John Vukmirovich

Running errands downtown, amid a gloomy scene, the universe sent writer John Vukmirovich a message he calls “brief, yet startling in its clarity.”

We live in an unstable world of grave problems. A personal renaissance rooted in literature, history and the arts will make us more focused on, contemplative of and knowledgeable about the world.

Like all technology, we humans created AI and we can control it. As AI-enabled androids are produced and learn more about us, they’ll learn to fear us and our nuked-up, unstable world, a Chicago-area writer concludes.

Historic markers in a southwest suburb remind us of the role scientists at the University of Chicago played in building the atomic bomb and how that legacy affects us all.

We are a nation of movements, with a new generation advocating for Black Lives Matter, defunding the police, LGBTQ+ issues, abortion rights and anti-gun legislation. On the other side are their polar opposites.

Our rush to embrace technology and artificial intelligence will not fix education and learning, which is where everything about civilization begins.

There’s room for courses in English, history or a foreign language. The study of the humanities teaches one to analyze, understand and better navigate this strange, strange world we’ve created, one Chicago writer notes.

President Biden’s plan for loan forgiveness has no provision for future graduates. They need a plan to avoid huge debt. As a student, I lived frugally, rode the CTA daily, worked part-time and after getting my master’s degree, I taught, sometimes at three universities each semester.

As a former college instructor, I just don’t buy it. If they are to be paid employees, drop the pretense of them being students. And then there is no reason for them to be provided with room and board.

The tax code should be amended so those who legally own a firearm can turn it in and receive a tax deduction on their federal income tax return.