As I mentioned last week in my column, I’m on Wartburg’s spring break right now. It’s been an exciting opportunity to open my eyes and be fully immersed in our community once again after the long eight weeks of rigorous academics. My life at school is great, and I will never take that ...
I just found out that last Monday, March 1 was "World Compliment Day," but don't you think that paying or giving compliments should be more than just one day? My goodness, we have enough turmoil in the world today, that probably a "compliment" day should be every day. Just think of all the ...
It was a planned attack. A sort of coup d'état. A well thought out, planned, measured decision months in the making....and it happened like this. So, I wanted a dog. Ma wanted a dog. I knew she wanted a dog because every time a picture or a video of a wet nosed puppy came across her tablet, ...
All my life, I’ve been a deep thinker. For whatever reason, I play with thoughts and ideas more than is probably necessary. I replay memories in my head — both successes and utter failures — trying to learn from them. With life moving at a rapid pace lately, I’ve found myself staying ...
The coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a special and unique place in northernmost Alaska that supports calving caribou, denning polar bears, migratory birds that visit every state in the U.S., and is a sacred place of the Gwich’in people. However, it is also thought to ...
So often in our lives, we settle for surface-level interactions. We nod, we smile, we move on. We keep things pleasant. We keep things easy. We keep things safe. But lately, I’ve been thinking about what happens when we don’t. In my life as of late, various situations (some I’ll ...
Well, I suppose it had to happen some day. I wasn't looking for it but now it's been thrust upon me and there's not much I can do about it. It's a heavy burden, I know, but I have broad shoulders, (plus about everything else being broad also), and it will be dealt with in a mature, sensible ...
January 2026 has come and gone and cold temperatures are here, per normal Iowa weather. The Supervisors had our organizational meeting to start off the year, and I will continue to serve as Vice-Chair. The Boards I will represent for Tama County are the following: Tama County Economic ...
December 18, 2025, is a day that will live in infamy in the history of the Tama-Toledo News Chronicle. What began as a chilly winter morning quickly unraveled into a series of events that shaped a beautiful, timeless tale we now call Of Mice and Reporters. That morning, I realized I ...
So, Jonny, AKA the kid, was back over Christmas. A delightful time where we both made ample use of our shared office. Then it happened on Dec. 18. Strangely, I woke up before noon on this Thursday. When I did, I texted the kid regarding the rent being due. I had my half and was willing to ...