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Thanks for taking time out to read this column in the midst of your National Newspaper Week celebrations! What? You haven't been attending countless cocktail parties and dinners to celebrate this momentous week? Well, I will forgive you. Newspaper Week hasn't quite gained the traction of everyone's favorite fall holiday (perhaps because it's tough to decorate for), but we do observe it here at The Hinsdalean. And in honor of this week, I'd like to present my Top 10 list of rea...
The news on newspapers is not great. The U.S. lost local publications at a rate of 2.5 per week in 2023, according to researchers at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University in the school’s annual “State of Local News Project.” That’s up from two per week in 2022 and has resulted in at least 204 U.S. counties with no local news outlet. Another 228 are on the brink of joining them in the next five years based on the project’s predictive modeling. Currently...
Serving as president for the just1mike Junior Board for our schools in an extreme honor. We’ve been volunteering for the just1mike Foundation since middle school. Just1mike was founded after Michael Brindley tragically died from sudden cardiac arrest in 2016 at the age of 16, right after finishing his sophomore year at Central. He was away at basketball camp when his parents received a call no parent should ever receive. Michael is missed every single day by those who love and know him. To honor Michael, his parents f...
We are proud to support our own Hinsdale resident Baron Leacock who is running for DuPage County Board District 3. Raised in DuPage County by first-generation immigrants, Baron has a profound appreciation for our wonderful community. He grew up in Darien and attended Hinsdale South, then went on to graduate from Harvard and then a law degree from Columbia University. He has worked in several industries including real estate development, tax consulting and tech start-ups. Baron has returned to our community with his wife to...
You want to make a change. You've been telling yourself for years that you need to hit the gym, eat healthier or even start that side hustle you've been dreaming about. One day, you're feeling motivated and start making a dent in the things you want to do. Maybe you clean out your closet, tossing out clothes from the early aughts, fantasizing that your soon-to-be organized space will be featured on HGTV. Then, a week later (or possibly hours), that motivation fades. Suddenly,...
Eighteen years ago this week, residents received the very first issue of The Hinsdalean on their doorsteps. (Or maybe in their bushes, and for that we apologize!) To say we were excited is an understatement. Jim Slonoff and I had dreamed of owning our own newspaper, and a number of things lined up in 2006 to make that possible. We were bought out of our old jobs at The Doings and a beautiful office at 7 W. First St. became available for us to sublet. My husband called it the...
“I believe that censorship is the enemy of freedom.” — Ava DuVernay Since 2020, the number of documented attempts to censor books has risen significantly, according to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. Attempts to censor books in 2023 reached the highest level ever tracked by the organization, with 4,240 unique book titles targeted for censorship. Titles representing the voices and lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC individuals made up 47 percent of those targeted. Against this backdro...
I'm treading water right now. Freshman year is in full swing at Hinsdale Central and I'm trying to figure out who I am. I'm realizing that what I thought was the real me is not really who I am now. This is a confusing time in my life as I navigate through the scary parts of what high school is all about. I recognize that the amount of time needed for excellence in a sport, volunteering, my classes, and overall well-being exceeds the actual amount of time in a day. You cannot a...
One of my favorite things to do is to sit on our front porch on a warm evening ... and listen. If it’s a Thursday night, I’ll catch the sound of a band and laughter coming from the east as the festivities for Uniquely Thursday kick into gear. At the same time I’ll hear a competing sound coming from the south. Start whistles and cheers boom out of the swimming pool, over the tracks and to my perch. I’ll remember with both fondness and exhaustion the days when our family...
I have a daughter who is obsessed with Halloween. I might be partly to blame for this, as I am an enthusiastic observer of all things holiday. From the time Ainsley was little, she had several items of Halloween apparel - T-shirts, barrettes, socks, earrings, pajamas and more. She had a whole stack of Halloween board books we would read before bed. We've always decorated the house and hosted an annual "spooky dinner" for family and/or friends, with menu items like mummy hot...
September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, a chance to focus the nation’s attention on the most common non-skin cancer diagnosed in men in the U.S., according to the National Cancer Institute. The NCI’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program estimates that more than 299,010 American men will receive a diagnosis of prostate cancer in 2024, and that almost 13 percent of men will be diagnosed at some point in their lifetime. Prostate cancer also is the country’s second leading cause of cancer deaths in men after l...
Kudos to the much maligned “two concerned parents of Hinsdale” who objected to LGBT-related books being purchased by school libraries. Bret Conway (Aug. 29 guest commentary) dismissed them as “morally outraged” people with “talking points” who were attempting to censor books written for children which they believed held morally objectionable content. He said in his commentary that they were “undermining the professional authority of our school.” In other words, parents have no right to object to the decisions that “professio...
Is there a family in your life that is not really family, but feels closer to you than if you were indeed related? A family whose kids you've watched grow up, reach, thrive? A family in which any member would be there for you at 2 in the morning, in an emergency or literally "just because?" And sorry for leading with so many questions, but doesn't it seem like Hinsdale is filled with such relationships? I know I've been blessed with many friend/families, but I can also look...
