Category: Opinion

Diary entries by Cori O’Virus, as dictated to Colleen O’Brien Last time I wrote, I was thinking of myself as the paradoxical parasite , Cori O’Virus on a mission to save my species – coronavirus, as well as my host’s species – humans. My human host has just fallen asleep, with the radio on, as usual, so I listen most…

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~Diary entries by Cori O’Virus, edited by Colleen O’Brien When I left off last week, I was about to listen to my host’s radio. I am conversant with the language – all coronavirus know the language of whatever part of the world they’ve blown into. If we’re around individuals for any time, we begin to read their minds. In my…

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~a guest column by Sharon Whitehill As a teenager in love I romanticized the idea of falling asleep in my boyfriend’s arms, imagining his gazing tenderly down at my innocent face. Now, as a long-married woman, I hate the very idea of being watched while I sleep. Unlike babies and children, grown people look foolish at best when they’re sleeping.…

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Diary entries by Cori O’Virus (as dictated to Colleen O’Brien) I have secured a safe place to watch. My name is Cori, short for Corona. I am from the Virus family. We have many friends and relatives who are categorized in that branch of human science that deals with viruses – “virology,” the study of us, named with the preciseness…

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To avoid big balances, consumers should pay utility bills, if they are able DES MOINES — Iowans can get relief from many utility bills during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Iowa Office of Consumer Advocate recommends that consumers pay what they can to avoid problems in the future, however. The Iowa Utilities Board issued an emergency order on March 27 approving…

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~a column by Colleen O’Brien Have you noticed that the administration is not wearing face masks at the podium? And the wooden-faced in the background are standing too close to one another? We are told by the CDC to stay home; if we have to go out, keep a six-foot distance from others; wear masks because we’re dealing with what…

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~a column by Colleen O’Brien Someday this will be over, and I will have succumbed or survived. If it’s the latter, I hope I have something to show for the hours I was forced to spend alone. This command to “quarantine” should be a walk in the park for me. It is no different from how I live all the…

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To the editor, We spend $35 million on a new school but are reluctant to give teachers what they deserve. Why should the superintendent earn well over $100000, and the principals? The county supervisors just gave raises to many, including themselves.

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~by Colleen O’Brien Five things listed in the Republican’s bill to help the American people during the covid-19 crisis, as reported in Roll Call by Niels Leiniewski 3-23-20, 1 pm: 1. “promoting charitable deductions.” A bipartisan group of senators, Lesniewski reports, is “reviving a proposal to create an ‘above the line’ deduction for contributions to charity. The expanded standard deductions…

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~a column by Colleen O’Brien Since we now have a “war” president, he’s been press conferencing from the White House press room daily. This is unfortunate. When he eschewed the normal press conference routine that former presidents held in the Press Briefing Room of the White House and became the Tweeter in Chief, I wanted him to be a real…

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After reading the article on GreeneCountyNewsOnline about negotiations between the teachers and the school board, it became apparent that members of the community need to speak up about the importance of having and keeping high quality educators in the Greene County Schools.

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~a column by Colleen O’Brien Like so many of us, I’m consumed by the news and then so tired of it or confused by it I don’t pay any attention for a while. Then out of the very back of my brain, my trained-to-be-informed childhood aims its pointy finger, and I feel I’m not being a good citizen. I whine…

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