Withstanding negative degree temperatures is, in a sense, mind over matter. With February 1 on the horizon, Winter will be nearly half over. Some day soon likely we may wish the hot and humid days would be a little cooler, such as more similar to Winter. Such is life. How...
Sally grew up with a life of privilege living on High Point Drive in Peoria. Her father was a doctor and her mom was a socialite. She wanted for nothing. Her pony, Chester, gave her many happy trails around Peoria. He was boarded near North University Avenue and Sally could...
Several years ago, staff members of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute were preparing for our Renewing Illinois Summit for university and college students, and we wanted to provide them with suggested reading material on Illinois. I checked my shelves at the institute and jotted down the titles of various...
Information is in The Voice for readers to read, understand, stimulate thought, assimilate, and to make it useful. We seek to assist in bringing links to our communities, share, and offer encouragement, to be positive and not negative. Each person in a community should understand that it is responsible to...
The leader was a Palomino stallion. His gold coat and light cream mane and tail were the result of thousands of years in the Middle East. Queen Isabella in the 1500s kept 100 Palominos for the nobility to ride. She sent a Palomino stallion and five mares to the New...
I was reminiscing recently about my teen years and how we guys were into cars and cruisin’. I guess that’s what you do when you get old and your brain begins to resemble oatmeal; what’s left of it thinks about the good old days. Guys were either making their cars...
Household incomes in the United States have become more unequal over recent decades, as measured by the Gini Index of Inequality. American society has become more sharply polarized, as measured by Donald Trump’s continuing, intense support in small town and rural America. I know why, or at least know some...
When my best friend of nearly 60 years called, I thought it was our annual New Year’s greeting. We’ve had fun with it sharing incredible, even impossible, expectations and resolutions for the new year for many years. Last year, he proclaimed that at 67 years, he’d try out for a...
New Year’s resolutions, by nature of keeping them and making real choices, should be brief and concise and realistic. A list of 10 good ideas is fine, however, when a few are broken, the rest follow much too easily. Keep it for proper functions. Use one goal at a time....
First of two parts Jennifer Morris, chief executive officer of The Nature Conservancy, writes: “As a lifelong conservationist and now CEO of The Nature Conservancy, I am an impatient optimist. I hear the clock ticking on climate change. I see the threats to biodiversity and loss of nature with clear...
My maternal cousin, Tom O’Brien, is a master historian and genealogist who literally has traveled the world in search of facts and photographs, particularly of the Litterst family. He and his wife have travelled extensively. Tom and his French wife, Marguerite, raised two sons and live in the Portland, Oregon...
Musings: 1. The U.S. Congress recently passed a “defense” bill totaling $783 billion, including $25 billion the White House and the Pentagon didn’t ask for. It was the military’s Christmas present for FY 2022, and was passed almost unanimously by both chambers. The Congress could not, however, find $3.5 trillion...
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We are blessed in this space to have the flexibility to write on a wide range of topics. We are not confined to a narrow perspective. For example, we received a call earlier this week to ask if we had plans to write on the life and recent death of...
“Bake your honey cake, All browning and sweet. Bake it at 3 o’clock for tea, Bake it for you and for me.” —Jo Fredell Higgins Welcome to the New Year 2022. May it be one of joy and plenty. Kings and priests regarded the sanctity of the bees and found...
There is always more to the story. It is difficult for most comprehensive reports to tell all of the story. For example, the recently-completed Aurora Festival of Lights around Phillips Park in Aurora, November 26-December 26, was not produced in the blink of an eye. The annual holiday treat with...
Books under consideration this last week of the old year: • The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse. Author Charlie Mackesy wrote the most delightful book about love, friendship, and kindness. This book speaks a universal language, including these thoughts: “What do you think success is?” asked the...
Today is 05 Marx 53 ASE. Many years ago, I created a new calendar to replace the grossly-erroneous Christian calendar of Pope Gregory XIII. The Gregorian calendar was based upon religious precepts rather than upon astronomical observations. Consequently, it did not serve a multi-ethnic population which existed on Planet Earth,...
By John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead It feels as if government Grinches, corporate Scrooges, and cancel culture humbugs, have been working overtime to drain every last drop of joy, kindness, and liberty from the world. After endless months of gloom and doom, it can be hard to feel the...
The Voice offers a voice continually for as many readers and in as many corners as possible. Military veterans have been a focus for many reasons. One military veteran, who served in World War II, Richard Williams, recently, with the able assistance of his wife, Christine Williams and Wayne Johnson,...
