May 2026: Speaking with a Mega-church youth pastor from Nebraska, I inquire about the state of middle-schooler tech addiction in his flock. Yeah, it's the number one issue, he confirms. The near universal experience when the kids first feel Jesus in their lives- a phone-free week at church camp.

Welcome to my creative outlet of summer 2026: a record of conversations, observations and curiosities found across the US midwest.

Any recomendations for an indepedent scholar looking for a book agent/publisher and/or a conference/event/festival in the UK to meet with aforementioned editors to find a home for a biography of two Victorian artist/actor/author brothers?

A delightful morning drizzle en route to the Museum of English Rural Life!

Wish I could make it to this event! If you are in STL check it out!

Happy lamb-cake-fail day! Of all the pagan turned Christian turned capitalist holiday traditions which seem to fill up every inch of my spare time, Easter is becoming a fav. The egg hunt is just the right combo of crafts and mom magic for me.

Fun read #TheOutpost 🌱🌿👨‍🌾☠️🦜 Newly Digitized Records Reveal How Indigenous People Shared Their Knowledge of New Zealand's Plants With Captain Cook's Crew www.smithsonianmag.com/history/newl...

Join us at Purdue for the 2026 Midwest Junto (17-18 April) -- submit your abstracts by 15 Feb: midwestjunto.wordpress.com

Living with an 8yo portal enthusiast, I've talked more about time traveling in the past year than the rest if my life combined. Like most of my 8yo's ideas, a much simpler version already exists.

Exciting deer sighting! 7:45 am, frigid morning, 10-pointer skitters down the gully between two mid-century homes on the hill, launches through some brush onto the frozen cove of the lake, slides like a cartoon deer, front legs straight, back legs down, hits the opposite bank and rolls up on land.

@bookowl.bsky.social Merry Christmas, Dan!

Come to Southern Illinois they said. Ride an alpine coaster they said. Reach out and touch a deer rump while speeding down a bluff said no one. Between the possibility if getting hit by a deer or an osage orange, my vision for a relaxing Sunday outting was not met.

Had my closest encounter with a 10-point buck while driving my daily humdrum commute across town today. The large deer crashed out of the woods with purpose and speed heading directly for Kohl's, followed shortly thereafter by the happiest Boston terrier I've ever seen. #suburban wildlife

Can't believe it, but I think Andy Richter might actually win DWTS this season. Also this show may be more accurate than actual political polls. I think this means the Dems should consider Walz for another run... In the meantime, Go team Chiles Sosa!

I can't escape this project! My breakfast placemat:

I am so excited to be at the most unique campus I have ever visited @UniversityofLuxembourg Belval for the Society for the History of Technology Meeting!

Woohoo! Excited to learn more about all the corn I seem to forever be driving thru! (and Brazil, which I aspire to visit as well!)

In honor of National 4-H Week I present a couple of fair kids and some tired parents.

The proliferation of middle school boys on e-bikes and one-wheels crusing too fast with fishing poles adds to the apocalyptic vibes as of late.

Summer finally feels over. I was too busy to post my "Eavesdropping on Rural America" series, but reading through my notes the best one was one of the first, way back on June 3, overheard in Highland, IL. "I gotta get home, my "Old Country Road" tee shirt arrived from Temu today.

Summer 2025 Family Political Phenology Observation: The summer the MAGA relations openly accepted climate change is real and dangerous.

A beautiful, sobering piece for everyone beginning their syllabi and lesson plans for the fall... www.gramercyreview.com/erasure/

Woohoo! Still can't believe the serendipitous luck of finding a real deal commodity environmental historian in my neighborhood! Congratulations, Jeff and Tom! #bestadvisorever

I've had official safety training for: active shooters, power tools, chemical burns, fire-indoor and forest, tornados, earthquake, tsunami, bear/cougar attack, aquatic rescue in pool/lake/whitewater, all the lifeguarding classes, cpr refreshers ad infinitem, and even a class in avalanche safety

Second grade boys basketball had funny moments, but nothing compared to the text chain of four dads trying to get baseballs out of a locked shed. New season new characters for the win.

Just a couple of globe trotting ladies in houndstooth spotted in the airport! ASEH2025 here I come!

