Category Archives: Guest writer

By Ellen Magee If the number and size of the Mendota Mental Health grounds’ effigy mounds are any indication, Governor’s Island and the Mendota lakeshore surrounding it for miles was sacred ground to the early inhabitants of the area. I … Continue reading →

By Patricia LaPointe You awaken to see the alarm clock with its bright red numbers. It’s 2:00 AM. You walk the halls  and check each of your daughters’ rooms to be sure they’ve all returned home. One daughter is missing. … Continue reading →

By Mona Jean Harley Wednesday, March 17, 2021. I am feeling such nostalgia and wonder today as I reflect on the significance of Wednesday connections today and throughout the years. I’m working from home today, the one day per week … Continue reading →

By Faith Ellestad College just wasn’t my thing. Come to think of it, neither was high school. My brother, one year older, was a focused, stellar student and valedictorian of his high school class. An unenthusiastic student and younger sister, … Continue reading →

By Kaye Ketterer Round and round she walks while saying, “come on Mua Mua, follow me. Stay on the track.” This is often a scene when my granddaughter Elena is at my house. She uses the braided rug in my … Continue reading →

By Kurt Baumann People familiar with Sherlock Holmes stories may not know that he had a brother. Only devoted fans know his brother, Mycroft, seven years older than Sherlock, had superior powers of deduction, but was unsuited for detective work … Continue reading →

 By Mary Ellen Gambutti In 1957, at age six, I learned from my adoptive parents about the “lost ones” whom I might never meet. My worry and wondering peaked at forty with anxiety that would only be quelled by knowing.  On … Continue reading →

By Faith Ellestad Australia had come to the Milwaukee Zoo in the summer of 1984, and there was no way our kids were going to miss the opportunity to see the koala. As it was on loan for only a … Continue reading →

By Paul Johnson Got a call from an old colleague the other day. We hadn’t talked on the phone for some time. A couple of years back, he and his wife moved to Arizona, where they had wintered a time … Continue reading →

For the next three weeks, come along as Barb Gilbertson experiences the “branching point” of a lifetime. What are branching points? The events that leave your life forever changed. A branching point may come about by choice or by chance; … Continue reading →