Columns

Kids these days. They are amazing.

One night a few weeks ago I was standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes when Noah called from the dining room. He was doing homework.

Carl Sandburg personified his Chicago – of which he wrote a poem of the same name – as an “ignorant fighter,” “wicked,” “crooked,” and “brutal.” As caustic as that sounds, he apparently liked the Toddlin’ Town enough to live there a good part of his life.

High school is often seen as a transition step between childhood and adulthood. It’s an exciting, stressful and fast four years that are full of changes. And these coming weeks are some of the most important. We have students cramming for finals and students pushing through their last weeks as high-schoolers. Yes, it’s a very interesting week at Geneva High School.

Cradling my newborn should have brought me nothing but joy, right? Shouldn’t I have been content to marvel at the miracle of Holly’s tiny fingers wrapped tightly around mine the night we brought her home from the hospital 11 years ago? So why was I a sobbing mess? Because my firstborn, slumbering in the next room, felt a million miles away. My new preoccupation with the sweet stranger who nursed into the wee hours had distanced me almost overnight from my little Noah, my constant companion for more than 2 1/2 years. I was suffering from the second-baby-blues.

Election coverage was the topic of a Northern Illinois Newspaper Association seminar I attended Friday with Kane County Chronicle reporter Jonathan Bilyk.

“Mew.”

It’s almost Mother’s Day so it might be fitting – but not altogether proper – to brag about one’s wonderful grandchildren.

A few weeks ago, I was trying valiantly to do all my homework, while also dealing with stress from friends, the ACT and AP tests, sick relatives, and a pounding headache.

My sunroom offers a full view of my in-town backyard. I spend a great deal of time enjoying the scenery as the seasons unfold. This past winter featured a bevy of gray squirrels, rabbits, a coyote and recently, a beautiful red fox. Birds flutter around the feeders throughout the seasons. Recently, the chipmunks have surfaced scampering about busily cleaning up after the birds.

I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure St. Charles has laws against public intoxication.

On Wednesday, I drove to school under a gray sky and was met with the news that one of our students died unexpectedly the night before. Outside the Marmion Academy English office, the day turned darker, rain in the offing.

In the last few weeks at Geneva High School, we’ve had the poetry slam, the Mr. GHS competition and the Viking Revue.

Already an accomplished actor, Kaneland High School graduate Bryan Renaud has become a key figure in the theater scene at North Central College in Naperville, and he is looking forward to a busy summer.

Since I was little, I always was intrigued by butterflies. Growing up, I loved chasing butterflies around my backyard trying to catch them. Most of the time I had no luck.