicago Theater.

Last weekend, however, I took in another seasonal Chicago show that I was far less familiar with and which informed me about a Christmastime tale that I knew almost nothing about.

“The Christmas Schooner,” a longtime Chicago musical currently playing at the Mercury Theatre (3745 N. Southport Ave.), is based on the true story of the “Rouse Simmons,” a Great Lakes schooner that during the late 19th century became known to Chicagoans as “The Christmas Tree Ship.”

That moniker was earned after its German-born captain and crew battled Lake Michigan’s bitter November gales to become the first ship to transport firs from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to Chicago so the city’s German immigrants could have Christmas trees.

Before seeing “The Christmas Schooner” it had never occurred to me that men had once risked their lives just to provide Chicagoans with a dose of holiday cheer. So, in honor of that revelation, I thought I’d share with you today eight additional facts about Christmas that you might not already know.

The birth of Christmas

In A.D. 320, Pope Julius I, bishop of Rome, proclaimed Dec. 25 the official celebration date for the birthday of Christ. Fifteen hundred years later, in 1836, Alabama became the first U.S. state to officially recognize Christmas. The U.S. itself followed suit on June 26, 1870, when it declared Christmas an official holiday. Oklahoma was the last state to make it a legal holiday, not doing so until 1907.

The birth of the Christmas tree?

Protestant reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546) was reportedly the first person to decorate a Christmas tree. According to legend, Luther was so moved by the beauty of the stars shining between the branches of a fir tree that he brought home an evergreen and decorated it with candles to recreate the image for his children.

On the 12th Day of Christmas …

The “true love” mentioned in the song “Twelve Days of Christmas” actually doesn’t refer to a romantic couple, but rather to the Catholic Church’s code for God. The person who receives the gifts represents someone who has accepted that code. For example, the “partridge in a pear tree” is meant to represent Christ, while the “two turtledoves” represent the Old and New Testaments.

Imagine placing the star on this …

According to the Guinness world records, the tallest Christmas tree ever cut was a towering 221-foot Douglas fir that was displayed in 1950 at the Northgate Shopping Center in Seattle.

… And stuffing this stocking

Meanwhile, the world’s largest Christmas stocking – made in 2007 by the Children’s Society in London – measured 106 feet and 9 inches long and 49 feet and 1 inch wide. Weighing the equivalent of five adult reindeer, the jumbo sock held nearly 1,000 presents.

Branching out

Christmas trees usually grow for about 15 years before they are sold, with approximately 30 to 35 million real (living) ones bought annually by Americans for their homes.

Santa’s girls

Most of Santa’s reindeer have male-sounding names, such as Blitzer, Comet and Cupid. Male reindeers, however, shed their antlers around Christmastime, meaning the reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh are likely not guys. They’re girls.

Tissues, anyone?

Why is Rudolph’s nose red? Well, Norwegian scientists have hypothesized that it’s probably the result of a parasitic infection of his respiratory system.
Achoo! And Merry Christmas, everyone.

In Chicago, Santa has also been known to ride the rails ...

From the Saturday, Dec. 17, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

A new look for Navy Pier? This winter, it’s in the works

The WISCH LIST

Dec. 17, 2011

So, who goes to Navy Pier in December?

Well, as it turns out, a whole lot of people apparently.

At least, that was the case this past Tuesday when I strolled out there on a night when the pier’s IMAX theater was premiering the highly anticipated prologue for the 2012 finale of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, “The Dark Knight Rises.”

Besides the bat, the evening’s unseasonably warm weather certainly didn’t hurt the crowd’s size, either.
Five years from now, though, if pier officials have their way, Chicago’s best-known dock will be drawing more people to it than ever before. And they’ll

come to see a Navy Pier that’s far different – and more beautiful – than the one existing today.

Who knows, perhaps, they’ll even show up to see it during the wintertime – no IMAX premiere necessary.

Wading 3,000 feet out into the waters of Lake Michigan, Navy Pier originally was envisioned as part of legendary architect Daniel Burnham’s celebrated 1909 Plan of Chicago. But, today, as the old pier closes in on her 100th birthday in 2016, she’s in need of a makeover – even if her last one came just 16 years ago.

(Hey, cut the pier some slack. After all, the pier is 95.)

