This is a fan letter. Commencement speeches are trampolines, elevating and entertaining with just enough risk to keep things interesting. So many ways to go wrong — faux erudition from civilians, faux folksiness from scholars,…

As we were about to take off, the woman beside me was struggling with her phone.  She gave me a frantic look and said, “I had a stroke last September. Can you help me?”  To…

Our household has baby fever. The songbirds who reside in our oak tree are expecting. We threw a shower of sorts by putting out a bowl of water in the Florida heat, and we are…

Kansas is expected to add more than 11,000 new jobs in 2024. The unemployment rate in Kansas is projected to reach 2.6% in 2024, according to the new Kansas Employment Forecast released this month by…

It seems as though the news is full of headlines about nothing but bickering at all levels of government. I don’t know about you but at times I want to send them all to their…

When Carrie C. is released from Missouri Department of Corrections’ Chillicothe Correctional Center, she will be leaving with more than just the clothes she was wearing when she entered. She’ll be carrying a college degree.…

If it came to a vote, my guess is Allen County citizens would overwhelmingly support the county assuming responsibility for a recycling program. A county-wide program makes the most sense because it affords an economy…

We liberal Christians are used to being overlooked. I was reminded of this the other day while discussing religion and politics with an otherwise smart, worldly, well-read former student who had never heard of liberal…

I grew up with a mom who’s a therapist, which meant that feelings moved through the air in our home like oxygen. It’s not that we talked about feelings all the time, or that I’d…

It’s kind of quiet, as these things go, but Kansas is suddenly in the middle of a state constitutional crisis.  After a grueling legislative session, Gov. Laura Kelly last week signed a school funding bill…