Eric Zorn
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This biographical article is written like a résumé. Please help improve it by revising it to be neutral and encyclopedic. (October 2010) |
Eric Zorn, born January 6, 1958, is a columnist and a blogger for the Chicago Tribune.
Zorn is a 1980 graduate of the University of Michigan, where he was an arts section editor at the Michigan Daily and a creative writing/English literature major. After he had served a four-month internship at the Miami Herald, he came to work at the Chicago Tribune from 1980 forward. After five years as a feature author and TV/radio columnist in the Tempo portion of the paper, he went to the metro news section. In 1986 he became a news-feature columnist. His column, Hometowns, developed gradually into his eponymous news commentary column.
He is a co-author of the 1990 book, Murder of Innocence, a study of the life and tragic rampage of Winnetka schoolhouse killer Laurie Dann.
Zorn and fellow Chicago Tribune metro columnist Mary Schmich occasionally write a week of columns that consist of a back-and-forth exchange of letters. An amateur folk musician, each December Zorn joins with Schmich to host "Songs of Good Cheer," holiday caroling parties at the Old Town School of Folk Music to raise money for the Tribune Holiday Fund charities.
In August, 2003, he started "Change of Subject," the first blog at the Chicago Tribune website. http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2003/08/index.html
In August, 2010, he and Tribune political cartoonist Scott Stantis started "The Prickly Pair," the first weekly podcast offered by Chicagotribune.com. They discontinued that podcast in February, 2011. http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/prickly-pair-podcasts/
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[edit] Family
Eric Zorn's wife, Johanna Zorn, is founder and executive director of the Third Coast International Audio Festival on Chicago Public Radio. They have three children: Alex (1989) and twins Annalise and Ben (1997). His son Alex was a star mathematics student and USAMO qualifier while at Walter Payton College Prep. He attends the University of Chicago (class of 2012), majoring in Mathematics and Physics.
Zorn is the grandson of mathematician Max Zorn and of noted Indiana historian John D. Barnhart. [1]
His parents teach at the University of Michigan—Jens C. Zorn in physics (retired in 2007), and Frances B. Zorn in medical careers.
[edit] Columns of note
In his column and later in his blog, Zorn has been an early advocate of a few ideas that later caught on and/or attracted notice:
- He may have been the first to advocate the "forever stamp" for U.S. postage in a column in December 1994.[1]
- He was an early promoter of the laser measuring system for first downs in football[2] and laser ball/strike detection in baseball.[3]
- In May 2006, he wrote a column coining "Zorn's Law",[4] stating that, in any debate, the first person to hurl the insult, "get a life!" is the loser. In actions he later admitted to be "whims and stunts",[5] he promoted the "law" on the online encyclopedia Wikipedia as if already well known; in a July 2006 followup article, he concluded that Wikipedia's editing process basically works.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ Zorn, Eric (1994-12-27), "To the post office, it's a lick of cents", Chicago Tribune, http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2006/05/more_than_11_ye.html, retrieved 2008-07-10
- ^ Zorn, Eric (2005-10-10), "Football: Cast off your chains!", Chicago Tribune, http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2005/10/football_cast_o.html, retrieved 2008-07-10
- ^ Zorn, Eric (1997-10-23), "Let machine make the call: 'UMP, YER OUT!'", Chicago Tribune, http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2006/05/roping_in_the_c.html, retrieved 2008-07-10
- ^ Zorn, Eric (2006-05-26), "Zorn's Law", Chicago Tribune, http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2006/05/zorns_law.html, retrieved 2008-07-10
- ^ Zorn, Eric (2006-06-05), "Land of Linkin' (fourth item)", Chicago Tribune, http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2006/06/land_of_linkin.html, retrieved 2008-07-10
- ^ Zorn, Eric (2006-07-04), "I fought for the law, but the law lost", Chicago Tribune, http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2006/07/i_fought_for_th.html, retrieved 2008-07-10
[edit] External links
- Eric Zorn biography
- Change of Subject weblog - includes Zorn's columns as published in the ink-on-paper Chicago Tribune