Back in 1995, at a cost of $225 million, Chicago’s once-crumbling municipal dock was remade as a mix of shops, exhibition halls, cultural attractions and public spaces that proved appealing enough to re-establish Navy Pier as Illinois’ top tourist attraction, now drawing more than 8 million people a year. It had previously held that same honor during the 1950s, when 3.2 million visited annually.

Recently, however, the pier’s attendance has experienced a slight drop and many Chicagoans – including pier officials and myself – consider it to now be more tacky than attractive.

“The Navy Pier that exists today is the result of a business strategy that emphasized quantity and diversity of uses over architectural enhancements,” said a plan that pier officials unveiled last June. The pier is so carnival-like, according to the analysis, that it is widely regarded as a tourist trap even though fewer than one-third of its visitors come from outside the Chicago area.”

In order to change that perception – which also in many ways is a reality – the honchos at Navy Pier this year launched a high-profile design competition intended to refresh and remake those gaudy public spaces into something more architecturally appealing.

As part of “The Centennial Vision” in recognition of the pier’s upcoming 100th anniversary, the competition is intended to re-energize Navy Pier by putting taking the landmark’s focus away from kitsch and putting it where belongs: On the beauty created by the confluence of Lake Michigan, Chicago’s lakefront parks and the city’s breathtaking skyline.

Last month, the architectural firms vying for the $85 million in funding to re-imagine the “pierscape” was whittled down to five finalists. Chicago Tribune architectural critic Blair Kamin said in a column two weeks ago that their visions could include such features as new green spaces to transform the pavement-heavy pier into an extension of lakefront parks, interactive fountains and pools, as well as sculptures and lighting elements that unify the experience.

Not included in the contest, but related to it, will be an upcoming redesign of the pier’s shopping arcade and Family Pavilion as well as the anticipated expansions of the Chicago Children’s Museum and Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

Designs for the contest are due Jan. 24 and will be exhibited to the public starting Feb. 2. In mid-February, the winning team will be announced.

My suggestion: Do it on IMAX.

Today’s newspaper column from The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

Little joy in Wrigleyville with Ron Santo induction

The WISCH LIST

Dec. 10, 2011

Like he was with so many things, when it came to the topic of Hall of Fame snubs, Mike Royko was right on the nose.

Back on March 12, 1997, in one of the final columns he wrote before his death, the legendary Chicago columnist hit a grand slam when he made like a newspaper Nostradamus and predicted the future of former Cub third baseman Ron Santo.

For the piece, Royko led off with an interesting take on how former White Sox star – and longtime Cooperstown reject – Nellie Fox was finally going in to the Hall of Fame in ’97, but actually out of the limelight since people couldn’t gripe about his omission any longer. Royko then correctly guessed Santo would be the sport’s next high-profile HOF shun.

“… And he will be a fine choice since he is still a relatively young man and should have many good years of being snubbed ahead of him,” Royko wrote of Santo. “What a lucky guy. Once it starts, he can look forward to an annual ego boost from reading about all the home runs he swatted, the many runs he drove in and the fearless way he guarded the hot corner.

“Some of the more insightful baseball scholars might even make note of how many tons of home plate dirt he scooped into his hands and forearms. Or the time he heroically slugged an abusive fan, a hit for which he received the praise of a Chicago judge who hadn’t even been bribed.

“And there will be angry commentary about Santo being deprived of his rightful immortality because of the stupidity of East Coast baseball writers who would surely vote him in the sacred hall if he had been a New York Yankee instead of a lowly Chicago Cub.”

Well, today, I’m here a bit angry. But mainly, I’m just disappointed that Santo, who passed away last December at the age of 70, wasn’t around this week to enjoy the news of his long-awaited – and long-deserved – Hall of Fame induction, which was the definition of bittersweet.

I never understood why Santo – who won five Gold Gloves and belted 342 career home runs to go with a bevy of other impressive statistics – was kept out of the Hall of Fame. After all, only 10 third baseman have previously been inducted, and Santo hit more homers than all but two (Eddie Matthews, Mike Schmidt) and had a higher career batting average than three (including Matthews and Schmidt). Santo also did it all while dealing with diabetes.

Cooperstown, which I’ve visited twice, is a wonderful place for baseball fans, but the route to get there is very confusing – and not because the village is so isolated.

