The North Shore Weekend, March 4th, 2023

Lily Brasch became just the second person with muscular dystrophy to walk the runway at New York’s Fashion Week, and the first to do so unassisted by a wheelchair or scooter.

Photography provided by Hilary Phelps

Highland Park

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10 story time

Short Story Theatre returns this month to The Art Center in Highland Park

12 power paddleboarders

Funds are being raised for charity as three men paddleboard all five Great Lakes

LIFESTYLE & ARTS

14 cocaine bear

A movie allegedly based on a real-life event is so bad it received 0 stars

15 juniper

Charlotte Rampling stars in this compelling film from New Zealand

16 #hashtag

Meet North Shore tastemaker and fashion historian Anne Forman

18 north shore foodie

Gale Gand shares this delicious spring-infused recipe for pavlova

20 material pursuits

Flying cars, a new book about the iconic Lilly Pulitzer, and a beauty serum top this weekend's "must have" list

20 social life

Antiques + Modernism Show returns to Winnetka's Community House after two-year hiatus

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

22 sunday breakfast

Former North Shore resident Michael Zimmerman chronicles his redemption and recovery after his father's startling deceit in the book Suburban Bigamy

John Conatser FOUNDER & PUBLISHER

ADVERTISING @NSWEEKEND.COM

Jennifer Sturgeon

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Dustin O'Regan, Kemmie Ryan, Sherry Thomas, Megan Weisberg

FASHION EDITOR

Theresa DeMaria

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Gale Gand, Mitch Hurst, Bill McLean, Rex Reed

DESIGN

Linda Lewis PRODUCTION MANAGER/GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Chris Geimer ADVERTISING COORDINATOR/GRAPHIC DESIGNER

PHOTOGRAPHY AND ART

Monica Kass Rogers

PHOTOGRAPHY

Tom Bachtell, Barry Blitt

ILLUSTRATION

Cheyanne Lencioni ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

Lily Brasch having her make-up done before her first walk in New York Fashion Week. pg8

BY MITCH HURST THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

A few weeks ago, Lily Brasch became just the second person with muscular dystrophy (MD) to appear on the runway during New York Fashion Week, and the first to do so unassisted by a wheelchair or scooter. Brasch represented fashion brand Randhawa on February 10 as part of Fashion Week’s hiTech MODA show. She was the first model on the runway because she had to get back to her hotel before sunset to observe Shabbat.

“It was incredible, and it went by really fast. It’s an incredible experience you’ve only thought about while lying in your bed and you think, ‘Well, what would that feel like’, and then you’re experiencing it,” Brasch says. “Most important was the feedback that I received afterward that people were inspired. It was a reminder that I deserve to be here, and this is going to remind other children like me that they deserve to be here, too.”

Brasch grew up in Skokie in a large family with five siblings, two dogs, and, she says, lots of fun. She was raised Modern Orthodox Jewish and graduated high school from Ida Crown Jewish Academy.

While she exhibited symptoms of muscular dystrophy since birth, it wasn’t until age 16 when her symptoms were progressing that a diagnosis of a rare form of MD was confirmed.

“Most of my life, knowing I was weaker as

a young girl, I didn’t want to show it. It was easy to hide at first but then people started asking me, ‘Why do you walk like that or why do you talk like that’?” she says. “That can hurt a young person’s self esteem a lot. When you’re at home you don’t get questioned but when you go out people ask what’s wrong with you. I had very close friends growing up who were not fazed by what I have, and they would help me.”

Brasch says that in 5th grade it was a

popular thing at her school to sit on top of the monkey bars, but you had to climb up to get there. Her friends formed a human ladder so she could climb up and sit on the monkey bars with all of the other kids.

Despite those positive moments, she faced physical challenges all through high school, which she barely finished—often having to skip school on days where she felt too weak. But she persevered and is now a junior at Columbia University, committed to helping oth-

ers who face challenges and erasing the stigma of having a disability. She’s already established a charitable foundation to support her passion.

“I was 18 when I said this is what I want to do and I was 21 when I finally had the courage to speak out and to encourage others to find the beauty in their struggles,” she says. “I graduated high school in 2018 and now I’m studying psychology and business at Columbia so that will help a lot with the foundation that I’ve set up.

“My vision is to take this platform where individuals can really come to for hope and inspiration and participate in global events that I hope to set up. We started one last year around this time. It was the first mountain climb. We had people from all over join me and help just one girl with muscular dystrophy get up a mountain.”

