The start of a new year is always accompanied by a flurry of lists touting the words that were most popular. What no one seems to mention is the need to create an updated version of Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary . This masterpiece of satire has such perennials as his definition for history : “An account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools,” as well as such poetic entries for envelope : “The coffin of a

Fifty years ago tomorrow, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in Memphis, my hometown. I lived in white suburbia -- immune from, and to a great extent uneducated about, the strife suffered by the people he represented. I was a sophomore in high school – the age of some of the students gunned down in Parkland, Florida. As I reflect on my teenage years, I stand in awe of those student survivors and believe their response evokes Reverend King’s message of non-violent protest and action.

Transformational moments always see those who will be on the right side of history and those who will land on the wrong side. Those who land on that wrong side do so because they are often beholden to misguided social or economic forces. And those forces can be compellingly strong. One of the best examples for me of that strength came a few years back when Terry Gross was interviewing Adam Goodheart, author of 1861: The Civil War Awakening . In that “Fresh Air” interview, Goodheart stated that

The privacy boogie man typically has been big government. Since George Orwell penned 1984 , it is the prying eyes of Big Brother that have been seen as the enemy of the people. But that might be changing. I am less worried about Big Brother and more concerned with all the little brothers to whom we now surrender our private information for supposedly free services. Case in point: Facebook. Facebook promotes itself as a free online service, but users of the social network pay for it with their

“Beware the Ides of March!” William Shakespeare penned this line in his play, “Julius Caesar.” It was an ominous warning voiced by a soothsayer to Julius Caesar before he made his way to the Roman Senate on March 15, 44 BC, where he met his death by assassination. It was carried out by angry senators who felt Caesar was amassing too much power in the Roman Republic. But in history, it marks the shift from the Republic to the start of Roman empire-building. Over the centuries, this line has come

One recent morning I heard a news segment on NPR regarding the upcoming 2020 Census. It was not only disturbing and heartbreaking but, quite simply, sounded corrupt and immoral. “The U.S. Census Bureau has announced it will change the way it counts troops deployed overseas …” As a 10-year U.S. Navy Veteran, I always considered Rockford my home. I was born and raised here, my family and friends resided here, and I always planned to return. Now I once again work and reside here. Studies show that

The population of Illinois is in decline, but much of northern Illinois is growing. Population growth by county shows our region is the state’s bright spot. Seven of the 10 fastest-growing counties in Illinois are along or near Interstate 88. Kane, Kendall and McHenry counties are growing the fastest. These three counties combined have grown between 6.1% and 9.8% the past 10 years. Five other northern counties also are growing. DeKalb County population has had 18% growth between 2000 and 2018.

As a freshman attending Western Illinois University in 1993, I was introduced to Abraham Maslow -- via textbook, of course -- in my Intro to Sociology class. Mr. Maslow is famous for developing what is commonly referred to as “Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.” This well-recognized pyramid outlines humanity’s basic needs for survival. In the middle of this five-layer pyramid is “Love/being.” As humans, we all have a need to be loved and to be a part of a larger unit. Thus, the importance of family

I grew up in Texas. The most ambiguous word in my adopted home, the Upper Midwest, is “spring.” In Texas we knew what spring meant. It was an event. It happened on a day in March. The birds sang. The bluebonnets bloomed. The grass unfurled its delicate verdant green. All coats were shorn. This happened on a single day. It was spring, and it never looked back. In just a few months, we knew, we would be able to save electricity by frying our eggs on the driveway cement. Up here in the Great Lakes

Voting has always been important to me. In 1984, my daughter was born 10 days early, just before Election Day. I was not prepared to let childbirth stop me from persuading my reluctant husband to drive me from the hospital to the polls. “I feel great,” I lied. It is a sad fact that many people do not vote in our elections. Only 37 percent of eligible voters turned out for the 2014 midterms, and even the recent overheated presidential election only brought out 60.2 percent of eligible voters. An