There’s a reason Native Americans refer to the moose as “twigeater,” given the formidable herbivore is usually seen spending much of its day nibbling the tips of twigs, especially those sprouting recent growth. When it comes to dining, however, moose prefer the all-you-can-eat buffet that includes aquatic as well as terrestrial varieties of forage; and you can bet they will... READ MORE >
Did you know Thomas Jefferson’s real passion was natural history? Little known as a naturalist and amateur biologist, at least during his lifetime (1743-1826), Jefferson disputed the great French naturalist Buffon – considered the world’s leading zoologist at the time – who claimed when an animal species was found in both the Old and New Worlds, the latter form was... READ MORE >
There is any number of opinions as to why moose numbers are declining, and they’re all free for the taking. Just pick your particular preference and plop your posterior on a park bench somewhere in a pine forest and pontificate with your pals while you wait for the beast – with a penchant for palatable sprigs – to appear. The... READ MORE >
Look up “public servant” in the dictionary and I’m pretty sure you’ll find a picture of Diane Booth. I’m not kidding! And while I certainly don’t intend to offend anyone, I maintain, pound for pound, ounce for ounce, we get more out of this self-giving woman than anyone else I’ve had the privilege to work with in Cook County. Having... READ MORE >
Remember Gumby? Created in the early 1950s, the little green “bendy” became a cultural icon. Mass-produced in Hastings, Minn. until about 1971, he won himself an Emmy in 2008 and appeared in a number of television ads, including a Super Bowl commercial in 2009. The fact that Gumby’s creator Art Clokey, a southern California college student, made Gumby transformable is... READ MORE >
After surviving Y2K and the much- ballyhooed transition into the 21st century, my wife Renée, and I traveled to the Chamonix region in France to sequester ourselves in a quaint alpine chalet perched high in the French Alps. Spending the better part of an afternoon traversing the narrow mountain roads, we eventually arrived at our modest villa only to find... READ MORE >
Words have become the “sheep’s clothing” of present-day messaging. Like Aesop’s allegorical fable depicting a Big Bad Wolf that cloaked the nefarious in the innocuous – the “clothing” of a lamb – words serve as the “hide” to deliver emotionally charged messages fraught with subversive ideas. As behavioral scientists continue to uncover the power of words to effect behavioral change,... READ MORE >
Ever witness the best of intentions go awry? Paradoxically, the woman most responsible for what we celebrate as Mother’s Day battled this reality. Never a mother herself, never having had any children of her own, Anna Jarvis would spend the greater part of her later life fighting what Mother’s Day had become. When the holiday went commercial, its greatest champion... READ MORE >
When it comes to Superior National Forest, as well as school trust lands, the focus of recent columns, the blunt, unambiguous, question to be asked is: “For whom are these lands managed?” The answer to this question gets to the heart of the matter. As repeated, ad nauseam, in the recent three-part series on school trust lands, the trust manager’s... READ MORE >
If you ask School Trust Land Administrator Aaron Vande Linde, “What lies ahead for school trust lands?” he’s quick to respond, “I have a duty to make these properties productive”; adding, “I was advised before I took this position, ‘Never be a trustee. The standard is too high.’ “ I would agree. He’s in one of those “no-win” positions that... READ MORE >
