By Hilary Thomas: In November we lost our beautiful, courageous, sharp-witted, fiercely loving, passionate mother. For over a week, she was surrounded by her...

By Gillian Kessler: My mama died at the beginning of this year. Saturdays are now the hardest days. Saturdays, a little before one in the afternoon. She was ...

By Roger Desmarais: There is a lovely wisdom contained in old phrases about life created by the elderly who have lived much of their lives and found much to ...

By Elizabeth Gracen: “Okay, Boomer.” My kid LOVES to say that to me. “Whatever you say, Karen. Do you want to speak to the manager?” That’s another one of he...

By Helen Cassidy Page: Chestnuts roasting on an open fire is all good, but not everybody rocks Christmas. At least not 24/7 like the songs and ads for stuffi...

By Tim Murphy: When I was a kid, my Aunt Mary came to stay with us every Christmas. She was widowed twice and never had children. In fact, the issue of her n...

By Gillian Kessler: It was the idea of the ghosts that I loved. A mess of found supplies laid willy nilly on the carpet while we worked together to honor the...

By Tim Murphy: Last week, my buddy Al and I were talking about the prejudices that we learned growing up. I grew up on the South side of Chicago, he grew up ...

By Tina Albo: I’ve always believed that the best dishes went beyond tradition and taste. To me, any recipe is a simple blueprint to build on—a blank canvas i...

By Annie Newcomer: Recently I attended a writers’ summer workshop for both youth and adults, which made for an interesting mingling. The students reflected e...

By Jane E. Drichta: Humans tell stories, it's what we do. Existence is by turns inspiring, awful, peaceful, chaotic; whatever the experience, stories help us...

by Elizabeth Gracen: In our continuing series Making the World a Better Place, we highlight the amazing work being done by hard-working people all over the w...

By Jim Byrnes: Ain't it just like the night to play tricks when you're trying to be so quiet. —Bob Dylan "He is immortal. Born in the Highlands of Scotland i...

We're back with more ideas to think about when it comes to being ready for life's emergencies, both big and small. In this post, we'll address potential hous...

Thought you'd considered it all when it comes to emergency prevention and disaster preparedness? Well, if you really want to get serious about this, you migh...

by Hilary Thomas: When I think back on defining moments in my life, spring of 1992 often pops into my head. It was a time that marked a true identity shift f...

By Sherri Rabinowitz: One of the things I have never really understood is why people never listen to their elders’ stories. It is important not just so that ...

By Sherri Rabinowitz: Who would think that a lifetime of happiness could be received from a letter? Especially a letter that wasn’t sent to you. My dad was i...

by Elizabeth Gracen: My grandfather, Tom Murphy, was an amazing athlete in the 1930s. He was the star quarterback for the Arkansas Razorbacks and would lette...

by Hilary Thomas: The very first time I was on stage was at age four, in a show called Madame Butterfly. I played “Sorrow,” Madame Butterfly's child. This ma...