At the finish of that climb of Camelback Mountain last March 6, Brasch planted a sign declaring March 6 as Physical Independence Day. The second Physical Independence Day will be celebrated this year. Her next goal is to get 10 people with physical challenges up the mountain with her.

She plans to have ongoing events that remind people to have hope and inspire people with disabilities to encourage each other up the mountains they face. One thing she’s quick to point out is that there is a difference between having a disability and being disabled.

“If you check my website, you can give a vote to support our mission which is in a way getting rid of the stigma of the word ‘disabled’,” Brasch says. ”I never have liked being called disabled, I don’t like the word and I think it’s a dangerous term to be throwing around to children when that word clearly translates to un-abled, which is furthest from the truth.”

She says her accomplishments, climbing a mountain and walking at fashion week being just two, is a credit to the fact parents never “put her in this box.” You can say she has a disability, but she wants to get rid of the negative stigma surrounding people with physical challenges.

“Disabled means that they are not able, that they are not beautiful, that they are not strong, that they are disabled as an entire person,” she says. “I feel very strongly about the impact of that word.”

Faith is an important inspiration for Brasch and the work she is doing now and plans to do in the future. Walking the runway was a goal but getting back to her hotel in time to observe Shabbat had to be part of the plan for that day.

“Faith is just what keeps me grounded and humble. I believe in God and that’s what keeps me going,” she says. “I’m around here for a reason and a purpose. Sometimes you’re chosen to take on jobs that you think you may not be strong enough to do but it reminds me to stay strong and continue on and stay positive. My faith is what I go back to every time when I feel I want to give up.”

For more information and to find out how you can get involved in Brasch’s work, visit borntoprove.com.

Lily Brasch with New York Fashion Week MC Farid Khan preparing for her walk on the runway.

Lily Brasch with Farid Khan, Creative Director of fashion brand Randhawa.

STORY TIME

After a three-year hiatus, Short Story Theatre returns on March 16 with storytelling performances at The Art Center in Highland Park.

BY MITCH HURST THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

More than a decade ago, Donna Lubow went to see her brother, Rick Leslie, perform at 2nd Story, an unofficial storytelling cousin of Chicago’s Second City. Lubow, who raised her kids in Highland Park and now lives in Riverwoods, came away from the experience inspired.

top of each other like that,” Lubow says. “Now we're going be at The Art Center. I think that's a really good place because it's a place where all sorts of art things are going on, including performing arts.”

Lubow says Short Story Theatre likes to highlight local storytellers who are people from everyday life. Her lineups are usually a mix of seasoned storytellers— some with professional experience—and new storytellers that represent all walks of life.

a script if they prefer, and some just riff off the top of their heads. The audience leans to the over-50 crowd, which aligns with the demographic of the storytellers themselves. Lubow has featured one raconteur in her late 80s.

She identifies storytellers in a number of ways. The organization has developed a network of storytellers over the years— more than 60 have participated in Short Story Theatre events—and submissions, both oral and written, are accepted via

“I started doing improv and taking classes at Improv Olympics, and then from there I moved into doing scripted work, a lot of playwriting work,” Woldman says. “Then one of my improv coaches was in a two-person storytelling troop and he asked me if I wanted to try doing it.”

Woldman become a member of 2nd Story in Chicago, and ended up connecting with Lubow, the mother of one of his childhood friends who was looking for

“We went to see my brother and I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is great’ ... this should be going on in the suburbs as well,” Lubow says. “So, we started Short Story Theatre and we’ve had many different locations where we’ve performed around town.”

Lubow co-founded Short Story Theatre with Leslie and Susan Block in 2012. She says at the time there wasn’t much storytelling going on in the suburbs with most of the action taking place in Chicago. By now they’ve hosted performances at Miramar in Highwood and other bars and restaurants on the North Shore.

For the past three years, because of the pandemic, Short Story Theatre has been on hiatus. But all that’s changing on March 16 when the organization hosts performances by seven storytellers at The Art Center in Highland Park.

“We’ve always had such big crowds and we didn't really want people to be on

“Our next story time, we've got a guy who is a retired doctor. We've got a college professor who’s done some acting over the years,” Lubow says. “For some reason, a lot of doctors like to get up and tell stories, which is interesting.”

Stories are generally based on the storytellers’ own personal experiences, Lubow says, and she wants the stories to reflect the broad range of human emotions.

“We want the stories to make the audience feel something, whether it makes them laugh or cry sometimes because some of these stories are very touching,” she says. “I know that's going to happen at our next storytelling because we've got a couple of stories that really tug at the heart. And then we've got a couple that are just really funny.”

