Mr. Putter practiced his story.
.   .   .
He turned the pages.
He read with gusto.
“Gusto makes everything more exciting,”
Mr. Putter told Tabby.
                   from Mr. Putter & Tabby Turn the Page
                                     written by Cynthia Rylant
                                 illustrated by Arthur Howard
                              Houghton Mifflin Horcourt, 2014

    Unlike Mr. Putter, even when my cat (Yofi, not Tabby) is as close as my lap, I read silently., only sometimes with gusto.
    I read books on my easy-to-hold phone. There’s more room on my lap for Yofi that way. The phone is easy to see, too. With its tiny backlit screen, little pages, and large font, I turn the pages fast, even though I’m a pretty slow reader. 
    I read on my reading chair in the living room, I read in the car (when someone else is driving), and I read in bed. I can read while I wait till my dental hygienist is ready to clean my teeth, and when I’m enjoying a beautiful spring day on my back porch. E-books are in short, portable.
    I also read physical books. Especially when there are pictures: photos in biographies and histories, or illustrations in picture books and those for younger (and older) kids. There’s something comforting about holding a book and turning the actual pages. If I need a light, the lamp shines softly over my right shoulder. It’s easier on my eyes, too.
    So, I wondered which format is better, if one indeed is. 
    Turns out, even though it doesn’t feel active to my couch-potato self, reading a physical book is an active endeavor. For my brain, though, not my body.
    Our brains process information differently when we read physical books and when we read digital books. According to Kerry Benson in a 2020 article in BrainFacts.org, we focus our attention on a non-moving object when we read a physical book. She likens reading print material to a kind of meditation. We become immersed in what we are reading. 
    Anne Mangen, a literacy professor in Norway and Lauren Singer Trakhman of the University of Maryland agree that digital reading is better for scanning headlines or getting to the main idea of a subject. If retention, comprehension, and attention to details is the object, though, stick to a physical book.
    Mangen continues, “[digital] reading impairs comprehension particularly for longer, more complex texts…digital media trains our brains to process information more rapidly and less thoroughly.
     An early study for the marketing research company Millward Brown gave participants connected to brain scanning equipment advertisements on a screen and ads on a printed card. When they analyzed their data, they found that print materials were more likely to activate the medial prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain that helps us identify with others. Also how we rate ourselves on a self-esteem scale, our evaluation of our own personality traits, and how we process our emotions.
    It’s why we identify with the main character in a story we are reading. Is she like me? What would I do in a similar situation? When we identify with the characters, we are building empathy in ourselves.
    A YouTube from the BBC World Service, “Why reading isn’t ‘natural,’” states that “to build a reading brain network, we co-opt parts of the brain involved in vision and auditory processing, and language and attention and affect (how we observe emotion).” All four lobes of our brains are engaged when we read a physical book. 
    Reading print activates our brains so that letters are associated with sounds and meanings. And according to Lisa Cron in Story Genius (Ten Speed Press, 2016), “[i]t’s actually the biological lure,…a chemical reaction [that’s] triggered by the intense curiosity that an effective story always instantly generates.”
    How about education and teaching kids to read and how well kids read and what they like to read. Wait. Do they even like to read? My grandkids and their friends do, but that’s a very small and select sample.
    As reported by The Guardian, the Department of Education’s most recent survey released in June, 2025. It shows that comprehension among 13-year-olds is lower now than before COVID. It’s easy to blame the pandemic for all our ills, and few studies have been done comparing physical reading and digital reading. The Guardian continues that a “soon-to-be published groundbreaking study” by neuroscientists at Columbia University shows “a clear advantage to reading a text on paper, rather than on a screen…”
    Dartmouth professor Donna Coch notes that reading for comprehension needs to be automatic. Consciously de-coding words, and trying to glean the meaning of a word from those around it, use up the brain’s bandwidth that a “better reader” will use to compare and synthesize what they’re reading. And it’s harder to do on a screen.
    Reading on a devise is passive scrolling. When we scroll, we use our working memory which can hold about seven items at a time. If some of those seven are helping us remember which buttons to click, we’re not invested as deeply in what we are reading as we are when we hold a book and physically turn its pages.  
    We tend to skim as we scroll. We not only don’t engage our whole brain, we are easily distracted by the ease of switching to an online dictionary and are just a click away from relieving boredom by tapping to open Solitaire or some other game or internet site. Incoming messages and other alerts are also distractions.
    Back to YouTube and the BBC, “[t]the power of deep reading is really fundamental to our humanity…And that process of changing the minds and hearts of individuals changes society and allows us to build bigger, more beautiful futures.”
    Even after all this research, that I mostly did online, I know I will continue to read on my phone. It’s too convenient. The light stuff, though, the stories I don’t need to remember or report on or talk about. 
I’m reading, well actually listening to (a subject for another day) Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale (narrated by Polly Stone, Macmillan Audio, 2025. Originally published by St. Martin’s Press, 2015). It’s a coming of age story set in France during WWII, my first Kristin Hannah. The characters feel very real and the setting is interesting. The plot is easy to follow and engaging. Recommended.
                     Be curious! (And read, or listen to a book)