There’s no logical reason, for example, why a player has never been unanimously voted in. Oddly, pitcher Tom Seaver, who garnered 98.84 percent of the vote in 1992, was the closest. Hank Aaron, meanwhile, was named on just 406 of 415 ballots (97.83 percent), whereas Babe Ruth appeared on only 215 of 226 in (95.13 percent).

And, really, who didn’t vote for those guys?

I think there should be first-ballot Hall of Famers (the true elites) and then Hall of Famers, who should then be voted in during their second year of eligibility. As Royko pointed out, Santo ironically became more famous by not being inducted year after year. But irony only goes so far.

And it’s a shame that Ron won’t be alive to see himself enshrined, to give that emotional speech and to hear all those cheers.

Without that, there’s little joy in Wrigleyville. Mighty baseball has struck out.

Today’s newspaper column from The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

Discover just how the Tribune Tower rocks

The WISCH LIST

Dec. 3, 2011

Throughout its 164-year history chronicling the triumphs and failures of the Windy City and beyond, the Chicago Tribune has had its fair share of famous rocky moments.

“Dewey defeats Truman,” for one. The Sam Zell era, for another.

The newspaper, though, also has its fair share of famous rocks that you might not be so familiar with. Yes, rocks.
And this month if you’re in Chicago visiting the Magnificent Mile to see the holiday sights, I suggest swinging by the Tribune Tower at 435 N. Michigan Ave. to take a rocky ride around the globe via the collection of stones from nearly 150 exotic locales that are embedded in the ground-level exterior of the skyscraper.

It’s quite a trip.

How these stones came to Chicago is a story that begins in the early part of the 20th century, prior to the 1923 construction of the Tribune Tower.

On June 10, 1922, the newspaper hosted an international design competition for its new headquarters and offered $100,000 in prize money with a $50,000 1st prize for “the most beautiful and distinctive office building in the world.” More than 260 entries were received with the winner was a neo-Gothic design by a pair of New York architects.

Around this same time, the Tribune’s colorful publisher Col. Robert R. McCormick ordered his army of correspondents to haul back rocks and bricks from a vast array of historically significant sites from around the world so they could be embedded in the base of the Trib’s new digs.

When I worked at the Tribune from 2005 to 2007, the story was that some of these rocks were taken from their farflung homes without, ahem, proper permission. Regardless of how they were acquired, though, McCormick ended up with a literal mother lode of fascinating stones.

I’ve glanced at groupings of the rocks on many occasions, but on Monday night I returned to the Tribune Tower to take them all in at once. The experience was like opening up both a history book and a map of the world simultaneously.
Among the most recognizable foreign stones in the wall are those from sites such as the Taj Mahal, the Parthenon and the House of Parliament, as well as Germany’s Berlin Wall and China’s Great one.

There’s a rock from Hamlet’s Castle in Denmark and another from Edinburgh Castle in Scotland. Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris donated a stone, as did St. Peter’s in Rome. You’ll also find Peking’s Forbidden City represented, along with the Great Pyramid of Giza and Moscow’s Kremlin.

Domestically, you’ll discover rocks from the Alamo, the original tomb of Abraham Lincoln and Princeton, Harvard and Yale. You can also spy a piece of South Carolina’s Fort Sumter, New York’s Fort Ticonderoga and Maryland’s Fort McHenry.
On one wall, Gen. Custer’s battlefield in Montana and the Battle of New Orleans left parts of their legacies, while on another a pair of Revolutionary War battlefields from New Jersey left theirs.

There are scores of other more obscure, but no less fascinating, rocks to discover, as well one item that’s not a rock at all: a piece of twisted metal from New York’s World Trade Center.

The stone you won’t see, however, is the only otherworldly one. In September, the Tribune returned its lone moon rook to NASA, who had provided it on loan for years.

NASA agreed to send another one, and it’s expected to arrive in the spring. In the meantime, though, you’ll just have to make do with an alternate.

And stare at a piece from the Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho, instead.

A stone from the banks of the Delaware River where Gen. George Washington crossed into New Jersey from Pennsylvania on Dec. 25, 1776, is among the nearly 150 historic rocks and bricks embedded in the exterior of the Tribune Tower in downtown Chicago.

