I trust you all lived through the Fourth of July this year. If you didn’t, you probably won’t be reading this column In the last couple of days I’ve been noticing complaints by neighbors about the high gas prices in Illinois, which always have been the highest in the Midwest....
A growing segment of the population views primarily everything the Nation’s founders said with a healthy dose of skepticism. For various reasons, the distrust associated with the establishing principles of American democracy has legitimacy. As the 2022 campaign season turns toward the general election, it’s hard watching as the plight...
Independence Day holiday is and should be a big, wonderful, celebration. In spite of many problems, distractions, and problems, the founding of the country in a political sense was comparatively resolved, breathtaking, and led to solving governmental situations. We require comparable courage today. It is a busy world for The...
We do our best in society when we keep things moving, seek improvements, and be inclusive. It works better when we have the idea we are one, even with different tastes, styles, preferences. One for all and all for one is preferable. Reality indicates the ideal can be more difficult...
The Latin form Cleopatra comes from the ancient Greek meaning “glory of her father.” Her adopted title means “goddess who loves her father.” And so with very little of historic records, we form an opinion. No papyri from Alexandria survive. Almost nothing of the ancient city survives. There is one...
Two new management team members have joined the ranks at the Aurora Public Library District (APLD). Mark Salem joined the administration team as our new finance manager and Monica Boyer was recently hired as our new senior manager of Children Services. We sat down to learn more about them, what...
Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry will be host to a 13-hour, three-location radiothon fundraiser from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, July 8. The live radio broadcast from multiple locations will be by 95.9 The River. The broadcast schedule is 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., Scott Mackay live at the...
June is Bustin’ Out All Over! It is greater than the 95 degrees, or projected 99 degrees, this week. June is bursting, or, busting with special days. Music fans may recall June is Bustin’ Out All Over, the 1956 Broadway musical, Carousel, courtesy of famed Rodgers and Hammerstein. June has...
Another mass shooting. In a school. Oh, my. Thoughts and prayers. End of story. Until the next time. There will be a next time, dear reader, some where in these Disunited States of America. No community is immune any more. Even here in River City, we’ve had our own mass...
The word election is magnetic. It raises eyebrows, draws interest of a majority, and draws disdain from a disinterested minority which wants no part in conducting its civic duty, even if some of the contested entries can be skipped for any reason. A few candidates claim poor counting by election...
June 12 is Loving Day, which marks the day when the U.S. Supreme Court, in 1967, unanimously ruled in favor of Mildred and Richard Loving, and made states’ laws against interracial marriage unconstitutional. • “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination...
Sheltering in place during the pandemic offered old duffers like me, nearing 81, plenty of time, maybe too much, to reflect. I wonder if other mature readers have been reflecting: Old friends around me are dropping like flies, and others are hobbled by physical and cognitive problems that lack good...
Memorial Day photos reflect the traditional remembrance of the occasion when the focus is on those military personnel who make life’s transition, either in the service of the Nation, or in succeeding years. The Voice is filled with meaningful Memorial Day photos this week, however, other important items, which ordinarily...
Last of two parts Winona LaDuke writes about Alex White Plume a leader of the Ogala Lakota tribe in the Spring 2021 edition of Yes! magazine. “More than 20 years ago, Alex White Plume, a leader of the Oglala Lakota, planted his first hemp crop on Wounded Knee Creek, on...
On one side of the door, the north side, the triangular vase of lilies of the valley cascaded down the wood. On the other side of the door was a draft-stopping bear, legs akimbo, to keep out the Spring winds. How can it be that the opposites of one door...
Musings: • Got baby formula, ladies? Sure, you do; it came with the baby, but you forgot you had it. It’s called “breast milk,” and you have a plentiful supply to fulfill the baby’s needs. Few women talk about it anymore, which is unfortunate, because the original product is more...
Ever wonder what drives the placement of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and who will benefit from them? What about the working-poor and minority communities? Will they be able to take advantage of electric vehicles, their benefits, and the glut of associated technologies? As General Motors and other U.S. automakers...
Summer unofficially will begin with Memorial Day and joyfully (hopefully) work its way through Labor Day, the unofficial end of Summer. With Memorial Day we enjoy activities and must pause to understand reasons in memoriam why we have a Memorial Day. As a society we should be dedicated to minimize...
First of two parts Winona LaDuke writes about Alex White Plume, a leader of the Ogala Lakota tribe, in the Spring 2021 edition of Yes! magazine: “More than 20 years ago, Alex White Plume, a leader of the Oglala Lakota, planted his first hemp crop on Wounded Knee Creek, on...
When Louis XIII succeeded as French king in 1610, Versailles was a prosperous hamlet set in an upland valley which was only partially cleared for cultivation. There were 200 residents near this primal woodland. The Latin word vertere means to turn the soil and immortalizes the “hard grind of the...
