People with Passion: Mary Schmich

A People with Passion series

Chicago journalism

August 10, 2011: Mary Schmich

Mary Schmich (photo by Jens Zorn)

For nearly twenty years, columnist Mary Schmich has told stories in the Tribune. Headline-driven stories, personal stories, stories of sage advice, stories of thoughtful irreverence, stories about unknown Chicagoans, stories about the best-known Chicagoans. She continues to do so into today, where she takes her inquisitive eye to Englewood and wonders how people stay healthy in an unhealthy neighborhood.

In person, Schmich is as diverse an experience as is her column. She is soft-spoken yet tough, measured yet lively, and of course, a great storyteller.

In the second of Jack M Silverstein’s Chicago journalism People with Passion series, Schmich gives the three elements of her childhood that have most shaped her career, her introduction to Chicago, and how columnists can keep themselves from growing stale.