The North Shore: Mirror or Mirage

Last Sunday night, I appeared on the radio show, “Livin’ Large” with Geoff Pinkus. I told “The Pinker” that Ageless and The Got Spot were running a contest that will help the winner keep their New Year’s resolutions.

“Livin Large” is a man’s show. As a guest of the show, I figured the bit was that “men” don’t make resolutions. Especially men who are livin’ large and want to smoke cigars, eat red meat, drink wine and spirits, talk about and perhaps have sex, and are REAL MEN.

My clever retort was going to be that resolutions are just another word for change or goal setting. And that there are ways to make constructive changes in your life. These include:

• Thinking about that change
• Be specific and realistic
• Remind yourself of your goals
• Take action
• Review your progress

It turns out that my segment was about the weird resolutions that people supposedly make on the North Shore. Like marrying a rich Jewish doctor or lawyer or wanting more Botox injections. Just the typical, tired, and easy stereotypes of the life on the North Shore.

Now, I don’t blame Pinkus for this. It’s his schtick. He says so on his web site. “Expect all the goofing around, teasing, arguments and bad manners that happen when you’re LIVIN LARGE with Geoff Pinkus.”

It’s just that blogging about the North Shore since March of this year has revealed so many positive,  interesting, fun and spiritual aspects of life on the North Shore that the old stereotypes just don’t work for me.

On Thursday, we’ll list the top ten most viewed stories of the year. Here are some of my favorites.

In Highwood, thousands of people came out on a warm, autumn night for a pumpkin carving festival. In the winter, the city of Highwood hosted hundreds of soldiers and sailors who were away from their families for the holidays.

Highwood Pumpkin Festival

Al Curtis of the Skokie Theatre

Every Wednesday afternoon, Al Curtis and Skokie Theatre offers free musical programs to any and all veterans. The Skokie Theatre hosts programs throughout the year to honor our veterans.

In Evanston, the group ShareCircle is raising money to build an University in Central Angola. In Highland Park, Asperitech is developing a program to create meaningful individuals with Asperger’s syndrome. Also, in Highland Park a single mom is creating an incubator where new non-profits can share resources, ideas, and office space in order to better serve follow their mission.

The Baha’i Temple in Wilmette presented a free choral concert that brought together and delighted a multi-cultural, multi-racial audience.

Van Gilmer directs the Baha'i Concert Choir

Our North Shore runs from Evanston up to the Wisconsin border on the lake and as far west as 294. It is urban and suburban. It is small town and it is affluent.  It is charitable and it is indulgent. It is Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Bahai and some of my best friends are atheists.
The communities began to develop in the 1830s and continue to evolve.

Clearly, these points were not made on Livin’ Large but I resigned myself to the fact that like the E-trade commercial, “The Man’s Show” was not the right venue.