Joel Hood covers politics, finances and emotions inside Chicago Public Schools, the nation's third-largest school district. He is also a regular contributor to WGN radio and WGN television.

Hood majored in journalism at the University of Oregon and has worked at the Los Angeles Times, Modesto Bee and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He's written about a wide range of issues, from the grip of AIDS in Hispanic communities to alligator hunting in the Florida Everglades. A former sports writer, Hood joined the Tribune in 2007.

Classic movies and literature, travel, food, music, science and sports. But that's about it.