In Chicago, Al Capone still lives.

Or at least, his influence continues to thrive in the city's politics, said Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jennifer Hunter.

Hunter spoke yesterday morning about traveling with a professional baseball team, her favorite editorial topics and other journalism experiences in front of a packed Foster Auditorium. In front of about 300 students and faculty members, Hunter peered through reading glasses and read editorials about immigration, rude e-mails, parental consent for abortions and a diet program that caused her to gain five pounds.

Hunter bases her columns on personal experience and covers women's issues, current events and pop culture. However, politics remains her favorite topic, she said.

"I love writing about politics, especially in Chicago," she said. "It's fascinating and mesmerizing. There's so much corruption and still remnants of Al Capone."

Before working at the Sun-Times, Hunter spent the majority of her career reporting in Canada. Her Canadian background gives her a different perspective on foreign affairs, she said.

"Canada has to know what the rest of the world is doing," she said. "In the United States, there is so much going on, and people just follow things happening internally."

Hunter also traveled with a professional baseball team, the Montreal Expos. Some of the player's wives approached the team's general manager and said they didn't want a woman traveling with the team, she said.

"My boss called me in and told me to be a good girl," she said. "I looked at him and said, 'Please. I'm a professional.' "

Every day, Hunter said she reads four newspapers and then brings her story ideas to a 10 a.m. meeting with her editor and other opinion writers. At the meeting, she is assigned a topic and position. Hunter then does research on the topic and writes her article in an hour.

"Then, I go for a walk," she said. "I come back with fresh eyes, and I'm able to look at the piece and see what's missing."

Hunter encouraged journalism students to read a lot of newspapers, magazines and books.

"When you read a lot, you learn how to write," she said. "You see how to argue and learn about the world."

Matt Lynch (junior-journalism) said he is very interested in editorial writing and learned more about opinion writing from the lecture.

"I thought she gave really good advice," he said. "I liked how she talked about reading books because I already read a lot of books."

National Public Radio correspondent Juan Williams, the conference's other speaker, gave a lecture Tuesday night at the HUB-Robeson Center. Hunter's 50-minute lecture concluded this fall's Foster Conference of Distinguished Writers.