She, Judy Moody, would make her own list. Her very own kick-the-bucket list of all the stuff she wanted to do before she . . .went to fourth grade!
                       from Judy Moody and the Bucket List
                                    written by Megan McDonald
                                illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
                                         Candlewick Press, 2016
                                  (accessed on Libby 3/20/26)
    Mom used to tell me “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Intending to do a thing is not going to make it happen. Neither is wishing. Neither is wanting, no matter how badly. Neither is making a list, even when most of it gets crossed off, checked off, or struck through. She taught me the importance of follow through.
    In order for an intention to come to fruition, I needed to turn it into a goal. It needed to be stated clearly. It needed a time frame. It needed to be achievable. It needed to have a way to measure success on the way to completion. 
    SMART is a handy goal-making acronym.
    To make a SMART goal make sure it is         
Specific: what exactly will reaching your goal look like?
Measurable: uses a form of numerics (lose/gain X # of pounds, say)
Achievable: it may require gaining some new skills, but this step needs to
            be something you know you can really, truly do.
Realistic: it must be able to exist in the world we really, truly live in. It
.            must be do-able.
Time-bound: it needs a deadline. For real. 
    For more detail, click this page from Boston University. 
    Having a goal is not the same as having the motivation to reach it, though.
    Usually, for me anyway, the hardest part of reaching a goal is taking the first step. That’s where motivation comes in.
    According to VeryWellMind.com, motivation is the driving force behind our actions. It’s the “why,” the reason we do what we do. Motivation is what gets us to act in ways that help us reach our goals. 
    Psychologists like to describe two different categories of motivation.
    Extrinsic motivation helps us get started. They’re tangible rewards, stickers or chocolate or time at the library. I’ve been scheduling time to write with a friend of mine for at least an hour and a half per week for the last about five years. I depend on that promise to her to motivate me to sit down and work. 
    Intrinsic motivation is the habit I’ve formed by continually making that conscious choice. I keep “showing up” because I like to feel productive, I like to figure out what I’m thinking, and I like to keep my promise to my writing partner. Also, with enough practice and persistence, I might produce something someone thinks is worthy of publishing. 
    I learned long ago that an hour and a half once a week is not enough to reach my goal of becoming a published author.
    James Clear is a motivational speaker and writer. He has a best selling book and writes a newsletter called 3-2-1. He says staying motivated comes down to creating and working a 3-step system. 
    Step 1 has to be so easy that you can’t say no. Clear’s writing routine starts with a glass of water. Easy-peasy.
    Step 2 needs to help you move toward the end goal, literally. Physical movement puts you on the path (so to speak) toward your goal. I put on my writing sweater, pour my coffee, and open my computer.
    Step 3 involves doing the same steps (1 and 2) consistently. Every single time. It sets up a reminder and puts your goal in the conscious part of your brain. 
    Put another way, three elements are needed to get motivated and stay motivated..                
    Activation is the first step. Whether it’s signing up for a course or walking into a Weight Watcher’s meeting, the first step, contrary to James Clear’s formula, is hard. 
    Persistence is pushing through even when the weather is bad, the homework is hard, or I don’t want the birthday cake I ate to show up on the scale. Persistence is also hard.
    Intensity is the amount of focus, strength of desire, and energy (physical, emotional, and mental) we put toward reaching our goal. 
    If any one of those three is missing, we risk not meeting our goal.
    A tip I heard last weekend came from a guest teacher in a writing class I’m taking. She said to keep herself from getting discouraged, when an agent or editor passed on her work, she decided to count her rejections. Without calling it that, she used the SMART formula.
    She will collect 100 rejections by the end of the year. Wow! The whole framework of rejections flipped from something that blew the wind out of her sails to a trajectory that, step by step, moved her closer to her goal.
    I liked the idea so much that I decided to try it for myself. I also will collect 100 rejections by the end of the year. That means I have to submit my work to agents that might like it enough to want to represent me. Specific. Measurable. Achievable. Realistic. Time-bound.
    So far I have one rejection (It was very polite) and four active submissions. 
    Maybe it won’t take 99 more to find representation. I’ll update you all periodically.

I’m reading A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka by Lev Golinkin (Anchor/Knopf Doubleday Publishing group, 2014), an accessible and compelling memoir that begins at the end of the Cold War. Lev is nine-years-old when he crosses the Soviet border with his family in 1989. His is a story of escape and survival as he learns the power of hatred in his search for belonging. Recommended.
                                      --Be curious! (and focused)

On Saturday 
he ate through
one piece of chocolate cake, one ice-cream cone one pickle,
one slice of Swiss cheese, one slice of salami, one lollipop, one piece of cherry pie,
one sausage, one cupcake, and one slice of watermelon.
That night he had a stomachache!
                            from The Very Hungry Caterpillar
                          written and illustrated by Eric Carle
                                         Philomel Books/Penguin
                         Young Readers Group, 1969 and 1987
           accessed on Libby (read by the author) 3/15/26
   
