The weather in Chicago may not be anywhere near tropical, but this Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer. For many, the long weekend means taking time to enjoy the great outdoors.

But as mom always warns, don't forget to wear sunscreen.

However, dermatologist Sarah Stein at the University of Chicago Medical Center doesn't necessarily agree with the age-old sunscreen advice. Stein maintains that smart sun safety begins with educating people on methods of skin protection other than simply slathering on the lotion.

Just ten months removed from the slaying of his 16-year old son, Blair, Ronald Holt still struggles to fill the void left when his son became the 20th Chicago Public Schools student killed by gunfire.

“I feel like something very precious was taken from us,” Holt said. “I feel like we have been robbed… and I feel that I am echoing the sentiments of all the parents who are in my position.”

Move aside, Bonnie and Clyde. Modern-day desperados could put Chicago on pace for another record year of bank robberies.

Instead of career robbers, people from many walks of life are gravitating to robbery, ranging from drug addicts to employed middle-class individuals, according to Gregory Scott, professor of sociology at DePaul University.

"We're coming to the end of the really well-plotted, well-organized bank robbery that results from long-term strategic planning. Now we're talking about lower-level bank robberies," he said.

In addition, Scott said, the new breed of robbers is more diverse than the old guard.

According to the FBI, 9,010 people were involved in 7,272 bank robberies nationwide in 2006. Black males executed 46 percent of robberies nationwide, white males 36 percent, and women only 6 percent. Of these robbers, the FBI identified 3,584 people; 46 percent were narcotics users and 22 percent were previously convicted for bank robbery, bank burglary, or bank larceny.

Today's robbers are spontaneous and opportunistic, according to a 2007 study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Justice, which identified three factors contributing to rising robbery rates: more bank outlets and extended hours creating greater opportunities, robbers' perceptions of banks as a lucrative target and because robberies are usually fast, low risk crimes.

After decades of fewer than 100 robberies per year, robberies in the Chicago metropolitan area shot up in the mid-1990s. In 2006, the number of robberies peaked at 284, more than in the entire state of Florida.

The Chicago office of the FBI collects bank robbery data for the five-county area surrounding Chicago - Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and Will counties. As of March 12, there were 52 bank robberies in the area, on par with numbers for the same 10-week period in 2007. The total robbery tally for 2007 came in at 226, down 26 percent from 2006.

By extrapolating the first several weeks of robbery activity for the remainder of 2008, "we could be on pace for another record year," said Ross Rice, a spokesman in the FBI's Chicago office.

Illinois is not the only state grappling with higher robbery rates. Nationwide, a new era of bank robbery is on the rise - and banks are paying the price.

In 2006, robbers hit 6,985 federally insured financial institutions, stealing a total of $72.7 million, of which law enforcement recovered $11.2 million. Although 90 percent of robberies are a "success," according to the Department of Justice study, nearly 60 percent of robbers are eventually caught.

And robbers face big risks for a typically small reward. For an average take of $2,000 to $3,000 per robbery in the Chicago area, robbers face federal punishment of up to 20 years in prison.

To the non-robber, these risks may be too much, but Scott said some robbers may not even be aware of the how little they'll nab or how long they'll sit in prison if convicted.

"When people reach a point of fiscal desperation, they're often not weighing the costs and benefits," Scott said.

In addition, security measures apparently do little to deter robbers. Of the 7,272 robberies or attempted robberies nationwide in 2006, 98 percent of victim institutions had an alarm system and/or surveillance cameras.

One man accused of robbing seven Indiana banks told a newspaper earlier this month that his only deterrent to robbing banks was security guards. However, fewer than 10 percent of banks robbed in 2006 had a guard on duty.

After two robberies at a North LaSalle Street branch of Builders Bank, president Chas Hall said the bank decided to hire a guard for that location. He said the bank took this additional security measure in part to deter would-be robbers, but mostly to provide peace of mind to the bank's employees.

"We don't want that to happen to our employees again," Hall said.

