Category: Naperville Sun Opinion

One good thing about aging is that people expect less from you physically. Whereas it might be frowned upon as a child if you refuse to stand on a chair, it shows a kind of wisdom when you’re over 50. Thse days if anyone sees me holding onto Grumpy for dear life when we walk down a flight of outdoor steps without a banister, they understand I’m just a doddery old woman. Let’s keep it between you and me that I was much the same in my 20s.

Foster embodies the concept of ‘integrity,’ deserves 7th term As a Naperville School District 203 language arts teacher for 27 years, I often had the opportunity to help my students understand the meaning of the concept of integrity: You are who you say you are, through and through, undivided, honest. I look for this quality in the people for whom I vote. I am very disappointed in the integrity of Qasim Rashid. He claims to be a candidate without corporate donations and yet his employment history is embedded with large corporations. He served as associate director of admissions at the […]

With demographic shifts, all teachers are becoming language teachers by default. It is our collective responsibility to recognize and honor the gifts these students bring to our communities.

Lights … camera … read! From box office hit “Oppenheimer” to a critically acclaimed graphic novel adaptation, some of this year’s buzz-worthy Oscar nominees were inspired by works of literature.

This Thursday — Leap Day — only comes around every four years, and as someone with a Feb. 28 birthday I’ve always found the phenomenon particularly interesting.

I’ve lost count of the number of times people have said to me, “It’s lucky you weren’t born in a leap year,” but the reality is I still would have been born on the 28th. If I were born a day later, it would have been March 1 and I bet no one would have said anything.

Recent events in Naperville both heartening, saddening The League of Women Voters of Naperville was both heartened and saddened by the speakers at the Feb. 6 Naperville City Council meeting, who addressed Councilman Josh McBroom’s recent migrant housing proposal and the recent racially-charged post by a now-resigned member of the city’s Human Rights and Fair Housing Commission. One of the foundational policies of the League of Women Voters is our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policy, which articulates a commitment “to fostering, cultivating and preserving a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, access and belonging for all people. The League … respects […]

Sometimes I become absorbed in a film to the extent that I project myself onto the screen, where I might be, say, Bradley Cooper falling in love with Carey Mulligan in “Maestro.” More recently, my cinematic inspiration was Adam Driver romancing Penelope Cruz in “Ferrari.” And then Shailene Woodley. Both within the same quarter hour. I am not delusional. I know that with my age and follicular challenges, I more resemble a Paul Giamatti than a Ryan Gosling. Not that there’s anything wrong with Giamatti, who is a brilliant actor and delightful man, but I think you know what I mean.

I was still grieving the death of my father when my sister succumbed to cancer on a bitter cold day in January. On the eve of her passing, we wrapped our kitchen pipes and stuffed towels along window sills before heading south on an icy I-55. When we stopped for gas, most of the pumps were out of operation. Inside the wayside McDonald’s, employees wore parkas while pouring lukewarm cups of coffee. It was a forbidding journey toward an unbearably sad destination.