Chatting with a McDonalds employee (My 8 yo's fav-not mine) today about the Global Menu restaurant in Chicago-which we were planning to visit this weekend. She mentioned she'd never been to Chicago even though she'd lived in IL for 30ish years.

Been thinking and talking to peers about America's "big covid break up" lately. I think many are realizing "We're not going back!" is more akin to leaving a bad boyfriend then being forced back in time. Has anyone identified a bigger political rift that has split so many families so permanently?

The first "History Road Trip Find" of the weekend-some very chique highland cows-en route to Midwest Junto of History of Science and Tech! @Sarah'sOnCentral Eureka, MO

IMO Mexico and Canada are both great neighbors that deserve loaves of banana bread, not the cow pies being thrown as of late.

I guess the NYT can't top my frequent reminder to family and friends to face their own fashion follies and burn that ugly tee on the bar-b-que, throw worn sneakers in local streams, and put G-ma's clothes on the scare-crow to decompose under the sun for everyone to see. 🫣

I have long enjoyed a good themed bake, but these old fashioned molasses oatmeal prune cookies seem to combine the dual nature of NYE debauchery and tomorrow's optimistic health goals in each chewy bite. I am so grateful to be celebrating our family's New Years' Baby's (my Dad) 75th!

Nice little nugget on the labor/effort/expertise needed to properly wash wool garments, and the desire for polyester clothing by white collar women workers who did not have enough time to hand wash and were not paid enough to send out laundry, and wanted a wider wardrobe for self expression.

All aboard the STL Polar Express! Views include the dystopian brick carcasses of deindustrialized riverfront factories and a '90s tv-crime-show-style homeless burn barrel all before you reach the northpole! Contemplate the holidays while sipping hot chocolate inside a re-commisioned Amtrak car!

A new personal holiday-cutting off the loom day!

Feeling the holiday nostalgia this weekend and missing my relatives who all had the habit of using their stairs as pantries. Wondering if this was a midwest phenomena?

In the event I ever go missing and my clean freak family (haha) can't find a dna sample, please call David Ridgen and let him know I had the forsight to stomp a tooth into the bottom of my childhood Saint Nicholas shoe. Yes, that is a baby tooth, not a corn kernal.

In this edition of "Where I Come From" we explore the rich heritage and legacy of guns in the Northwoods. Nearly 300 years after the invention of the muzzleloader, teens are still blowing off their hands.

One of the easiest and quickest steps to green the textile cycle would be for big box stores that sell textiles to offer same day seamstress services in store. If I'm gonna buy a pair of jeans for 9.99 at Kohls, I would be willing to pay a proportional amount for them to actually fit.

Oh so poetic when the movement that pushed for Christian curriculum in public schools puts private Christian K12s out of business. I always suspected the untold half of "I want my babies to get Jesus everyday" was "and I don't want/can't pay for it" anyways. Halleliugh! apnews.com/article/texa...

dissertation proposal ✔️

I love the iconic phone booth in the background. Any military vehicle experts with a quick id on the jeep and bus unit behind???

Introduce yourself with some jobs you've done apart from what you do now: * was a maid in a men’s dorm * found the word “because” in the WSJ from 1989 for 8hrs/day * cleaned a professor’s office containing *many* pigeon nests and a cookie from 2002 (it was 2005)

Of all the pop culture portrayals of sheep in my growing collection, the cgi team for "The Boys" really takes the cake (or steak). They created the most incredible couple seconds of "super animal" imagery I've seen.

From now on everytime we have a power cut I'm gonna hear Adele's "We coulda had it alll..." and see Walz mouthing "We gotta bury dem lines." My brain works in funny ways...

My life as historical inquiry...capes and seatbelts don't mix...they were made for horseriding and they aren't gonna make a comeback.

Over two decades ago I wrote an essay on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and personal identity. I don't remember any specifics from the essay, but it's safe to say my 19 year-old college first-year self would never have predicted I would end up living near a 2+ story inflatable monster.

My husband, 3yo and I were almost hit by a distracted driver in a crosswalk this afternoon. The driver was likely distracted by the large group of anti-abortion demonstrators surrounding the intersection. I wish I had given them a miraculous message 🖕to go home and stop endangering families.

My track record of predicting the future is not great...but pretty sure I called this one in an enviro policy paper a decade ago! 🔮