Before we discuss the connection of the month of May to the Greek gods, let’s try to make sense of some recent items of interest that have come to my attention.
A good place to start would be to say, I don’t know about you, but…
I believe that the Ambassador Club of the Kewanee Chamber of Commerce got it right when it named one William (Willie) Burford as outstanding citizen of the year. It is an honor well earned. Congratulations Willie!
I don’t know about you, but…
My world has been turned upside down. I grew up thinking that Michigan was a football school that occasionally had a good basketball team, and that Indiana was a basketball school that almost never had a team worth watching in football. Now Michigan has won the national championship in basketball, and Indiana has won the championship in football. What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on here? Is Indiana now a football school? I mean its recent men’s basketball teams haven’t fared very well (I wonder what Bob Knight would be thinking). Anyway, with UCLA’s women’s team winning the NCAA Women’s basketball championship, I would say it was a good year for the BIG 18 Conference.
As far as the University of Illinois is concerned, Illini fans would have loved to see the team win one, or even two games in the final four, but that didn’t happen. But as far as I am concerned, any season that ends with Illinois in the final four is a great season.
I don’t know about you, but…
I believe that sometimes youngsters do the right things for the right reasons. I had the pleasure of participating in Kewanee High School’s Key Club’s Walk for Water, which was part of the Thirst Project. The Thirst Project is a movement of students from all over the world, who are raising awareness about the global water crisis and helping to end it.
On Monday, April 6, Key Clubbers, and others, walked 3.75 miles (the average distance walked to clean water in many parts of the world), carrying gallons of water to help raise money for this worthy cause.
Now I would like to say that this “Ancient Greek” was able to go the distance, but alas I was only able to lug my jug a mile. Truth be known, I get tired just carrying a gallon of anything from the car into the house. Sad, isn’t it? Anyway, it was good to see so many young people (and some older people) working for a good cause.
I don’t know about you, but…
I believe that having a reliable source of local news is very important to communities like Kewanee. On April 9, The Kewanee Voice celebrated Local News Day with an open house at its office on Tremont Street. Anyone that knows me knows how importantly I view The Voice as a trusted source of information for our community. We all must continue to work to make sure that there is always a viable source of local news in Kewanee. In my opinion, if you are a regular reader of The Voice and have the means, you should be helping it out with a regular monetary donations. Every little bit helps.
I don’t know about you, but…
I would like to commend those who volunteered to help clean up the downtown area of Kewanee recently. In fact, I would like to applaud anyone who does any volunteer work of any kind. I know of several organizations that do great work for our community but are in dire need of new and younger volunteers (the Christmas lights groups at Northeast and Windmont Parks come to mind). I don’t care if it’s a community organization, service organization, church group, or school group; if you have an opportunity to help any of them, please join in and volunteer. For those of you that are already volunteering, thank you and keep up the good work.
I don’t know about you, but…
I hope that Earth Day (April 22) didn’t pass by without your noticing. I know that I have said before that I think every day should be Earth Day, but we really do need to have a heightened awareness about environmental issues and encourage actions to protect our planet. Earth Day reminds us that we all share the responsibility of taking care of Mother Earth.
I don’t know about you, but…
I was wondering if anyone still uses the term “Mickey Mouse” as a synonym for something that’s chaotic or poorly thought out (“What kind of Mickey Mouse operation is this?”). I know that this term is still used by the Christakos family from time to time. Most recently I used it in association with the business known as LRS, that is supposed to be picking up our landscape bags on Mondays starting in April. I left 15 bags out on Sunday, April 12. They weren’t picked up until Wednesday, April 15. Another bag was put out the following Sunday, and that was never picked up. I will put that bag and three others out this coming Sunday and hope for the best. Are you kidding me? My apologies to Walt Disney, but LRS is a Mickey Mouse operation. My opinion!
