Here's a digital frisbee tossed over the wall that separates Chicago from the suburbs, including mine of Glenview, where many Chicagoans have been exiled out of fear of Chicago public schools. Embossed in its soft plastic is an encrypted message YoYoYoshecahgo. Decipher this message and you will find a mechanism that sooner or later will tear down the wall separating Chicago and its suburbs.

Anyone who picks up this frisbee - hey toss it back over the wall!

Chicago's Berlin wall has a history. In 1989 I met with James Squires, then publisher of the Chicago Tribune. With me were the three Chicago educators who were literally responsible for the education of ALL Chicago children: the superintendents of Chicago's public and parochial schools (Dr. Charles T. Almo and Sr. Mary Brian Costello) and the Chair of the Illinois Advisory Council on Non-Public Schools (Alvin Vanden Bosch). Mr. Squires had read our 20-page proposal to create an interactive daily education page linking all Chicago parents, students, teachers and even taxpayers. It was time, we thought, for Tribune and other Chicago media to help make the City That Works the City That Educates, and we eagerly awaited Squires' response.

Your idea, Squires told us bluntly, would be a waste of your time and my paper. And he told us why in no uncertain terms: The average Tribune reader lives in the suburbs, takes home delivery, and has 2.2 children enrolled in good suburban schools.

End of discussion. We educators had learned a hard lesson. However the Chicago Sun-Times, then under publisher Charles Price, was receptive to our idea. But then . . . [message fades]

The Onion gets pretty good distribution downtown.

Eric