Chicago, you’ve been programmed: Meet Julius Mondragon, TikTok’s Computer Guy The Computer Guy wears Ray-Ban Meta glasses with a camera, through which he records his interactions programming strangers, later posting brief videos on TikTok.

The Computer Guy of Chicago strikes when you least expect.

Sitting in a coffeehouse. Reading your phone on the train. Working out. Waiting for food. Walking down the street.

Chicago, you’ve been programmed: Meet Julius Mondragon, TikTok’s Computer Guy The Computer Guy wears Ray-Ban Meta glasses with a camera, through which he records his interactions programming strangers, later posting brief videos on TikTok.

Chicago, you’ve been programmed: Meet Julius Mondragon, TikTok’s Computer Guy

A Rogers Park house was an HGTV ‘Ugliest House in America’ finalist — some say it’s always been anything but. Long a neighborhood landmark, the Victorian home was an art project for its previous owners. Its new owners promised to keep it much as it was. Then HGTV came calling.

Rogers Park house officially declared NOT the ugliest in the nation - but definitely one of the most interesting in Chicago www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/06/r...

A Rogers Park house was an HGTV ‘Ugliest House in America’ finalist — some say it’s always been anything but. Long a neighborhood landmark, the Victorian home was an art project for its previous owners. Its new owners promised to keep it much as it was. Then HGTV came calling.

Rogers Park house officially declared NOT the ugliest in the nation - but definitely one of the most interesting in Chicago www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/06/r...

Northwestern's Daisy Hernández and her new history of the (quickly) changing meaning of citizenship Daisy Hernández’s new book, Citizenship: Notes on an American Myth,” is partly a family memoir and partly a world history.

What did it even mean to be a US citizen anymore? Northwestern's Daisy Hernández on the history of citizenship itself www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/29/n...

Northwestern's Daisy Hernández and her new history of the (quickly) changing meaning of citizenship Daisy Hernández’s new book, Citizenship: Notes on an American Myth,” is partly a family memoir and partly a world history.

What did it even mean to be a US citizen anymore? Northwestern's Daisy Hernández on the history of citizenship itself www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/29/n...

Don’t fear the reaper. Unless you’re on this list. Ghoulish Mortals in St. Charles runs an annual death pool to predict the celebrities who won’t live to see out the year. The guesses are in for 2026.

My piece on Ghoul Pool, the history of betting on dead celebrities and who they expect to die in the next 12 months. No. 1 is a tie… www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/21/g...

Don’t fear the reaper. Unless you’re on this list. Ghoulish Mortals in St. Charles runs an annual death pool to predict the celebrities who won’t live to see out the year. The guesses are in for 2026.

My piece on Ghoul Pool, the history of betting on dead celebrities and who they expect to die in the next 12 months. No. 1 is a tie… www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/21/g...

What’s like got to do with it? Evanston’s Sara Levine on the art of ‘difficult’ women. Her 2012 novel “Treasure Island!!!” remains a cult classic. Her new book, “The Hitch,” arrives some 15 years later, with some important elements in common.

My piece on Evanston’s Sara Levine, and the art of writing “unlikeable” heroines www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/13/w...

What’s like got to do with it? Evanston’s Sara Levine on the art of ‘difficult’ women. Her 2012 novel “Treasure Island!!!” remains a cult classic. Her new book, “The Hitch,” arrives some 15 years later, with some important elements in common.

My piece on Evanston’s Sara Levine, and the art of writing “unlikeable” heroines www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/13/w...

What’s like got to do with it? Evanston’s Sara Levine on the art of ‘difficult’ women. Her 2012 novel “Treasure Island!!!” remains a cult classic. Her new book, “The Hitch,” arrives some 15 years later, with some important elements in common.

What’s like got to do with it? Evanston’s Sara Levine on the art of ‘difficult’ women.

trib.al/gX5BUjM

The 10 best books of 2025: Censorship, crime and compassion From “Clam Down” to “Murderland,” these are the 10 books out of my tall stack of best books of the year that I couldn’t get out of my mind. How do you pick yours?

The Chicago Tribune’s 10 best books of 2025: a bit of horror, a little graphic biography, a resonant history lesson (@risenc.bsky.social) and a touch of Chicago true crime www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/03/t...

John Langan (@johnlangan.bsky.social) Writer. All monsters, all the time. Filthy liberal.

Whoops, and @johnlangan.bsky.social

The 10 best books of 2025: Censorship, crime and compassion From “Clam Down” to “Murderland,” these are the 10 books out of my tall stack of best books of the year that I couldn’t get out of my mind. How do you pick yours?

Chicago Tribune Top 10 books of 2025 list includes @johnlangan.bsky.social!

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/03/t...

