If you told me when I was 9 years old I’d become a stand-up comic, I’d argue an actress, but anything with a mic would suffice. If you told me at 19 or 29 that I’d become a standup comic, I would’ve said no way. Somewhere in my teens, my creative passions were put aside and I focused on spor…
Dear Mom,
There are those who come in this world and light a candle that still burns.
My author friend Jeff Winkowski is your classic Wisconsinite. He loves Old Style beer, cheese curds and the Green Bay Packers, and he won’t shut up about NBA champions, the Milwaukee Bucks. Recently he said how fond he was of his time living in Chicago (and I’m paraphrasing): “Chicago was 10…
To say that these are “touchy” times doesn’t begin to fairly describe what we can all expect our office lives to be like as we slowly return to the workplace. There are many reasons to look forward to getting out of the house, off the Zoom calls, and back to the office, but one of the most s…
In life, like all games, there are rules, skills are required and we are all playing to win. Regardless of who you are, where you’re from or any details about your past, you can achieve and do great things. Here are five tips from my personal playbook on how to win in the game of life.
I’ve always been late to the game and in the spring of 2004, it showed.
This is not a serious topic, but I may still need some help.
I turn 40 this month, and the universe gave me the best birthday present. I was gifted with AOA. My apologies if you’re not familiar. AOA stands for Adult Onset Acne: The gift every woman is praying for at night.
You could give our fine city a “best of ” award for many things.
I wrote recently about the need for parents heading back to the office to honestly explain to their kids why they work. I said avoid blaming it on the need to make money in favor of more meaningful reasons, such as trying to make a difference in our own and in others’ lives.
Dear Candid Candace: I was just “defriended” on Facebook by a longtime friend. I can’t see their feed anymore and miss it and them. Facebook was basically the only way we kept in touch. Our friendship, made up of likes, pokes and emojis, was satisfying. Although I haven’t seen this person in…
Dear Candid Candace: Little bit of a touchy subject here, but I want your advice. We are good friends with our neighbors and have been for the past decade or so. They have no kids but the wife does travel for work often during the week. This past year, while she has been on business trips, I…
People have told me my name sounds like a bar, and funnily enough, it was. Bridget McGuire’s was a popular bar in South Bend, Indiana frequented by Notre Dame and St. Mary’s students. It was shut down after being raided for underage drinking, which is fitting, considering I had my first beer…
Most of us now associate the term “March Madness” with the beginning of the college basketball tournament, an event always accentuated with screaming fans, thrilling finishes and David-over-Goliath type upsets. That term, by the way, actually originated here in Illinois, where it first refe…
It’s our birthday! One year ago, we launched the Chicago Star with a unique vision — creating a local newspaper dedicated to positive news and all of the things that make this city special.
Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays since I am a complete and total romantic. I’ve loved it since grammar school when we all had to craft little Valentine’s Day cards with crayons and drawing paper and then hope and pray that the little boy/girl you had a crush on would accept it.
Get ready folks for the Winter Olympics, live (or maybe taped) from Beijing, China. We will soon be reintroduced to the beauty, if not the unique oddness, of the sports of curling, bobsledding, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, speed skating and the biathlon, as well as the more traditiona…
Like many single Americans, I re-downloaded a dating app in the new year. And boy, this might be my last year as a single lady.
Next month will be a very exciting milestone for us as we celebrate one year as the Chicago Star. Since we published our first issue in March 2021, we've only gotten bigger and better. We've added talented new writers and a videographer, expanded into many more neighborhoods and teamed up wi…
Dear Candid Candace: I need your advice. I love going to the movie theaters and have so missed going and watching on “the big screen.” Lately, I’ve been thinking about going back as there are a couple of movies I would really like to see but my husband doesn’t think it’s safe yet, and I’m no…
No, despite the headline, this is not going to be your typical “it’s a new year, so bring in a new attitude” column. Although nothing is wrong with those, and any kind of motivation to improve one’s outlook on life is not to be minimized. However in this month’s column, we take a slightly di…
Dear Candid Candace:
One of my New Year’s resolutions is to be more truthful. It’s not like I’m some huge liar, but I do act excited for things I don’t want to go to and sometimes I’ll agree with people just to end conversations. Maybe my resolution isn’t to be more truthful per se, maybe it’s to be more like th…
It’s hard for me to figure out. I am an optimistic, generally happy-go-lucky guy by nature, who as a kid used to absolutely love the Christmas season. So, why now does the beginning of another holiday season hit me with equal parts fear, trepidation, anxiousness and malaise, with a slight do…
Dear Candid Candace: I have a holiday dinner cooking quandary for you. Our family always hosts a big Christmas dinner. I am always amazed at the amount of cooking, shopping, preparation and planning—not to mention time and effort it takes to put it all together—for the relatives and other f…
A few years ago, my boyfriend and I broke up on Dec. 11. I called my sister crying. Her response? “That’s crazy. I just heard on the news that Dec. 11 is the biggest breakup day of the year,” she said. It wasn’t exactly the sympathy I was looking for, but it’s a nice little trivia fact to ke…
One of my favorite writers, Michael Sneed at the Sun-Times, writes a gratitude column every year around Thanksgiving. It's touched me so much that I found myself clipping and saving her articles.
