Breaking News

Engaging with the arts

My grandmother died in October, 2020. I watched her body deteriorate. I write of her voice. Doctors took it away during a time I don’t remember and replaced it with an external device. She spent her remaining years practicing speech to release herself from the tether of this machine. Her ...

The future of gorillas depends on zoos working together

Two Western lowland gorillas just arrived at Louisville Zoo's Gorilla Forest from Zoo Knoxville in Knoxville, Tennessee. Obi and Andi are half-sisters and will hopefully create Louisville's next family group with 29-year-old male gorilla, Kicho. Their arrival piqued my curiosity about how zoos ...

It felt good being Up North

“North, I knew down deep, was where I belonged, north being as much a philosophy as a direction or destination. You knew when you were there, or you didn't. Those who couldn't feel it and embrace it generally only tried it once.” ~ Joseph Heywood, “The Snowfly” I’ve always thought ...

Close enough for government work

While you were busy getting the cottage together for holiday visiting relatives and other hangers on last week, state lawmakers were engaged in a little house cleaning of their own. They made a mad dash for a July first deadline to finish the new state budget. As Maxwell Smart use to opine, ...

Birthright citizenship is not just for immigrants

Now that we've completed our celebration of America's 250th birthday, it's time to prepare for the 300th -- the tricentennial. I will not live to see it, but I hope the nation will. At least, I hope a certain kind of America will celebrate its 300th year -- one that has regained its moral ...