Sorted by date Results 176 - 200 of 1086
Come one, come all to the 2023 Rotary Run Charity Classic this coming Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023. The motto of Rotary is very simple, “Service Above Self.” That is the reason I joined the Rotary Club of Hinsdale just a few short years ago and that is the reason that this race is so important to me. Almost every penny donated to the race will be given away to excellent charitable causes, including The Community House of Hinsdale, the D181 Foundation, the Ray Graham Foundation and the Hinsdale Hospital Foundation. Since I del...
Ahh ... that's better. The good old prefrontal cortex. Where would we be without it? Pretty much brain dead; that's where we'd be. The prefrontal cortex is the region of the brain responsible for planning complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, decision-making and moderating social behavior. But why empty it? And how would you even do that? You might not be familiar with this process as I identify it here. You might know it by other names - writing, painting,...
I brought a book with me when I traveled this summer. I was not invested in it; in fact, I predicted I'd finish it on the plane and leave it there. It was a guilt read, meaning it had been recommended so fervently by one friend so often that I thought I'd just breeze through it to appease her. A nonfiction, self-help best-seller, it was a weird genre for fiction-loving-me. Luckily it was slim, so I could tote it around with me. And tote it I did, because I discovered it was...
Eighty-one percent of crashes at public railroad grade crossings in Illinois occur where active warning devices, such as flashing lights, ringing bells and/or gates already exist, according to government statistics. During 2022, 129 vehicle crashes were reported at public highway-rail grade crossings, resulting in 30 fatalities and 39 personal injuries in Illinois. An additional 62 pedestrians trespassing on railroad rights-of-way were struck by passing trains, resulting in 39 fatalities and 23 personal injuries. Sept. 18-24...
I am jumping the gun a bit with that headline. Fall doesn't officially start until the autumnal equinox occurs at 1:49 a.m. Saturday. But we're close enough (especially when TV folk started observing "meteorological fall" Sept. 1). Fall, as many of you know, is my favorite season. I frankly don't understand why that's not true for everyone, given all there is to recommend it. I will admit I have warmed up to summer since my daughter was born 14 years ago. I think it has...
We moved to Hinsdale 17 years ago. In that time, I've grown a few kids, volunteered in their schools, engaged in the community, logged a lot of hours on the sidelines of sporting events and logged even more hours behind the steering wheel of a mini-van shuttling young passengers around to those events. Treasured friendships have been formed and professional achievements celebrated all within the friendly confines of the 60521-zip code. About the time our family moved to town,...
The Hinsdale Central High School Homecoming Pancake Breakfast is back! Please join us on Saturday, Sept. 23, from 7:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. in the beautiful HCHS student cafe. Tickets are $10. Pay at the door. All proceeds go to HCHS student programs. Brought to you by the HCHS Foundation and the Hinsdale Rotary. Yum!!!! — Pam Kalafut, HCHS Foundation...
People commemorate 9/11 in their own way. My husband and I always make sure our American flag is on display near our front door. Monday morning we watched news coverage of family members reading the names of those lost in the attacks, including their loved ones. One of the readers was a young boy there to honor the grandfather he never had the chance to meet. Hinsdalean Dave Pequet sent out the annual "Remembering Sept. 11" email from his company, MPI Wealth Management. "The...
September is Suicide Prevention Month and this week is National Suicide Prevention Week. This isn’t a topic most are eager to talk about. But talking is sometimes the one thing that can save someone’s life. Most people who are having thoughts of suicide feel relief when someone asks after them in a caring way, according to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Individuals are more likely to feel less depressed, less suicidal, less overwhelmed and more hopeful after speaking to someone who listens without judgment. And hel...
Many in the community began the school year with attending curriculum night in District 181. We were welcomed by enthusiastic, caring, smart professionals who excel in the craft of teaching. We entrust these teachers each day with laying a solid foundation of academic excellence. We relied on these same teachers to guide us all through a global pandemic and expected our tradition of excellence to continue. It did. Yet, as we begin the 2023-24 school year, teachers in 181 are working without a contract and federal mediators...
The last time I wrote an article for the paper, I was headed off to study travel writing in Prague, Czech Republic. Two months later, I can confidently say that my time abroad was life changing. While I was in Prague, I experienced gratitude and excitement for life like never before. I formed connections with the other students on the program, and we all went from strangers to friends in no time at all. I made memories that will live in my mind forever- swimming in a pond at...
At my last book club gathering, one member said she wants to live to be 120. “I’ll be dead,” I replied, knowing she’s about 20 years older than I am. I couldn’t understand why she would want to live that long. But then I went to a presentation at the Hinsdale Public Library last week and learned all about the secrets to living to 100. Adult service librarian Doug Nye told us about five Blue Zones, or places with a high concentration of centenarians. They are Sardinia,...
Monday marks 22 years since the terrorist attacks that shook the nation and launched a global battle against Islamic extremism that continues today. Hinsdale residents Bob Rasmussen and Jeff Mladenik were among the 2,996 lives lost in those shocking acts of mass murder committed the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, searing images of both unspeakable horror and awe-inspiring heroism into our collective memory. More than 6,000 were injured. For those of us who can remember the horror of that day, the memory of the experience likely...