But if a recession is on the way, could employees like Hall's be subjected to the desperate measures of desperate robbers again? Not necessarily.

There is no direct correlation between crime and unemployment according to Scott, though economic crime rates may move with changes in the economy.

"When things change fast - unemployment suddenly spikes or it suddenly goes down - people are thrown into what sociologists call anomie," Scott said.

Anomie is marked by instability and a lack of societal norms and Scott said individuals are more likely to take greater risks during such periods.

In addition, robbery was on the rise even before the r-word was on everyone's lips. Rather, rising robbery rates may just be a by-product of changes in the banking industry.

Price said the FBI does not interpret robbery data, but said the most commonly touted hypothesis for rising robbery rates is the proliferation of branch banking.

"The theory is that this creates a greater opportunity for people who are so inclined," he said.

This theory sticks with Scott. As financial institutions have become more decentralized, he said, banks have become more accessible to consumers, but at the expense of becoming more accessible to robbers.

"This is a technological innovation that has legitimate pro-social goals, but . the underbelly of greater accessibility is greater vulnerability," Scott said. "Banks are far more susceptible to being robbed and they're easier to rob."

But even as banks continue to expand, they are fighting back, according to Debbie Jemison, spokeswoman for the Illinois Bankers Association.

"Banks are doing everything they can to protect their employees and customers," Jemison said.

She said several security measures thwart would-be robbers, including security guards, bank fraud task force programs, and participation in the association's thumbprint signature program and FRAUD-NET.

The thumbprint signature program requires non-account holders to provide an inkless impression of their thumbprints for certain transactions. Meanwhile, FRAUD-NET is an online collaboration for banks to share information about robberies with other financial institutions and law enforcement agencies.

Within minutes of a robbery, for example, a bank can electronically disperse a physical description and information about the robber's modus operandi to other banks in the network and law enforcement officials.

In addition, many Illinois banks are participating in a program to combat rising robbery rates, the "No Hats, No Hoods, No Sunglasses" program. The bankers association launched the program in 2006--security guards ask people entering the bank to remove hats, hoods or sunglasses-- as an inexpensive way for banks to deter so-called "note job" robberies, in which a person hands a note to a teller demanding money. In 2006, more than half of robbers demanded money using a note.

Beyond the take, there are other costs to robberies, according to Hall, the Builders Bank president.

"The biggest cost [of a robbery] is that is such a traumatic experience for our employees," Hall said.

Hall said the emotional cost far outweighs any financial cost and said banks should be very appreciative of their tellers.

Jemison of the Illinois Bankers Association agrees. "There is definitely a psychological cost," both for employees and customers, she said. If a bank is a robbed, it will often provide a program for affected employees and customers. And the effects of a robbery are felt even after the robber has fled.

Working with the FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force, victim banks provide valuable information to law enforcement to catch serial robbers - people who have committed at least three robberies.

And bankers are always looking for ways to keep robbers at bay, according to Jemison.

"Banks constantly review their procedures to better thwart robberies from occurring," she said.

But Scott, of DePaul, is not optimistic that these efforts are working yet. While he expects robberies to reach a saturation point, he said some security measures - such as surveillance cameras - do not effectively deter criminals.

With just one word, Master Fitzgerald has their attention.

"Beginners."

His students stand, remove their shoes and socks, and step lightly onto the training room's red and blue rubber floor. A young girl gives her mother a quick look before following.

Master Fitzgerald carefully places his seven students in two rows, each an arm's length from one another. He positions himself in front of them and turns away. Starting with the master, one by one they sit and, together, they meditate.

Moments later they will stand and begin learning the footwork, blocking techniques and punches that comprise the master's self-defense training. They will grunt. They will shuffle their feet. They will be corrected by the master. They are learning Tang Soo Do.

But right now they sit still, and this, according to Joseph Fitzgerald, is an equally important part of the free beginning martial arts lessons he offers at Fitzgerald Martial Arts in Hyde Park.

