You Don't Say...

Send us feedback! A story can live in your head for decades, but once it hits the page, it starts demanding a bigger life. That’s where we are with The Make-Right Man: what started as a serialized podcast journey has now become a published novel, and we’re sharing the news directly with everyone who’s been listening and cheering it on. The Make-Right Man: A Chicago Reckoning is now available in pr...

Send us feedback! A red Monte Carlo noses down Blue Island Avenue and Billy knows there’s no version of tomorrow where he walks away the same. Memory hits first—Sunday sauce, laughter stretched thin, a name that chills a kitchen—then the nightwork begins. Pilsen turns into a living map of alley mouths, bar shifts, and weak garage locks. Billy studies Kiko Delgado’s swagger, Mickey Torres’s noise,...

Send us feedback! The night smells like wood smoke and wet asphalt as Billy’s ledger finally speaks out loud. We open on the South Side—clean hits, quiet exits, and a cardiganed capo named Frank Calabrese who prefers indications over blessings. Billy’s gift isn’t muscle; it’s control. He moves cash and messages through Bridgeport with surgical precision, turning violence into administration and me...

Send us feedback! A quiet envelope lands on a dorm desk and sets off a chain reaction that stretches from Milwaukee hallways to South Side bars. With Ellen unraveling and Janey holding things together, Billy is forced to decide what kind of man he is once the numbers start to work in his favor. A simple “message job” at Connie’s pays a semester’s tuition and reveals a dangerous truth: when doing w...

Send us feedback! A porch light flickers, a kiss lands, and a kid wired for payback has to choose which voice to follow—the one that wants the last hit, or the one that says drop the pipe. This episode tracks the night Billy finds Janey Dunne under a streetlamp, the alley where rage begs for one more swing, and the decision that starts to rewire his legend from pure survival into something closer...

Send us feedback! Some legends shout; this one learns to whisper. We walk Bridgeport with Billy, a kid handed a nickname meant to break him, and watch him turn it into cover, leverage, and eventually a code. What matters isn’t the punch—it’s the pause after: timing, restraint, and the price of making things right without making a scene. At home and in school, pressure teaches cadence as much as co...

Send us feedback! Larry Karpinski, Karp, comes back to Bridgeport telling himself he’s just passing through, maybe closing a loop. That’s the lie guys use when they don’t want to admit they miss a place. But neighborhoods like that don’t do casual visits. The streets remember you whether you’re ready or not. And Billy’s still there — right where you’d expect — like time took a swing at him and mis...

Send us feedback! Some names you only say when the easy answers run out. The Make Right Man is a serialized story set in Chicago’s Bridgeport, where the streets remember, the bars keep score, and one nickname became the neighborhood’s quiet alarm bell. Larry “Karp” Karpinski comes home with his life thinning out at the edges, telling himself it’s temporary. Bridgeport doesn’t do temporary. He&apos...

Send us feedback! In thinking through which classic to watch this holiday season, I landed on the Mario Puzo - Francis Ford Coppola masterpiece, The Godfather. That got me wondering about Corleone, Sicily and who that city was actually named after. Professor Enzo Tontodonato of St. Bonaventure University took me down a very unexpected path, to the life and times of a 15th century "family&quot...

Send us feedback! I got to thinking about who was the first person to jump from a ledge or flying machine using a parachute. I mean, who invented the first parachute, when was that, what were the circumstances – was it a thing of necessity in some horrible moment – and why would anyone ever want to step out of a flying machine or off a cliff when it’s hundreds, if not thousands of feet in the air...

Send us feedback! Who doesn't love a big juicy burger? But where did this glorious gastronomic culinary creation come from? Who invented it and how did they dream it up? And what about that go-to condiment mix of mayo and ketchup? Or how did Thousand Island Dressing land on a Big Mac? And what about McDonald's and Ronald McDonald? Doucette de la Croix, the Provost of the Culinary Arts Un...

Send us feedback! There's a lot that's been uncovered about the first Thanksgiving. Based on the research of Dr. Louis Pazgassian, a professor of Colonial North American and U.S. History and chair of Georgetown University’s history department, we're sharing the totally true facts of the holiday's origin, including a cast that includes Squanto, Massasoit, William and Mary Brewst...

Send us feedback! Super heroes are great, but it's the super villains who make those stories so compelling. Thinking about super villains brought me to the James Bond franchise from Ian Fleming, and specifically a villain who made his debut in Thunderball - Ernst Stavro Blofeld. So, where did the total truth of this villain's character come from? I did a deep dive and found the source, a...

