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 | Jan 2, 2023 | Activism, Christianity, Death, Environment, Nature, Parks, Personal history, Resilience, Urban forest, Urban Planning
I am a tree lover, but not a tree hugger. I think there is a difference, although I do not wish to demean tree huggers in any way. I am simply coming from a different place, viewing matters through a different lens. I can understand the emotional response that trees...
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 12, 2022 | Activism, Books, Chicago, Crime, Government, Immigration, National security, Personal history, Public policy, Racism, Religion, Social Equity, Social Science, Terrorism
When I first moved to Chicago, in November 1985, I came alone from Omaha. My wife, who grew up in Nebraska, chose to stay there until the fall semester was over. She was teaching across the river in the Council Bluffs, Iowa, public schools. I needed to settle in with...
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...
by admin | Apr 16, 2022 | Activism, Books, Civil rights, Government, History, Personal history, Politics, Racism, Travel, War
It was spring break in the Chicago Public Schools this past week (April 11-15). Despite busy lives, I thought my wife and I should do something special with Alex, our 13-year-old grandson, so I proposed a visit to Springfield, the Illinois capital, to visit the...
