Plants and other living things cannot withstand the whiplash of these temperature extremes in a short window of time.  As for the culprit, we must name it and face it: global warming.

‍ ‍Not all economic development is negative because it can enrich a community by creating businesses and opportunities that create prosperity. But the Baker Wetlands, an ecological jewel, doesn’t ne...

Why would they want headphones?  I just didn’t get it, until I did: they wanted the material to be read to them by their electronic devices because they could not read the text themselves.

So what’s wrong with this arrangement?  Ideally, every partnership incorporates compromise, but regardless of the level of love and trust, there is an underlying power dynamic at play also. ...

I try to imagine what life is like for these young guys, who are on their screens whenever they are not sleeping, at work or at school.  Of course they’re not going to find anyone, which will onl...

We no longer have to wonder how such terrible things could have happened in Germany, because with our current authoritarian administration, this is our Hitler moment.  

“I’m glad that nobody screamed at us tonight,” he said.  “In the past there have been people who made it clear that they absolutely hated us, and all we are tasked with is considering the differe...

“We don’t want to buy newer cell phones.  We want you to replace the battery in these,” we told him.

Those who default to simplistic, knee-jerk conclusions out of laziness or stupidity are ultimately going to be fooled every time. 

Then we saw him, just as we rounded the corner of the produce section.

Diane shivered as her body continued to lose heat.  Her tears cascaded down her cheeks in harmony with the snow that fell down from the wintery black sky.  She would never see her children a...

We buried his Max Steel toy with him, but not the Woody doll, which sits with a plastic smile next to Spenser’s picture on the fireplace mantel

Yet I still could not be persuaded that living things should be thrown in the trash.

Some of the women who had been smiling because they knew me on a superficial basis were not smiling anymore.  I was not reaching them, but in a few minutes, how is it possible to educate people a...

Grief is an unwanted relative who announces that he is coming for a prolonged visit.  We dread having to drop everything else to entertain him during his stay.  Once he arrives, we will sit ...

“As a Tarot reader, I get to peek behind the curtain of the architecture of the universe to see how all of these synchronicities relate for this particular person, and how that might be life-changing ...

But then as the first few weeks of school wore on, a very strange thing happened.  I couldn’t tell who was Black anymore.

“Be mindful that we share this Earth with a multitude of other living beings, each with a purpose.  We are all connected.”

Why can’t we have a commuter train that goes from Kansas City to Lawrence and Topeka?

“We are not going to solve these problems from within the system that we already have.  Instead, some people will need to peel off and figure out a different economic system.  We must be the...

“So about how many people live here?” I asked, glancing around.  She and I were the only ones in the kitchen, and the house was quiet.          &nbsp...

My eyes widened.  “So you just went on the road for three and a half years with your cat.  How did that turn out?”

It’s also comforting to know that every visitor to the Kansas State Fair this September will be a potential pedophile, child molester, rapist or murderer.

This plague is destroying the lives of many people, as we collectively inhale the pestilence with every breath.

That hasn’t stopped a wealthy developer from pursuing his plan to create “commercial and open space uses” in a large acreage adjacent to the Baker Wetlands, threatening this vital ecosystem with light...

“Please God, do not take me now.”

The list of practical reasons for supporting the farmers’ market is extensive, and I thought that if I interviewed other vendors, they would reiterate the same selling points. For the mos...

So Brian would not be streaking that night because the invisible faces and voices of people from his hometown had followed him to Iowa City.  We can also assume that he would not be vandalizing p...

I then realized that I had no choice.  No choice at all.  As a tomboy who played mostly with boys, I knew the code, that it is better to risk injury or death than to ever be a coward.

Trust the forest.  The guide such as me opens the door but the therapist is the forest.  We trust that the forest or nature will offer to you what you need for today.”

“We’re going about this all wrong,” I suddenly stated.  “Rather than allowing helping the environment to be cast in a negative light, we need to make it seem like the fun, trendy, sexy thing to do.  People need to be cajoled.”

I turned around to encounter a woman wearing a black skirt with her hair in a bun.  I laughed at the slogan on her t-shirt: “The Only Good Orange Monarch is a Butterfly.”

“I had a tech job.  I worked for several corporations and the last one was a startup.  I’m grateful for the experience, but want to focus my energy on something worthwhile.”

I never carried through, and in the meantime, have come to the realization that it may not be possible to convert that man with a simple message he may not even be able to comprehend.

People appeared, walking down the road toward us, some barefoot, and some riding bicycles. 

“Queerness has always kind of made sense to me, like I would always argue against, ‘Boys can’t do that. Girls can’t do that.’  I see the word ‘queer’ as an ideology aligned with breaking binaries...

Instead of being greeted by emergent green leaves, the wildflowers were dying, wilting and browning, splayed to the ground.  An employee of the parks and recreation department had indiscriminatel...

I am grateful that I have always questioned why we do things the way we do, and sometimes summon the courage to act differently.  It may be argued that growing a garden is an act of defiance, a p...

“You know, of all the things we did in rearing our children, the thing they are most grateful for today is that we made the decision not to feed them any animal products before they were old enough to...

When I attended discussion groups immediately following his death, I was advised that although the pain of grief would diminish, it would never totally go away.  That has not been my experience.&...

By the time the elevator door opened again at our destination, a young woman wearing a tan skirt and a green cardigan and I were the only remaining passengers.  She focused her eyes on me with a ...

I didn’t realize why she had imparted this intimate news to a stranger until years later.  She was educating me about motherhood.

Yet these years of buoyancy and optimism were preceded by World War II and the Great Depression, when lives were harrowed by extreme hardship and deprivation, loss and deaths.  Perhaps this winno...

I hope that they are wrong, and that my premonition in the garden was not prophetic. I don’t want to be Cassandra.

“No, I’m sorry.  All the plane and hotel reservations have been made in your name, and at this late notice, they are not transferrable,” stated the voice on the other end.  I put down the re...

He showed me the phone.  “It’s from USAID.gov , and says that as of February 7 you have to be home if overseas because they are closing everything down.”

Despite his silence, I yearned to express my opinions to this despicable man.  Due to his unceasing assault on the basic services designed to assist ordinary Kansans, I longed to spell out exactl...

Whenever I am face to face with money and spending, I find myself circling back to previous times to examine the correlation between my level of affluence and my personal happiness. 

I have my own theory about why Donald Trump and his minions are so outraged by diversity, equity and inclusion, because I can remember when the second wave of feminism started in the latter part of th...

In February during my freshman year, the student government presented a “Sex Education Series.”  In no way was this series designed to be a serious study of sexuality, but was another ribald, irr...