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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. On a quiet walk, he runs into Billy Szczepanek—Billy Shitpants—still carrying the same gravity he had when they were young, still standing where time left him.

This series traces how a legend forms and what it costs to wear it. Told through Karp’s reflective voice and Billy’s measured, watchful one, the story moves through kitchens, parks, and front rooms where truth finally sits because it’s run out of places to hide. This isn’t a clean crime story or a hero’s tale. It’s about friendship that doesn’t announce itself, family that holds even when it hurts, and a neighborhood that knows some problems don’t fix themselves. When Billy’s name gets whispered, the clock starts. Every favor counts. Bridgeport watches—because it always does.

Subscribe now, share with a friend who loves gritty, character-driven stories, and leave a review to help others find The Make Right Man. Tell us: what would your old neighborhood remember about you?

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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" man, named 3 Ball Bartolomeo Colleoni.

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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 using an untested accessory? There are a lot of people who own a piece of designing the first parachute, including Taccola, DaVinci, and a French fella named Andre-Jacques Garnerin.

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