The Belvidere Tollway Oasis is on the Illinois Toll Road, at mile marker 54.5. It arches over the highway like a plate glass monument to the spirit of American road trips, a spirit that gave rise to the rest areas and highway parks that dot the drive from Indiana to Minnesota like—well, like oases. Almost all of the Illinois tollway oases are now closed. Belvidere is the only one that remains, and it will probably close soon—the rest crouch over the highways still, already abandoned.

Welcome to issue #47 of next big thing. One refreshing aspect of market cycles is the ability to re-evaluate the metrics and goal posts that companies should be aiming for. A decade ago, venture capitalist Aileen Lee coined the term Unicorn, referring to companies that are valued at over $1 billion either in the public or private markets or at exit. Back then, in late 2013, there were 39 members of the “Unicorn Club” which consisted of companies that had been started since 2003.

"The Champ" did not get very good reviews when it came out in 1979, with the general consensus being that it was a brazen, manipulative tearjerker. That's true, but it also happens to be a very effective, manipulative tearjerker. To wit: I welled up several times watching it. That it's very sad is mostly what people remember about the movie these days. In fact, a few years ago, the Smithsonian Magazine ran an article dubbing it "

This episode opens with a flashback of a toddler Jesus playing with his mother and father. There is no real dialogue in the scene but shows us the loving and joyful household of the Holy Family. We then return to our current timeline to find that Jesus has visited Mother Mary in Nazareth for a festival. Mary asks Jesus how his followers are doing, and He assures her all is well.

The quiet retirement announcement by Mutual Fish’s Yoshimura family, in the form of a sign taped to the front door of their Rainier Avenue shop, marks more than the closure of a beloved local business. It symbolizes the decline of a long and diverse history of family seafood businesses in Seattle, and it takes with it the memory of a deep relationship between Japanese and Jewish families dating back to before World War II.