Fear Not the Empty Nest: A mother’s reflection

Fear Not the Empty Nest: A mother’s reflection

by Trish Cantillon “The days are long, and the years are short,” writes Gretchen Rubin in her book, The Happiness Project. It has never felt truer than now, four weeks away from an empty nest. My daughter is already a junior in college, but my son—number two of two—leaves for his freshman year across the country soon. The only parent-life that I have known where my fingerprints have been all over every decision is ending. It’s not necessarily that there…

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7 Amazing Inventions that Debuted at World’s Fairs

7 Amazing Inventions that Debuted at World’s Fairs

by Dawn Raffel In 1898, a mysterious European named Dr. Martin Couney introduced Americans to a new machine at the Omaha World’s Fair. This life-saving invention was the infant incubator. Visitors to the midway could pay to see it in use—with live babies inside it! The story of the proprietor was so bizarre that I spent four years researching him for my new nonfiction book, The Strange Case of Dr. Couney. By 1903, Martin Couney had set up shop on…

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Surviving the Death of a Terminally Ill Parent

Surviving the Death of a Terminally Ill Parent

by Nausheen Eusuf I recently had the wrenching experience of seeing a friend lose her mother to cancer. By the time the cancer was diagnosed, it had already metastasized. Treatment would be palliative, not curative, the oncologist explained. One-and-a-half to two years was the prognosis. This summer, she died at the one-and-a-half year mark. What was horrifying wasn’t the death itself—which was a welcome release—but the suffering that preceded it. The unrelenting pain, the flesh coming loose from the bone,…

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The Artistic Astronaut: Nicole Stott on Seeing Earth from Space

The Artistic Astronaut: Nicole Stott on Seeing Earth from Space

by Lauren Jonik Lauren Jonik: You’ve had an incredible career as an astronaut, an aquanaut and an artist. What inspired you to pursue these fields? Nicole Stott: My inspiration all started with parents who shared what they loved with me. My mom is very creative– sewed all our clothes growing up and enjoyed things like macramé and pottery– and she always included me and my sisters. She also encouraged me to take ballet and play softball, and she was the…

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Genealogy Research: Tips for Tackling Old Records

Genealogy Research: Tips for Tackling Old Records

by: Lauren Jonik Sometime in 1866, a fourteen year old girl named Elizabeth boarded a ship alone. Her parents had passed away and her step-mother decided to send her to America from their native land that later would be called Germany. That summer had brought the Austro-Prussian War, which lasted for about seven weeks and elicited changes of those in power and of territorial boundaries—as so often happened in Europe whenever a war broke out. Perhaps, Elizabeth’s stepmother felt that…

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