Commentary

Stray Thoughts: School and Your Future

The goal of high school is to set each student up for careers that will be enjoyable to do and that will pay their bills.Toward that end, students should learn right away what careers are unlikely to be available for them in the future.

Stray Thoughts: Routines

No matter the circumstances, there are routines we live by.They help us do what we need to do when we need to do them.Farmers and ranchers live by routines to plant and to harvest.Mechanics, cooks, and many others do things in a particular way.

Prairie Docs: Allergies during pregnancy

Pregnancy is such an incredible state of anticipation. Each day it seems like you’re finding something new to wonder or worry about! Having an allergic or immune system condition can certainly add a few questions and considerations to the list, though.- Is my nose congested from seasonal allergies?

From rags to something like riches

“Oh, no! I spilled!” In my haste to maneuver the big bowl of potatoes across the table to Dad, I bumped my glass. Water flooded across the table, threatening the salt and pepper shakers and the toothpick dispenser.

Home Country: Chickens

Chickens have forever had a place in our hearts and on our tables. Why is that? Well … why not?And so I’d like you to come with me back to the summer of 1970, ‘way up north of Fairbanks, Alaska, to what was once the thriving gold mining village of Chicken, Alaska.

Stray Thoughts: The best of times and the worst of times

After 30 years of teaching, I am experiencing a new problem.In a few classes, when I assign difficult question sets, like in high school chemistry, they come back perfectly.No wrong answers. You would think I would be pleased.Not so.