    Mom taught us that breakfast was the most important meal of the day. She was a big believer in the power of milk, too. We always had a glass of milk for breakfast. Sometimes it went with cereal (hot or cold). Sometimes we had it with toast. And a glass of milk by itself still counted as breakfast.
    I did not like milk. I still don’t.
    Mom was a good baker, too, and we almost always had cookies, cake, or pie in the pantry. If getting down that glass in the morning was problematic, Mom was okay if we chased it with a piece of cake or a couple of cookies. 
    The Dairy Council would approve, but we all know now that good nutrition is a big picture item. Each peach, pepper, and pot of pasta works together.
    Nutrition is science. At its most basic level, nutrition is the study of available nutrients in the food we eat and how our bodies process them so we can function.
    Research shows that proper nutrition reduces the risk for developing diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Good nutrition aides our bodies’ recovery process after an illness, surgery, or injury. Ongoing studies are being conducted by experts to explore what influence nutrition may have on our mental health. 
    Every five years since 1980, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services update and release the Dietary Guidelines For Americans.
    The Guidelines provide recommendations to help us make healthy food choices. It’s also used by local public and federally funded health programs. They influences and impact school meals, Meals on Wheels, military and veteran food services as well as the supplemental food programs WIC (Women Infants and Children), and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).
    Say what you will about the Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and his (scary) stance on vaccines, including firing and replacing its 17-member advisory committee, his (short-sighted) funding-cuts to research, including the termination of contracts to develop vaccines using mRNA technology, and his (dangerous) support of raw, in other words, unpasteurized, milk, he has used his brand, MAHA (Make America Healthy Again), “to wage war on ultra-processed foods, pressure companies to phase out artificial food dyes, criticize fluoride in drinking water and push to ban junk food from the program that subsidizes grocery store runs for low-income Americans.” (PBS Newshour, 1/2/26)
    One of his first promises included his interest in how new foods come to market. Kennedy’s stance on removing or at least reducing foods containing GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe), as defined by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is maybe the only place where we agree. 
    Directly from FDA.gov, “any substance that is intentionally added to food…is subject to premarket review and approval by FDA, UNLESS (emphasis is mine) the substance is generally recognized, among qualified experts, as having been adequately shown to be safe under the conditions of its intended use, OR UNLESS (emphasis is mine) the use of the substance is otherwise excepted from the definition of a food                 additive.”
    So, GRAS should be a term we trust. Expert scientists have looked for, tested, and deemed our food supply safe. 
    But is it really? That’s what Kennedy, Jr. is looking into. He claims foods, especially those labeled as “Ultra-Processed,” are enjoying a loophole in the GRAS regulations. You can find the address (web and street) that accepts public comments on its FAQs page.
    According to John Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, “Ultra-processed foods have one or more ingredients that wouldn’t be found in a kitchen, like chemical-based preservatives, emulsifiers like hydrogenated oils, sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup, and artificial colors and flavors. [They] undergo processing techniques like pre-frying, molding, extrusion, fractioning, and other chemical alterations that leave the final products bearing almost no resemblance to the original ingredients.”
    UPFs (Ultra Processed Foods) are ubiquitous. 
    According to Julia Wolfson, PhD and associate professor in International Health, “[UPFs dominate our food systems…[M]ost of the foods and beverages lining the shelves are ultra-processed.”
    Nova, an interesting study from Brazil done in the late 2000s, classifies food into four categories. It’s used all over the world to determine a food’s nutrient content and its potential influence on “the risk of obesity and other diet-related diseases.”
    Nova’s four categories include

• Unprocessed/minimally processed (fruit, vegetables, milk, fish)
• Processed culinary ingredients (salt, sugar, olive oil, butter)
• Processed foods (jam, pickles, canned fruit)
• Ultra-processed (energy drinks, instant oatmeal, sliced bread, hot dogs)

    UPFs undergo processing techniques that render the final products so different from the original, that they bear almost no resemblance. Wolfson says, [t]he processes and ingredients make these foods hyperpalatable, …designed to be exceptionally appealing to the human palate—and can be addictive. [The particular] combination of … sugar, fat, and salt … stimulate the brain’s reward system, making it hard to stop eating them.”
    But some UPFs like prepackaged whole grain bread, yogurt, soy milk, and baked beans can be part of a healthy diet while others are junk food.
    Read the labels. Balance is the key.
    When RFK, Jr. called out Starbucks and Dunkin’ a couple of weeks ago for their high-sugar coffee drinks, he was calling attention to his campaign against UPFs, especially those with added sugar. He claims he doesn’t want to ban these (and other) unhealthy drinks and foods, but wants to call the public’s attention to what we are consuming.
    We can all make better decisions when we have facts to consider and alternatives to choose from.  
    I drink my coffee black. No added sugar, but no milk (skim or otherwise) either.
                           -—Be curious! (and eat more carrots)

I’m reading King and the Fireflies, by Karen Callender (Scholastic Press, 2020), a coming of age story about a 12-year-old boy who is looking for his place in a world after his older brother died when he experienced a heart-attack during a soccer match. 2021 Coretta Scott King Honor and winner of the 2020 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. Recommended.

