I recently enjoyed the absolute privilege of introducing another young man to the ocean and I am still so thrilled about what a perfect pairing it turned out to be. The little boy yelled with delight when he spotted the enormous new friend he’d been anticipating meeting for months, and that old reliable ocean rolled [...]
Chia Gounza Vang came to Appleton as an illiterate 15-year old refugee. That journey inspired her to write a two-book series that is both captivating and educational. I have read The Illiterate Daughter and, now, Dreamer’s Dream, and I loved them both. The fictional stories are based on the actual Hmong experience. “Dreamer’s Dream is [...]
A nice man asked me if I wanted him take my picture as I stood on the beach shooting the sunset. “Sure!” I answered and handed him my phone. He snapped a couple of shots and I thanked him as he walked away. The pictures made me laugh because, in all these years of loving [...]
A short Uber ride in Birmingham provided both the means to the National Civil Rights Monument and the meaning such places exist. “Do you know where we could take a civil rights walking tour?” my mom asked William, our driver. “You’d have to go to Montgomery for that,” he said while he zipped us along [...]
An icy wind blew off the Fox River last Saturday morning when my friend spotted our first crocus of 2024. Naturally, I knelt down to take a picture. I love crocuses almost as much as I love my friends, and I’ve been thinking lately about their similarities. Crocuses are beautiful and so are my friends. [...]