Most stories included in the organization’s events are under 10 minutes, and some as short as five. Storytellers can use

the organization’s website.

“We always encourage people in our audience if they have a story to submit it,” Lubow says. “We have guidelines on our website to say what we're looking for. We hear or read the stories before we accept them.”

One of the storytellers at the March 16 event will be Scott Woldman, a middle school teacher who grew up in Wilmette and now lives and works in Palatine. Woldman will tell a story, in his words, “About trying to woo the girl of my dreams in 8th grade on perhaps the worst ski trip ever. It ends in utter misery for all people involved.”

Woldman got his start in improv comedy and says with writing and performing live comedy there’s always a challenge trying make people laugh, and when they do it provides the validation that “maybe people other than your mom think your funny.”

storytellers for Short Story Theatre at the time.

“Somehow, I was put on her radar, and we reconnected,” says Woldman. “I've enjoyed the opportunities I’ve had to do Short Story Theatre because it's fun and I don't have to go into the city. It's like a hip urban thing that you don't have to go into the city to enjoy.”

For her part, Lubow says she’s happy to bring storytellers and their stories to people on the North Shore.

“Honestly, we feel like in a way this is a gift to the community because it's wonderful for people to tell stories and wonderful for people to hear them,” she says.

Tickets for Short Story Theater’s March 16 event at The Art Center of Highland Park are $10 at the door, cash only. To learn more about the event and those in the lineup, visit shortstorytheatre.com.

L to R: Robert Meyers, Jennifer Dotson, Christine Wolf, and Scott Woldman will participate in Short Story Theatre’s event on March 16.

The Spring Market is Here

Power Paddleboarders

Three Michiganders will cross Lake Superior on paddleboards in June, closing the book on an adventure paddleboarding all five Great Lakes to raise money for charity.

BY MITCH HURST THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

On most days, if you stand on one side of Lake Michigan you can see the other. “It would be a fun adventure to take a boat across,” some might think. Not Jeff Guy, Joe Lorenz, and Kwin Morris.

Boat? Please. Paddleboards are their water vehicle of choice.

The three Michiganders have taken paddleboarding to a new level. They’ve paddle boarded across four of the five Great Lakes—Lake Michigan was the first—and will complete the sweep when they cross Lake Superior in June. It all started as just a hobby.

“Paddleboarding was kind of taking off and a couple of us had started paddleboarding at the time, but just recreationally,” Morris says. “Then it turned into an adventurous thing, an adventure of a lifetime. There were five of us on the first paddle across Lake Michigan and it would be naive to say it lightly how big and how dangerous and crazy the Great Lakes are.”

Morris says the Lake Michigan paddle started comfortably enough with 70-degree temperatures on shore, but things changed when he and his mates neared the middle of the lake, where the water temp was 37 degrees and the air temperature was 42.

“When we left shore, we were all no shirts. We got to the middle, and it was a whole different climate out there,” Morris says. “But it really just started this adventure and then we started getting some media attention. We thought we might as well turn it into a positive and raise money and show people how amazing the Great Lakes are and that's how our nonprofit started.”

The nonprofit, Stand Up for Great Lakes, channels the three men’s love of water and thirst for adventure to raise money to protect the Great Lakes. It has given to a number of organizations, including the Chicago-based Alliance for the Great Lakes, whose shared missions are to raise awareness of the environ-

mental importance of the Great Lakes. The organization has distributed more than $100,000 to date.

“For each paddle we try and pick a different organization and the big thing for us is they have to be a positive organization. When we set off to do this, we didn’t want to necessarily pick sides and send all this negativity out,” he says. “We want to show some issues that are going on with the Great Lakes and some organizations that are doing something about it.”

One thing to know about Guy, Lorenz, and Morris is that their paddleboard adventures are not a lazy day out at the park. The physical rigor involved in traversing 80 miles across a windy lake should not be underestimated.

“Active stand-up paddleboarding isn't really that tough. Obviously, it’s different if you're racing or if you're in huge waves and you're balancing on the board,” Morris says. “We've experienced a little bit of everything. You're standing on a paddleboard for 24 hours plus.

Even on a calm day, it’s fluid.”

The team’s paddles are unassisted, but they are accompanied by a boat if they find themselves in an emergency situation. All supplies they may need during the trip are carried on the boards with them.

“The boat is there for safety, in case someone gets hurt and has to be taken off,” says Morris. “We haven't touched the safety boat on any of our paddles yet.”

