Opinion

By: Cathy Salter This spring, I re-read a tiny book that is simply beautiful. A few years ago an friend wrote, “You must read Elisabeth Tova Bailey’s book, “The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating.” Intrigued by the title and a reviewer’s description of the book as “the earthly adventures of a woman and a

By: Jonathon Jain As Democrats describe proposed legislation as reminiscent of poll taxes and literacy tests, Republicans are defending the measures as necessary for election integrity. During a news conference Tuesday, House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, accused Republicans of enacting legislation that would disproportionately harm Black Missourians and other people of color. The debate

By: Travis Naughton Although I imagined that it would happen when I was a little bit older, becoming a grandfather was always something that I had looked forward to. When my granddaughter Freya was born last September, I immediately discovered that there is never a wrong time to become a grandparent. Aside from the inconvenience

By Cathy Salter In 2014 when the world was in a different place, I flew with a longtime friend to Istanbul. There is much about gardens that can be learned from a visit to Turkey. Why, one might ask, are tulips woven into a massive wool prayer rug in Istanbul’s Blue Mosque and so frequently

By: Travis Naughton “Libraries show us anything is possible by encouraging a love of learning, discovery, and exploration.” –Natalie Portman, 2021 National Library Week Honorary Chair April 4-10 is National Library Week. I encourage everyone in Southern Boone County to take advantage of the amazing libraries located right here in our own backyard. According to

By Cathy Salter When Dwight D. Eisenhower was President of the United States and I was in the fourth grade, I memorized and could recite the names in full of every US President. I learned brief facts about the great ones and others who came and went from office having achieved little worth noting in

By: Travis Naughton When I was a stay-at-home parent, I took great pride in keeping a tidy house. I simply couldn’t stand the clutter associated with having kids. In the event that we would entertain guests in our home, my goal was to keep the common areas so completely devoid of toys and other toddler-related

By Cathy Salter While thinning my library of books and magazines, I recently came upon a November 2008 issue of National Geographic. Like a nocturnal creature of habit momentarily mesmerized by unexpected light, I was instantly drawn into a luminous grid of lights radiating from the cover. In the photograph by Jim Richardson, streets electrified

By Cathy Salter I awake at my usual early hour to find the sky still dark.  Sunrise is yet an hour away. The clocks have all been turned ahead to save light in anticipation of spring’s arrival. The March lion that roared with bluster just weeks ago has morphing into a gamboling lamb, eager to

The Instagram profile of the 21-year-old punk who used his legally-purchased 9mm pistol to execute 8 innocent people last week in Georgia reads, “Pizza, guns, drums, music, family, and God. This pretty much sums up my life. It’s a pretty good life.” A pretty good life indeed.  The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department seems to accept