by admin | Jan 15, 2024 | Activism, Blogging, Books, Chicago, Christianity, Civil rights, History, Religion
Holidays have a way of taming and diluting the real importance of the legacies and events they are meant to commemorate. This tendency is particularly true of today’s holiday celebrating the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. These efforts reflect some...
by admin | Jan 1, 2024 | Activism, Aging, Blogging, Healthcare, Medical, Personal health, Personal history, Resilience
I have never been terribly enthusiastic about New Year’s Eve resolutions. This is not because I lack resolve, but because the start of a new year has usually struck me as a rather arbitrary time to gain such resolve or to turn over a new leaf. If one is committed to...
by admin | Sep 4, 2023 | Activism, Aging, Blogging, Careers, Death, Personal health, Personal history, Recreation, Retirement, Volunteerism, Writing
“Retire from what?” The Chicago Tribune says Jimmy Buffett asked that question once when they asked him about retirement. He died September 1, just as the Labor Day weekend began, from an aggressive skin cancer called Merkel cell cancer. In his lifetime, he succeeded...
by admin | May 25, 2023 | Activism, Aging, Blogging, Disaster, Floodplain management, Journalism, Medical, Natural Hazards, Personal health, Personal history, Public health, Resilience, Urban forest, Urban Planning
I was lying half awake in bed at 4 a.m., unable to return completely to sleep after using the bathroom. My mind kept rolling over various competing obligations and necessities, and the thought hit me: “You must catch up while slowing down.” Frankly, that made about as...
by admin | Nov 27, 2022 | Aging, Blogging, Coronavirus, Hazard Mitigation, Healthcare, Medical, Personal health, Personal history, Public health, Resilience
Now I know what it feels like, or may have felt like. Kind of. Sort of. I will never experience, in all likelihood, the very worst the COVID-19 virus can inflict on human beings. I was lucky in many ways. First, the virus just never found me as a target until early...
by admin | Sep 5, 2022 | Blogging, Books, Education, History, Immigration, Journalism, Literature, Personal history, Writing
My mother was definitely a neatnik. Everything in its place, but don’t keep too many things in the first place. If something did not have an obvious use, get rid of it. A sentimentalist, she was not. She lived her life in the suburbs of Cleveland, which is where I...
