July 16, 1936, was the hottest day on record in Iowa and the day I became a middle child. It was a mere three months past m second birthday and I was blissfully unaware of what has become known as the...

On hot afternoons, long before television and air conditioned homes, we'd dig out the left-over school supplies and play “School” on the shady screened-in front porch. The list of required school...

My dad had a pretty sizable sweet tooth and that meant dessert with every meal – including breakfast. This was probably because, when he was a kid, the family ran a small grocery store and he and his...

The saga of the City of Solon and the development of a new Jordan Creek Church site seems to be never ending. The recent “clarification” by this publication (6/26) and the accompanying quotes of...

It has been several years since I lost a dear friend who once taught rhetoric at the University of Iowa. She told me that one of the first things she did in every class was to write on the chalkboard...

As the US Senate debates the huge budget bill passed by the House, the problems with the bill have become evident as numerous Republicans begin airing their differences. That the bill would add a massive...

In defending her vote for the reconciliation bill working its way through the Congress, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks wrote in her congressional newsletter, “(the bill) delivers real relief, starting...

Most of us have three different vocabularies suited for different levels of communication. The largest and most sophisticated is usually the one we understand more than we use, developed through the...

In my early school days, there were a lot of kids who hadn't a clue about acceptable behavior in social situations. There were no preschools in those days, in fact, kindergarten was new and not required...

I work as a rehabilitation nurse in eastern Iowa, but many of the patients I care for come from towns like Solon—neighbors who raised crops, built families, served in the military, or taught in rural...

Manufacturing has long been a cornerstone of Iowa’s economy, and its future success depends on how well we align education with rapidly evolving industry needs. That’s a responsibility we take...

Somebody asked me why I became a columnist rather than, say, a poet, novelist or children's author. The first answer that comes to mind is, “Almost by accident.” As an artist, I tried to sell some...