Rebecca Wee and her siblings grew up in a home full of books, with parents who read to them. She loved nursery rhymes and fairy tales, and apparently, had passages of Beowulf memorized by age 3. Children feel rhyme and meter with their bodies, and as…
The next time you open up a book – be it a science fiction thriller or the latest Abraham Lincoln biography – you will be tempted to flip directly to the first page. Forget the table of contents or that strange page with all the tiny print that tells…
Wayne Granneman remembers pieces of the car fly around him, as a crack made its way across the windshield. He was in an intersection in Montana, just a short distance from his fishing destination. A Dodge Ram pickup truck had just hit his car. Once e…
It began with a question. A woman named Mavoreen Briggs was an auxiliary volunteer at what is now Genesis Medical Center. And there was a rule that bugged her. So she asked: “Could we change the rule about not talking to patients when we take the Not…
Spring has sprung here in the Quad Cities. Buds and flowers burst from trees that were bare just days ago. The once brown grass is lush and green. Tulips and daffodils and lilacs bring the kind of color that help us forget our gray February. It’s the…
The story of Missey Andrews completing the Boston marathon begins with dabbling with getting out and walking 11 years ago. As she walked, she would see how far she could run. At first, it was not so far. Then she signed up for her first 5k and finish…
St. Paul kids will experience God’s unstoppable love and learn how to live life with God by their side, at Vacation Bible School 2015. VBS, with the theme of G-Force: God’s Love in Action, will be Monday, June 8-Friday, June 12. St. Paul will come al…
Christian Frieden and Carolyn Wehr are students at Moline High School. They are both super involved in the arts. For the recent production of Grease, he was Danny Zuko, she was Cha Cha. They’ve played Romeo and Juliet and countless other roles throug…
Last week, on the Pearl Street walking mall in Boulder, Colorado, I sat on a bench enjoying my turkey and provolone Panini. It was a warm day, perfect for people watching. I began to study the movements of that city’s many homeless people. It is pret…
Remember your first car? It may have been an Oldsmobile with a falling-off bumper and cracked windshield. Or, maybe it was a small blue pickup truck with a passenger door that only opened from the outside. Or, it might have been a muscle car you save…
Regina Haddock has fought some pretty tough battles in her life. Her family had few resources growing up. But she saw her mom working, sometimes multiple jobs, to keep the family going. She’s been divorced, twice. Regina found herself underemployed –…
There is something about this time of year that makes everything seem possible. Last August the garden beds in our backyard were overrun with weeds and our hostas were dried out and weary looking. But this past weekend as we raked away the leaves, I…