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Be Resourceful, Use What Mother Nature Has Provided To You

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 milestone birthdays, there was a party at her daughter’s in her honor. My husband potted a dandelion to give to her. That may seem like a strange gift, but it brought tears to her eyes since he was always the one who picked the dandelions for them. Another thing grandma liked were leeks. My ...

Solitary Confinement, For Us And For Spring Time Birds

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) will land, circling around as if to stake out the property as theirs. I have no doubt it’s the same pair returning. I used to feed them and the young goslings from my hand until Henry discovered the kids made a delicious snack. Henry’s gone now so I hope to try again as soon as the weather ...

Let People Try Gelsolin

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 equipment and ventilators. But that’s not enough. I know about the FDA’s rules because my older brother, Dr. Thomas Stossel, discovered something that might save a lot of lives. Doing medical research at Harvard, he found a protein in our blood that helps reduce excess inflammation. He named ...

Spring Has Vanquished Winter Again

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 during the winter, it can still snow in April. Yet when December or January are unseasonably warm, Lake Erie usually remains open, and the chance of the white stuff in February, March, or even April rises significantly. Either way, the arrival of May, one of this region’s more beautiful months, ...

The Constitution, The COVID-19, The Mowers And The ‘Nanny State’

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 focus on too-strict lockdown terms intended to slow the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. My screamathon focuses on my riding lawnmowers. Both sets of protests have two things in common: They invoke the Constitution, and they require yelling, not just speaking. The anti-lockdown protesters ...

Storytellers Of This Pandemic

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 seniors, and so they’re already in their early 20s. They’re still full-time students, and most of them are also holding down one or two hourly wage jobs to be able to afford school and housing. So, in some ways, they already know what it feels like to be out in the world and working hard. But ...