Yes, that tomato is mooning you.

More importantly, I grew that delectable red Plantae in my very own garden right here in Elgin.

Spurred by an appetite for fresh veggies, a tight budget and a general love of being outside and in the dirt, I dug my own little backyard food patch this summer. This is the second year in a row I have flexed my green thumb and I'm proud to report that it produced several dozen healthy tomatoes, sweet dumpling squash and peppers as a result. My herb garden, on the other hand, petered out pretty early in the summer.

Where you can find fresh fruits and veggies this fall, besides Katie's backyard, after the jump.

NOTE: Freelance writer Jason Duarte books shows in Elgin and Chicago, is part of a band and blogs about the local music scene Wednesdays exclusively on Between the Bylines.

I wasn't aware downtown Elgin had a vinyl-exclusive record store until Between the Bylines editor Emily McFarlan added a link to Rediscover Records' Facebook page at the end of one of my previous posts. Intrigued, I looked up its whereabouts and decided to check it out.

I walked past it a couple of times until I realized the shop shared space with an antique store at 207 E. Chicago St. On the right side are records, and the rest of the store is chandeliers, mirrors, glassware and other antiques. The nostalgia of the records blends right.

I approached the vinyl corner of the store, and the first thing that caught my eye was the $1 LP crates. I am a big fan of these, so I scoured through them. Most of what they had was classic rock and pop, but they also carried punk and metal albums by bands like The Clash, The Cult, Talking Heads, Ministry and Black Sabbath.

Find out what else Jason discovered, his review of the shop, after the jump.

It's down to two in the city of Greensboro, N.C.

Two finalists to become the next police chief of Greensboro, that is. And one of them is former Elgin Police Chief Lisa Womack.

Previously, Womack was one of 11 in the running to become police chief of Seattle, Wash., in late April, as we reported then in The Courier-News' Friday Pulse column. She had retired from the Elgin Police Department on April 1.

The Greensboro News & Record's The Crime Scene blog posted a roundup of miscellany about our former top cop yesterday. In an entry titled "Police Chief Finalists Miscellany," public safety and criminal justice reporter/blogger Ryan Seals wrote...

We spent much of the day Monday digging into the history of Ken Miller and Lisa Womack, the two finalists to become the next police chief for the city of Greensboro.

We played phone tag much of the day, but did get a lot of useful information on both candidates, but were never able to get to the heart of the glaring question that stands out thus far:

What prompted Lisa Womack to resign from her post as the police chief in Elgin Ill.?

Maybe we can help answer that question, after the jump.

The column I wrote for Tuesday's Courier-News, condemning the recent change in talk-show hosts and attitude at the previously beloved WGN Radio, really tapped into a vein of emotion. It has incited more reader responses than anything else I've written during a 30-plus-year career in journalism.

The weirdest experience has been hearing myself discussed on WGN itself. On Tuesday afternoon, new WGN host Garry Meier, whom I slammed in the column, read the lede paragraph, in which I say that the on-air changes feel like a member of my family has died.

"My God!" Meier said. "This isn't a pet. It's a business!"

(AUDIO: Listen to afternoon host Garry Meier and veteran host John Williams discuss Dave Gathman's column on WGN Radio.)

I hear that before I tuned in, he also called me a "clown" and said the column should have been printed in The Onion (a satiric humor magazine).

Meier's comments show that he still just doesn't get it. WGN listeners kept the station at No. 1 or No. 2 in the Chicago ratings for so many years precisely because the people we listened to on air did feel like a family to us.

More responses to Dave's column from readers and other media outlets, after the jump.

Today's cover story introduced readers to the wide variety of summer camps in the Elgin area. When I set out to write the story, I figured the job would be easy -- call up a few park districts and put together a list. That was before I knew just how many camps each school and park district offered!

As I compiled the information for this article, I had to make a tough decision. Not all of the information was going to fit into the printed Courier-News.

The article published today focused on academic, traditional outdoor and fine arts camps. I had to leave sports camps out.

The main reason behind this decision was the belief that most kids who are interested in sports and improving athletic skills are already researching camps or have heard about them through their respective school athletic departments.

But don't fret, dear readers, I've included plenty of sports and fitness camp information here. Scroll through to learn more about what local YMCA, school and park districts are offering...

Village of South Elgin
Sports offered: Volleyball, lacrosse, flag football, cheer leading, youth fitness and roller hockey

School District U46
Sports offered: Baseball, basketball, cheerleading, soccer, volleyball, wrestling, softball, tennis, cross country, football, strength and gymnastics

Northern Illinois University
Sports offered: Tennis, baseball, soccer, cheerleading, softball, volleyball, wrestling, football, basketball, cross country/track and field

Links to more sports camps, after the jump

Got questions about journalism? We've got answers!

At least, we will have answers for you next week, if you leave your questions, after the jump.

And if you're one of those student journalists Katie mentioned in her last post, "No hand-holding in the newsroom," she's put together a list of student newspapers represented at the Illinois Community College Journalism Association conference.

Links, also after the jump.

Is Between the Bylines "how it's done?"

Chicago journalist Anna Tarkov seems to think so. Earlier this month, Tarkov said The Courier-News' new blog is "how it's done" and "all news organizations should have something similar set up" on her Posterous blog.

That's another awfully nice compliment for Between the Bylines. And, hey, I like a compliment as much as the next girl.

But the most important thing is what YOU, our readers, think of the blog. Are these the sorts of things you want to read about? Are you getting the "view of the journalist's struggle" and "Danahey's humor" you asked for? We're open to changing course or trying new things, too.

Let us know what you want to read... Between the Bylines.

-- Emily McFarlan, Readers' Reporter

Apparently, I'm not the only one who thought that fireball story was pretty great. Our article in The Courier-News made the front page of Google News (click below to enlarge)...

Thanks to reader Joel Miller for catching that -- and tweeting it -- this morning!

I'm not sure which I'm more excited about: The fact Between the Bylines got a plug on the Chicago Tribune's Trib Nation blog today, still a week out from our official launch... or the fact we're MENTIONED IN THE SAME POST AS JOHN CUSACK.

Probably that first thing. Yup. Now I'm the one blushing all over.

Yes, the Chicago Tribune technically is our competition as a Sun-Times Media newspaper. But, to quote another great journalism movie (coughAnchormancough), "At the bottom of my gut, with every inch of me, I plain, straight hate you. But ... I respect you!"

It's hard not to respect a news outlet, led by a social media Mensch like Trib Nation Manager James Janega, that says it "couldn't agree more" with the importance of maintaining a personable relationship with its readers:

"If we're available 24 hours a day and seven days a week -- and responsive about errors or questions or updates -- people notice, and that's a good thing. We're trying."

We're trying, too. Let us know how we're doing!

I didn't say it. Cindy Goldberg of The Social Journalist -- and our sister paper The (Aurora) Beacon-News -- did today in a SoJourno post titled Blogging brings newsroom personality to life.

Goldberg talks about Between the Bylines at length, even though The Courier-News blog doesn't officially launch for another week.

But, she pointed out, already we've let readers vote on the name of the blog. (You'll also remember, we let you suggest those names to begin with.) And we're letting you suggest what you want the blog to be about.

And this excites Goldberg. In her own words:

"I'm so excited about this because it shakes print media out of the normal, simple, easy way to engage with readers via Facebook and Twitter. And maybe, just perhaps, this kind of open communication between newsroom staff and readers could strengthen the trust consumers have in newspapers (and media as a whole)."

Maybe.

What do you think? You're the reader. You're the one we're conjecturing about here.

As Goldberg asks, are you more interested in a newspaper that aims to connect with you on a more personal level?