by admin | Jan 13, 2021 | Aging, Careers, Medical, Personal health, Personal history, Public safety, Weather, Writing
For those who have noticed, it has been more than five weeks since I last posted to this blog. It has been a rough stretch, but it could have been much rougher. At least to my knowledge, I never have contracted COVID-19. Not that people weren’t asking, especially...
by admin | Nov 23, 2020 | Activism, Agriculture, Books, Civil rights, Climate, Economic development, Environment, Government, Hazard Mitigation, History, Immigration, Industry, Nature, Politics, Public health, Public policy, Racism, Resilience, Science, Urban Planning, Water, Weather
A presidential transition has always been a time to look forward in American history, anticipating change, contemplating new directions. Sometimes we like the new direction, sometimes we don’t; sometimes we think it just doesn’t go far enough to remedy the problems we...
by admin | Aug 30, 2020 | Agriculture, Chicago, Climate, Disaster, Emergency Management, Geography, Government, Hazard Mitigation, History, Natural Hazards, Public safety, Resilience, Urban forest, Weather
What in the U.S. Midwest would spur comparisons to a hurricane? What could spread damage over an equally wide area? It is a good bet that most people are unfamiliar with the word “derecho,” which comes from Spanish, meaning “straight,” but such a storm made itself...
by admin | Jun 14, 2020 | Chicago, Civil rights, Coronavirus, Parks, Personal history, Public health, Racism, Restaurants, Weather
People in the Chicago area, and many beyond, some well beyond, are familiar with the city’s decades-old Taste of Chicago, featuring booths in Grant Park from dozens of the city’s iconic restaurants. Wandering the closed streets within the park, you can get pizza, jerk...
by admin | Mar 30, 2020 | Aging, Careers, Chicago, Child Welfare, Coronavirus, Disaster, Education, Emergency Management, Healthcare, Medical, Parks, Personal health, Public health, Resilience, Travel, Urban Planning, Volunteerism, Weather, Writing
I miss my gym already, closed just two weeks ago. There was a profusion of equipment to keep anyone in shape, whether you were working on legs, biceps, core, cardio, some combination, whatever. Here at home, I have small barbells, some ankle weights, and perhaps most...
by admin | Feb 13, 2020 | Books, Climate, Coastal Management, Disaster, Disaster policy, Environment, Floodplain management, Government, Housing, Natural Hazards, Politics, Public policy, Resilience, Uncategorized, Urban Planning, Water, Weather
In the days shortly after World War II, writes Gilbert M. Gaul in The Geography of Risk, Morris Shapiro and his family were busy building their own version of Levittown, the famed suburban tract housing development of Long Island, on a barrier island in southern New...