Just think, we’ve been coping with an unrelenting natural disaster for months. Unlike storms that can be spotted on radar before they arrive, the pandemic surprised us all. People responded with their own unique crisis response and while each response is simply a normal reaction to an abnormal situation, after half a year of “responding” it’s normal to feel that you just can’t feel much of anything anymore. When tornadoes roll through, we hunker down until the storm passes, then go about the

The barn swallows swooped over the field as if they were telling us where Little Bird was. Dutifully Bruce looked for him, knowing he’d survived the night. I thought about the saying: What is desirable in a man is his kindness. I loved my husband.

The barn swallows swooped over the field as if they were telling us where Little Bird was. Dutifully Bruce looked for him, knowing he’d survived the night. I thought about the saying: What is desirable in a man is his kindness. I loved my husband. Little Bird had been knocked out of his too small nest with three other fledglings. Bruce put them back, but they fell out. The others died but not Little Bird. Usually we let nature take its course, but this time we set him on a low beam in the barn,

Two emergency economic relief measures are expiring, even while the emergency itself still threatens to overwhelm us.

Two emergency economic relief measures are expiring, even while the emergency itself still threatens to overwhelm us. One measure offered enhanced unemployment compensation benefits. The other subsidized employers to retain employees. Both measures mitigated the effects of a collapsing economy. They need to be extended for the sake of everyone. But our broken branches of government appear incapable of acting to advance the public good. Congressional Republicans and Democrats are at loggerheads.

The mayor of Nagasaki, Japan, has made a plea to the world, including his own government.

The mayor of Nagasaki, Japan, has made a plea to the world, including his own government. And to all communities in Illinois. He wants us to remember what happened 75 years ago on Aug. 9, 1945, when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on his city, three days after doing the same to Hiroshima. We killed thousands to end the war and the loss of more lives. In the ashes was a clear message for the conscience of the world that this should never happen again. Mayor Tomihisa Taue said, "We are

I was born left-handed, but my mother had heard that lefties die earlier than right-handers….So she decided I needed to become a right-hander. My mother and father would hand everything to my right hand and eventually this method worked. Sort of. When I learned square dancing years later, I had problems with left and right turns. The same thing happened with ballroom dancing. My brain was evidently confused.

I was born left-handed, but my mother had heard that lefties die earlier than right-handers….So she decided I needed to become a right-hander. My mother and father would hand everything to my right hand and eventually this method worked. Sort of. When I learned square dancing years later, I had problems with left and right turns. The same thing happened with ballroom dancing. My brain was evidently confused. My left hand also would fight for supremacy at times. I clutched my pencil like a lefty.

Life during a pandemic is predictably chaotic, as scientists deliver the best available information and elected leaders provide daily infection rates, death counts and contingency plans. That chaos is not helped when there is an incessant stream of misinformation, conspiracy theory and political haggling.