I, Amber Brown, realize it is never going to be easy to get my friend to care about time.
                             from It’s Justin Time, Amber Brown
                                        written by Paula Danzinger
                                           illustrated by Tony Ross
                                           G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2001

    Here’s the truth. Daylight Savings Time moves an extra hour of daylight to the end of the day.
    And here’s the whole truth. We pay for that hour of daylight with the loss of one whole hour. At 2:00 a.m. March 8, we all rolled the hands of our clocks around one full turn to make them say 3:00. a.m. March 8 was a 23-hour day. 
    Personally, I moved the hands of my clock at 9:30 p.m., before I called the day over.
    I like daylight as much as anyone, but what happened to that hour? Does anyone really know? Does anybody even care?
    Well, the way I see it, that hour is in limbo until the first Sunday in November when we all move the clock hands counter-clock-wise and re-place that limbo hour to create a 25-hour day.
    Representative Vern Buchanan of Florida introduced The Sunshine Protection Act of 2021 (HB 69) on January 4 of that year. Fifteen cosponsors from ten different states and both political parties signed on. The Act would make DST permanent, so we’d all stay sprung forward. No more time changing in the fall. 
    On March 9, 2021, Sen. Marco Rubio introduced another version, S.623. It passed the Senate on March 16, 2022 and has been languishing in the House of Representatives ever since.
    Introducing permanent DST is nothing new. 
    Benjamin Franklin sent a letter to the editor of the Journal of Paris in 1784 suggesting Parisians move their clocks ahead one hour in the dark days of winter while they slept to better enjoy the short daylight hours more fully. He proposed the money saved in buying candles would be enormous. Nothing came of his suggestion; most people think it was said in jest.
    Congress has been debating the idea since adopting the Standard Time Act of March 1918. It set summer DST from March 31, 1918, to October 27. The idea was unpopular, especially with farmers. More daylight at the end of the day meant more darkness in the early morning hours when they did their milking and other morning chores. 
    After WWI, Woodrow Wilson abolished the law, leaving the option to continue fooling around with Time up to individual localities.
    Then in 1942, Franklin Roosevelt established year-round DST. He called it “War Time Hours.” It lasted until the last Sunday in September, 1945. 
    From then until 1966, it was up to the various states or cities to follow DST or not and establish their own start and end dates. As you can imagine, that led to a complicated patchwork of chronology. Imagine truckers, shippers, and railway engineers delivering goods across many states. Or the arrangements you’d need to make to phone friends and loved-ones who live far away.
    In 1966, the transportation industry asked for federal legislation to sort out the mess and in 1967, the Uniform Time Act became the law of the land. Various dates have been in use since 1967 and for now, at least, clocks spring ahead one hour at 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday in March (and will fall back one hour at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday in November, 11/1/26). The Department of Transportation was charged with enforcing the law. 
    States were allowed to exempt themselves. Hawai’i and parts of Arizona do not observe DST. Neither do the US territories of American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, or the US Virgin Islands.
    Turns out DST is more than an inconvenience.  
    According to The Sleep Foundation, even though the effects of DST subside gradually after a few weeks, the move has been linked to a “greater risk of mood disturbance, suicide, and being involved in traffic accidents. 
    Studies reported by timeanddate.com have also linked the time change to increased car accidents and workplace injuries  

• A Swedish study found that the risk of having a heart attack increases in the first three weekdays after switching to DST in the spring.
• Tiredness induced by the clock change is thought to be the main cause for the increase in traffic accidents on the Monday following the start of DST.
• On Mondays after the start of DST there were more workplace injuries, and the injuries were of greater severity compared to other Mondays.
• The start of DST has also been linked to miscarriages for in vitro fertilization patients.

    I used the same source to discover that losing an hour can trigger mental illness including bipolar disorder and seasonal affective disorder (SAD) also known as winter depression. 
And

• A Danish study found an 11% increase in depression cases after the time change. The cases dissipated gradually after 10 weeks.
• An Australian study found that male suicide rates increased on the days after the spring and fall DST shift.

    Those in favor of DST/ST argue that more natural light in the evening encourages a less sedentary lifestyle. 
    They also say the nighttime crime rate diminishes. We enjoy a 7% decrease in robberies.
    Pedestrian fatalities decrease by 13% in the dawn and dusk hours. 
    I wonder, could these decreases be attributed to more daylight in general? After all, the hours of daylight will continue to increase until the Summer Solstice, Sunday, June 21, 2026.
    I don’t plan to move to Hawai’i, (or Arizona or any of the US territories, for that matter) but I would like to stop trying to fool Father Time.