Send us feedback! Back in 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico, a flying saucer crash landed in the desert. The Air Force secured the spacecraft as well as a handful of surviving aliens, including a petulant toddler alien, and the government decided to make the event a social experiment. Problem is, it became entangled with Bugsy Siegel, Roy Cohn and a mechanic who is now telling all.  DISCLAIMER - Totally...

Send us feedback! We're introducing a new series for You Don't Say... It's called Totally True Facts.  One of the things that alternate facts have caused is a whole lot of unnecessary violence, strife and mischief. Alternate facts have made the world a very stressful and dangerous place. So I decided to create Totally True Facts. These vignettes will offer a grain of truth or realit...

Send us feedback! All we need to do is to turn on the news and we see stories of septuagenarian and octogenarian politicians and judges whose time is well past. It’s like opening a dumpster and catching a good whiff of all the rot inside it. Term limits are long overdue, and in the 2024 presidential cycle, it's never been more clear that age limits also need to be imposed on our office holder...

Send us feedback! I woke up, went off to the gym, then to work, like any other day. I imagine for a lady named Valsa Raju out in Yonkers, New York, her day started in an ordinary way. September 11, 2001 would not be just another day. I recently visited the 9/11 Memorial and it was as moving as you might expect. I met someone there. Someone who, I also imagine, was a lot like me, her name was Valsa...

Send us feedback! When fire strikes, here's what you need to know... My sister, Amy Wagner, lost her family home of nearly 30 years to a fire in the spring of 2020. She's sharing her story of loss, community support, and rebuilding, and how that experience drove her to pay it forward by founding The Wagner Family Fire Fund. The Fire Fund is a non-profit supporting families and individual...

Send us feedback! I recently visited both The National Baseball Hall of Fame and The Pro Football Hall of Fame. The difference in the feel of them was like going to a family reunion versus a corporate Powerpoint presentation…  I'll tell you why. Links  The National Baseball Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron by Howard Bryant Black Diamonds Podcast...

Send us feedback! I'm past being tired of gun violence. So much that I'm also past being on board with the 2nd Amendment. In this episode I'm laying down facts and data on the most common arguments gun owners make in defense of their guns. But that's not all, I'm also providing what I believe are logical solutions that might allow a gun owner to have a shootin' iron,...

Send us feedback! Keep the episodes coming! Support YDS today: Support on Venmo   l  Support on Paypal   This Episode Sponsored by:  Squarespace – LeftBrainRightBrain Marketing – Constant Contact Mark Wicks grew up in the same neighborhood as the Grimes sisters. As a former investigator, when he started to look at the details of the case, an inconsistency in a person of interest’s account made him...

Send us feedback! A journey of nearly 80 years leads Elizabeth, a transgender woman, to finally being comfortable in her skin and welcoming people into her truth.  Links  National Suicide Prevention Lifeline  Transgender Resources  The Trevor Project  Trans Lifeline  Who Is Lia Thomas? Trans Swimmer Breaking College Records Sparks Debate  Amid trans athlete debate, Penn’s Lia Thomas loses to trans...

Send us feedback! If Muhammad Ali lived in these times, he would be canceled… which would deny us his greatest gift. Canceling people who dissent or drop vile comments and perspectives doesn’t solve anything. Maybe it’s time to cancel cancel-culture.       Links  Gruden’s Emails Were Collateral Damage in Washington Football Inquiry - New York Times, 10.12.21   Jon Gruden emails, explained: Raiders...

Send us feedback! Once upon a time a kid opened a gallery in her parents’ garage. Her neighborhood supported her by buying her work and encouraging her. Now she’s returning the favor by leading the way to support and foster the arts in her own back yard. Links  Raziah Roushan Website Tualatin Valley Creates (TVC)  TVC ArtPass (launching 9/20/2021)  Nonprofit Association of Oregon  2D4D  2D4D'...

Send us feedback! I recently re-discovered Strat-O-Matic baseball, after nearly 40 years. The game – and the one played on The Field of Dreams - has reignited my love for baseball. It’s also made me realize that the one constant through all the years really is baseball.  Links  Strat-O-Matic Baseball Terence Mann…the one constant, Field of Dreams speech Shoeless Joe by W.P Kinsella The Natural by...