Columns

WICHITA MATTERS: The Coronavirus in Kansas: The First 100 Days

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This past Saturday was more than just the summer solstice, the longest day of the year and the official start of summer (astronomically speaking, if not calendrically). It also marked the 100th day since the coronavirus pandemic formally began in Kansas, with Governor Kelly having issued her state of emergency order, in response to the first Covid-19 death in the state, on March 12. Wichita and Sedgwick County began to follow suit the same day, and just as USD 259 students were beginning their spring break, our long Covid Spring started. Now, our Covid Spring has become a Covid Summer. What’s different, what’s the same and what, if anything, has been learned?

Feature Stories

Listen To Your Heart

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A “found” poem composed entirely of captions of sound effects, musical cues, and other audio info from ABC’s Bachelor: Listen To Your Heart… Exhales deeply, exhales sharply. Exciting music, dramatic music, lively music. Sniffles, whimpers, breathing shakily. Groans, sobbing.

Columns

WICHITA MATTERS: The Road Ahead

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In the midst of violent protests, police violence, and a pandemic, I’m thinking about a road. It’s not much of a road; just a short stretch of University St., directly west of Friends University, where I’ve taught since 2006. Over those 14 years, I have biked back and forth on that 1/10th of a mile stretch, which dead-ends 50 ft. short of Meridian Ave., probably over 7000 times. It’s the final leg of my normal commute route; I bike from my home in west Wichita eastbound on Maple St., cutting south to University at West St.