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. It says a lot about the state of America that we are actually having a national politically factionalized debate about wearing masks for safety. An Associated Press poll from July 23 shows that

Recently I took my car to the dealership for service. The entry door was posted: “Face covering required.” Just after I sat down in the waiting room, I heard a loud stentorian voice say:

Recently I took my car to the dealership for service. The entry door was posted: “Face covering required.” Just after I sat down in the waiting room, I heard a loud stentorian voice say: “Where was the sign that said no one in a yellow shirt has to wear a face mask?” I was in a yellow shirt. But my mask was up and over mouth and nose. I looked in the direction of the voice. A 20-something young man wearing a yellow shirt got up and hustled toward the door to the exterior. He was asked again by a

Yard signs are beginning to take root now that we’re less than three months away from November 3rd. But the one that caught my attention was not voicing support for a political candidate. It simply said “Fauci.” For me the message was: listen to the people who know their stuff.

Yard signs are beginning to take root now that we’re less than three months away from November 3rd. But the one that caught my attention was not voicing support for a political candidate. It simply said “Fauci.” For me the message was: listen to the people who know their stuff. We’ve certainly needed a national hero, or at least a competent leader, these past months, and I’m grateful for Dr. Fauci’s indefatigable dedication, even with a science denying hitman snapping at his heels. To try and

In June, I wrote a letter to Rockford University students wherein I said: “Our mission is to educate our student body to be better prepared to make change and seek to fix the cause, not react to the symptoms, of systemic racism that carries with it a 300-year legacy of racial inequality that began before our nation even started.”

In June, I wrote a letter to Rockford University students wherein I said: “Our mission is to educate our student body to be better prepared to make change and seek to fix the cause, not react to the symptoms, of systemic racism that carries with it a 300-year legacy of racial inequality that began before our nation even started.” I continued: “it took nearly a century from the signing of the declaration of independence to the abolition of slavery. It took nearly another century for the civil

The late Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis entered this world one full decade ahead of me. While I learned long division and state capitals in elementary school, he would be among the first Freedom Riders to risk his life to end segregation. While I was learning – erroneously -- that the 15th Amendment guaranteed Blacks the right to vote, he would suffer a fractured skull from a police officer determined to prove otherwise.

The late Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis entered this world one full decade ahead of me. While I learned long division and state capitals in elementary school, he would be among the first Freedom Riders to risk his life to end segregation. While I was learning – erroneously -- that the 15th Amendment guaranteed Blacks the right to vote, he would suffer a fractured skull from a police officer determined to prove otherwise. I have often wondered, as I look back on my youth, if I would

Reading, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.