John Denver has a line in Rocky Mountain High about “going home to a place he’d never been before.” That is what I did a couple of weeks ago, only I went east to Plymouth, MA rather than west to Colorado for a family reunion. I spent Saturday afternoon and evening with distant cousins I’d never before met in person. Knowing we shared at least two ancestors in common gave us a starting place to […]
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Ohio Library Tour – Newark
Ohio has over 250 public library systems. My friend Lisa made a list of them, organized by county. Last weekend we launched our Ohio Library Tour, intending to tour as many of them as time and gas money permit. First up on our Ohio Library Tour was the Licking County Public Library in Newark, a community of 50,000 a short drive east of Columbus. My mother was born in Newark, but we chose the city […]
Continue readingWomen’s Voices
Women’s Voices began in 2010 when a group of women from diverse backgrounds met at an interfaith program organized by Nancy Agafitei, then a Branch Librarian at a Harris County Public Library in the Houston area. Their shared curiosity about other people’s cultural beliefs and traditions led them to forge deep friendships. Those friendships led to the formation an interfaith book club in 2012 that continues to meet today. The book club is open to […]
Continue readingVoting
This week I saw the voting process from the back side when I worked as a roster judge for Ohio’s special August one-issue election. The experience has me more convinced than ever that it is extremely difficult to rig an election. It is virtually impossible to get away with voter fraud with all the checks and balances in place. I encourage anyone who qualifies to work at least one election. See for yourself how the […]
Continue readingPilgrims, Refugees and Immigrants
Our nation is the enduring dream of every immigrant who ever set foot on these shores, and the millions still struggling to be free… this idea called America, was and always will be a new world. President George H.W. Bush I doubt that any child says he or she wants to be a refugee or immigrant when asked about their adult aspirations. Yet millions of people find themselves in those categories. Technically the first Pilgrims we […]
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