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African American Women in Iowa History
In light of March being Women in History Month (as well as Iowa History Month), I’d like to share some history stories about an African American librarian from Mason City, Iowa named Esther J. Walls. In 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, there was an essay about her, “Esther J. Walls: The Role of a Black…
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CDC ACIP Meeting on the RSV Vaccine and Some Dad Jokes
We watched the section of the CDC ACIP meeting about RSV vaccines on February 29, 2024. There was a lot of discussion on the safety of the vaccine. It looks like it will still have a requirement that you have a shared clinical decision-making meeting with your physician. I think that still implies you’d need…
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Flight of Ideas on Junior Bald Eagles
A couple of days ago the temperature was in the mid-seventies, which is pretty balmy for February. We took the opportunity to get out for a walk on the Terry Trueblood Trail. It’s coincidental, but we did the same thing on the exact same date last February. It’s under the same condition for the most…
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Thoughts on the Mason City 1884 Civil War Statue
Sena and I got to talking about Central Park in Mason City, Iowa. I remember my brother, mother and I taking a walk there occasionally. One time we saw a man who lost his legs and who got around using a small platform on wheels. Later in life, I wondered if he was a disabled…
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Essay “Forget Me Not” on the Web About Leaving a Legacy
Sena found a great essay on leaving a legacy. It’s titled “Forget Me Not” written by Jonathan Clements and posted on the website HumbleDollar on February 17, 2024. I think it’s worth sharing. The comments are still coming in. One commenter (Newsboy) wrote the one below: “The late great author, Steven (sic) Covey, once suggested: “To…
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More Thoughts On “Our Hidden Conversations” Book by Michele Norris
I need to correct something I got wrong in my first post about Michele Norris’s Distinguished Lecture on January 23rd. While reading her book, “Our Hidden Conversations” I ran across this race card in the chapter “Black Babies Cost Less to Adopt:” “Vote (for) Obama! He looks like me!” That was the 8-year-old daughter said…
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Preliminary Thoughts on “Our Hidden Conversations” Book
This is a short post about my initial impressions about the book, “Our Hidden Conversation” by Michele Norris. I’m not finished with the book yet, but I thought I would let you know that the first chapter, “Bread Crumbs” was tough to read. I had to put it down and come back to it a…
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Sweethearts on a February Stroll
Yesterday, we went out for a walk because it was a pretty nice day for February. All the snow was pretty much gone. We saw a hawk who also saw us. We approached the tree it was perched in very slowly. It tolerated our attention until we got too close for comfort—and flapped off in…
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Black History Month: James Spaights Concert Pianist
I was thinking about my time as a student at Huston-Tillotson University in the 1970s (then Huston-Tillotson College) and remembered somebody who was a student there. His name is James Spaights. In honor of his stature in music as it connects to the Black History Month theme of African Americans and the Arts, I just…
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Thoughts on the Distinguished Education Lecture by Dr. Russell Ledet MD PhD
We enjoyed the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Distinguished Education (originally given on January 17, 2023) by Dr. Russell Ledet. He’s definitely a mover and a shaker and this is another recorded presentation that I wish was available for the general public. His bio is knockdown impressive. And even more interesting to me is that…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 