Eric Zorn, born January 6, 1958, is a columnist and a blogger for the Chicago Tribune. Zorn plays and is an advocate for folk music. Zorn is a 1980 graduate of the University of Michigan, in which he was a senior 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. About four times a year, Zorn and fellow Chicago Tribune metro columnist Mary Schmich write a week of columns that consist of a back-and-forth exchange of letters. Each December, Zorn and Schmich host the "Songs of Good Cheer" holiday caroling parties at the Old Town School of Folk Music to raise money for the Tribune Holiday Fund charities.
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). 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, and Frances B. Zorn in composition and medical careers.
Trivia
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- Zorn may have been the first to advocate the "forever stamp" for postage in a column in December 1994.[2]
- He was an early promoter of the laser measuring system for first downs in football.[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. He then attempted to promote it on the online encyclopedia Wikipedia as "a whim and a stunt".