For more information and to donate to Stand Up for Great Lakes, visit standupforgreatlakes.com.

L to R: Joe Lorenz, Jeff Guy, and Kwin Morris

COCAINE BEAR

While allegedly based on real-life events, this movie is silly and disjointed, earning 0 stars from our critic.

RUNNING TIME: 1 hour, 35 minutes

RATING: 0 stars

BY REX REED THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

A stupid waste of time called Cocaine Bear claims to be inspired by true events, but I don’t have to believe it if I don’t want to. This hokum hopes to capture the attention of moviegoers who will sit through anything as long as the projector keeps running, but “inspired” is not the word I would use to describe it.

Apparently there was an incident in 1985 when a drug dealer crashed a private plane somewhere near Knoxville, Tennessee, scores of bags containing cocaine worth millions of dollars piled out of the wreckage and got eaten by a black bear that flew through the forest like a hairy helicopter.

Fact or fiction, an actress turned wanna-be director, Elizabeth Banks, and a second-rate hack screenwriter, Jimmy Warden, have turned that less-than-historic event into a movie destined to fill the lower half of a double bill on cable TV—hoping for what Variety calls box-office boffo. The way things are going at the movies, it might be a hit in the making, but without the help of anyone with an I.Q. above 50.

In this fictional re-telling, the plane crashes in the Chattahoochee National Forest in Georgia. Numerous bags of white powder are scattered under trees, hanging from branches, floating in the river, and covering the floors of wooden ranger stations. A black bear comes along and eats it. He wants more. There isn’t much action, which is a shame, because the only times

the movie comes to life is when the bear is eating people.

On a coke-fueled rampage, it attacks game wardens, innocent children, horrified tourists, and a gang of coke dealers too greedy and moronic to leave what’s left behind. Mostly it climbs trees, sniffing out everyone with cocaine on their arms and knees. mong the victims are Margo Martindale, the excellent character actress, reduced to the status of a buffoon as a forest ranger cussing out teenagers, criminals and the bear, which she blames for holding back her career (“Without you, I’d be in Yellowstone by now!”

This mess isn’t intentionally funny. It’s just silly and disjointed and woefully misguided. Nevertheless, it’s so bad it reaches near-farcical status. I mean, when the bear lands on top of one victim, he finally informs the audience of the creature’s gender.

“It’s a female!” he shouts as the bear chews his fingers off. “How do you know?” “Because her vagina is in my ear.”

The jokes seem to be misfiring.

In the sparsely attended cinema where I watched this fiasco (I counted ten ticket buyers, including myself), a few sadists groaned, but nobody laughed.

The saddest thing about Cocaine Bear is the fact that it is one of the final onscreen appearances by the popular, recently deceased Ray Liotta. He deserves better, but so does the audience.

Illustration by Tom Bachtell

Famed film critic Rex Reed weighs in on Cocaine Bear and Juniper.

JUNIPER

This New Zealand film starring Charlotte Rampling is both poignant and compelling.

RUNNING TIME: 1 hour, 32 minutes

RATING: 3.5 stars

BY REX REED THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

Confession: I love Charlotte Rampling.

I have always loved her, since I first grew entranced while watching her early screen appearances as Lynn Redgrave’s bitchy roommate in Georgy Girl (1966), and, especially, in James Salter’s sensitive 1969 drama Three, in which she played an alluring girl who breaks up the relationship between two dedicated best friends and traveling American college students on a summer vacation in the South of France.

Three is a brilliant, nuanced film so obscure that few people ever saw it.

It has never been released on home video, but you can watch it on You Tube. It launched a unique career in films that has broken new ground in works by demanding directors of value and taste from Luchino Visconti to Woody Allen. Now, at 77, on the rare occasion when Charlotte Rampling does come out of semi-retirement from her home in Paris to appear in a movie, it is an occasion that should be accompanied by fireworks.

Such an occasion is Juniper, a new work from New Zealand in which she burns a hole through the screen in another of her captivating claims to an otherwise unexceptional role, devouring every frame like raw sirloin. She plays Ruth, a celebrated war correspondent and photojournalist forced reluctantly by age and illness into forced retirement.

After a bad fall that has left her with a broken leg, her grown son Robert (Marton Csokas, so wonderful opposite Ian McKellan and Natasha Richardson in the harrowing 2005 British film Asylum), who has been estranged from his mother for years, transports her to the remote family farm to heal, and forces his handsome teenage son Sam (a stunning debut by New Zealand newcomer George Ferrier) to leave school and return home to take care of her.