I’m reading Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson (Scribner, 2021). When loggers in California clash with environmentalists who want to save the redwoods, a woman inadvertently starts a conflict with her husband’s and his coworkers’ livelihood 
                    -—stay curious! (and enjoy an evening walk)     

Soon they had all the hay,
all the straw, all the string,
all the stuffing, all the horse hair, 
and all the man hair they could carry.

They took it all back 
to build their nest.

                                              from The Best Nest
                         written and illustrated by P. D. Eastman
                            Random House/Beginner Books, 1968
                                     (accessed on Hoopla 3/2/26)

    Last week, I saw two robins. My husband saw one also. A bluebird landed on the wire outside my kitchen window at the end of January. I took its picture. I used to think robins all went south to avoid the cold weather. I had no idea about bluebirds.
    So of course I looked it up, hoping against hope these early sightings were not yet another ominous sign of Climate Catastrophe. 
    Turns out that while it’s still crucial to avoid single-use plastic whenever you can, reduce as much as you can those consumable everythings to cut down items for the landfill, and eat as low as you can as often as you can on the food chain (more plants, less animals) some robins stay in Ohio (and other northern states) all year round. Bluebirds, too.
    Robins are typically not seed-eaters. Whenever they can, robins eat earthworms. In winter, though, they switch to juniper, holly, serviceberries, and any other berry they can find, crabapples, and other fruit, even seeds and crushed peanuts. Same for the bluebirds who decide to stay. 
    So robins might not be the harbinger of Spring after all. But like my friends who return from Florida, South Carolina, and Arizona in April and May, it feels comfortable and right that they’re here.
    We all saw (or at least heard about) Punxsutawney Phil, or Buckeye Chuck, or even Benny the Bass tell us to expect six more weeks of winter. That puts us in the middle of March. 
    The Spring Equinox will occur on March 20, this year at 10:46 am. It is the day when the amount of daylight equals the amount of darkness. and the astronomical start of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s almost now. But…
    For those of us who can’t wait that long, we can celebrate the meteorological beginning of Spring on March 1 each year. (I know It’s a few days late, but we’re celebrating Spring, after all!) Meteorologists like to divide the calendar into equal segments based on typical temperatures. That makes it easier to calculate statistics. And much less cumbersome to talk about. 
    Any way you look at it, Spring and Daylight Savings Time (yes, *that* again) are intertwined. 
    This coming Saturday night (3/7), set your clocks ahead one hour before you turn in for the day. We will wake up Sunday morning to a magically disappeared hour. It evaporated while most of us were sleeping. So we wouldn’t notice? 
    On January 3, 2025, Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) introduced The Sunshine Protection Act of 2025. It was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and there it sits. It would make daylight savings time the new, Permanent Standard Time. 
    It’s been sitting in committee for over a year. No discussion, no debate, no votes.
    Perhaps the legislators have more important issues on their plates?
    And so, while I’m partial to bluebirds for political reasons, ;-) it’s pretty exciting to watch the bright red breast of a robin as it pulls up a wiggly worm in the green, green grass of home.

I’m reading Asterwood by Jacquelyn Stolos (RandomHouse Children’s Books/Delacorte Press, 2025). Written for 5th - 8th graders, the main character, Madelyn, discovers a wild and magical world through the woods behind her house. With the help of her new friends, she works to save this world and discover its secrets, while uncovering some pretty fantastic secrets of her own.
  
                  --Be curious! (and watch for signs of Spring)

C. J. saw the perfect rainbow arching over their soup kitchen. He wondered how his Nana found beautiful where he never even thought to look.
from Last Stop on Market Street
words by Matt de la Peña
pictures by Christian Robinson
G. P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin Group, 2015
winner: Newbery Medal, 2016


    I know some people don’t understand the value of volunteering their time for a cause, for an organization, or for other people. But like Nana told C. J. when they reached their volunteer stop in Last Stop on Market Street, “I feel sorry for those boys.” With her spare words, she showed C. J. the importance of being a helper.
    My family was also a family of volunteers. I learned through their examples that money is not the only measure of success. 
    And, when I discovered Project MKC (Making Kids Count) though the Social Action Committee of my synagogue, I took the opportunity to join with several like minded people every second Monday each month to package diapers, personal care items, and care kits for kids entering foster care. Lots of need being met by lots of helpers.
    And even though many people already know about this wonderful organization, I decided to use my blog to shout a little louder about the great work they do. I asked Jana Coffin, co-president with her sister-in-law Shelly Marlowe, if she would be willing to talk to me. 
    This is the first time I actually conducted an interview with a real person and I thought it was a great idea. But now as I transcribe my notes, you can all let me know how I did.
    In 2009, I was thinking seriously about my retirement. Jana was studying for her bar exam and planning her wedding! Jenny Kennedy, Jana’s future mother-in-law, was looking for an interesting and new way to give back her community. 
    She saw an article about an organization who threw birthday parties for homeless children and decided to bring that idea to Youngstown. She put her own twist to it and ran the idea past her two “girls.”
    Jenny’s determination was the fuel that directed Jana’s and Shelly’s organizational skills, expertise, and degrees. Their idea became an outgrowth of their motto: all children deserve to feel special.
    In 2010, the fledgling group’s first donation, a $20.00 check from a co-worker of Jana’s fiancé, was delivered to their P.O. Box.
    Months later, a client called to tell of their need for a crib. Jana told me, “Project MKC didn’t have one. It was a much bigger item than they could keep on hand at that time.” A couple of days passed and a donor called to ask if the organization could use a new crib. Of course, the answer was yes. “And that’s not the only time something like that happened,” she added.
    An individual thank you note was sent in response. The office staff (mostly family members) continues to write and mail a thank you note to each donor.


