Musings: Where is your chimney located, dear reader? Is it an external or an internal chimney? I ask because I recently have become fascinated by chimneys. An external chimney is a structure attached to the main body of the house, whereas an internal chimney is a pipe which runs from...
Politics! The age-old art form draws a great deal of attention today and has drawn attention for centuries. It will not fade away as long groups of individuals will draw into governance each day and each year. According to the Oxford dictionary: “The activities associated with the governance of a...
All holidays are special to most of us. Labor Day will be Monday, Sept. 4. To some individuals it is a day off, or, Summer’s Last Stand, or, an opportunity to take an extended holiday trip. Labor Day is a special salute to those who work for a living, a...
Reprinted from the August 12, 2021 editionLast of three parts Every day we find ourselves in gatherings, Priya Parker wrote in “The Art of Gathering.” If we can understand what makes these gatherings effective and memorable, then we can reframe and redirect them to benefit everyone, host and guest, alike....
Cantigny Park is a bucolic 500-acre park in Wheaton and is the former estate of Joseph Medill and his grandson Colonel Robert R. McCormick, publishers of the Chicago Tribune. In the late 1800s the land was acquired as a country estate which Medill called Red Oaks. In 1896-97 Medill built...
There has been a rash of UFO (Unidentified Flying Objects) sightings of late. In the 1950s, such a rash was called a “flap.” These days, it’s been a “flap-and-a-half” because a good deal of humankind the world over has gotten on the bandwagon. Even the usual explanations given by government...
Politics is ever-present in our daily lives; always has been and always will be a part of the daily fabric of society’s existence. Now, however, more than in a long time, perhaps even ever, there is a greater dissent, not just differences of opinions. We find various factions examining the...
Reprinted from the August 5, 2021 editionSecond of three parts Every day we find ourselves in gatherings, Priya Parker writes in “The Art of Gathering.” (Part one was an esssential methods of gatherings. We find ourselves in part two.) “For as long as she lived, Virginia Kirkus told everyone that...
We are connected in many ways and with many in our communities, to a greater or lesser extent, like it or not like it. There are events in preparation for the near future and events gaining ground with planning in the distance.The Aurora Historical Society’s exhibit, “Here Comes the Bride,’...
Reprinted from the August 5, 2021 editionFirst of three parts Every day we find ourselves in gatherings, Priya Parker writes in “The Art of Gathering.” “If we can understand what makes these gatherings effective and memorable, then we can re-frame and redirect them to benefit everyone, host and guest alike,”...
I met a rich man today. He was on the Chicago BNSF (Burlington Northern Sante Fe) #1315 train returning to Aurora. His daughter sat with him, playing with her toys and eating Good and Plenty candies. She had just had her hair done by her older sister so it was...
Musings: UFOs (unidentified flying object) over Las Vegas? What’s going on here? Do the ETs want to try their luck? And why would they? If they can travel through the Galaxy at “warp speed,” they really don’t need “luck,” do they? They are smart enough to have invented a gizmo...
Mutual Ground, Inc.’s next chief executive officer, Linda Maranda, joins the organization after serving as vice president of Strategic Partnerships for Haymarket Center in Chicago Aurora-based Mutual Ground announced June 20, 2023, that Linda Maranda has been hired as the organization’s next chief executive officer. Maranda, who is leaving her...
Communities offer interaction with members of the communities. Governments are involved as a part of the process. Approval of governmental activities by the public is important to those active in government. Public relations is important. Interaction and communications are a part of the process. The National Night Out Tuesday, Aug....
It was a bucolic Summer’s day and a short train ride to the Brookfield Zoo with a picnic to be savored. I wanted to take photographs of the Zoo animals for my next children’s book with a working title of “A Zoo Menagerie.” The Chicago Zoological Society manages the Zoo,...
Topics this week include the sizzling Summer heat factor, a pause on politics for the middle of the Summer, one year away from national political conventions, and finding last- gasp items for those who soon will focus on back-to-school, the latter a natural topic when the calendar relentlessly turns to...
Notes and thoughts in another crowded edition of The Voice:...
Reprinted from March 24, 2022Last of two parts Kendra Ward wrote the following article which was published in the 2021 Spring issue of YES magazine. “We can engage in simple rituals of reciprocity by finding a daily communion with the creatures, waterways, and stars that remind us something vibrantly alive...
Recently, North Korea’s Little Rocket Man, Kim Jong Un has been showing off by blowing up stuff, mainly Japanese ocean water. His actions brought back memories of his granddaddy, Kim Il Sung, the Grand Poobah of the North, who ruled when I was enjoying my military vacation in the Korean...
When the important celebration and recognition of Independence Day, July 4, is concluded each year, and following recovery, whether one day or one week, next on the horizon is back-to-school and last-gasp Summer activities. We enjoyed excellent weather for Independence Day. We received some welcome rain to put to an...