A hostile, distrustful and challenging relationship between a furious, raging grandmother and her unhappy grandson ensues. Sam

blames Ruth for his mother’s misery before she died and doesn’t want to be there. He hardly knows “the old bitch,” but he grudgingly agrees to relieve her long-suffering nurse’s duties as long as he doesn’t have to talk to her. No wonder. Ruth is acerbic, demanding, implacable, and mean as a cobra, even in her infirmity, grounded in her wheelchair and sipping gin all day. Predictably, the movie, tenderly directed by Victor Saville, is about how these divergent worlds come to a gradual meeting point on the protractor of life.

Don’t expect any surprises. You know where the narrative is going from the minute Ruth arrives, and the emotional upheavals only add to the over-all message the film delivers about the importance of healing fractured family dynamics.

As Ruth gradually melts, I melted with her, and the eventual maturity Sam displays is poignantly examined by first-time director Saville in his equally compelling screenplay. Of course, it goes without saying that Rampling triumphantly reigns over the material in myriad ways.

No longer the great beauty she once was, she is nevertheless still mesmerizing and unique, and she’s forgotten nothing about craft. The distant look in her eyes belies the total concentration that keeps her focused. When she defrosts just long enough to urge her grandson to throw a drunken party for his friends, I wanted to be invited, too.

Furiously smoking and drinking with the best of the men and teaching them how to properly fire a hunting rifle, she wins them over—and her grandson, too. By the time her cantankerous personality mellows, raggedy strikes and Sam is more than anxious to move her to the hospital by ambulance, his change of heart as he showers her with attention is honest and understandable.

“Have I still got it?”

“Yes, you have,” says her nurse. I second the motion and the case is closed. The final scene of resignation and the kind of freedom that made Ruth the kind of woman she used to be, is genuinely touching.

I still don’t understand the title. I’m told it refers to the juniper berries used in the making of the potent gin Ruth savors from beginning to end, but that’s a stretch, if you ask me. I prefer to think of Juniper as chamber music—muted, soft, with a certain ache that lingers.

EDITED

BY DUSTIN O'REGAN

ILLUSTRATION BY TOM BACHTELL

Tastemaker ANNE FORMAN is a fashion historian with a passion for raising money for community organizations. With a background in fashion and art history, Forman has been able to combine her expertise and love for the industry into an exciting career. Forman has worked at The RealReal for seven years and manages the consignment process for many of the company’s local VIP clients. Prior to her time at The RealReal, Forman served as the Director of Couture and Luxury Accessories at Hindman Auctioneers. She worked on several exciting auctions, including a massive single-owner sale of Hermes handbags. One of her favorite auction moments was researching and selling a Yves Saint Laurent Mondrian dress that achieved a price of $27,500 at auction. Forman currently serves on the board of both Family Service of Glencoe and Glencoe Junior Kindergarten. She was an integral part of planning the record-breaking benefits for both organizations. She is also an active member of the Costume Council of the Chicago History Museum, where she has cochaired the Men’s Fashion Awards and been involved with planning lots of other smaller events. Forman is also a member of the Women’s Board of the Joffrey Ballet. Forman lives in Glencoe with her husband Randy, a digital health entrepreneur, and their two daughters and goldendoodle. She can often be found networking and chatting at Glencoe’s Hometown.

#ON MY NIGHTSTAND

A lover of history, I always reach for WWII historical fiction. I just finished The Keeper of Happy Endings. It had a major plot twist which made me smile at the end. And since I can’t get enough celebrity gossip, I’m three chapters into Prince Harry’s Spare

#ON MY MOBILE

My IG is all fashion, interior design, and Bravo.

Professionally, I need to stay informed on fashion trends and news. So I’m always checking Diet Prada (@diet_prada) and The Business of Fashion (@BOF). Obviously, I love Deuxmoi (@ deuxmoi). And Heather Clawson (@HabituallyChic) and Rebecca Plotnick (@EverydayParisian) are making me want to plan a trip to Paris.

#IN MY EARBUDS

Mimi Webb’s “Red Flags” keeps working its way onto all my Spotify playlists. It’s such a bop! In terms of podcasts, I love Guy Raz’s “How I Built This” because I love to learn the backstories of different brands. Jo Malone “Amber Lavender” is my perfume, so the Jo Malone episode was particularly interesting.

