A WEEKEND PASTICHE

LOVE IN FOUR FOUR TIME

Ever listen to that great 1924 Jones & Kahn hit "It Had To Be You?" There's a line that reads: ...being glad just to be sad thinking of you. Can you think of any simpler yet nobler way of capturing the essence of an all-consuming love? If you've never felt this, perhaps you've never really been in love.

Consider that the next time you listen to Dooley Wilson sing it in "Casablanca." Or then there's an old Chicago friend, Megan Cavanagh, who sings it in "A League of Their Own." Sometimes tin pan alley composers can penetrate the human soul more deeply -- yet simply -- than even the Aristotles and Aquinases.

And what's nice about them, they're not a homework assignment....

LAST CHANCE TO BUILD YOUR OWN SNOW FORT

Gratefully, Spring is about to melt our long dreary Winter. But wait....! Did you let another Winter go by without building a snow fort??

I'm guessing you did. Just like I did. Bad idea! Why should snow be left just to the kids? If you're anything like me [and I'm not saying you would ever want to be] you certainly must recall the fun of snow forts. Building them, stocking them, defending them. The giddy sense of accomplishment is one of a long ago kind. But these next few Chicago days may be your last chance.

First, though, you have to be willing to get a little messy. And also be able to get down on knees long unaccustomed to plopping in snow...

THE LIMELIGHT OF LAUGHTER

Sometimes the most accurate reading of a society is what makes it laugh. A few generations ago, we laughed at movies with Abbott & Costello, Lewis & Martin and Red Skeleton. TV shows like "I Love Lucy," "Father Knows Best," and "Leave It To Beaver."

Today...? Well, we mostly seem to laugh at "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy." And you don't even want to get into today's angry, crouch-grabbing standups.

So what does it all mean? On one end of the ideological spectrum we hear dire warnings of the End Times. On the other, we hear proud brayings about an Open Society. All of which leaves some of us in the middle, mostly chuckling at ourselves. Really, what's funnier..?