Every fourth Thursday of November, this nation celebrates Thanksgiving. A holiday centered around a peaceful, but fictional, feast of the native Wampanoag tribe and English Pilgrims fleeing religious persecution. This make-believe communal meal happened only once, before the Pilgrims began to annihilate the natives. Often left out the Thanksgiving narrative is the genocide of some 700 members of the Pegout tribe, by English and Dutch mercenaries. Also omitted are the stories of thousands of

The internationally famou s Marist Colleg e Poll, now on blogs with NPR, reports a baleful statistic: The proportion of Americans who think 67 is old is inching up. The proportion of Ameri c ans who think 67 is middle aged is inching down. Only 6 percent of Ameri c ans polled by Marist think that 67 is young. No doubt ninety percent of them are 90 or over. How old do you have to be in order to think that 67 is young? We k now that age is relative up to a point. My grandmother lived to be 95 and

Elections have consequences. That ’ s what we heard after the 2016 election and of course it was true. President Trump went on a deregulatory orgy aimed at dismantling the Obama legacy and a compliant Congress put forward one conservative bill after another. We now have a tax law that ’ s going to increase the deficit exponentially and it ’ s only thanks to the late John McCain that the health care bill is still the law. The recent midterm election is also going to have consequences. Democrats

In February, the National Economic Council produced a “whitepaper” on prescription drug costs. I was especially struck by their justification for the sky rocketing cost of prescription drugs. They argue that any price for a new drug is correct because “a longer life could not be bought at any price and is priceless.” Therefore, the new drug reduces the price of “a longer and healthier life” to the price set by the Seller. The logical syllogism asserted is: With no available drug the “price of

DeKalb’s seventh graders are studying the U.S. Constitution’s Preamble. Throughout town, you can hear the Schoolhouse Rock music about those 52 words starting with, “We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union . ” Our Framers suggest that we citizens have a goal to make our country closer to perfect using government and its structure as a basis. Today, I wonder when current leaders will work toward this solid goal of being more perfect for all in our union. L

23.5 million people in the U.S. live in a food desert. Food deserts are areas where residents do not have access to affordable, healthy food options because of the absence of a full service grocery store within a mile of their home. According to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, living in a food desert is associated with obesity and a host of chronic, diet-related diseases and linked to diabetes and cancer. Studies show that in Chicago the death rate from diabetes in a food desert is twice

W here’s the love for poe try? Verse forms a baby’s first love of language through nursery rhymes and Dr. Seuss ’s couplets . Outside of music, wordplay and poetic expres sion soon g o gentle into that goodnight — rarely to be roused again. How does this light die ? First, we fail to extol the virtues of poetic word craft. L ocal new s stations in more literate cultures report what poet s are up to; t he elevated value of poetic activity is a given . Second, we privilege a limited use of

The days have grown shorter, the first snow has fallen, and it’s time to gather with people you might actually try to avoid the rest of the year, if you’re able. Holidays, though, remind us all that everyone needs connection and belonging -- especially in a world that seems to grow increasingly unpredictable. It’s time to bury the hatchet, call a cease-fire, engage in a truce, and agree to disagree. While we’re all entitled to our own opinions, whether anyone else likes it or not, there are

They are lined up outside before the doors open. Even if it is cold or rainy, they are there. Waiting. For they are hungry. Today is their one day of the month when they may come to our local interfaith food pantry for a grocery cart full of nourishment. We exchange greetings as I walk by, some are familiar faces, some are new. They are young, old, middle aged , of different race and cultural backgrounds. As a volunteer, I have been assigned to help in the canned protein section, and there is a

Note to myself at twenty: If you met the man you will marry, you’d walk right by. He is no college grad. He can’t spell. He jokes about his nose. He lived with his mother. But you won’t walk by him at thirty. Those prayers you said while looking at white pines pointing at the constellation Sagittarius will come true. The men you will love will open your heart. You will meet your husband when he fixes your phone. Your home will be mouse - infested because you were out of town when the granary