Jason, Kyra and the secret letters

The story of Jason and Kyra is told in a pair of secret messages.

I haven't seen the contents of either of those messages, of course, but knowing how they came into existence is a story to share.

It begins with Kyra, about seven years ago — which is about five years before she met Jason — at a gift store in her native Kansas City. Sifting through the hundreds of varieties of Hallmark salutations, she found one that she had to have, one that she had to give...but she did not to who to.

The card contained only a drawing of a red heart, with a smiley face; on the inside, it read "When I see you, my heart smiles." That was the perfect description, she said, of the feeling she wanted to have.

She just wondered who would give that feeling to her.

She bought the card. Years went by. A few nice gentlemen came in and out of focus in her life; the card stayed with her.

Work brought her to Chicago, and in the summer of 2009, she attended a conference her church organized with sister congregations from other cities; Jason worshipped at one of those sister congregations, and went to the same conference. The schedule included a dance on Saturday night. In that room, one of them spotted the other, and felt a spark.

Now, which one caused that spark, and which one felt it, may long be debated in their new home.

"I walked in," Jason told me, "and this pretty blue shirt I was wearing caught her eye."

"Whatever, you asked me to dance," Kyra asserted.

They danced and talked, and at the end of the night, Jason gave Kyra his business card.

"He didn't ask for my information," Kyra recalls.

And the gamble was bigger than just hoping she would call: Jason had never set up his phone's voicemail, and had never received or sent a text message in his life. But Kyra did call, at a fortuitous moment when Jason was available to pick up, and their first conversation went well.

Their first date did not: Jason's Plan A fell through, then Plan B fell through. By August of 2009, he was on Plan C, which worked out, and the resident of Milwaukee took Kyra to the Wisconsin State Fair.

Plan C was a winner, more dates followed, and in October, Jason asked Kyra if she would officially be his girlfriend. He did not know it at the time, but he made the move on Sweetest Day. Though incognizant of holidays on which boyfriends are obligated to pander, Jason still told me that he is a natural romantic.

Kyra corroborates this assertion.

"Every time he looks in my eyes, he makes me feel like I'm the only person he sees," she told me.

Jason is funny, she added, and he gets really goofy when he's tired. He's tired because he hustles, and hustling is part of why she trusts him.

And when he puts his arm around her, she feels warm. All over.

Which brings us back to the card Kyra bought years ago in Kansas City.

"I saved it, because I wanted to give it to someone special."

Jason.

"He was different than anyone I ever knew. I just felt like he was an answered prayer."

These days, Kyra calls Jason "My blessing."

And the natural romantic's pet name for the girl he was falling deeply in love with?

"Boo Bear."

But, Jason was falling deeply in love. He started praying about whether she should be his bride — and, every time he thought about her, he became more and more peaceful. Jason hustled at work and was goofy at play, but Kyra was the force that made him feel calm.

Which brings us to the other secret message, and the proof of Jason's romantic prowess: He wrote personal vows, with his own hand, on a scroll. He gave his bride that scroll on their wedding night, after they left their reception, in private.

Only they know what is contained within.

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Daddy Ray's 75th Birthday

I've covered all kinds of birthday parties and family reunions, but I'd never been hired for a "family-be-union" until March 26. That night, I got to photograph a group of grown men and women coming together for the first time as siblings, to celebrate their father's 75th birthday.

An event like this does more than just scream "Awkward!" It sits in the corner, bottled water in hand, and texts "AKWRD."

That's what I was expecting, anyway.

What I found instead was a group of siblings who, though meeting for the first time in their lives, acted like they'd grown up together. With a father they all seemed to love.

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Clemente vs. Schurz at the UC: It was thiiiiiis close

Even in the middle of 20,700 empty seats, an overtime game is, by definition, a thriller. I got to shoot a thriller Jan. 28 at the United Center, between Roberto Clemente and Schurz high schools — one that was watched by no more than 150 fortunate fans.

The Wildcats control the opening tip

Clemente's boys basketball team gets a game in the U.C. at the end of every January, and they always call me in for it, which is an annual joy for me. I love collecting my "Bulls Media Pass" badges, and I love the shots I get from this.

Good for three

Images like these are gorgeous in my eyes, because they're so unusual. It's obviously a basketball game, and that's obviously a massive arena...but where are the fans? They are hard to come by for a 2:30 p.m. tipoff of a regular-season high school game on a workday — and all the empty seats jump out.

The cavernous atmosphere means nothing to the kids. This is the game they are thinking about when the season begins. This is the court that Noah and Rose run on, and this is the air that Jordan and Pippen's jerseys hang in.

In company like that, who really needs anything more?

Commanding the offense

The entire game was as close as the momentary battle above. The ball sits on the rim, and, like a game edging close to overtime, it might go either way.

It went Clemente's way, 62-58 after an extra period. And after the game of the year, having turned a thriller into a victory, the Wildcats were thiiiiiiis close.

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Singer Spotlight: The 10th Anniversary Show

I could have zoomed in to focus on Amy and Becca as the show's producers sing to each other, but I pulled back instead. This way, the frame includes the candlelight, audience heads, the camcorder's monitor, the painted backdrop and, of course, all four band members. A little of what makes Singer Spotlights so enjoyable.