The 10 best books of 2025: Censorship, crime and compassion From “Clam Down” to “Murderland,” these are the 10 books out of my tall stack of best books of the year that I couldn’t get out of my mind. How do you pick yours?

The Chicago Tribune’s 10 best books of 2025: a bit of horror, a little graphic biography, a resonant history lesson (@risenc.bsky.social) and a touch of Chicago true crime www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/03/t...

@johnubacon.bsky.social

A ceremony remembers the Edmund Fitzgerald 50 years later, gales of November included Friends and family members gathered at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to ring the bell and remember those who died 50 years ago.

On the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, I attended a memorial service at the ship’s nearest shore, Whitefish Point, at the very top of Michigan. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/11/a...

A ceremony remembers the Edmund Fitzgerald 50 years later, gales of November included Friends and family members gathered at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to ring the bell and remember those who died 50 years ago.

On the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, I attended a memorial service at the ship’s nearest shore, Whitefish Point, at the very top of Michigan. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/11/a...

From cradle to grave: There was something for everyone alive and otherwise at the Chicago funeral directors convention You can learn a lot about your options for the afterlife at the annual trade show, which recently ended at McCormick Place. It was not a solemn gathering.

My visit to the National Funeral Directors convention was lively: Rather be water or ashes? Turned into mulch or left to rot? Released over the ocean by a jet? Buried in a mushroom casket? Turned into a rock?

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/04/f...

From cradle to grave: There was something for everyone alive and otherwise at the Chicago funeral directors convention You can learn a lot about your options for the afterlife at the annual trade show, which recently ended at McCormick Place. It was not a solemn gathering.

My visit to the National Funeral Directors convention was lively: Rather be water or ashes? Turned into mulch or left to rot? Released over the ocean by a jet? Buried in a mushroom casket? Turned into a rock?

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/04/f...

Column: Why changing problematic high school nicknames is back in the spotlight — and a lesson in history As playoff football games unfold across the state, two prospective bills are resurfacing in Springfield that insist the village of Freeburg, and many other Illinois schools, rethink their problemat…

I wrote a bit about the Illinois tradition of insane high school mascot names everyone takes for granted - and the legislation that could change a few www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/07/i...

Column: Why changing problematic high school nicknames is back in the spotlight — and a lesson in history As playoff football games unfold across the state, two prospective bills are resurfacing in Springfield that insist the village of Freeburg, and many other Illinois schools, rethink their problemat…

I wrote a bit about the Illinois tradition of insane high school mascot names everyone takes for granted - and the legislation that could change a few www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/07/i...

How old is too old to trick or treat? The answer is more complicated than it sounds. For the record, there is no statewide age restriction on trick or treating in Illinois. But many small communities around the country set formal and informal age limits.

I wrote about a timeless Halloween question: How old is too old to trick or treat? That question, and its history, has shaped the holiday in more ways than you know.

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/31/t...

How old is too old to trick or treat? The answer is more complicated than it sounds. For the record, there is no statewide age restriction on trick or treating in Illinois. But many small communities around the country set formal and informal age limits.

I wrote about a timeless Halloween question: How old is too old to trick or treat? That question, and its history, has shaped the holiday in more ways than you know.

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/31/t...

‘Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind’ at the MCA upends assumptions This new Yoko Ono retrospective is epic but intimate, impossibly earnest but funny and full of irony, without a single wink.

The MCA’s wonderul - and very fun (despite this picture) - corrective of every assumption you ever held about @yokoono. You crawl into sacks, you hammer nails into canvas… www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/23/y...

‘Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind’ at the MCA upends assumptions This new Yoko Ono retrospective is epic but intimate, impossibly earnest but funny and full of irony, without a single wink.

The MCA’s wonderul - and very fun (despite this picture) - corrective of every assumption you ever held about @yokoono. You crawl into sacks, you hammer nails into canvas… www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/23/y...

Endless Halloween: The haunting life of Michael Myers of Decatur, Indiana A few years back, Evan Zimmerman started dressing up as the killer from the “Halloween” movies. Videos of him in character have been viewed many millions of times.

I wrote a profile of Michael Myers (of Decatur), who has been haunting his Indiana subdivision (and millions on social media) for 12 years. Once the mask goes on, HE WILL NOT TALK TO YOU. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/16/m...

A lot of darkness going on but this is a worthwhile read and respite from the always awesome @borrelli.bsky.social

STABBIN WAGON

Endless Halloween: The haunting life of Michael Myers of Decatur, Indiana A few years back, Evan Zimmerman started dressing up as the killer from the “Halloween” movies. Videos of him in character have been viewed many millions of times.

A few years back, Evan Zimmerman started dressing up as the killer from the “Halloween” movies. Videos of him in character have been viewed many millions of times.