    The world works in mysterious ways, I thought to myself.
    A primary focus of Project MKC is their Basic Needs Bank. They’re listed as a member of the National Diaper Bank Network, and now they’re able to provide so much more than diapers.
    Project MKC does not distribute their stock including basic needs items to individuals, though. They work through partner agencies who assess their clients and assess their clients’ needs. The system works to keep the organization efficient and honest.
    If an individual calls with their own needs, the Project MKC staff directs them to an agency or agencies who can help. Here's a link to the thirty-three partner agencies listed in Mahoning County. You can also find their partners in Trumbull, Columbiana, Ashtabula, Summit, Cuyahoga, Portage, Jefferson, and Lorain Counties!
    “Half of all children who need diapers are not getting enough to keep them clean, dry, and healthy,” Jana told me. 
    That’s not a misprint. And the huge problem ripples through our society.
    Here’s how it works: Babies and toddlers don’t have enough diapers to get them through the month. They cannot go to preschool without them. Moms stay home to care for their kids. At best, they lose income and have a harder time providing for their children. Maybe they lose their jobs. 
    And so it goes.
    WIC, the federal government’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, (part of SNAP formerly known as food stamps) provides milk, eggs, infant formula, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. No diapers. no personal care items like shampoo or wipes. No toothbrushes or toothpaste. WIC was set up and continues to meet nutritional needs on a very basic level. 
    There is no government program to help with personal needs items.
    And Project MKC is more than a diaper bank. Click on the “Programs” tab on the Project MKC website to find Hope Kits for kids undergoing chemotherapy. 
    Click on the Comfort Kits tab and find out that Project MKC supplies children entering the foster care system with a duffel bag full of age and gender appropriate items. All theirs to keep, including a new pair of pajamas, a “security blanket” even the duffel. 
    Through the generosity of The Italian Scholarship Foundation, Project MKC’s Best Foot Forward brings boots to students in Mahoning County. 
    Who’s to say which program of the many, many they provide is the most important? Each one, indeed, each person, whether it’s Project MKC and their staff, their partner agencies, the volunteers everywhere, the donors, and the clients themselves, our whole society runs because of the multitude of caring people all around us, quietly doing their best to give a helping hand.
    When I asked Jana for a favorite story about Project MKC, she told me about the family who were the recipients of their Holiday Adopt-A-Family. They were so grateful that they came back the next year with a donation of their own. That’s what I call paying it forward.
    “What makes Project MKC work?” I asked. 
    “The world works in mysterious ways.” Jana mused. “I trust in the goodness of humans. I find gratitude for helpers everywhere.” 
    Real love really does make the world go around. Maybe it’s not so mysterious after all.
I read Anna Quindlen’s memoir, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake (Random House, 2012). Her spot-on vignettes recall the value of female friendships, the importance of family, and the bittersweet joy of aging, all from the “perspective of a woman of a certain age.”  Recommended.


Be curious! (and love your neighbors)


FB: It’s winter again here in Northeastern Ohio. Snow is covering the grass and my solar panels, my daffodils and crocuses are waiting patiently, and I saw a robin the other day. Maybe the sun will come out tomorrow. Is that a metaphor?  
​

I'm afraid I'm still playing catch-up with last week. Looking forward to later sunsets and warmer temps. See you next week!
                                           --Be curious! (and take time to play) 

“Room for one more?” asked Orange.
        …
None of the games worked for three, but Orange and Little Pear didn’t think to notice.
Big Pear, however, was very bothered.
She was feeling squeezed out, replaced by someone new and zesty.
                                           from A Pair of Pears and an Orange
                                       written and illustrated by Anna McGregor
                                                                       Scribble, 2021
                                                   (accessed on YouTube, 2/9/26)


