Why is our train going backwards? The announcement over the PA system provided no clues. The rapido delivery of the announcer was no match for my college Spanish. Even when she switched to heavily-accented English, the only words I could make out were “train,” “flood,” and “bus.” Thankfully, a young, bilingual British woman sitting across the aisle filled us in. “The train can’t go all the way to Sarria,” she said brightly, as if this unexpected wrench in our travel plans had won each of us a lottery ticket. “They’re putting us on a bus to get us there.” She

Rising inflation and the last several weeks of a market downturn have some folks really worried. This, despite signs that our economy is beginning to recover from the last two years of an international health pandemic. And those signs of recovery are terrific: the jobless rate has dropped to 4.2%, with U.S. economic output jumping to more than 7% in the last three months of 2021. An economic expansion of 5.7 percent in 2021, the biggest since 1984. U.S. companies showing profit margins higher than they’ve been since 1950. Child poverty cut in half, and more than 4.6 million Americans

It’s always darkest before the dawn. That which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. You’ve heard inspirational quotes like these before and you’ll no doubt hear them again. Trite, maybe. But also true. I think that’s why we human beings need to hear them again and again, because the truth always resonates. A few months back, when I wrote about how I was struggling, inspirational quotes are what I clung to, as well as music like This is Me by Keala Settle, or Home by Phil Phillips. Those sayings and songs helped this eternal optimist to remember that underneath it

Thousands of us waited anxiously, hoping and praying that “Bucks in 6” would go from slogan to reality. Millions more watched as 65,000 people jammed into downtown Milwaukee to root for their home team. And I think I can say with confidence of those who celebrated in and around the Deer District: -No one cared who was a Democrat, a Republican, an Independent, a Socialist or a Communist -No one cared what color anyone was -No one cared who was a Catholic or a Protestant, a Lutheran or an evangelical, a Jew or an atheist, or any denomination in between

Three years ago today, I pushed open a heavy door with clammy, shaking hands. The dimly lit room was warm, the scent of antiseptic and exhaustion hanging in the humid air like a damp curtain. Drawn white shades over a large window hindered the bright light of a beautiful day. Five people followed behind me, their previously excited voices temporarily silenced. A single overhead light cast a soft glow over a bed surrounded by machines quietly beeping, their bright yellow lights blinking on and off like buoys encircling an island. My daughter rested on the bed-island propped up by doughy