“Kids these days are rotting their brains and ruining their eyes! They should be doing something educational!” Sound familiar? Whatever you’re thinking that complaint is about, you’re probably wrong. This was the sentiment expressed a hundred and fifty years ago by city council members in Eau Claire when considering whether or not the library should […]
I don’t remember a time when I didn’t own books. Being avid readers themselves, my parents put books in my hands long before I could read a single letter. Trips to the book store weren’t as frequent as those to the library, but they were always special events. The books my parents bought for me […]
A blotch of angry red on the radar. A grumble from the dark clouds. The eerie wail of a warning siren. What next? Is your garbage can going to be knocked over, or is a tornado going to turn your house to splinters? Wisconsin isn’t usually considered part of Tornado Alley, but we’re no strangers […]
As a library employee, I see so many kids’ books that either bring back fond memories or make me think, “I wish that had been around when I was that age! I would have loved it!” The good news is that you don’t have to be a kid or a parent to read children’s […]
Don’t worry. Although this article is about April Fool’s Day, there are no pranks or hoaxes here. I can’t vouch for the rest of the internet or even the rest of the library, however, so be on guard. Growing up, my family never made a big deal about April Fool’s Day. It was my grandmother’s […]
Humans are born storytellers. Think of how effortlessly kids come up with impromptu plots for the adventures they’ve having with their friends and/or toys. As we grow up, we start thinking too hard and begin to second-guess ourselves. Is my story any good? Will it make people yawn, cringe or laugh at me? They say […]
A figure sits by a campfire outside the entrance to a cave, huddled in layers of warm furs. The wind carries the chill of the glaciers that loom across the northern horizon as far as the eye can see. The sun is starting to sink toward the west, and the sentry’s eyelids are getting heavy. […]
The history of significant tornadoes in west-central Wisconsin is thankfully sparse. Ask someone to name one, and the three most likely answers would be the 1958 Colfax tornado (a particularly strong storm that is in the living memory of quite a few locals), the 1899 New Richmond tornado (which killed 117 and remains the deadliest […]
There’s a fine line between not enough vacation planning and too much. You don’t want to waste precious time at your destination getting lost, but you don’t want to be tied down to a rigid schedule, either. On a recent trip to Key West, Florida, I created itineraries for several “days” that didn’t have to […]
If you had told me a year ago that I would spend countless hours staring at rocks three thousand miles away via a live webcam, I would have questioned your sanity. Yet on March 19, 2021, a new volcano was born in western Iceland that would end up mesmerizing me until its last lava welled […]
