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Duffy Reunion XV in 2025

Planning for Duffy Reunion XV has begun! We will gather at Fort Robinson State Park from July 6-July 10, 2025. We have begun to reconfirm family branch contacts, so expect to hear from them as the year goes along.

If you think you'd like to stay in the Lodge, you'll want to book that now either via the Nebraska Games & Parks website or calling Fort Robinson directly.

Please note that as we've begun to book lodging, those costs are up 20-25%, depending on the unit. We know food is not going to get cheaper, and are estimating costs of approximatley $175 per person. We realize that is a $50 increase per person from 2022, and always welcome partial payments to be made throughout the year if that makes it easier for you to manage your budget. Also, anyone who can pay in advance is greatly appreciated so that we're out less money as organizers. Payments can be mailed to Sarah Herndon at 1677 County Road J, Wahoo, NE 68066 or via venmo at SHerndon76 (her number is 402-326-3722).

Thanks in advance to David Arnold for being our meat master, Brad Arnold for taking on the shirts, and Sean and Terry Ernesti for managing the keg beer needs.

Letters like these will be posted going forward so they are accessible all year and can more easily be shared via WhatsApp, messenger, text, etc. as needed.

In the meantime, we look forward to hearing your ideas and suggestions about anything you'd like to add to Duffy Reunion XV!

With love & prayers,

Alisa, Cecilia, & Sarah

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It’s not just what you say that matters. It’s how you say it.

Take the phrase, “Here’s Johnny.” When Ed McMahon used it to introduce Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, the words were an enthusiastic greeting. But in The Shining, Jack Nicholson used the same two words to convey murderous intent.

Now scientists are reporting in the journal Science that they have identified specialized brain cells that help us understand what a speaker really means. These cells do this by keeping track of changes in the pitch of the voice.

“We found that there were groups of neurons that were specialized and dedicated just for the processing of pitch,” says Dr. Eddie Chang, a professor of neurological surgery at the University of California, San Francisco.

Really? Really. How Our Brains Figure Out What Words Mean Based On How They’re Said

Illustration: Lizzie Roberts/Ikon Images/Getty Images

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An Arizona law banning ethnic studies violated students’ constitutional rights, a federal judge said Tuesday. His ruling made clear that the state showed discriminatory intent when it essentially shut down a Mexican-American Studies program at Tucson Unified School District.

“Both enactment and enforcement were motivated by racial animus,” Federal Judge A. Wallace Tashima said in the ruling.

With this news, a portion of the law, prohibiting classes designed for students of certain ethnic groups, has been struck down, but the federal judge has yet to issue a final judgment and redress for the violation.

Despite this decade-long debate in Arizona, ethnic studies programs have grown in popularity throughout the country.

Federal Judge Finds Racism Behind Arizona Law Banning Ethnic Studies

Illustration: LA Johnson/NPR

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Daryl Davis is a blues musician, but he also has what some might call an interesting hobby. For the past 30 years, Davis, a black man, has spent time befriending members of the Ku Klux Klan.

He says once the friendship blossoms, the Klansmen realize that their hate may be misguided. Since Davis started talking with these members, he says 200 Klansmen have given up their robes. When that happens, Davis collects the robes and keeps them in his home as a reminder of the dent he has made in racism by simply sitting down and having dinner with people.

How One Man Convinced 200 Ku Klux Klan Members To Give Up Their Robes

Photo: Courtesy of Daryl Davis

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The moments inside a courtroom in Orlando in 2007 were quick and consequential for Marquis McKenzie. The 16-year-old stood handcuffed behind a lectern. A juvenile judge announced his charges, then apologized that he could no longer take up the case.

“You’re being direct filed,” he told McKenzie, who was accused of armed robbery over a cellphone and a wallet. “You understand what I’m saying? You’re being charged as an adult now.”

As a 16-year-old, Marquis McKenzie was sent to the juvenile section in one of Florida’s medium security private prisons.

“I had never been in that situation. I had gotten in trouble, but I had never gotten arrested,” he recalls a decade later. “I just knew it was going to be a hell of a ride from there.”

The juvenile judge’s announcement meant that McKenzie was no longer solely subject to the rehabilitative services offered within Florida’s juvenile system. He was now facing a 10-year sentence. A judge in one of the state’s criminal courts would have the option of sending him two hours away to residential confinement at a youth facility, or to the juvenile section in one of Florida’s medium security private prisons.

The latter is where McKenzie ended up. That same year, more than 3,600 other kids were direct filed and sent to adult court, too.