PAVLOVA with Red Wine Roasted Rhubarb and Raspberries

BY GALE GAND THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

The North Shore Weekend is honored to have Gale Gand, nationally acclaimed pastry chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, television personality, teacher, entrepreneur, and mother share one of her favorite dessert recipes with us. She has been recognized as Outstanding Pastry Chef of the Year by The James Beard Foundation and by Bon Appetit magazine and has been inducted into the Chicago Chefs Hall of Fame.

INGREDIENTS

For the shell:

• ½ cup egg whites, at room temperature (from about 4 eggs)

• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch

• 1 tablespoon raspberry vinegar or red wine vinegar

• ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the topping:

• 1 ¼ cups heavy cream

• 2 tablespoons sugar

For the Roasted Rhubard (recipe follows)

• 2 half pints raspberries

• 12 fresh violets, Johnny Jump Ups, or other edible flowers

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or using a hand mixer), whip egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt in a clean, dry bowl until foamy. Add the granulated sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, and vinegar and continue whipping until stiff, smooth, and glossy, about 4 minutes more.

3. On a sheet of parchment paper cut to fit a sheet pan, use a pencil to draw or trace a circle 8 inches in diameter (I use my Kitchen Aid bowl). Line the sheet pan with the parchment, pencil side down (you should still be able to see the circle).

Spoon the egg whites into the circle, using the back of the spoon to smooth the top and sides of the disk.

4. Bake in center of the oven for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 300 degrees and bake until the meringue has puffed up and cracked on the top and the surface is lightly browned to the color of café au lait, about 45 minutes more. Turn off the oven, prop the oven door open, and let the pavlova cool in the oven at least 30 minutes, to room temperature. This ensures a gradual cooling, which protects the delicate meringue.

5. Place the meringue on a cake plate. Whip the cream and sugar together until stiff. Spoon it in the center of the cooled pavlova and spread out to within ½ inch of the edge. Cover with the rhubarb-raspberry mixture. Dot with flowers. To serve, slice into wedges with a serrated knife.

ROASTED RHUBARB

• 4 long stalks rhubarb, trimmed and washed (8-10 ounce bag of frozen is OK too)

• ¼ cup light-bodied red wine

• ¼ cup sugar

• ½ vanilla bean, split and scraped, or ½ teaspoon vanilla paste

• 1 teaspoon cornstarch

• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut rhubarb into 1-inch sections. In a bowl, combine the wine, sugar, vanilla bean, corn starch, and cinnamon. Add the rhubarb and toss to coat. Pour into a casserole or gratin dish and roast until tender, about 20 to 25 minutes. When the fruit is done, remove it and let cool, then gently fold in the raspberries. Use to top pavlova.

“I absolutely LOVE Pavlova. It’s the perfect combination of crispy, chewy, creamy, and fruity. It’s light, easy to make, and beautiful too, so make sure you show it off before cutting into it. This one is special, using spring ingredients, celebrating the fact that winter is almost over and it’s safe to come out of the house! It’s also portable, in parts, so sometimes I bring it over to friends’ houses and assemble it right there in front of them.

Helpers accepted, and there are always a few willing interns.”

–Gale Gand

MATERIAL PURSUITS

This weekend’s curated luxury trends

ASKA™ A5:

A FLYING CAR

ASKA™ A5 is a real flying car—the world’s first electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (eVTOL) that can drive on roads and fly. The ASKA™ A5 is powered by a proprietary power system that features battery packs and a gasoline engine that acts as an onboard range extender. This dual energy source delivers a 250-mile flight range and drastically increases power source reliability. Unlike any vehicle ever developed, this four-seater flying car is the size of a large SUV and combines the best in modern automotive and aviation design with a high level of safety. ASKA™ can drive on roads and take off vertically from a compact space like a helipad or by conventional runway takeoff and landing. A pilot’s license is required; training is included in the $789,000 price of the vehicle. An On-Demand ride service (targeted for 2026) will feature a fleet of ASKAs™ operating on demand in major cities and their surroundings. Free early bird registration is open now. In January 2023, a fully functional model of ASKA™ debuted at the CES show in Las Vegas. The company is progressing with FAA type certification and ASKA™ is targeted to launch in 2026, subject to standard regulatory certification. ASKA™ is now available for preorder at askafly.com/pre-order.

