(Note to readers: I’ve started writing a regular column for the weekend edition of The Shawano Leader. Here is this week’s piece.) America is filled with amazing people, good people, people who come together and help their friends, neighbors and even strangers when they are in need. America is also filled with really sick puppies….

We seem to be at risk in America of losing the moral high ground. In its place, we’ve discovered a bridge of hypocrisy. Exhibit A is Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The press secretary for President Donald Trump decided to go out for dinner with some friends at a restaurant called the Red Hen in Virginia. She…

We have met the thought police, but it is a group you would never expect. It’s in an organization dedicated to libraries, which are houses of great knowledge of all kinds. Reading is power, but the organization in question apparently doesn’t want the public to have too much power as it belittles one of the…

You would think that the world ended Monday with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on whether a baker could refuse to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. You would think that civil rights had gone back a couple of hundred years because the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff and not for…

You’ve heard the expression about “driving while black,” which is used to describe the feelings of discrimination black people feel when they’re pulled over by the police. You could probably add a variation of that term, “drinking coffee while black,” in light of what happened in a Pennsylvania Starbucks to two black men who dared…

I was really hoping that I could find something else to talk about besides the tragic school shooting in Parkland, Florida, but it seems like the issue is not going away. Nikolas Cruz was charged with 17 counts of first-degree murder Wednesday, and the Associated Press reported that he’s willing to plead guilty if the…

It’s become an all-too-common phenomenon to see reports of school shootings etched in our newspapers and splashed on our television and computer screens. It has been an increasing wave in the last 20 years. The latest tragedy in Parkland, Florida, has sparked anger and a call for action, and with the incredible reach of the…

While many folks generally have passing thoughts about Florida, it’s usually because the weather down there is much warmer, and we’re wishing we were down there. However, our thoughts of Florida have gone from envy of endless beaches and warm winds to sorrow and anger as yet another school shooting has taken place, this one…

After 90 years, a grave injustice has been remedied, and many folks are wondering what took so long. No, someone wasn’t vindicated of a crime he or she didn’t commit. It was more a case of giving someone her just desserts, and in this case, it was cheesecake—heavy emphasis on the cheese. On Monday, Minnie…

How many of you have participated in a Polar Bear Plunge? For those of you who haven’t even heard of the concept, it involves jumping into frigid water in the dead of winter. It’s a tradition in many Wisconsin communities. For those of you who love to participate in the plunge, I’ve got something to…

Language is something we use constantly, yet we don’t always think about our words and realize they’re a part of our heritage. What would we do if our language was dying? What would we do if we were losing our cultural identity? For those whose native language is English, there doesn’t appear to be any…