John Kass
John Kass has covered a variety of topics since arriving at the Chicago Tribune in 1983.
The son of a Greek immigrant grocer, Kass was born June 23, 1956, on Chicago’s South Side and grew up there and in Oak Lawn. He held a number of jobs — merchant marine sailor, ditch digger, waiter — before becoming a film student at Columbia College in Chicago. There, he worked at the student newspaper and caught the attention of Daryle Feldmeir, chairman of the journalism department and former editor of the Chicago Daily News.
Feldmeir and journalism professor Les Brownlee helped him obtain an internship at the Daily Calumet in 1980, where Kass worked as a reporter until he left for the Tribune.
In 2004, Kass was awarded the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi national award for general column writing, the Scripps Howard Foundation’s National Journalism Award for commentary, the Press Club of Atlantic City’s National Headliner Award for local interest column writing on a variety of subjects, and the Chicago Headline Club’s Lisagor Award for best daily newspaper columnist.
In 1992, Kass won the Chicago Tribune’s Beck Award for writing.
Kass lives in the western suburbs with his wife and twin sons. His column appears on Page A2 of the Chicago Tribune every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.
Recent Work
Have you ever wondered what happens to flat-earthers? Not all spend their days eating pudding with plastic spoons and rewatching... Read More
Have you ever wondered what happens to flat-earthers? Not all spend their days eating pudding with plastic spoons and rewatching old sitcoms — or as fabulists hanging at the end of the bar, boasting of their heroic exploits until closing time. Some become president of the... Read More
Have you read, heard or seen that important news story about an Asian American federal judge — born in Taiwan... Read More
Have you read, heard or seen that important news story about an Asian American federal judge — born in Taiwan and subject to discrimination growing up — who confronted and denounced those who discriminate by race? No? With all that’s been in the news lately about... Read More
When I was a boy about 11, I committed a crime that changed my life. I stole a book. I... Read More
When I was a boy about 11, I committed a crime that changed my life. I stole a book. I was a book thief. I found it in another kid’s desk and began reading, hiding it behind some boring textbook, and couldn’t give it up. And... Read More
In the pre-COVID-19 days, there were those large, intergenerational Sunday dinners when nothing was off the table for discussion in... Read More
In the pre-COVID-19 days, there were those large, intergenerational Sunday dinners when nothing was off the table for discussion in America. Even now, if we were sitting down together, we’d talk of President Donald Trump lying to his supporters about overturning the election, before he incited... Read More
“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need,” said Marcus Tullius Cicero. Old Marcus could... Read More
“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need,” said Marcus Tullius Cicero. Old Marcus could have been talking about coping with these pandemic lockdowns, but he wasn’t. Happily, I have a home library, but no garden. And I can’t possibly go... Read More
My mother is 90 years old, one of the elderly isolated in nursing homes, unable to hug and kiss her... Read More
My mother is 90 years old, one of the elderly isolated in nursing homes, unable to hug and kiss her children, alone because of the pandemic. And this will be our first Christmas apart. She lived with us for 25 years. But after her stroke, she’d... Read More
Attorney General William Barr, vilified witlessly and unreasonably for years by the left — and most recently by conservatives —... Read More
Attorney General William Barr, vilified witlessly and unreasonably for years by the left — and most recently by conservatives — has just performed two critically important services to the republic: After the election, Barr refused to put his name or the Department of Justice behind any... Read More
When we were kids on the playground and there was an angry dispute, someone would always shout “majority rules.” And... Read More
When we were kids on the playground and there was an angry dispute, someone would always shout “majority rules.” And we’d vote. If the losers didn’t like the outcome, there were two options: punch the winners in the stomach or take the ball and go home.... Read More
President Donald Trump’s failure to loudly and forcefully condemn white supremacists in his debate with Joe Biden was an unmitigated... Read More
President Donald Trump’s failure to loudly and forcefully condemn white supremacists in his debate with Joe Biden was an unmitigated disaster that may have cost him a chance at reelection. What Americans witnessed in the chaotic dumpster fire of a debate was this: an angry, stubborn... Read More
In The News
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More From The Well
NEW YORK — The prosecution’s star witness in the New York criminal trial of former President Donald Trump opened his... Read More
NEW YORK — The prosecution’s star witness in the New York criminal trial of former President Donald Trump opened his testimony Monday by describing his former boss’ oversight of alleged hush money payments to two women who claim he had... Read More
WASHINGTON — The members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted 2-1 on Monday in favor of new requirements for... Read More
WASHINGTON — The members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted 2-1 on Monday in favor of new requirements for moving electricity across states and who will be responsible for covering the costs of new transmission projects. The new rule... Read More
In 1965, the Older Americans Act was a beacon of successful bipartisan legislation to address the social, economic and health needs... Read More
In 1965, the Older Americans Act was a beacon of successful bipartisan legislation to address the social, economic and health needs of older Americans on a national level. Nearly 60 years later, the act has changed little, yet life for older adults... Read More
WASHINGTON — If one wanted further proof that the Yamaha Motor Corporation wants to stake a major claim in the... Read More
WASHINGTON — If one wanted further proof that the Yamaha Motor Corporation wants to stake a major claim in the hydrogen-powered vehicle market, they only needed to check out the vehicle in a curbside parking spot outside the Capitol Hill... Read More
OULU, Finland — A study by researchers at University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital in Finland found women who enter... Read More
OULU, Finland — A study by researchers at University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital in Finland found women who enter menopause before the age of 40 are more likely to die young, but may lower their risk with hormone therapy.... Read More
WASHINGTON — People have consumed alcohol in some form since the beginning of human history, dating back to ancient civilizations... Read More
WASHINGTON — People have consumed alcohol in some form since the beginning of human history, dating back to ancient civilizations in Egypt, India, China, Greece and Rome. While drinking alcohol in moderation can be enjoyable, excessive use can be harmful... Read More
