Some stories by David Murray

Chicago-based writer David Murray writes interesting stories for national and local publications. Here is a sample of his work.

Bolingbrook—C'est Moi! Chicago Magazine, October 2007 He weeps, he insults, he builds lavish projects, and Mayor Roger Claar sees in his own journey—from chubby outsider to powerful Republican—a parallel to the booming emergence of his town.

Game Boy Chicago Magazine, January 2007 Tom Chambers is a young graduate of Harvard who recently scrapped his job as an actuary to make a living playing online poker. But a new law threatens his livelihood. Can he and others like him hold—or must they fold?

Sweet Spot Chicago Magazine, October 2003 The author spent two weeks working and living with the strange family that runs a bucolic but financially strapped nine-hole golf course in Ottawa, Ill. Winner of 2003 Peter Lisagor Award from the American Society of Professional Journalists.

In This Ring, I Thee Fight Chicago Tribune, April 30 and May 7, 2006 Togetherness for Carlos and Jovita Castaneda includes going a few rounds—sometimes against each other—in the gym.

Kicking Back Chicago Magazine, January 2005 Why would Illinois Supreme Court justice Robert R. Thomas, a former placekicker for the Bears, sue a small newspaper’s scrappy columnist for defamation? Some observers believe the judge wants to clear the air before making bigger political moves.

How to Sell a Hairpiece Chicago Tribune, April 13, 2003 Hairpiece-maker Ernie Casper has covered the heads of actor Burt Reynolds, golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez and late baseball owner Charles O. Finley. Now he wants to show you something.

Our Man on the Streets Chicago Reader, Aug. 6, 2004 Chicago has undertaken an ambitious ten-year plan to get every one if its thousands of homeless people off the street. So why is homelessness czar Carmelo Vargas trying to tackle the problem one man at a time?

Volunteering for Scout Duty Car Collector Magazine, March 2002 The author had thought he’d escaped his father’s feverish, sentimental, fascination with old cars. Then how is it that he found himself driving a 1970 International Harvester Scout—and towing a 1964 behind—from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Chicago?

Hard Travelin’ Chicago Tribune Magazine, June 23, 2002 Comic Paul Frisbie feels sorry for comic Jerry Seinfeld. And if Seinfeld knew about Frisbie’s life on the road playing heckler-filled hotel bars in Muncie, Ind., Aberdeen, S.D., Grand Rapids, Mich. and Eau Claire, Wis., the opposite would surely also be true. But Frisbie says he loves his life: “When you’re not famous, you earn it every night.”

Major Pains Golf Magazine, August 2004 What does it take to get a golf course ready for a PGA major tournament? About 150 people, a military-precise plan, and a weeklong, 24/7 frenzied carnival.

Our House Chicago Reader, February 1, 2001 That ugly green house on the corner never seemed like much more than an eyesore until the author discovered it’s one of the five oldest houses in Chicago. It survived the Great Chicago Fire, but can it survive the local developer who wants to tear it down to build condominiums on the site?

Ballet best-case Chicago Tribune, Mar. 7, 2004 Into their 40s, Joffrey Ballet’s Deborah Dawn and Willie Shives have stayed in a business dominated by people half their age. What’s their secret?

The Gatekeeper Chicago Reader, Oct. 27, 2000 In the late 1960s, whites were fleeing the west side of Chicago because they were afraid blacks would decimate their property values. How one tiny young woman saved her near-west suburb from white flight—and why, three decades later, she still sees the need to control integration in Oak Park.

Created on 2003-02-04 10:24:27 by admin Updated on 2007-10-16 10:37:14 by David