Even the Terrible Things Seem Beautiful to Me Now: On Hope, Loss, and Wearing Sunscreen

What it means when your father dies. How it feels when summer comes. What it's like to live in a great but troubled American city. The value of wearing sunscreen.

These are just a few of the topics that Mary Schmich addresses in this second, expanded edition of Even the Terrible Things Seem Beautiful to Me Now, a collection of her columns from the Chicago Tribune, including the 10 that won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for commentary.

Schmich is the rare newspaper columnist whose writing resonates long after it's published and far beyond the place she lives. She may be best known for a column widely called "Wear Sunscreen"--misattributed to Kurt Vonnegut and turned into a hit recording by Baz Luhrmann--but her writing ranges as widely as life itself. It can be slyly humorous, deeply moving, or tough. She addresses subjects as varied as family love, sexual harassment, long friendships, poverty, and Chicago violence.

Every city has its voices, the enduring writers who both explain and create a city's culture. Chicago has had many, including the legendary Mike Royko and Studs Terkel. Mary Schmich is among them. In a hectic age, her writing lifts us, calms us, and helps us understand.

Author: Mary Schmich
Publisher: Agate Midway
Published: 11/05/2019
Pages: 408
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.35lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.40w x 1.50d
ISBN13: 9781572842809
ISBN10: 1572842806
BISAC Categories:
- Language Arts & Disciplines | Journalism
- Social Science | Media Studies
- Political Science | Commentary & Opinion

About the Author
Mary Schmich is a 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist who has written for the Chicago Tribune since 1985. Schmich previously wrote for the Orlando Sentinel and Peninsula Times Tribune. She also contributed to the Brenda Starr comic strip. She lives in Chicago, Illinois.