Two decades have passed since 9/11, and I still haven’t seen a sky as blue as it was on the East Coast that morning. The crystalline backdrop stood in stark relief to the day’s senseless horror. September 11 unfolded into a day of contrasts: sheer evil and
Read more →“Wow, that was fun!” my sixth-grader says as he darts from the halls of Naperville Christian Academy and bounds my car. “What was fun?” I ask. I assume he’s referring to an exchange with his friends. “The school day, Mom. It was great. A lot of fun.”
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By Kristina Cowan On March 11, the World Health Organization made official what many anticipated: It called the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. Within days, the world closed. Everything from restaurants to businesses to schools shuttered, sending everyone home to “slow the spread.” Work and school from home
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Have you ever described someone as shallow or superficial? Lacking depth? Most of us offer these unkind character sketches at some point. They’re based on what we see: actions and behaviors. To understand what drives those actions and behaviors, we need to understand a person’s history. In
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My brother, Jim, would be fifty-four today. We lost him to suicide seven years ago. Like many before, he lost a battle with depression. As of 2018*, suicide was the tenth leading cause of death in the United States. That works out to an average of one
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What does breastfeeding have to do with postpartum mental health? Plenty. I explored the intersection of these topics recently on the All About Breastfeeding Podcast. Host Lori Isenstadt, a lactation consultant and breastfeeding expert, points out that breastfeeding mismanagement can pose unique hurdles for women with perinatal
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This week will be one of the worst in U.S. history. The death toll from COVID-19 is expected to soar to a dark summit. The emotional load will be heaviest. We watch daily briefings like children eating vegetables: We hesitate. We flinch. We hold our noses, and
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Define story in one word. Did you say “character?” Maybe “plot?” Many people do, according to author Larry Brooks. It’s not quite right, though. The essence of story is conflict. With conflict, a force opposes your protagonist’s goal. It stirs dramatic tension and readers’ emotional investment. Without
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I was twenty when I first set foot in Manhattan. It was March of 1994. I joined my cousin and friends on a fast tour of New York City: an afternoon in Central Park; an evening at The Metropolitan Opera, watching Franco Zeffirelli’s rendition of La Bohème;
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My daughter and her class are reading Little House in the Big Woods, the classic by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It’s the first in a beloved series based on Wilder’s life. With my kids’ school moving online this month amid the pandemic, I’ve been a teacher by proxy.
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