Rhonda Silence starnews@boreal.org | April 13, 2013
In March, Cook County News-Herald Associate Editor Jane Howard and I had the pleasure of meeting with a group of fifth-grade writers. It was interesting to be interviewed by these enthusiastic young people. They asked some really tough questions and made me stop and think about why I wanted to be a writer, the path I took to get there... READ MORE >
Rhonda Silence starnews@boreal.org | March 30, 2013
I have to write one more column about snow. Apologies to my friend and co-worker Jane who is more than ready for the cold to go away, but I am still enamored with the white stuff. I was just about ready for winter to be over, but then another friend, Nancy from Ely, visited and set off a chain of... READ MORE >
Rhonda Silence starnews@boreal.org | March 23, 2013
I sometimes think of column ideas at odd times—in the middle of a meeting, in the shower or driving down the road. This week my column idea struck as I was shoveling snow. I realized that I have not written a column yet this winter about how much I like snow. I love it when I’m snowmobiling along a trail... READ MORE >
Rhonda Silence starnews@boreal.org | February 19, 2011
I love the ride up the North Shore on Highway 61. Not always, of course. Like anyone else, I don’t enjoy the drive when the fog is so thick you can barely see the front of your vehicle. And driving at turtle speeds on slippery winter roads wears me out. But when the weather is right, the cruise up our... READ MORE >
Rhonda Silence starnews@boreal.org | February 12, 2011
I really enjoyed our time as a military family living within 25 miles of Washington D.C. We lived in Woodbridge, Virginia from 1993 to 1995 and we spent a lot of time exploring. It is an area rich in history from colonial settlements at Jamestown and Williamsburg to Civil War battlefields and of course, the marvelous museums and monuments of... READ MORE >
Rhonda Silence starnews@boreal.org | February 05, 2011
I know there are a lot of people in the northland who are tired of winter. The rational part of my brain understands that. I must admit that my enjoyment of snow blowing and shoveling the deck faded after the third…or fourth…or fifth time that we had to do it. I am getting a bit tired of icy sidewalks and... READ MORE >
Rhonda Silence starnews@boreal.org | January 29, 2011
I am one of the many North Shore residents who has been stepping and sitting a bit gingerly in recent weeks. I am one of many folks who slipped and fell on the ugly ice earlier this month. It happened because I was in a hurry, of course. I was leaving my house and I got tired of chipping away... READ MORE >
Rhonda Silence starnews@boreal.org | January 22, 2011
We get a lot of information in the mail and via e-mail at the News- Herald every day. A lot of “high priority” press releases we receive are from elected officials and representatives from one political party or the other. Usually I skim them and then hit delete. Most of the time the press releases from the elected officials are... READ MORE >
Rhonda Silence starnews@boreal.org | January 15, 2011
I didn’t think I knew anything about U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords before the horrific shooting at her meetthe public event at a Tucson, Arizona Safeway on January 8. But as I went online this evening to check on her condition, I realized I had been cheering her on in a Fox News segment just the day before the attack. We... READ MORE >
Rhonda Silence starnews@boreal.org | January 08, 2011
The first meeting of the Cook County commissioners each year is normally not a very interesting event. New or re-elected commissioners and other government officials are sworn in and the county board spends about an hour on housekeeping matters. The most exciting part of the meeting is usually the nomination and election of the new county board chair. However this... READ MORE >