You'd be hard pressed to find Buncombe, Illinois, on a map. Buncombe is a five-hour drive straight south from Hinsdale as the crow flies, as my dad would say. I dreaded visiting Buncombe as a kid. In the early 1970s there was nothing there. Miles and miles of farmland interrupted by old farmhouses and grain silos. Maybe an occasional Stuckey's along the way. My paternal grandfather grew up near Buncombe before he made his way to Chicago in 1920. However, a few distant...
Were it not for my summer sabbatical from column writing, each one of these probably would have been its own column. Instead, I offer an abbreviated look at summer 2023. Since June, I ... • saw my birth mom and birth dad reunite for the first time in more than 50 years when they traveled here for Ainsley’s eighth-grade graduation. Not long after I connected with them in 2020, someone asked me if I ever thought they would meet. “I hope not!” I replied, thinking it would b...
As students get acclimated to their class schedules, locker combinations and homework, adults also have some adjusting to do now that school is back in session. Traffic patterns have changed dramatically since the first day at Hinsdale Central Aug. 21 and District 181 schools Aug. 22. More students are heading to and from school on foot or on their bikes — or getting a ride from mom or dad or even a classmate. They might not be paying as much attention as they should be, so drivers need to be extra vigilant. To that end, w...
In contrast to a recent guest commentary, I posit the case is overwhelmingly for dogs. Not against dogs. On behalf of dogs everywhere, I humbly offer this partial inventory and recount. Seeing-eye dogs. Bomb-sniffing dogs. Guard dogs. Hunting dogs. Police dogs. Seizure-sensing dogs. Service dogs. Sheep herding dogs. Sled dogs. Search and rescue dogs. Drug-sniffing dogs. And these are just the top-of-mind jobs dogs perform for us. We ask and dogs willingly meet the challenge. They love us more than they love themselves,...
Hinsdale owes a thank you to Burdi Clothing and the other organizers of the car show held several weeks ago. Notwithstanding the rainy weather, a sizable crowd enjoyed walking among the many exotic and collectible supercars. The sheer number of collector cars in attendance, the majority of which have never seen rain, was a testament to the organizers’ influence in the small community of supercar owners. The interest and reach of this show were far from local and attracted visitors from across the country, as it was the s...
This summer while browsing in a used bookstore in Michigan with aisles upon aisles of books stacked floor to ceiling, I stumbled upon a devotional entitled "100 Days to Brave." I'm not sure what drew me to this particular book. Perhaps these days we all need a nudge toward courage, a boost out of our comfort zones. Picking it up, the jacket read: "For the next 100 days, let Annie F. Downs show you that you are braver than you know, and with that knowledge in your back pocket,...
Of course motorists need to be aware and use caution regarding kids on electric scooters and bikes and the writer (July 13 letter) correctly points out that a parent’s worst nightmare is losing a child and parents should be teaching safety to their kids. This misses a most important element: Why do parents purchase these electric bikes and scooters and leave their kids unsupervised? Senior citizens have had close encounters with riders on sidewalks crossing storefronts. Kids are observed riding fast the wrong way on First S...
You might recall from previous columns how much I detest the use of June 1 and Sept. 1 as the start of summer and fall, given the existence of actual events that mark the seasons. That said, the summer solstice and autumn equinox are not always the most pragmatic dates to use. Autumn won’t officially start until Sept. 23, but practically speaking, summer is over here at The Hinsdalean. I know because my summer column-writing sabbatical has ended. I’ve spent the past 10 wee...
Hinsdale youth are back in class! Stepping up a grade means a higher level of academic rigor — and a greater need for effective study habits. Here are some tips from “The Princeton Review” to help make the year a success. 1. Have multiple study spaces. A quiet place at home is key, but variety can help, too. Libraries, parks or even just moving from the bedroom to the kitchen table can stimulate the brain to retain information better. 2. Keep a catch-all calendar. In addition to jotting down homework assignments, mark extra...
I wrote a column for The Hinsdalean in 2018 called "Superhero Moms and Dads" that was about all of the many cool things we do for our kids as they grow up and how we parents should feel like superheroes because our kids see us that way. It's been about five years since I wrote that article. My husband and I are about to send our firstborn off to college and see our younger son begin senior year of high school. Seemingly overnight, we've gone from superheroes to ordinary...
The beautiful historic buildings in the central business district, the Robbins Park subdivision and many other neighborhoods in Hinsdale. That delicious smell when you walk into Kramer Foods. The crowds that line the streets the morning of July 4, waiting for the parade to begin. These and so many other things make Hinsdale the wonderful town that it is. We celebrated almost a dozen of them in our summer series, Quintessential Hinsdale. It is not a coincidence that we chose this topic in 2023, the year the village is...
Those back-to-school emails and football season previews are coming fast and furious right about now. But that doesn’t mean we have to rush summer off the stage. Check out these seasonal attractions and activities — both in town and around the Hinsdale area — before the summer bids adieu. Tomorrow, Aug. 11, is the last of the village’s Movies in the Park series with a screening of “Despicable Me” in Robbins Park starting at dusk. Pack blankets and lawn chairs to watch the film under the stars while munching on the free (a...
