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This summer we spent a lot of time “up north” in Bayfield, Wisconsin. One of our favorite restaurants, The Manypenny Bistro, featured the best pancakes ever and the service from the waitstaff was just as sweet. One waitress, who we visited with on se…
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In the Shetland Islands of far northern Scotland, a new prescription is becoming more widespread. It’s been particularly popular in recent months because this medicine requires no pharmacy and there’s no risk of overdose. In fact, as far as anyone ca…
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One of my children’s favorite books is called Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. It tells of Sylvester, a donkey, who finds a red magic pebble that makes wishes come true. It’s all fun and games until Sylvester wishes himself to be a rock, in order to e…
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Online learning offers amazing opportunities in our time. Yet there’s one thing which learning over a screen never seems to be able to fully accommodate – namely, the emotional relationship or bond that develops between a teacher and student who regu…
Our summer learning series, Godspan, was created as a kind of hybrid. One of the hot topics in the Quad Cities of late has been “the bridge” – the new I-74 span over the Mississippi. And one of the interesting pieces of my professional biography as I…
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Last Friday afternoon, sixteen vehicles, filled with 117 people, pulled into the St. Paul parking lot after a week of serving and learning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I had the joy of watching parents and grandparents greet their teenagers as they unloa…
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Back in February, when it was 150 degrees colder than it is today in Iowa, I sat down with a seed catalog and drew a little map, plotting out where I’d plant our vegetables and flowers. And on that one sunny day in May, the kids and I went outside to…
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A construction level hangs on the wall in my office. I put that Stanley No. 3 Type IIA (patent June 23, 1896, cherry wood with brass trim) there for a reason. It catches my eye at different points of each day, and those glances remind me of the need…
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On July 4, 1776, the land that now constitutes the Quad Cities was being claimed by Spain and was inhabited by Sauk, Fox, Ioway, Illini, Winnebago, and other native peoples. What happened in Philadelphia at the Continental Congress that day meant not…
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The show must not go on. That is what happened back in January when it got so cold that they actually canceled the theater. Luckily for us, and all those who attended the production of Kinky Boots at the Adler, it was rescheduled for last Wednesday….
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After the winter and spring we’ve had in the Quad Cities this year, even the slightest hint of nice weather begs for us to get outside. Last Saturday a group of young adults from St. Paul did just that. They gathered together for a day trip to Maquo…
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Recently I attended a high school graduation for a young person who doubted whether or not she’d ever walk across that stage. She had some barriers in her life, like others of her peers, but walk she did and I was there to glimpse her proud smile and…