This week, in a measure of extending my own personal Thanksgiving a little longer, I’m sharing my series of columns that I wrote in 2003 for The Daily Times in Ottawa, Ill., about the remarkable tale of Mark Wiebe. Mark’s story, which I also published in my 2004 book “Northern IlliNOISE: Tales of a Territory,” remains the most meaningful that I’ve ever been blessed with the opportunity to tell during my career. I can’t imagine that will ever change …

What a way to lose your marbles

The WISCH LIST

July 15, 2003

Through his website, shplooky.com, Mark Wiebe was always worldwide.

But now, thanks to a group of Ottawa Township High School students, he’s gone international.

Because, right now – today – Mark’s in Ireland. He’s also in Wales. And even Buckingham Palace.

How that all came to be for Mark – the 17-year-old OTHS senior-to-be and friend of mine and many others who passed away on June 9 after a lifelong battle with Type I Spinal Muscular Atrophy – is one whale of a tale. And you’re invited to embark upon it as we retrace the journey of an idea that crossed five minds, six time zones and an ocean before touching down in the British Isles as one of the coolest tributes that you’ll hear about any time.

Any place.

“He was always talking about his marbles,” recent OTHS grad Travis Hagenbuch said last week about Mark Wiebe, who in the past couple of years had become such a passionate collector of marbles that he would joke he was starting to lose his.

“He had this marble machine in his room,” Hagenbuch continued. “It was like a gumball machine, except it had marbles in it. And whenever we came over to visit him, he’d ask us if we had any change.

“So, we all got a lot of marbles that way.”

“We’ would be OTHS students Hagenbuch, Todd Conroy, Mike Duback, Jessica Lehmkuhl and Kathleen McTaggart. All pals of Mark’s, the quintet received a request form their ailing friend two weeks prior to his passing.

“We could tell he started getting a little worse, and Mark asked us if we could come over more often,” Hagenbuch recalled. “A few of us came over almost every day. We’d listen to him talk about computers, or watch movies – sometimes hanging out for hours.”

During those horus, Mark would mention how neat he thought it was that Hagenbuch, Duback, Lehmkuhl, McTaggart and another friend, John Stack, would be going on an 11-day trip through Ireland, Wales and England in June.

“Mark loved ‘Braveheart’ and thought it was pretty cool that we were going to England and Ireland and seeing old buildings and castles,” Hagenbuch said. “Not to mention, he thought it was cool that we could travel so far like that when it would be so hard for him.”

The overseas voyage was something that Hagenbuch and the others had been looking forward to for quite some time. But the morning before their plane was scheduled to leave, they awoke to bad news.

Mark had passed away.

“I got a call at 7 a.m. Monday morning (on June 9), and my mom woke me up in bed,” Hagenbuch said. “I was kind of shocked. I was just at Mark’s house on Sunday and we said we’d be back tomorrow. Then, there didn’t end up being a tomorrow.

“I didn’t expect it to come that soon.”

Since Hagenbuch and the four others departing for Europe in 24 hours, it meant they would be unable to attend either Mark’s wake or his funeral.

“We thought about that before, especially as we saw him get worse,” Hagenbuch said. “Actually, that weekend, we had told our parents that if anything happened (with Mark) while we were gone to not let us know until we got back.
“Because, there wouldn’t be anything we could do about it.”

That was, until they realized that they could.

Just hours after learning the news about the death of his friend, Hagenbuch came up with the idea of bringing a bag of the marbles that Mark had given him along on the trip.

“He always talked about how cool it was that we were going over there,” Hagenbuch said. “And I thought it would be cool to kind of bring part of him with us …

“At first, I just thought brought the marbles with me to have them there. But then John Stack came up with the idea to leave them places.”

The next thing you k new, Hagenbuch, Duback, Lehmkuhl, McTaggart and Stack were rolling one of Mark’s marbles through the gates of Buckingham Palace. They dropped another into the Atlantic Ocean from Ireland’s Cliffs of Moher. A third was tucked into a dark corner of Beaumaris Castle in Wales, while yet another found a new home in Dublin’s famed St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

“That one,” Hagenbuch said of the St. Pat’s marble, “we dropped in a heating grate.

“So it should be there for a while.”

Meaning that Mark Wiebe – a young man who had an affinity for the history of the British Isles – now has his own permanent place there.