And what about the association with May and Greek gods? May was named in honor of the Greek goddess Maia, guardian of nature and growing plants. According to Greek mythology, Maia was the daughter of the titan Atlas and the mother of Hermes. She was also known as the Goddess of the Earth. It makes sense that this awesome month that I always look forward to, bears her name.
I don’t know about you, but…
I am guessing that was probably more Greek mythology than some of you care to know about. Sorry, but I wanted to share that with you.
May 1, or May Day, is not only the day of celebration of the European festival of ancient origins that marks the beginning of summer. It has also been designated by Charles Schwab as National Investing Day. National Investing Day is about educating people about investing and empowering them to do so.
I don’t know about you, but…
To me investing in today’s investment climate takes all the education and empowerment one can muster. I myself prefer to leave most of my investments to professionals whom I know I can trust.
May 8 is “National Have a Coke Day.” I don’t know about you, but…
While I will drink a Coke if I go to a place that serves only Coca-Cola products, I prefer having a Pepsi if I want to enjoy a cola. I personally would like a rule that makes any place that sells soda pop have to sell both Coke and Pepsi products, to give the consumer a choice. By the way, I prefer Diet Dr. Pepper over any other diet pop. Are you a Pepper?
May 9 is the Kewanee Letter Carriers’ Annual Food Drive. I don’t know about you, but…
I can think of no easier way to donate to the Kewanee Food Pantry than by simply putting out a bag of non-perishable food items or personal care items by your mailbox for your mail carrier to pick up on that Saturday. I hope I don’t forget. What can I say? I get distracted easily and forget things.
On May 15, 1976, the Kewanee Historical Society was established by Bob and Marcella Richards. I don’t know about you, but…
I believe that if you haven’t been to the Kewanee Historical Society Museum, located on the corner of Tremont and Second streets in Kewanee, that it would be worth your effort to go there. I would also like to give a shout-out to my friend Larry Lock for all the work he has done for the Kewanee Historical Society, and for the book he has written about the history of Kewanee from 1854-2000.
I don’t know about you, but…
I am a history buff in general, but I am especially interested in our country’s Civil War. And if I am able to do so, I would like to attend the 2026 Bishop Hill Civil War Day scheduled for Saturday, May 16. Many activities are planned for that day including a Battle at Cooper’s Field, just south of Bishop Hill. This has the making of an interesting trip to historic Bishop Hill.
I don’t know about you, but…
I bet you didn’t know that May 23 is Lucky Penny Day. Even though the penny may be going the way of the dinosaurs, the Christakos family believes that the finding of a penny is a sign from a loved one that is no longer with us.
I don’t know about you, but…
I believe the month of May is one fine month to take a nap. With the improving weather, there are many opportunities to get outdoors. Being outdoors, and especially doing yardwork and gardening chores, really have a way of wearing me out. So there is an increased need to take naps. I might have to consider taking naps outdoors if the weather is nice enough!
I don’t know about you, but…
I believe it is time to wrap up this month’s offering. I will do so by saying I believe that we are more alike than not alike. That is true for our country and the world. I guess I wish that we could concentrate on working at looking past our differences and accepting the fact that all of us just aren’t going to agree on all matters. But unfortunately, I also believe that hate sells better than love. It makes for more interesting news broadcasts. All this reminds me of a sign I saw at Country Morning Coffee that says “You can’t outlaw love.” Although I believe this to be true, it seems at times some would like to outlaw love. It’s too bad we can’t outlaw hate! It can’t be wrong to wish for the seemingly unobtainable, World Peace, can it?
This reminds me of the lyrics to my favorite song from the incomparable song writer and musician Dave Mason, who sadly passed away on April 19. The song is “We Just Disagree.” The chorus is as follows:
“So let’s leave it alone, ’cause we can’t see eye to eye
There ain’t no good guy, there ain’t no bad guy
There’s only you and me and we just disagree.”
Stay safe out there. There is a lot of scary stuff going on in the world these days!