No one, not one single human being, should be hungry in this country, this state, or this county. Yet, as we have heard many times in recent years, food pantries are serving more and more people who are in situations of food insecurity, defined as lacking access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their needs for an active and…
Read MoreCategory: Opinion
The trouble with making books, writing columns, plotting novels…
~a column by Colleen O’Brien Lines upon lines upon rows upon – They pile up in the corners on the steps in the bathroom by my bed Hanging around hoping someone will need them Lines upon lines upon rows upon “Of the making of books there is no end.” Ecclesiastics 12:12 There are three manuscripts under my desk, bored with…
Read MoreDreams of a civilized species
~a column by Colleen O’Brien In March of 1986, I wrote a column about friends and strangers helping one another after two weeks of monster snowfall – more than 17 feet fell at Lake Tahoe in Nevada, where we lived. According to newspapers, “Several families were evacuated in front of an advancing onslaught of high winds, heavy snow and…
Read MoreFrom wordless to uber brained back to self-destruction in a mere 20 to 30 thousand years
~a column by Colleen O’Brien I do not believe that the scourge of AIDS was a god-sent punishment for being a homosexual. It was a disease that started on a different continent, came to North America as well as the rest of the world and at first affected only gay people, as far as we were informed. Those in charge,…
Read MoreGreene County Community Foundation invites you
The Greene County Community Foundation (GCCF) was established in January 2005 to serve and enhance the quality of life in Greene County. For the past 17 years a few individuals on the board have printed, stuffed, handwritten, or labeled 500 plus donation letters each year. The letters have invited our fellow Greene County community members to join the GCCF in…
Read MoreThe gift of health and honoring loved ones on Giving Tuesday
The ripples of an annual tradition are felt from the largest cities to the smallest communities and in non-profit organizations around the world. The global generosity movement, Giving Tuesday is Nov. 29, and for Greene County and beyond, it is a reminder that we all have something to give. “Giving Tuesday illuminates for all of us the fact that every…
Read MoreLetter – M. Weaver re Reynolds walking away from federal funding for child care
Dear Editor Riley, The newly opened Children’s Center for Greene County and the children of Jefferson will facilitate up to 94 children and was planned and designed to meet the educational and safety needs of the next generation. Thanks to the various individuals and organizations, the board of supervisors, Grow Greene County, the Iowa Economic Development, and the Iowa Department…
Read MoreA eulogy, a love note
~a column by Colleen O’Brien They’re going to cut down my favorite tree. “They” means “Authority.” This particular Authority is why I question authority: authority tries to do good, but they’re just not good at it. They get a little power, or a lot, and if they say something will be, or will not be, it’s carved in stone. Once…
Read MoreWho are the slackers?
~ a column by Colleen O’Brien I hope you all voted. We were reminded so many times to do so in the last month I feared any anti-authoritarian would just shut down and go fishing. There’s a condescension in repeating directives, and people get this; we aren’t all dumb deplorables. An occasional reminder of the county treasurer who lost by…
Read MorePrivate histories
~by Colleen O’Brien Reading diaries and journals is a soothing prescription after the hurricane has passed and the clean-up is as done as it can get as I wait for the insurance company. [Rocking back and forth, readingreadingreading, becoming draped in cobwebs.] A good diary tells it all – the loves and the hates and the perfect weather and the…
Read MoreLetter to the editor from C. Henning – Axne will protect women’s rights
To the editor, Everyone regardless of race, gender, and income should be concerned about the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Basic rights and freedoms should be guaranteed for everyone. After all, that’s the purpose behind the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the 14th Amendment which provides for equal treatment and due process for all regardless of state. But now,…
Read MoreEasing the loss after a hurricane
~a column by Colleen O’Brien Stories suggested to me in the lull after a hurricane: 1. Tales from my very grown children’s childhoods 2. Live Oaks, mangroves and palms – how they behave with hurricanes Both of these are comforting topics after days of nothing to see and talk about but ugliness and devastation. 1. Word person that I liked…
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