EPILOGUE: Turns out that Travis Hagenbuch, Mike Duback, Jessica Lehmkuhl, Kathleen McTaggart and John Stack weren’t the only world travelers from Ottawa to take – and leave – a little piece of Mark Wiebe overseas during the summer of 2003.

Ottawa Township High School student Carleigh Damron – the daughter of Mark’s longtime teachers’ aide and close friend, Debbie – also ended up launching Mark’s marbles on a global journey. Only she did it, not from Europe, but South America, as Carleigh spent the 2003-04 school year in Brazil as an exchange student.

According to Debbie, before Carleigh left for her yearlong sojourn in July of ’03, Deb took a number of Mark’s marbles, put them in plastic sleeves and then printed the words: “I found my marbles in Ottawa, Ill.” On the outside.

Carleigh packed the marbles with her luggage and then, while living in the city of Pindamonhangaba in the state of Sao Paulo, she handed them out to fellow exchange students from throughout the world.

So, not only did Mark make it all the way to the British Isles via his beloved marbles – he made it to just about everywhere else, too.

And he’d just love that.

This week, in a measure of extending my own personal Thanksgiving a little longer, I’m sharing my series of columns that I wrote in 2003 for The Daily Times in Ottawa, Ill., about the remarkable tale of Mark Wiebe. Mark’s story, which I also published in my 2004 book “Northern IlliNOISE: Tales of a Territory,” remains the most meaningful that I’ve ever been blessed with the opportunity to tell during my career. I can’t imagine that will ever change …

Leaving his Mark

The WISCH LIST

June 17, 2003

Eight days ago, this “Friendly City” of ours became a little less so. Not because of anything Ottawa did, mind you. But, rather, because of what it lost:

My pal, Mark Wiebe.

This past March, I had the honor of introducing the effervescent Mark – then a junior at Ottawa Township High School – to the people of La Salle County. Today, I’m back. But, unfortunately, Mark’s not with me.

On the morning of Monday, June 9 – just 16 days after his 17th birthday – he passed away at his home on the East Side.
Since birth, Mark had been suffering from a form of muscular dystrophy known as Type I Spinal Muscular Atrophy. The disease, which paralyzes and deteriorates nearly all of the body’s voluntary muscles, is terminal and in most cases leads to death by age 2.

Mark, however, wasn’t most cases.

For 17 years, he bucked the odds like a bronco. And did it in so many ways. Despite being wheelchair-bound, weighing only 40 pounds and being able to move little more than his fingers, Mark was intimately involved in poetry, marble collecting the National Honor Society, the OTHS Student Council, the Chess Club, the choir and the hearts of everyone who knew him.

A group, which I’m proud to say, included me.

In the months after I met Mark, he and I became buddies. We’d email. We’d instant message. I’d even go over to his house t have a chat with him every now and then – when I could pull him away from his computer, that is.

Smart as a whip, Mark ran his own website and knew more about computers than Bill Gates.

Seriously.

Just a few weeks ago, Mark was trying to explain to me how to post something on his site. I was more clueless than Inspector Clouseau but Mark, in his typical manner, was patient and thorough as I muddled through the lesson.

With his endlessly optimistic attitude, it was lessons in life that Mark provided to so many others. Even if he didn’t realize it or try to. In the days after my column about Mark ran, I received several emails from people throughout the area who were moved by his story.

“Thank you for the article about Mark Wiebe,” wrote one woman from Earlville. “Our whole family, including our teenagers, read it and each of us was inspired. We especially appreciate that you made it plain that Mark gives God the glory for his life, abilities and thoughtfulness of others.”

“(Mark) has ben a good friend of mine for a couple years now,” wrote a teenager named Todd from Ottawa. “It really seemed to make his day that he was in the paper. Thank you for bringing joy into his life. He always seems to find it, but he needs as much as he can get. So again, thank you for doing that for him.”

Actually, Todd. I’d like to thank Mark what he did for me.

Today, I can just imagine what he’s up to. My guess is that Mark already has Heaven wired, and is currently working on getting God’s home page up and running.

Pretty soon, all the angels will have their own screen names. Then, they’ll be the ones getting instant messages from the latest guy to get his wings.

Those lucky devils.