Kim Stanley Robinson opens his climate fiction opus, “The Ministry for the Future,” in the year 2025 with a brutal heat wave spreading across India. Heat and humidity approach the survival limit for humans. Then, the grid goes down across…
Columns
Reflections from an Existential Lens | Religion, Secularism and Life-Meaning, Part I
by Community Word Staff • • 0 Comments
I have a friend of a friend who is Christian and interested in abstract theological questions. When we first met, he knew both that I was non-religious and that I know about religious arguments. Yet when I met him and…
Reflections From The Clergy | Division
by Community Word Staff • • 0 Comments
We live in a time of partisan and ethnic divide. The causes of this negative phenomena are countless and they cause immeasurable distress in society. Sometimes, the ethnic divide or racism that we harbor is based on our natural biases…
West Peoria News | Budget talks on tap
by Sharon McBride • • 0 Comments
The consolidated election for the upcoming City of West Peoria is April 6. Running for four-year terms are: Ward 1, Leroy Dohm; Ward 2, Merlin “Rocky” Merlinson; Ward 3, John Siewert and Clark Abraham; and Ward 4, James Silver. February…
The Lion’s Den | The Doctor’s Appointment
by Daniel McCloud • • 0 Comments
Now that we have entered into 2021, we know that there are vaccines available to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, there is skepticism surrounding the vaccines’ rollout, particularly among groups of color. This skepticism stems from a long history…
Straight Talk | Weaver out for mayor, but why?
by Roger Monroe • • 0 Comments
State Senator Chuck Weaver months ago announced he was not going to seek re-election. A regular guest on our morning show on FM 90.7, Weaver said he had other options to explore in which he could serve the public. Some…
Bill Knight | ‘The big get bigger, and the small will go out’
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
Winter’s when farmers and farm communities think, plan and remember. In the cold of 2021, who’ll recall Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, in 2019 inadvertently conceding at a World Dairy Expo, “In America, the big get bigger, and the small will…
The Watch | Local taxes in 2021
by Terry Bibo • • 0 Comments
The dreadful 2020 is over. The dreadful pandemic is not. And the dreaded bills keep coming in. On Nov. 10, Peoria City Council members wrestled with some truly appalling numbers. In part, that’s because the 2021 budget anticipated passage of…
Nature Rambles | The Sounds of Silence
by Mike Miller • • 0 Comments
It can really be hard to be optimistic during a global pandemic that has stretched on for over nine months. However, as I’ve written in previous columns, we continue to see people taking the opportunity to take this time to…
Reflections From A Hindu Perspective | A lesson from the Tribals in western India
by Dr. Mandar Pattekar • • 6 Comments
Last month, I had the good fortune of surviving a stroke. Although it is devastating at any age, it was especially hard at the age of 50. After spending the first week in the hospital pondering “why me?” I came…