Articles

Adrienne G. Cannon writes: Since I am already at home, I can’t have "one for the road" but maybe a cup of tea will soothe me. I drink it slowly and try to compose my thoughts for the new day. I glance out of the window and see other windows that are illuminated. Could it be that I am not alone in my wakeful state? I am cheered by that concept. Insomnia must be universal. Maybe it serves some purpose. more »

Someone protesting outside the clinic took a photo of the ambulance [transporting a woman with a medical emergency to a local hospital], and Operation Rescue's website reported the incident, though it did not know Alicia's identity. Within weeks, the Nebraska health department subpoenaed Alicia's records from the clinic. Alicia had not complained, but the agency had received a tip, she later learned. "All this happened because I was in the clinic having a legal abortion," she said. "All they cared about was judging me ... and building evidence for their case." more »

Joan L. Cannon writes: The ubiquitous cameras of our daily lives may is some ways replace some of the older functions of the looking glass, but they don't give rise to the emotional resonances stirred by passing a household fixture or treasure that has seen most of one's years of consciousness. The missing image of a loved one who saw the same reflected surroundings we can still see becomes a nearly visible ghost. There's a forbidding precision in a photograph, precious as it may be. A shared home, visible in reflection behind the viewer is like an echoing chord of familiar music or the faint scent that memory never erases. more »

There are approximately 2,300 rural hospitals in the US, most of them concentrated in the Midwest and the South. For a variety of reasons, many of them are struggling to survive. In the last five years, Congress has sharply reduced spending on Medicare, the federal health insurance program for the elderly, and the patients at rural hospitals tend to be older than those at urban or suburban ones. more »