A few weeks ago, I found a jar of dandelion jelly in my cupboard. I made that a few years back, but it was still good. That got me to thinking about how we used nature to provide. My mother-in-law and her sister always enjoyed eating dandelion salad. When Aunt Lillian celebrated one of her ...

While always attentive to the scene that repeats annually, I admit I view it with a great deal more sympathy this time around. The Canada geese return sometime in late February. The lake’s still frozen but I hear them at night and see them circling over during my walks. Two (seldom more) ...

We need new drugs to fight COVID-19 and other diseases. But our government’s approval process makes that too hard. This year’s pandemic got regulators to say they’ll speed the approval process. The FDA adopted Emergency Use Authorization to speed up approval of some tests, medical ...

April is the month when we in this part of the world have a good chance of experiencing the last vestiges of winter, the usual spring, or an early summer. Even when the waters of Lake Erie — the main source of moisture for snow that falls here — completely or nearly completely freeze ...

One group of Americans is marching and shouting in protest against perceived excesses of the “nanny state.” My rantings against the “nanny state” arouse the neighbors’ dogs, cats and chickens, a quarter-mile distant from my yard, where the rantings take place. The anti-nannies ...

At the beginning of each semester at Kent State, where I teach in the journalism school, I make a point of opening my arms wide and saying to students, “Welcome to your adulthood.” The frequency of alarmed faces affirms both my suspicions and my intentions. I teach mostly juniors and ...