Similar to most of us who live outside of Chicago, or Gary for that matter, Tammy Hnatiuk didn’t feel a personal sense of loss from the endless shooting homicides in that city. Sure, she feels badly for each victim and their families, as we all do, but nothing beyond common decency and human compassion.
This all changed when a wayward – or fateful – balloon landed at her feet last Friday night. While taking out her dog on the porch deck, a turquoise balloon drifted from the sky onto her foot, scaring her. On the balloon was writing – Brian Winters, 08-31-2016, Love, Mom & Dad.
It was released just hours earlier from Brian Winters’ mother, Deborah Winters of Chicago, to honor his birthday that day. Brian was shot and killed on August 31 in front of their home while working on his vehicle. He was 33.
No suspects have been found and his mother has been in agony, until she heard from Tammy, who found her on Facebook. The two mothers have been in touch ever since, and plan to meet someday. On today’s show, they will. We will talk with both mothers about that fateful balloon.
Later in the show, we’ll talk with Jay Weinberg, a freelance artist and free-spirited entrepreneur from Valpo whose latest work has launched a must-see viral video.
When the Cubs won the World Series, Jay gave his dad a painting he worked more than 100 hours on, capturing the Cubs on-field celebration. Jay’s video of his dad’s emotional reaction went viral, replaying on ESPN, NBC and CUBS HQ.
We caught up to Jay and his dad at Barnes & Noble last weekend, where they signed prints of the painting to a long line of new fans. Meanwhile, Jay is expanding his 20-months-in-the-making project called Artunity, dubbed the Uber of the art world.
Also, have you heard about the newest kind of birth control? We’ll tell you all about it, and why Jerry is convinced it still won’t work.
Plus, I will give Lakeshore listeners a sneak peek at my weekend columns, and I will read my upcoming open-letter column to the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. with his holiday coming up.