"Most people never take a moment to be in silence at any point during the day," said the 37-year-old instructor after a recent lesson. "Meditation gives you a moment to clear your mind."

Since 1999, Fitzgerald, who lives in Park Forest, has been teaching Tang Soo Do to the professionals, students and families of Hyde Park. He has previously taught at the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club and the University of Chicago, where he continues to mentor a Tang Soo Do student group once a week.

In a neighborhood where stress and crime can seem like old, unwanted friends to many, Fitzgerald feels his Tang Soo Do lessons offer Hyde Park residents both a pressure release valve and a means of self-defense.

Tang Soo Do originated in Korea and is as a combination of Chinese Kung Fu and Japanese Karate forms, according to Fitzgerald. Search through the Chicago Yellow Pages and you won't find another school teaching it in the city. Fitzgerald says his is the only one though two of his students teach members-only lessons at local community centers.

Fitzgerald instructs about 150 students of all ages at his school and teaches free beginning classes twice every weekday and once on Saturdays. First time students need only show up in athletic clothes, ready to go barefoot and to listen, according to Fitzgerald.

Lessons take place at Fitzgerald's "Do Jang"-or training hall, located on 55th Street near Lake Shore Drive. Like those in many martial arts training centers, the walls in Fitzgerald's are covered by plaques, trophies, banners and pictures of luminaries from his fighting form. A seating area just beyond the center's store-front window gives parents and students waiting for lessons a nice place from which to watch the master at work.

In addition to meditation, beginning lessons consist of practicing a few basic fighting methods. Fitzgerald leads his students back and forth across the floor of the training hall practicing techniques like the "Kee Ma Chase"-horse riding stance, the "Sang Dan Mahk Ki"-high block and the "Chun Dan Kyuk"-middle punch. Though not complex, these movements demand precision and thought.

Fitzgerald's buzz cut, goatee and athletic physique contrast with the calm, almost amused demeanor he displays while teaching. While he is quick to correct poor wrist positioning or an unlocked back leg, he does so with good humor.

To get the attention of one young student who dropped his guard during a drill, Fitzgerald explained how a dropped guard once cost the boxer Oscar de la Hoya a fight and some ribs. Wide-eyed, the student quickly adjusted his stance.

Self-defense is very important to Fitzgerald, who began studying Tang Soo Do in 1988 while a student at Penn State University.

"I think everyone should know how to defend themselves. It's like having two kids and not knowing CPR," he said.

Fitzgerald said he has used Tang Soo Do on three occasions outside of his training and "all three were very successful, in fact the person never got a chance to hurt me." Passing on these skills to others is a big reason why he teaches, particularly in Hyde Park, where he sees crime and safety as a growing problem.

"Hyde Park has two faces, a daytime face and a night time face and the night time face is much more dangerous," he said. "The daytime face is professionals, families, students and professors but at night there are gang bangers, drug dealers and people who will hurt you for money."

This emphasis on self-defense separates Fitzgerald and his school from other Chicago martial arts practitioners in Fitzgerald's mind.

"I train for self-defense. Others might train for physical fitness, weight loss, whatever, but I train for self defense and I want my students to come back to me and say it worked." Fitzgerald said. "Criminals hate victims who fight back."

Fitzgerald also takes pride in the accessibility of his beginning classes. He said they "give people a chance to come in and take a test drive."

"A lot of people, before you ever get out on the floor, they make you pay," Fitzgerald said. "I'd rather they come in and check it out a few times. I want you to like it, enjoy it, be sure that you like it, and then sign up for class."

After his students have worked up a sweat from all the blocking and punching, Fitzgerald's beginning lessons end the same way they begin, with seated mediation.

Afterwards they stand, Fitzgerald reminds them to keep selling pizzas to raise money for a 2008 trip to Korea for the International Tang Soo Do Championships and dismisses them with a bow.

Then he sends them off, both a little more prepared and little less stressed out.

Fitzgerald Martial Arts is located at 1742 E. 55th Street and offers beginning lessons weekdays at 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 11:45 a.m.

