Current Events
Chicago on My Mind
After thirty years in Chicagoland, our family left — driven by soaring crime, anti-family policies, and a state that seems intent on making things worse.
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Stories about everything from motherhood, faith, and grief, to classical-Christian education, current events, and the writing life.
Current Events
Reflections on 9/11
A visit to the Flight 93 Memorial stirs reflections on the consonance and dissonance of September 11 — and the courage our country desperately needs today.
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Current Events
Blue September: Twenty Years After 9/11
Two decades after 9/11, the crystalline blue sky of that September morning remains seared in memory — a backdrop to senseless horror, uncommon courage, and a nation's reckoning with freedom's fragility.
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Our Anchor, Our Hope: Why Classical-Christian Education Makes All the Difference
Classical-Christian education is more than a schooling model — it's an anchor for the soul, equipping children with virtue, deep thinking, and an unshakable foundation in Christ.
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Wellness
The Year the World Closed: What the Pandemic Has Meant for Kids' Mental Health
School closures, isolation, and upheaval have taken a steep toll on children's mental health. Experts say the key to helping kids through it rests with parents and caregivers.
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Writing & Books
The Three Dimensions of Character
Surface behaviors, backstory, and high-stakes choices — fiction gives us access to all three dimensions of character. Larry Brooks explains how to develop and integrate each one.
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Wellness
Be the Hope
My brother Jim would be fifty-four today. We lost him to suicide seven years ago. It's up to those of us who've lost a beloved to be the hope.
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Motherhood Wellness
All About Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding and postpartum mental health are deeply connected. When everything else went wrong after the birth of my first child, nursing proved an oasis.
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Wellness
Monday Mindset: On the Real Things
In one of the darkest weeks in U.S. history, light still crowds out the darkness — in armies of volunteers, transformed factories, and the simple pleasures of a slowed-down life.
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Writing & Books
Writing Character: Where to Begin?
The essence of story isn't character — it's conflict. Larry Brooks lays out seven key variables that give fiction writers a place to begin building rich, compelling characters.
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Current Events
For the Love of New York
From my first forty-eight hours in Manhattan to covering Ground Zero after 9/11, New York has always pulled at my heart. Now, as a pandemic empties its streets, the city's spirit endures.
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Writing & Books
Friday Fact: On Little House
Laura Ingalls Wilder didn't start writing the Little House series until she was in her sixties. For all of us with writing projects on the back burner: hope is immune to all viruses.
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