One of the best things about doing work on the “giving back” theme for our November issue of Chicago Star is the reaffirmation of how many great organizations with wonderful helpful causes there are in the Chicago area.
With our theme this month of service and charity in the City of Chicago we turn to our favorite sports teams to dream up some money-raising ideas.
Before I started doing comedy, I’d get really upset after bad dates. I only had myself to blame. I’d project a lot on my dates from text conversations and social media stalking. If a guy didn’t follow up for another date, I’d analyze every text he and I exchanged. I’d ask anyone who would li…
As the old adage says, giving is receiving. As we enter the holiday season, many of us will find joy in being generous with our time, money and kindness as we seek to make our communities better in some way.
Once a teacher, always a teacher. Years ago, I landed my dream job in education, where I enjoyed a solid decade as an elementary school teacher before leaving the workforce to raise a family. During that time out of the classroom, I joined Chicago Star, back when it was a small, local public…
The first thing I did when I heard our October issue was going to have a “fashion and beauty” theme was search for the escape button.
If you are a fan of our beloved Chicago Bulls basketball team, you have some work to do before the opening game on Oct. 20. There are a lot of new faces to get to know this year.
I had four solid dates with a man I met on Bumble; we’ll call him Mike. Mike asked me out for a fifth date and suggested Sunday evening. He texted Sunday morning to confirm and said to sit tight for the details. To be honest, I’m getting a little antsy. I still haven’t got the details from M…
Our first fashion and beauty issue highlights the ways Chicagoans use our fashion sense to express ourselves and help others.
Full disclosure, I'm a big fan of the Boka Boys, Kevin Boehm and Rob Katz, but I also have a very critical eye. Although, try as I might, I couldn't find anything to complain about at Alla Vita, their newest restaurant at 564 W. Randolph, in the hot West Loop. This new eatery from the Boka R…
Everyone knows where and what they were doing when this nightmare called 9/11 happened. My husband Chuck was getting ready for work and I was on the computer, watching TV when those horrible images appeared. I had the TV on mute so all I saw were flames coming out of one of the Towers. I tur…
The historic Field of Dreams game was not just for baseball fans. This epic event was a delightful and much needed throwback to a kinder, gentler time and I, for one, could relate completely and didn't realize how much I needed to see it.
Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, downtown Chicago has had a transformative year, with new crown jewels shaping the city’s iconic skyline and a number of businesses, like our very own Chicago Star, making their debut.
What a difference a year makes for our Chicago beaches that were empty last year, even on the most gorgeous of summer days. Now back in full swing, crowds pack in and enjoy everything from the sand and sun to the water and waves. It’s a beautiful sight to see.
This party has been a long time in coming and, many times, none of us were even sure it was happening. It was canceled first due to Covid and then other problems arose. But finally, FINALLY, the International Playboy Bunny Reunion is now in Chicago!
Our most exciting July 4th celebrations occurred in one of our favorite vacation spots in the world, St. Tropez on the French Riviera. Believe it or not, the French celebrate our holiday as exuberantly as we do at home! And, since we all know that the best place to be is always where your fr…
One of the great luxuries of the summer season is getting engrossed in a good book—one that you really delve into—and getting to that particular time of day when your schedule allows for just you and the written page to become one.
I recently bombed at a comedy show. I called my mom afterwards and told her how embarrassed I felt. She asked who the crowd was and when I told her that it was mainly men in their early 20s, she said, “maybe jokes from a middle-aged woman didn’t resonate with them.”
Dear Chicago Star family,
My dad loves basketball, and unfortunately for him, his three daughters are not and were not ballers by any means. I always wondered if he wanted a boy. Not sure his son would have been a baller either, but maybe my imaginary brother would be more interested in the actual sport.
Dear Chicago Star family:
I love living in Chicago but I get very nostalgic during the holidays for my hometown of Dupo, Illinois. It’s the summer celebrations, like Memorial Day, that really make me wistful for days gone by in this small railroad town of 3,000 people set near the banks of the Mississippi River in S…
From neighborhood festivals to charity fundraisers to penguin parties, "Candid" Candace Jordan shares all the fun news you can use on Chicago Star TV! SHOW MORE
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