    When my girls were in high school, my husband and I added football games into our weekly schedule. The girls were in marching band. Enough said. 
    My husband watched the game. I only saw boys running around, chasing a ball, and sometimes hurting each other, or less often, themselves. 
    The injuries were accidental, I’m sure, but the pain was no less for that, I’m also sure. Football is a dangerous game and I couldn’t (and still can’t) see the point of it all.
    The high school half-time show was always entertaining, though, and always too short for my taste.
    But the Super Bowl is big business. From the special coin re-struck in honor of the US’s 250th anniversary, (which will reside from now on in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History) to the $188,000 check each player on the winning team will receive (in addition to their regular pay), extravagance is another name for the game.
    Even though Bad Bunny was not paid directly, (none of the half-time performers are) all his expenses were paid, and the NFL pays the tab for all the production costs, too. The estimate for this year’s show is $17,000,000 (million). Also, the exposure in front of so many fans can only help his image and streaming numbers. 
    And what about the ads? The average cost for a 30 second ad this year was $8,000,000. 
    Putting aside the business aspect of sport in general, let’s focus on the way rooting for a team brings people together. The team spirit, the way we feel when we root for something together, that camaraderie is a real thing. We need that sense of belonging to boost our self-esteem and help us identify what is important to us, what we stand for, our shared values.
    Discovering that humans are social beings and need to identify with a group, deeper study of social psychology was in order.
    Henri Tajfel, (1918-1982) a Polish social psychologist, did pioneering work on how people learn prejudice. It was a relatively short leap from there to defining and identifying group behavior.
    Social Identity Theory grew out of Tajfel’s work and has been popular since the early 1970s. Briefly, the theory explains the three stages of development people grow through to learn where and how to “fit” into our society. 
    First is Self Categorization. We identify with particular groups and not with others. Some of my groups include mothers, women, librarians (even though I’m retired), writers, (even though I have not been traditionally published yet), environmentalists, religious Jews, baby-boomers, you get the idea. I match my behavior to my self-chosen groups. I’m kind, generous, caring, and helpful. I’m also stubborn, impatient, and tend to procrastinate, but we’ll put those aside for now.
    The problem with this type of categorization comes when people see themselves more on a continuum, than on one side of a dichotomy. It puts us in an us/them framework, and leads to the preference of our own group(s) over those we perceive as different. Tajfel discovered this in his work on prejudice.
    Next is Social Identification. As I identify with my groups, I match my goals and values to what I perceive these to be. I’m emotionally invested with my family and friends. That’s where I find acceptance and reinforcement of my behaviors in my self-chosen groups.
    Finally, Social Comparison involves the belief that membership in my group is necessary to my vision of my self. Since it is most common (and most helpful) to think kindly of ourselves, I must maintain a favorable opinion of my groups, including behaviors, goals, and values. This can lead to feelings of superiority, but it doesn’t have to. 
    So, back to the Super Bowl in particular, and football in general.
    In his halftime show, Bad Bunny portrayed himself as Puerto Rican and American. He called attention in a very large way to his own broad and inclusive American identity. 
    Our society is in flux. To be overly simplistic, we Americans are redefining ourselves. We highlight our differences in order to define and distinguish ourselves from those who hold different beliefs.
    I understand the need to belong to a group that shares my values. Even though I don’t identify as a football fan, I am a fan of renewable energy, religious freedom, and democracy.
    But to survive, our values must align. If our common group is Americans, then our values must be what they’ve always been: Patriot dreams that see beyond the years, The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, Liberty and Justice for all. 
    Let freedom ring. 
My next read is Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (Pamela Dorman Books/Viking, 2017). More on that next time.
                                              -—Be curious! (and show your colors)

“It’s dangerous,” warned the mayor.
“It’s scary,” said the city planner.
“Who knows what the Dark will bring with it,” said the lantern keeper.
“But the Dark isn’t scary,” Millie Fleur assured them.
“You just need to get to know her.”
                             from Millie Fleur Saves the Night
                     written and illustrated by Christy Mandin
                                          Orchard Books, 2025
                                 (accessed on YouTube 1/31/26)
    
    Millie Fleur misses her nocturnal friends, so with her mother’s help, they block out some of the city lights that are keeping the night-time critters away. The critters come back and all ends well for everyone.  
    But these days, in this time, I’m not thinking of the cozy, warm dark where we watch the stars blink on when the sun sets early in the fall and winter, and when we cuddle wakeful babies.
    These days are metaphorically dark. It’s a challenge to be hopeful, even to muster up optimism, and not run into Pollyanna territory. Crickets, spiders, bats, and katydids flew around the “sweet smell of moonflowers, snoozing sugarplums, and twilight tulips” in Millie Fleur’s moon garden. 
    The comfort I find in my own midnight garden is a quiet joy to discover, on Monday morning that I was one of over 5,000 people who called our Representative’s office.    
    House Speaker Mike Johnson expects to agree very soon on DHS and ICE policy. Some of what is being asked includes unmasking ICE personnel and requiring them to use body cameras is. A discussion about funding is also included on their agenda.
    An agreement will allow the partial government shutdown begun last Friday at midnight to end. DHS will remain funded for just two weeks. Enough time to reach an agreement? We’ll see.
    Meanwhile, citizens in Springfield, Ohio are gearing up to protect their Haitian neighbors whose TPS (Temporary Protected Status) is scheduled to run out tomorrow (2/4/26) at midnight.    
    Published on the Ohio Statehouse News Bureau's website, we learn that “Gov. Mike DeWine said Friday [1/30/26] it is unwise and a ‘mistake' for the federal government to take legal status away from hundreds of thousands of Haitians living in the U.S., including Ohio.” (i.e. revoking their TPS status.)
    The shadow that looms is his statement in the same article: that as a state governor, he will acquiesce to the decision of the President. Does that mean he feels inadequate to stand up for what he knows is right? We’ll see. 
    Haitians began moving to Springfield, Ohio over ten years ago. According to The American Immigration Council “officials say there are anywhere from 12,000 to 20,000 Haitian immigrants living in [Springfield, Ohio], near all of whom have some form of lawful status.”
    In 2010, a devastating earthquake in Haiti left 300,000 Haitians dead and displaced hundreds of thousands more. Some came here to Ohio. They helped grow an economy picking itself up after the continued population loss that turned the area into part of the Rust Belt. As conditions in Haiti continue to deteriorate and jobs in Springfield stay plentiful due to the hard work of city planners, Haitians came to Ohio for its low cost of living and availability of good jobs. They wrote home and more came. 
    And Ohioans welcomed them.
    Now, following Minneapolis, MN, and Portland and Lewiston, ME, Springfield may be ICE’s and the president’s next target. 
    Consider this: it’s not the dark we are really afraid of. Maybe we really have a more general fear of the unknown, what we can’t see or understand. And the uncertainty that goes hand in hand with it.
    What happens when “darkness comes and pain is all around”? 
    According to Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel who won a Song-of-the-Year Grammy in 1971 for “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “if you need a friend, I’m sailing right behind.” 
    We need to have each others’ backs. 
    We need to be courageous, not foolhardy. Brave, but with a drop (or a gallon) of skepticism. Practical, but willing to share our sense of wonder.
    And, carry a flashlight into the dark.