Every day, 47 children are diagnosed with cancer in this country. Compared to adult cancer, pediatric cancer is rare, but it is common enough that you likely know someone touched by it. This vicious disease took Hinsdale’s Brooks Tonn too soon, and it now afflicts our son, Alexander Brown. Our children show us every day how strong they are, but they should not have to fight this battle. This September, Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, please reflect on your hopes and dreams for your children. Then, please commit to g...
"Are you sad your TV show ended?" read the subject line of an email I received last week. "Of course!" I thought to myself. I'm also sad when a book that I love ends. According to Dr. Tabatha Greene, a psychologist at Advocate Health Care, it's common for people to feel a strong sense of identity with or connection to characters. "Humans are wired for connection," Greene said in the emailed article. "Books or movies can fulfill that need to some extent." I would say personal...
Have you looked at your tax bill lately? The answer might be yes, if you’ve paid the second installment of property taxes in DuPage County recently. Or it might be no, if your taxes are rolled into your monthly mortgage payments. Tax bills contain a lot of information. On the right hand side is a column listing the fair cash value of your home, its assessed and equalized value and ultimately its net taxable value, to which the total tax rate is applied. That total tax rate is the sum of individual tax rates for the 13 t...
Recently, I read a guest commentary by Bret Conway concerning the banning of books in school libraries. He states there were attempts to censor 4,240 books in schools and public libraries in 2023. He labeled Moms for Liberty and Awake Illinois as extreme groups. Fortunately, we have free speech protected by our U.S. Constitution. Additionally, the 14th Amendment protect the rights of parents to make decisions for their children. The recent passage of HB 2789 makes it difficult for parents to object to certain books that...
They say you should never meet your heroes, but what if you meet someone who you don't know is your hero? That was the case with Byron (fake name). I met Byron some 12 years ago at a place where I knew no one. I was trying to learn how to shoot skeet, having never really shot guns. The people who shot together when I started were all men, all knew each other and no one was concerned about getting to know the new guy. Over time, I started to meet people, but I felt like an...
I couldn’t agree more with your guest commentator, Bret Conway, especially during September, National Library Card Sign-up Month. We should be encouraging the use of libraries and ensure students (and everyone) have access to books of their choosing. I taught for over 30 years; during those years I am proud to say that I have introduced students to many of the books that show up on Banned Books Lists: “The Merchant of Venice,” “The Grapes of Wrath,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Animal Farm,” and on and on. During September (duri...
"Sisterhood, oh sisterhood, it means so much to us. It lasts a long, long, time. It lasts forever." Forty years ago I went through Rush at Illinois Wesleyan University, pledged the Sigma Kappa House and soon after learned that chant. On Bid Day, I didn't know a single one of the 20 or so girls in my pledge class. Two weekends ago, nine of us got together for a mini-reunion in Edwardsville. Only one regular attendee was missing - celebrating her mom's birthday. One came all...
In 2021, suicide was the 11th leading cause of death overall in the U.S., according to the National Institute of Mental Health, claiming the lives of more than 48,100 people. Even more troubling, suicide was the second leading cause of death among those aged 10-14 and 25-34, the third leading cause among ages 15-24, and the fifth leading cause among ages of 35-44. There were nearly two times as many suicides in our nation as there were homicides (26,031). September is Suicide Prevention Month, shining a light on this often...
At an April D181 board meeting, two concerned parents of Hinsdale objected to LGBTQ-related books from school libraries, including Monroe. One speaker referenced such 25 books, including “history books that feature Harvey Milk and the pride flag.” The other demanded removal of the books. You can probably already guess their other talking points (indoctrination, pushing woke gender ideology, etc.) during public comments. Downers Grove District 99 dealt with a similar moral pan...
Covering the final Uniquely Thursdays concert last week for the final installment of our Summer Days series brought back lots of memories. Since I've worked in Hinsdale forever, I was around when the concert series launched in 2002. That year, and for the five summers that followed, the event took place on First Street between Garfield Avenue and Washington Street. I remember those early concerts well. So does Washington Street resident Lynette Lovelace, who was involved with...
We typically don’t write editorials about taxing bodies we don’t cover. But with all that has transpired concerning the proposed TIF district along 55th Street in Clarendon Hills — and its potential impact on Hinsdale school districts — we feel compelled to share a few observations. First, a tax increment financing district — or TIF — is a complicated mechanism Illinois law allows local governments to use to redevelop a certain area to eliminate blight or prevent its onset. Without going into all the details here, the T...
Class is back in session for Hinsdale students, which means youth and families making their morning and afternoon school commutes — often on foot or by bicycle. The urge to hurry often vies for our state of mind when there are tasks to tend to. But let us this season instead tend to the safety of our community’s most precious resource by slowing down, yielding to pedestrians and obeying crossing guards who are depending on us to pay attention — i.e. off our phones — and comply as they escort students. Those driving to and...
