My book club was recently discussing the ways people avoid talking about problems. One woman said that her daughter, who is Jewish, was being shown homes in several suburbs of Chicago. Her realtor would steer her away from listings in … Continued
Immigration
Norwegian Christmas Cookies
My great-great-grandfather grew up near Fortun, in Norway. Three families owned the entire valley, so he would have been a tenant farmer, a day-laborer, or a servant. Since he could not marry into one of the three land-owning families, he … Continued
Culture
Book Review: The Accidental American
“It is always about race,” says Rinku Sen, the Executive Director of the Applied Research Center. “The people who advocate for restricting the number of new immigrants talk about jobs, disease, and demand on social services, but they are really … Continued
Politics
How Do YOU Want to Die?
Who benefits if Americans are afraid to talk about death and dying? Or even making choices about the quality of their own end of life care? Clearly not the taxpayers, who according to a study by Duke University, save $2,309 … Continued
Fundraising When Money is Tight
Mal Warwick is what diplomats would call the Old China Hand. He has simply done more than anyone else. He has raised money and taught others how to raise money on every continent except Antarctica. This year he developed the … Continued
Dorothy Day: Protester, Journalist, Someday a Saint?
The last time Dorothy Day went to jail was at age 75 while protesting with Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers supporting grape workers in California. The first time she went to jail was at age 20 with a … Continued
Spring Cleaning – Make Room for the New
Comedian George Carlin said, “That’s all your house is: a place to keep your stuff. If you didn’t have so much stuff, you wouldn’t need a house. You could just walk around all the time.” And Dorothy Day, founder of … Continued
Handel’s Messiah: Music for Many Good Causes
Music can be a marvelous way to make money. Willie Nelson’s Farm Aid concerts have raised more than $33 million to save family farms. The First Lady of France, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, donated the royalties from her last album to La … Continued
Culture
Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching
We don’t know our own history. I aced the mandatory eighth grade Illinois Civics class in 1960, by repeating what I had been taught about Abraham Lincoln. But I was not taught about Ida B. Wells, the African-American journalist who … Continued
Po Boy Tango, Reviewed
Food is so much more than just food. It is how babies bond with their mothers, how we woo our sweethearts, and how we comfort the bereaved. We serve special foods to show respect or to ask for forgiveness. Kenneth … Continued