SOCIAL LIFE

LILLY P

The brightly colored, playful SUZIE ZUZEK prints of Lilly Pulitzer’s clothing were a staple of American fashion in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s—worn by members of society from Palm Beach to Nantucket, actresses, models, and stylish men and women all over the world. One could always spot a “Lilly” with its undeniable characteristics: clean, comfortable lines; bright, vivid colors; and fantastical designs. Whether at the beach, on the links, or at a cocktail party, these simple shifts for women and girls and jackets and trousers for gents were a preppy rite of passage. Pratt Institute–educated Suzie Zuzek’s artwork was the basis for most of the fabric designs used by Pulitzer from 1962 to 1985. Suzie Zuzek for Lilly Pulitzer: The Artist Behind an Iconic American Fashion Brand,1962–1985 is the first book introducing Zuzek the artist and presenting a selection of her designs, which included monkeys sipping martinis, dancing flowers, colorful seashells, and op-art geometrics that attracted the eye of such notables as Jacqueline Kennedy and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. It was thought that these designs were lost forever. Luckily, they were recently discovered allowing for a celebration of the previously unknown artist, her story, and her original watercolor drawings. © Suzie Zuzek for Lilly Pulitzer by Susan Brown and Caroline Rennolds Milbank, Rizzoli Electa, 2020. For more information, visit rizzoliusa.com.

FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH

Cultivated from the intersection of science-based medicine and nature’s own healing power, DR. BARBARA STURM MOLECULAR COSMETICS has achieved cult status among beauty gurus and celebrities worldwide. Founded by German aesthetics doctor Dr. Barbara Sturm, the cosmetics line introduced in 2014 challenges conventional wisdom through its anti-inflammatory and non-surgical anti-aging skin treatments. The newest addition to her innovative collection, the Lifting Serum, lifts skin instantly and reduces the visible signs of aging. Her non-toxic and cruelty-free products can be found locally at Blue Mercury and Neiman Marcus. For more information, visit molecular-cosmetics.com.

ANTIQUES + MODERNISM PREVIEW PARTY

Photography by Robin Subar

After a two-year hiatus, the Antiques + Modernism Winnetka Show (A+M) returned to Winnetka’s Community House and celebrated 50 years. The event, co-chaired by Elyse Hahner and Kim Ronan, began with a Preview Party where guests enjoyed a first look at the spectacular pieces from more than 50 dealers and vendors, some of whom traveled from across the globe. The event continued through the weekend with thousands of people in attendance. Guest speakers included the Antiques Roadshow’s J. Michael Flanigan, HGTV Design Star winner Meg Caswell, and Floral Designer for the White House (2009-2015) Laura Dowling. Presented by the Woman’s Board, all proceeds from A+M benefited Winnetka’s Community House. thewinnetkashow.com

RINAD BEIDAS, LINDSEY BRUSNIGHAN

JAMIE KEMPER, COLLEEN DAUGHERTY, KRISTEN BILTON

ELYSE HAHNER, KIM RONAN

LEE THINNES

SUE REYMAN, STEVE HERMAN

JESSICA DIETRICH, EFFIE KARAVITES

ANNIE BROWN, SARAH SIMS, STEPHANIE WHEAT, JULIE MCCAULEY DIERDRE FRANKLI, ALEXANDRA NICHOLS, SUSANNA VER EECKE

LUKE PALESE, SHANNON VAN TASSEL, ENRIQUE USECHE-ANDUEZA

TURNING THE PAGE

Former Winnetka resident Michael Zimmerman’s debut book, Suburban Bigamy, recounts his father’s egregious decision that shattered two families. Today the author is married and revitalized—and cherishing every moment of fatherhood.

BY BILL MCLEAN ILLUSTRATION BY BARRY BLITT

Nothing warmed Michael Zimmerman’s heart more than the time he spent watching the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field with his father, Norman.

His best friend was his dad. His role model was his dad. His hero was his dad.

Young son bites into a hot dog. Baseball soars off the bat of a Cub. Fans in the Friendly Confines rise and watch the baseball, which eventually dents Waveland Avenue.

Young son, his face now adorned with a blot of mustard, looks up at his dad and flashes a foulpole-to-foul-pole-wide smile after wiping his face clean with the back of his oversized glove.

“The Cubs cemented the bond between my dad and me; they gave us a unique kinship and common language that made me feel special,” Zimmerman, a former Winnetka resident and a New Trier High School graduate, writes in his debut book, Suburban Bigamy: Six Miles Between Truth and Deceit (Conversation Publishing, 2023, 187 pages).

Norman Zimmerman, it turned out, struck out as a father.

And as a husband.

In 2013, then-42-year-old Michael Zimmerman, his mother, Ann, and the married couple’s youngest child, Alan, discovered that Norman Zimmerman had been living a secret life—with another woman and their two children (a daughter and a son)—for more than 40 years.

