This whole “love your neighbor” business isn’t as easy as it looks, because it’s easy to hurt people’s feelings -- even easier for our feelings to be hurt. I have heard stories of grudges that go back 50 years. We fired our neighbor from doing our hay. Putting the whole cutting -- 600 bales worth -- in our barn, or even trying to sell it off the field, has gotten to be too much. As Bruce says, every time we do hay it’s a fiasco. Every time, I remind him, help arrives. This year we found a guy

Maybe government can be run like a business, but the conclusion emerges that it cannot be run like a family business. Entrepreneurs like D‎onald Trump run a family business, employing who they want, deciding what they want. They can appear to operate in a kind of vacuum. Corporate CEOs operate in a context of wider accountability. They answer initially to a board of directors -- and ultimately to shareholders. In contrast to entrepreneurs, CEOs confront more rigid procedures and wider demands

“Graduation is an exercise.” That was the clever headline I put over a storyboard I submitted for a photo class in college. My photos showed the daily grind students plod through to reach the holy grail — a college degree. Looking back, I’d say the biggest obstacle was passing tests. Lots of tests. I remember cramming for tests … and trying to guess what will be asked. Students are always looking for an edge. Students like Henry Lynch, for example. He found a short cut — through an air duct. And

I wonder who’s next? Martin Niemöller, a pastor, was an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. Niemöller is perhaps best remembered for this quotation: “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Socialist. “Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Trade Unionist. “Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Jew.

Illinois is the “Prairie State,” but we’ve lost more than 99.99% of our prairies to farming and development. This loss of prairie threatens the survival of iconic species such as regal fritillary butterflies. Other species, such as the upland sandpiper and large grazers like bison, have been driven nearly or completely out of Illinois from hunting and habitat loss. But, in a remote corner of Franklin Grove, a team of citizen volunteers and restoration practitioners is trying to change all that.

You never know what you may discover – and learn – when you set off on a road trip, even if it’s just one state over. Destination: The Traverse City Film Festival. Mission: Films that may not make it commercially. Michael Moore, the festival’s founder, puts it this way: “We need movies that seek to enrich the human spirit … not the bottom line.” In the documentary “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World,” Buffy Sainte-Marie tells us there’s medicine in the arts. She’s one of the many Native

For vacation I am going to Europe. Despite my excitement, I have a tinge of loathing. It’s not about struggling with speaking German. I am more concerned with the possible onslaught of questions about U.S. politics. The last time I visited Europe was during the debt-ceiling crisis of 2011. After being asked about the impasse several times, my answers began feeling hollow. Being abroad forces you to be a little more objective as you hear yourself outside the comfort of our borders and see how

I didn't know him. He wasn't a relative. But I would make a five-hour drive to Charles City, Iowa, for a memorial service honoring a 15-year-old whose sacrifice would give life to five others. Logan Luft -- a wrestler, outdoorsman, and excellent student -- would be declared brain dead after an ATV accident on July 4. When he had acquired his driver's learning permit, he chose to be listed as an organ donor. His family would honor that request, and his liver, pancreas, and kidneys would give new

I want my kids to look for unexpected potential in others and in themselves, but do I do the same? Citing a study, The New York Times reported that when children over five saw a box filled with items, they struggled to see the box as anything other than a container. But the younger children saw it as a flexible resource with a variety of uses. Not surprising, is it? As we age, we categorize the uses and potential of human beings, too. We’ve all felt pigeonholed sometimes -- our intents,

Ronald Reagan’s 1983 commission on education first sounded the alarm of our decreasing levels of academic achievement when it announced, "The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a nation and a people." The most recent test results show American high school students continuing to fall behind the rest of the world. In science, the U.S. ranked 25 th ; in reading, 24 th ; and in math 40 th ! Where are we