Chicken or Dare I have a history with chickens. Not a good history either. As a matter of fact, the appearance of a leg of chicken on my plate brings me flashbacks of a long ago visit to my great grandmother’s farm during one of our frequent trips to Smithville to visit. We called our great grandmother Ganny. Her real name was Zelma Lizzie Christine Franz Kunkel. My older cousin inspired the name Ganny since he was the oldest of our generation. There wasn’t anything magical abo ...continued...

I attended the International Coffee Hour hosted by the Inclusive Excellence Center on campus this past Thursday 3/30. This International Coffee Hour featured food and coffee drinks from Colombia including Colombian coffee, Enyucado (a cake type of dessert), and Afajor (dulce de leche flavored cookies). A group called AIESEC was presenting on their work around the world. AIESEC is a group that provides students with opportunities to travel abroad and work in volunteer or internship type jobs while living with a family or another group of students. These students help bet ...continued...

I set my briefcase on my gritty kitchen counter and traced the raised gold lettering on the thick ivory card. “You are Invited to a Holiday Cookie Party,” the note read. The invitation was from a fascinating, creative, high–powered executive I had met several months ago. I was surprised and thrilled that she had invited me to such a gathering. Each woman would bring a batch of home-baked cookies, she wrote. We would then get to sample all the cookies and bring a bag of treats home to our families. I adored the idea of getting to bring my teenage dau ...continued...

Mom was my best friend and though I feel her presence around me often, it is always strongest during Mother’s Day. Two years ago I was in a very dark place, overwhelmed with the chaos in my life I decided it was time to work on my office at home, trying to find and create order. As I opened a file drawer to clean it out, inside was an old blue folder with papers inside. Keep or throw I wondered as I opened the folder. Inside was a copy of the Constitution of the United States, the one mom helped me memorize in 8th grade. Ne ...continued...

Our cooking today is so much different from days gone by. When my granddaughter was three, she stood in front on my oven door where a whole chicken baked in a glass pan. With wide eyes she said, "Is that a chicken?" You see, her mother only bought chicken parts. She'd never seen a whole chicken. How different from when I was a child. Below is a recollection when I visited Grandma at about age five. I've included it in my cookbook Family Favorites from the Heartland. Fried Chicken-Grandma’s Style During the late 40s and e ...continued...

Primary Care for Underserved Populations: Navigating Policy to Incorporate Occupational Therapy Into Federally Qualified Health Centers. Murphy, A. et al. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, Vol. 71, Jan 2017. http://ajot.aota.org/article.aspx?articleid=2599871 This article provided information about how people belonging to underserved populations, including minority groups and low-income people, have limited access to much needed occupational therapy services. Using a case example of a federally qualified health center serving American Indian/Alaska Native popul ...continued...

One of the most vivid memories I can remember is a time when my mom, brother and I were sitting in the living room of our one bedroom house, in Salinas Caifornia. I'm not exactly sure what we were doing at the exact moment when we all heard the very loud knocking at the door. Followed by a very loud voice that said "this is the police, we have a search warrant open the door ". My mom was in shock and wasn't sure what to do. MY dad had told her not to open the door. My dad was quick in his actions and had come running in the house 5 minutes before the loud banging on the door. He had ran to the ...continued...

Orcs hate Elves with a passion. (from Lord of the Rings by J. R.R. Tolkien) “Home home on the range, where the deer and the antelope play” According to the Center for Biological Diversity, Wildlife Services, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has killed, through gassing, poisoning and strangulation by snare, 27 million native animals since 1996, including more than 1 million in 2014. The animals have included prairie dogs, gray wolves, mountain lions, black bears, foxes, coyotes and even bald eagles, and possibly a few domestic cats. ...continued...

As Mark Twain once said, “there has never been an uninteresting life.” Hi Rolland,
Wanted to let you know that I have gotten your cousin Wave started writing her life story. I just have a few pages going but that is a start, isn't it? I thought I would send them to you when I get further along, this way you can tell me if ...continued...

ThTony was born in march 2015. He was about 2 months pre, and very tiny. Kelly had to have an emergancy C section. Theres a posability that while she was in the water, some of it got into her heart. She suffered some kind of heart attack, both her and tony survied. Tony gerw over this past year fast and big, the doctor said if he grew anymore they would have to make a new baby grow chart. So far he is a good boy, he is happy, allways smiles. Kelly is having her own issues but starting to get the medical help she needs. Val is still val. Nothing new on that frount. ...continued...

For my cultural event I went to an event called Feed My Starving Children in Libertyville, Illionois. I attended this event on Tuesday April 11th. Feed My Starving Children was a cultural event that felt like a great fit. I volunteered and had a chance to learn about different cultures and what their struggle was like in terms of children lacking food sources. We first walked into the building where we were greeted and told to sign in, grab a hair net and gloves, and to take a seat. Once everyone was seated there was a speaker who greeted us. There was a large amount of volunteeers th ...continued...

The catfish in my photo weighed over (100) pounds and was at least 40 years old. (I didn¹t catch it but I know who did and they let me borrow the big fish for this picture.) When you¹re having a bad day think of this big Blue Cat¹s degree of dullness. Day after day searching for food hoping not to find a hook attached, only able to see an inch or so in front of your face and about all to look forward too would be periodic mating. I¹m not even sure how much fun that would be considering you couldn¹t see the stranger you¹re hooking up with and ...continued...

As a child, I lived in a poor neighborhood but I always wanted to help others even when I was unable to help myself. I grew up with an innate desire to one day to be able to help others to be all they could be in society. In the course of my teen years I made some mistakes that later I counts as blessings. I became a teenage mother who dropped out of school and married. My marriage was not successful so I got a divorce. I wind up working in textiles to support my children. One thing remained constant over the course of my life was the fact I never lost the desire to help others. To fast for ...continued...

THE MAGNIFICIENT MENTOR The notice in the church bulletin read, “Anyone interested in writing, meet in room 312 on Tuesday night. Bring some writing to share.” My heart skipped a beat. I had prayed about how I might start to write about the experience our family had been through with our daughter and her spinal cord tumor. And now, here was an answer. I had written poetry f ...continued...

I always think about my past, and what my past brought me that woud trap me up inside, surround and remind me of fear, disappointments, and hopelessness. Once it would help me with struggles so many things I done. Like the song said to me, “There’s always tomorrow..,” but the past was monopolizing my present today. So what do I do with all that baggage inside of me? How did I sort it all out? I know that my troubles and lack of resolution with my past affects important relationships. The peopl ...continued...