Michael’s family lived in Winnetka.

The other family lived in Glenview, only 6.3 miles away, in the 1970s.

Nearly seven miles separated Mr. Zimmerman’s houses in the 1980s and 1990s. He built a house in Lake Forest for the other woman about 20 years ago.

Norman was a busy owner of the Schaumburg Lincoln-Mercury dealership to one family (Michael’s) and a busy Chicago attorney to the other.

“It’s a story of two families built on one lie, forever linked through betrayal, infidelity, and bigamy,” writes Zimmerman, who works in the fintech industry and has lived in Pennsylvania since 1995.

“It’s also a story,” he adds, “of resilience, recovery, and hope.”

Zimmerman, 51, slowly let his circle of friends know what his father was able to pull off for decades after the villages of cats were let out of the bag. His friends’ reactions ranged from disbelief to stunned silence to, “Sure sounds like a Lifetime movie.”

“My first response to the movie comment

was, ‘Uh, I guess,’” Zimmerman recalls. “The details … they’re remarkable. They’re truly shocking. People are blown away when I share the many layers of my dad’s double life.

“I then thought it might be a story worth telling. I utilized the writing of the book to help me make sense of what had happened to my family. Writing it was cathartic.”

Zimmerman’s book is sad, heartbreakingly so at times, and confounding, in part because the son gave his best friend/role model/ hero opportunities to admit his staggering wrongdoings and maybe—just maybe—reveal a decent side, a caring side, a loving side.

Dad went 0-for-3.

“He had to face the fact that his biggest fan knew he was a fraud, a liar, an adulterer, and a

bigamist by most standards,” Zimmerman writes. “I think that deep down, he was embarrassed. He got himself into a situation and got stuck.

“In the end,” he continues, “what I thought and felt just didn’t matter to him at all.”

Norman’s other family, meanwhile, erected figurative, fortress-thick walls around the former head of two households after Ann—a business owner, socialite, community organizer, and Winnetka’s Woman of the Year in 1994—divorced Norman. She moved to Arizona.

“They did all they could, especially Margaret (not the other woman’s real name), to keep me from seeing my dad,” Zimmerman says. “I was destroyed, emotionally, after finding

out the truth about my dad. Margaret knew about my mom but never told her kids about our family. All four children involved were equal victims in this, but that sentiment wasn’t shared by Margaret’s children, either because of denial or brainwashing.

“I had a level of curiosity about my dad, about his behavior, that my half-siblings never had. He turned out to be an enigma. The man I thought I had known did not exist. I had been so close to him, but I didn’t know him at all. That was alarming and unsettling.”

Norman Zimmerman died of COVID-19 in 2020 at age 84.

But Zimmerman’s book elicits more than sadness and rounds of head-scratching. It chronicles a major triumph, too. Michael’s. Zimmerman overcame depression, grief, isolation, and addictions by veering off, for good, the “self-destructive path of selfish indulgence and emotional avoidance” with the help of therapy and his future wife, Beth.

Michael and Beth had first met in 2012.

“I believed instantly that I did not deserve such a woman,” he writes. “She was too nice for me.”

They got married and then welcomed son Weston into the world in December 2019.

The new dad was 48.

“My son,” Zimmerman writes, “was an opportunity for me to be that man my father never was—to do fatherhood right. Fatherhood has had such a huge part in healing me and putting me back together.

“I say without hesitation that my son saved my life.”

Weston’s laughter melts his father’s heart daily. The boy smiles almost as often as he breathes. If he’s not the happiest 3-year-old in the Keystone State, he’s in the top three.

“The love and peace my family gives me are like nothing else I have experienced,” Zimmerman writes. “(Being a husband and a father) has given me meaning and purpose and filled my days with joy. That is how I know that through my father’s cheating—his cheating on my mother and his cheating on us—he cheated himself the most. He deprived himself of the greatest joy there is on this planet.”

Michael and Weston haven’t attended a Chicago Cubs home game.

Yet.

It’ll happen, and when it does there will be more joy in Wrigleyville.

Visit michaelszimmerman.com for more information and to order the book Suburban Bigamy: Six Miles Between Truth and Deceit. The book is a memoir. It reflects the author’s recollections of past experiences over time. Some names and identifying characteristics of real individuals have been changed to protect their privacy interests.

My son was an opportunity for me to be that man my father never was—to do fatherhood right. Fatherhood has had such a huge part in healing me and putting me back together.

Michael Zimmerman