Students seldom leave Campus Crusade for Christ outreaches wishing they'd heard more about transsexual porn.

But that's what University of Chicago sophomore Rosemary Powers thought Oct. 1 following "Porn Nation," an evening campus lecture by recovered sex addict Michael Leahy on the dangers of pornography.

While organizers felt the event, sponsored by several Christian ministries, succeeded in broadening students' view of what is and isn't pornographic, some students said they left "Porn Nation" feeling cold. Their thoughts highlight some of the obstacles that Christian outreach groups like Crusade face on elite campuses.

Having seen the "loud" posters for the event around campus, Powers, a 20-year-old English major, went to "Porn Nation" expecting an academic discussion of new, progressive forms of pornography.

Instead, she joined more than 80 students in listening while recovered sex addict and Christian convert Michael Leahy detailed pornography's negative impact on his life and explained his decision to take up religion.

"I thought it was going to be feminist theory," she said. "I didn't realize who organized it. I should have known."

Leahy spoke for 90 minutes. In addition to telling the story of how he lost his wife and sanity to sexual addiction, he used video clips to present pornography-use, statistics and comments from psychologists, media authorities and other former sex addicts. Leahy has spoken on over 75 college campuses in the last two years. He presented at seven other colleges in the Chicago area between Oct. 30 and Nov. 1.

During his talk, Leahy argued that the growing prevalence of sexual imagery in the media leads people into "sex syndrome,"a desensitization towards sexuality that poses a grave danger to Americans today, especially on college campuses where he said "porn is the norm."

Like many at the talk, Powers said she found Leahy's story compelling but was turned off by his old-fashioned values.

"Women probably are looking at more porn but I don't know how to think about that idea when it's coming from a regressive view of feminity," Powers said. "The talk seemed to be informed by a very regressive, men are from Mars, women are from Venus, perspective."

Meanwhile several others felt the talk spent too much time making claims about the danger of overexposure to pornography and not enough time backing them up.

Amr Gabber, 20, appreciated Leahy's willingness to discuss how sexual addiction led to the destruction of his marriage but was disappointed by the intensely personal focus of the event. He felt the speaker went too far with many of his claims. "He was giving facts but not context," he said. "Are there statistics, are there organizations working on this?"

Owen Aronson, 22, took issue with the very idea that sex can be addictive. "I know some people for whom it's a real problem but think this is a fairly extreme case," he said. "For our generation it's something we kind of normalize."

Aronson and Gabber also both disagreed with Leahy likening sex to drug use as an addictive activity. "To say that sex is as addictive as crack or meth is more or less hyperbole," Gabber said. "He kept saying, 'Sex is all around us. Sex is all around us.' But he didn't problematize it enough to get me interested."

Near the end of his presentation, before discussing his own Christian experiences and their role in his recovery from addiction, Leahy gave his audience a four-minute break. He invited people who didn't want to hear his religious views to leave if they liked. While Gabber, Aronson and a handful of others slipped out, Powers and about seventy others stayed to hear his invitation to faith.

"I stayed because I'd invested enough time already," said Powers. "I felt the Christianity had been so pervasive during the first part and wanted to hear what he actually had to say."

Andy Brandt is the Campus Crusade staff member who brought Leahy to Chicago at the cost of $8000. He felt the response to Leahy's talk was "pretty positive" though he acknowledged the event would have worked better had students been able to interact with the speaker. "We got one response card from a student that said "This is a Socratic school. Take questions," he said.

Despite the criticisms, Brandt felt the event succeeded in getting students to rethink their definitions of pornography and will now begin following up with students who filled out response cards. Those who requested more information at the event will receive an article written by Leahy and information on Bible studies on campus according to Brandt.

"The U of C student is different from any other college student in Chicago," Brandt said. "[Leahy] can't tailor his presentation to every student. Students at other campuses probably aren't as interested in that kind of content and that's one of the unique and really special things about all U of C students."