When I moved to Chicago in January of 2006, the first example of Windy City nightlife that my friends introduced me to was Singer Spotlight at Fitzgerald's Nightclub. I have since had the pleasure of photographing, and simply taking in, five years' worth of the shows Amy and Becca put on.

I have acquired a few recordings of shows from the five years I missed. They're worth tracking down.

A truckload of birthday cupcakes waits atop the piano on the side of the stage.

The grateful crowd made the disappear in seconds.

A few of the performers included Amy Mowery...

Kathie Mills...

Phylis Renee Marconi...

...and Tina Jenkins Crawley.

These shows are always a joy to photograph.

A glimpse of what the next 10 years of Singer Spotlight will look like.

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The first man to try it: The Citizen

"Well, you're my hero," the beggar told him.

Many will look at the guy above, the guy who designed his own costume, gave himself a codename, declared himself a super hero and started running around downtown Chicago at night, and will see a joke. The man in the costume knows he set himself up for that.

But to the homeless men and women who received free hats, blankets, food and bottled water on an afternoon when the high temperature was a single digit, The Citizen wasn't a punchline, he was a solution.

At the center of "The city of broad shoulders," The Citizen gives a hand to a man who will never be able to stand upright again

I have never had an assignment like this one: The Chicago Sun-Times sent me out to interview the guy who claims to be a "real-life super hero." Being a lifelong reader of Marvel comic books, the idea of meeting a costumed vigilante had me curious, but I was wary — costumed vigilantes look really cool on printed pages, but I did not expect it to translate well into reality.

Judge for yourself.

The man in the red jacket seemed grateful for the care package The Citizen handed to him, but wasn't sure what to make of his benefactor

The Citizen has no super powers — and no delusions of them, either — but he is certified in CPR and a skilled fundraiser. What he does possess is a vision:

Thousands of Chicagoans caring enough about their city to stand up and act for good.

In a conversation that sounded heavily inspired by Ken Nolan's brilliant film "The Dark Knight," The Citizen explained his public-relations campaign to me. The theory is that if one man has the guts to put on a costume, tell some penny-ante drug pushers to get out of the neighborhood and deliver some necessities to homeless folks, the average Joe will think about something like volunteering at a local library, and a task that once seemed daunting would start to look doable.

The Citizen told me that he knows he isn't going to fix anybody's problems. His hope is that he will inspire someone who can.

So, we walked a few miles through The Loop on an afternoon in January, looking for folks who needed help. The streets were crowded, and he got a lot — a lot — of long looks. He had eight care packages for the homeless: hand-assembled, afforded through his own fundraising system and squared away in cardboard boxes. He stacked them in a cart that he pushed around, and with a ski mask and old hat on, he almost looked like a vagrant himself.

We got rid of seven in less than half an hour. The search for the eighth took more than an hour. His fingertips were uncovered and, with a cart to push, he couldn't put them in his pockets; we journeyed blocks and blocks away from his car, but he wasn't going back to his lair until he helped everyone he could.

We finally found a man outside Union Station who needed the clean blanket that The Citizen wanted to provide. Like the others, he asked a few questions about what this guy's deal was, then expressed his gratitude — but this guy left us with a quote that made the search worth the freeze.

"I've never met a real-life action hero before," the man said.

I have.

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Vision Revision: The annual meeting of the Builders Association

James Lindquist, president of Adjustable Forms, Inc., accepts the Corporate Citizenship Award from the BA

A tough year in the building industry came to a good end Dec. 16, when the Builders Association held its annual meeting, this year titled Vision Revision, at the Trump International Hotel & Tower.

The BA has been Chicagoland's leading trade association for contractors and suppliers, large and small, since 1906. The group has helped Midwest builders get through good times and years that were even tougher than 2010. The featured speakers, Joseph Jarboe from AGC of America and Peter Beck of The Beck Group, addressed issues of government regulation and funding, marketing and the convergence of several construction-related industries in the 21st century.

Peter Beck, managing director of The Beck Group, spoke about convergence — the possibility that in years to come firms may house architects, general contractors and several other facets of the building industry under the same roof — and the public's need for leadership from the people who create cities.

Al Leitschuh (left), president of the BA, and Howard Strong, the 2011 BA chairman, present a job-well-done gift to R. Lynn Treat, the 2010 BA chairman

The afternoon went according to plan: the Trump's ballroom was gorgeous and the food was delicious, business cards and ideas were exchanged, lost leaders were honored and old comrades made new memories...and, as builders love to hear, the project was completed on budget and ahead of schedule (by four minutes, exactly).

At the meeting's conclusion, it is back to work for the men and women who will build 21st century structures in the city that invented the skyscraper

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Home for the holidays with the Buscemis

Happy Thanksgiving to all from Peter, Deb and Jeremiah! For their family portraits, they wanted to keep it simple, and just stay in their living room. Welcome home, Buscemis.

The Buscemis proudly display works of art by family members:

a sculpture from Peter's father, and candleholders built by Deb's grandfather