Revolving around the real story of a real thoroughbred, The Horse by Geraldine Brooks (Viking/Penguin Publishing Group, 2022) elegantly weaves three different time periods into a cohesive tapestry describing the love of a horse, the skill of the artist who painted him, and the dedication of the scientist/historian pair who studied together and tell his story against the ever-present backdrop of the Civil War. Recommended.
                                    -—Be curious! (and neighborly)​

“…And most generally there is something about everything that you can be glad about, if you keep hunting long enough to find it.”
                                                   from Pollyanna
                           written by Eleanor Hodgman Porter
                                               various illustrators
                                first published by L.C. Page, 1913
                           (read on Libby downloaded 1/24/26)

    My mom often cautioned me not to be a Pollyanna. And although I had never read any of the Pollyanna books, I knew just what Mom meant. 
    Pollyanna hardly remembered her mother. And before her minister father’s untimely passing, he taught Pollyanna “the glad game.” They played the game together when a situation was not particularly to their liking. She played it with her Ladies Aiders when they brought her donated clothing and when she was sent to live with her Aunt Polly.
    Making the best of a bad or unfortunate situation was the point of the game. Pollyanna was very good at playing it and taught the game to all the people in her world.
    It could go something like this. The largest snowfall buried most of my small city in well over a foot of snow. The single-digit temperature added a layer of challenge for anyone needing to leave their house. 
    The possibility of homeless people freezing to death or at the very least dealing with frostbite, shut-ins not able to get medicine, or a medical emergency or a fire, would have occurred to Pollyanna and her father. They chose to ignore the dire consequences though, and instead concentrated on the beauty of the fresh snow, the industry of snowplows and their drivers, and families reconnecting over board games and hot chocolate.
    Then there’s the ostrich and its very interesting maxim (false, by the way) of burying its head in the sand.
    Unlike Pollyanna and those glad souls whose default is optimism or (false?) cheer, when an ostrich finds itself in a difficult situation, if it thinks it can get away with it, an ostrich will freeze in place to blend in with its background.
    Ostriches are too heavy to fly and their wings are too weak. But ostriches can run. It’s stride reaches over 10 feet and it can run at a continuous speed of up to 43 miles per hour.
    So when an ostrich is afraid, it does not bury its head in the sand. In any case, it would not be able to breathe, and even an animal with a bird brain will not suffocate itself on purpose. 
    Ostriches build their nests on the ground, sometimes in sand, sometimes in dirt. Several times a day, they must turn their eggs to make sure they hatch. Since their heads are very small compared to their bodies, from a distance it could look like they are burying their heads when in fact, they are reaching into their large nests or possibly pecking for food.
    Some people are like Pollyanna, always finding cheer in difficulty. Some are more like an ostrich, avoiding difficulty altogether. 
    I propose that neither ignoring what is difficult like Pollyanna nor running away like an ostrich is an effective way to face our current challenges. 
    We need to practice a middle way. Aware but not consumed. Angry but not violent. Vocal but not belligerent. 
    Observe our circumstances.
    Determine a course of action.
    Act.
    Will you join me and millions of others who use 5 Calls? Find all about them here. Use your phone to download their app.
    Mom also advised me not to wear my heart on my sleeve. That’s a bit harder for me, and a subject for another day.

I’m reading Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter (since the title is in the public domain, it is available from many publishers and as an ebook). A little corny, but still relevant and moves along quickly.
               -—Be curious! (and stay as involved as you can)