A web producer at Oprah.com documents the year she spent looking for a new best friend after relocating to Chicago, a search marked by her observations on current social research about the friend-making challenges faced by modern adults.

The influential writer shares the events, personalities, places, and ideas that have shaped his life and work, from the civil rights struggle and changing American sexual mores to memorable people, both famous and not, whom he has profiled.

"In Searching for John Hughes, Jason tells how a Jewish kid from a broken home in a Chicago suburb--sometimes homeless, always restless--found comfort and connection in the likewise broken lives in the suburban Chicago of John Hughes' oeuvre. He moved to New York to become a writer. He started to write a book he had no business writing. In the meantime, he brewed coffee and guarded cupcake cafes. All the while, he watched John Hughes movies religiously."...