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On Friday afternoon, May 1, it was a beautiful spring day and I was riding my bicycle near the West Hinsdale Train Station. While trying to stay out of the path of an oncoming car and practice social distancing, I found myself on the wrong side of the road. My bike tire caught the edge of a curb and down I went. There happened to be two boys on bikes nearby. Without hesitation, they came over, asked if I needed help and proceeded to move my bike out of the street. I assured them I was all right and just needed a minute to sit...
The list of canceled events at times overwhelms me with sadness. When the state lockdown began on my birthday, it wasn't too difficult to shrug it off. "We'll celebrate later," we said. Then there was my father-in-law's 91st birthday in April. "How lucky we had that great party for his 90th last year," we observed. Then came Easter. "Thank God for Zoom church services," we prayed in thanksgiving. Then the scheduled Indian Princess campout - the one that would have been...
I'm doing final edits to this column on April 28. Perhaps things have changed by the time you're reading it, but I hope not. So far, our family has weathered the pandemic by being very careful, especially those of us who are 75 - but we also worry and grieve for families who have suffered terribly. With time for idle thoughts, I realized that, after the kids moved out 30 years ago, my husband and I have experienced three distinct phases of "togetherness," defined as "time...
My husband and I own the Orland Bassett house on Sixth Street. We are restoring this incredible home after a terrible fire because we consider ourselves custodians of history and beauty as well as titleholders of a personal property. Owning and maintaining an older home obviously requires a special commitment of time and attention. However, we take seriously the responsibility of living in a historic district and felt an obligation to rebuild as one of many families that have stewarded the Bassett house through the decades....
While we have been dealing with a worldwide pandemic, Verizon has been busy moving forward with their plans to install 4G/5G towers throughout Hinsdale. In a March letter to the village of Hinsdale, Verizon announced that they will begin submitting permit applications for new antenna towers. Although the new 5G technology may sound great, it is certainly not worth being a test community and having our front yard parkways filled with almost 150 unsightly cell towers soaring up to 45 feet tall with a refrigerator-sized power...
I was at the grocery store last week picking up a few things and was wearing a disposable mask. I noticed most customers were wearing masks as well and wiping down their carts. The checkout line had horizontal lines taped to the floor indicating where each customer should stand while they wait. It became my turn to put my items on the conveyor belt and as I started to, the woman in front of me, wearing a medical-grade N-95 mask, ordered me briskly to wait back and not place...
First responders. Docs. Nurses. Grocery store workers. Food delivery drivers. They've all been thanked - in press conferences, TV commercials and Facebook posts. They all deserve our gratitude, to be sure. A talk I had with a good friend of mine who's nurse at a Chicago hospital really brought that home for me. I also was touched by videos of nurses that aired during the April 18 "One World: Together at Home" coronavirus special. Their faces were bruised from so many hours of...
Stay the course. Whether that phrase brings to mind horse racing (its first use in 1885), sailing or past Republican presidents (Reagan, Bush 41 and Bush 43), it’s what we all need to do right now. We recognize this past week has been a tough one. Friday we learned Gov. JB Pritzker would extend the stay-at-home order for the state through May 30. A week before that, students — and their parents — heard the official ruling that schools would be closed for the rest of the year. That doesn’t mean there is no good news for May...
Do you have a running list of COVID-19 questions? About things you can’t remember, like when the first case was reported? Or things you don’t know at all, like what the criteria for “herd immunity” are? I do. So I did a little research for a DIY Q and A, mostly looking at the New York Times online (unless otherwise specified). I’m recording all my answers here, so I’ll know where to find them — and in case you had these questions, too. When did states issue their stay-at...
For those of us not on the front lines of the response to COVID-19, figuring out where to turn to help can be daunting. Both traditional and innovative ways to leverage one's resources in support of the cause are available, and we've listed a few below with Hinsdale ties - opportunities to join this fight, together. • HCS Family Services has seen demand for its services grow during the pandemic and is working with Northern Illinois Food Bank and other suppliers to purchase incremental food for its two food pantries. For t...
Dear friends, Like no other time in HCS Family Services’ 83-year history, this past month has reminded us just how valuable our volunteers are. As we’ve had to limit the number of volunteers at our food pantries due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are missing the smiles, passion and camaraderie of the nearly 100 community members who, in normal times, make our operation work so effectively each week. With only two part-time and three full-time staff members, our organization is dependent upon our volunteers to provide nut...
Although I really enjoy my daily walk at the Fullersburg Forest Preserve, it would benefit from the following improvements. Instead of prohibiting cars from other counties to park there, charge all drivers a fee, with a higher rate for cars from other counties. The additional revenues can be used to: A. Buy a train like the ones at the Brookfield Zoo and give tours with narrations. B. Add many more signs describing plants and animals, as did the Chicago Botanic Garden. C. Keep all toilets open and sanitized year-round as do...