Across the country, lawmakers, juvenile justice advocates and community groups are shifting away from direct file, and rethinking their approach to handling kids and young adults who commit crimes.

Florida, more than other states, has traditionally embraced an aggressive direct file system run by state attorneys who opt to transfer kids out of the juvenile court system and into the adult criminal system. The repercussions are great and the options for navigating the complex system are limited.

Sentenced To Adulthood: Direct File Laws Bypass Juvenile Justice System

Photos: Joey Roulette/WMFE

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Normality is a paved road: It's comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow.

Vincent Van Gogh

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Medicaid is the government health care program for the poor. That’s the shorthand explanation. But Medicaid is so much more than that — which is why it’s become the focal point of the battle in Washington to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

President Obama expanded Medicaid under his signature health care law to cover 11 million more people, bringing the total number of people covered up to 69 million.

Now Republicans want to reverse that expansion, and they want to go much further in cutting back on the number of people covered and federal dollars spent. The legislation they’re contemplating in both the House and Senate shrinks and fundamentally restructures the program.

The report issued by the Congressional Budget Office on Monday estimates that 15 million people would lose coverage through Medicaid by 2026 under the proposed Senate bill.

Here are five key things to know about Medicaid as the debate moves forward.

From Birth To Death, Medicaid Affects The Lives Of Millions

Chart: Alyson Hurt/NPR

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To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it.

Kurt Vonnegut

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Happy Birthday Chicago Flag!

Although today the flag has four stars, it began with just two, and people frequently present new ideas for the addition of a fifth star. The original two stars were those for the Fire and the 1893 World’s Fair. The other two were added in the 1930s. In the original design, Rice aligned the two stars on the left to leave room for the addition of future stars to the right. Today the four stars are centered.

http://www.architecture.org/architecture-chicago/visual-dictionary/entry/the-chicago-flag/

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220 Cities Losing All Passenger Train Service per Trump

“It’s ironic that President Trump’s first budget proposal undermines the very communities whose economic hardship and sense of isolation from the rest of the country helped propel him into office,” said NARP President Jim Mathews. 

http://www.nychicagorr.org/220-Cities-Losing-All-Passenger-Train-Service-per-Trump.html

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We fail to address mental health in every layer and sector of our society. Here’s a look at how we fail our children every day in our public schools.

Our public schools are struggling to handle millions of students with mental health problems. Here’s why.

A Silent Epidemic: The Mental Health Crisis In Our Schools

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...our hand-knit sweaters are clothing. In fact, our handknits are essentially couture...original meaning of couture is simply the making of clothes for an individual...it's time for us to reclaim this word, because when clothing is made for you, and only you, wearing it feels like nothing you've ever experienced before.

Amy Herzon, Knit Wear Love, page 4 (STC Crafts 2015)

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2016 Goals & Fun

My 2016 Goals & Plans

So here’s my goals for the year: Read 100 Books!  At least 75 from the library, and 25 non-fiction, and 10 set in/about Wyoming. Finish the 52 Hike Challenge, including the 2016 Adventure Series. How about making it happen in at least five states? Joining Emily of snapdragon crafts for the Knit Your Library Challenge – 2016 Edition.  I’m going for using at least five books in my library. I’d love…

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NaNoWriMo & Connecting with Authors

NaNoWriMo & Connecting with Authors

I am 4000 words (as of this morning) into my novel, participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), a challenge to write 50,000 words in a month.  I am grateful for at the breadth and width of the authors willing to give of their time to share their processes not only with the NaNoWriMo community, but also bounce off each other in panel programming. I would say I was amazed, but I’m…

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My latest path...

My latest path…

…beginnings are scary, endings are usually sad, but it’s the middle that counts the most. Try to remember that when you find yourself at a new beginning. Just give hope a chance to float up. And it will, too… — Birdie Calvert, quoting her Mama, in Hope Floats

I’m living one of those beginnings right now.  In late May, I started a new gig as Staff Attorney/IT Project Manager for Equal Justice…

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This summer, All Things Considered has been exploring what it means to be a man in America today — from a second look at popular notions of masculinity and men’s style, to attitudes toward women — and how all those ideas have shifted over time.

There are few people more acquainted with those shifts than David Granger. In 17 years as editor-in-chief of the men’s magazine Esquire, Granger hasn’t just had a front-row seat to changing notions of manhood in America — he has taken an active role in helping to define them. The magazine, which purports to cover “Man at His Best,” has done so for more than 80 years.

The Evolution Of The ‘Esquire’ Man, In 10 Revealing Covers

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Esquire