By Jan Bosman I believed for a long time that miracles were other-worldly happenings: the virgin birth, the parting of the Red Sea, a baby for a couple beyond child-bearing age. Strangely, or maybe not so, these were Bible stories, ones that I was exposed to during my faith journey; and I questioned some or […]
By Jan Bosman And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, Speak to us of Children, and he said: “Your children are not your children.” – Poem by Kahlil Gibran,“On Children” I have one son and one daughter. Today I’m going to talk about my son. He and I flew to Colorado […]
By Jan Bosman I have been especially giddy this April, poetry month as designated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996. I find myself spouting nursery rhymes at every opportunity. Want to know why? Because everybody around me knows them, too, and can fill in a line if I forget. If I say, “Little […]
By Jan Bosman Santa was in a hurry to get started Christmas Eve. The toys were stacked; the sleigh was packed; the reindeer hitched to leave. He should have checked the forecast, but time had ticked away, so off he flew to do his job across the USA. Somewhere above Midwest, a storm began to […]
In 1963, I was teaching business education for my fourth year. Married about 2½ years, I lived on Randolph Street in Walworth, Wis., in a one-bedroom house that my husband and I had bought for $6,300. I was earning about $3,000 that year, and my husband, a recent graduate from Whitewater State Teachers College, was […]
By Jan Bosman Poet Naomi Shihab Nye could not have defined 2021 any better than this excerpt from her poem, “Burning the Old Year”: So much of any year is flammable: lists of vegetables, partial poems, orange swirling flame of days. So little is a stone. Haven’t we all learned that so little of any […]
I haven’t written a column for The Woodstock Independent for quite some time. I’ve been what you might call, “Out of Commission.” My family, close friends, and acquaintances know the details. The rest of you readers will just have to guess, but here’s what I want you to know: Be very involved in your health-care decisions; really […]
By Jan Bosman During the past 16 months, I have heard people say, “I can’t wait until we get back to ‘normal.’” Normal – that expected outcome – but how would that look? I wasn’t clear if “normal” meant “getting beyond the fear of dying from COVID-19” or “going wherever one wants to go and […]
The other day, a friend called me while I was driving. “Do you know that daffodil poem?” she asked. “I liked it so much when I was teaching but don’t know where to find it again.” Happily, I said I did. I was sure she could find that poem as easily as I if she […]
Several garbage pickup Tuesdays ago, I chose to discard two jars of pickles from a shelf in my furnace room. I knew the contents were inedible because the color of the juice was murky rather than clear. I have a reputation for keeping items beyond their usefulness in my refrigerator, closets, desks, or on pantry […]
Larry Lough is editor of The Independent and reports local news.
Janet Dovidio has been a freelance correspondent for The Independent for eight years.
Susan W. Murray wrote for The Independent, covering various beats, from 2005 to 2008.
Tricia Carzoli is a freelance writer and photographer that on community news.