I have a doctoral dissertation to write. It will come in at about 80,000 words. Knowing what a daunting target that is, my advisor suggested that I break it down, for example by aiming for 8,000 words a month. Each month articulates one point I want to make in support of my thesis. That's just one "normal size" research paper a month. No big deal - I got this. Working from home during this pandemic, this advice is serving me well beyond the dissertation. One day, overwhelmed b...
I would like to thank the children of Hinsdale for their artistic expressions. As I walk or run (at a socially responsible distance) through town, I see your efforts: the chalk drawings and mosaics on the driveway or sidewalk, the painted ‘kindness’ rocks you left at the base of trees with positive messages or the drawings you put up in your windows. All of these have made me smile. Thank you for brightening my day and the whole town; your efforts have not gone un-noticed. Please keep up the good work. We all need this rig...
The village’s website proudly declares that it is “strongly committed to the preservation of its community character and historic past.” The historic Dean house begs to differ. It is slated to be torn down with little more than a collective yawn from the village board. Another local developer, when complimented on her recent purchase of a historically significant home, declared, “This one is going down.” In the 15 years since the New York Times deemed Hinsdale the epicenter of the teardown trend, all that we have to show f...
"Will the Corona virus be over tomorrow?" my two young daughters asked. "When will we be able to go somewhere again?" I struggle to find an answer that satisfies my inquisitive 5-year-old. As the weeks stretch on, I yearn for a sense of normal. When will we go to back the office and school? Will grocery shopping ever feel ordinary again? So much about our lives has suddenly changed. It's habit. We tend to define our days by what we have going on and where we are going. So,...
Grocery shopping before a holiday always causes me a bit of angst as I try to find the perfect time when everything on my list will be on the shelves and the fewest number of customers will be in the store. My anxiety was exacerbated last week with social distancing on my mind. When would most people head out to buy food for Easter dinner? Good Friday? Saturday? Should I go early? Late? I settled on Thursday after work. I had two hours before our church's Maundy Thursday Zoom...
Perhaps you had planned to participate in the villagewide clean-up of parks on April 24 to commemorate Earth Day. Or you might have had other activities scheduled to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22. Now, with all of us sheltering in place, those plans have been canceled. Once again, technology is coming to the rescue. “On April 22, Earth Day goes digital,” the Earth Day Network announced at https://www.earthday.org. The site includes a wealth of information about Earth Day — including a calendar listi...
Watching a livestream of Palm Sunday Mass was a strange experience. Ordinarily, Palm Sunday is a day that begins with a jubilant procession into the church, the congregation waving palm branches in imitation of the crowds that welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem. The rite goes from celebratory to solemn as we recall Christ’s passion and death. Yesterday, though, I watched a priest in an all but empty church preside over the “source and summit of the Catholic faith” — the Mass. A...
There's a funny meme making its way through social media these days, which reads: "Just a reminder that when Shakespeare was quarantined with the plague, he wrote King Lear." This is actually true of several Shakespearean works that were composed while the London theaters were closed. As if I weren't feeling unproductive enough that I'm not teaching myself to knit, brushing up on oil painting or abiding by a strict workout regime during these parlous times. There will come a...
The role reversal that's taken place at my house over the last few weeks has left me a little unsettled. It's also brought me great joy. As I head out for work each morning, I leave Dan and Ainsley at home. He has been grounded from traveling - something that typically occupies about 50 percent of his time - and she and students across the state have been banned from school. They've set up their work stations at the dining room table, side by side so he can make sure she does...
Most of us have never appreciated the rich diversity of our society as much as we do now, eager for more scenery options after weeks holed up at home. The Autism Society of America this April also wants to Celebrate Differences, making it the theme of this year’s National Autism Awareness Month. “Designed to build a better awareness of the signs, symptoms and realities of autism, #CelebrateDifferences focuses on providing information and resources for communities to be more aware of autism, promote acceptance and be more inc...
Despite my attempts to keep a positive attitude as we shelter in place, I'm not doing as well as I'd like. My husband's cousin was hospitalized Monday with COVID-19. She is on an antibiotic, her brother told us, and the doctor is optimistic about how her lungs sound. My mom, her sweetheart and my father-in-law are all in lockdown at their assisted living facility. So far no cases have been reported in their building, but someone in the nursing home across the parking lot has...
Three weeks ago, I had it all. I was the lead in my school musical, "Footloose," I was going to Disney World, and I was anticipating the excitement that comes with the end of senior year. Then everything I was so certain about, everything that had been keeping me motivated for the past few months, was turned upside down. Disney World closed, canceling the trip I had looked forward to for months. School was out for two weeks, and school activities were closed for more than a...
“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.” — John Wesley Is this ever a time to do good. Normally we would extol the virtues of altruism in this space the first week of April because it’s National Volunteer Month. But helping others is even more important as we face the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. In some ways, it’s also more difficult. The volunteers who were busy organizing spring and summer fu...
