Mt. Pleasant News

This is the third of four installments of a short story, ?Surviving,? written by Susie Clark. In the first two installments, Clark writes about the death of her and her husband's two children, Dan and Lisa, from Neimann Pick Disease. She also addresses ?anticipatory grief? and grief relapse. -Curt Swarm After our children were gone, my husband and I tried to find our new normal. We tried to step outside of the ...

Each Tuesday during the session of the Iowa Legislature, the Legislative Services Agency (LSA) produces a short article entitled ?Pieces of Iowa?s Past.?I enjoy history, moreso as I grow older. I am starting to think there is a correlation between age and enjoyment of history.Recently, Pieces of Iowa?s Past featured an article on Frontier Politics, which included Mt. Pleasant?s James Harlan (more on that ...

By Bryce Kelly, Mt. Pleasant News It?s spring and that means spring cleaning is afoot. Hooray!Now, for all you super cleaners and organizers out there, I?d like to share a precautionary tale with you when it comes to tackling that garage or shed of yours. After a long winter, it?s no secret that the amount of dust, dirt and grime that has accumulated from December to now is probably pretty thick ? as is the ...

By Karyn Spory There are some people who come into your life and you can recall the exact moment you became friends. Then there are the friends who have been such a constant in your life that you can?t remember a time before them. And trying to imagine what life would be like without them would be like if the world existed without the color blue ? the sky would cease to be and the ocean would turn to a murky-gre...

This is the fourth and final installment of ?Surviving? by Susie Clark. I don't know of a braver person. Good job, Susie! - Curt Swarm My husband and I fell into our new lives pretty well. We made some wonderful friends and enjoyed being near family. After a few years we had finally been able to feel genuinely happy. My husband was now branch manager at our local bank. We were very involved in our community, ...

By Andy Krutsinger,Mt. Pleasant News I?m a big Team U.S.A. hockey fan. Actually, I?m a pretty big America fan in general. But Team U.S.A. hockey is my personal favorite team to cheer for.So you could imagine my disappointment when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said to U.S.A. Today on Tuesday, ?As things stand now, people should assume (NHL players) are not going,? to the 2018 winter Olympics in South Korea.No...

To the editor:We, the students in a Social Justice class at Iowa Wesleyan University, have taken great interest in Karyn Spory?s column ?A deadly relationship? that was published on March 10 about the death of Valerie Williams, a victim of domestic homicide. Not only is the column interesting from a reader?s standpoint, but it is also factual. We share Spory?s concern that funding must be available for programs ...

Every once in a while, a writer comes along who stands out from the rest. Usually, this writer is in some publication. Susie Clark was in my creative writing class. She is the winner of the Empty Nest Award for Outstanding Writing. I am hereby including her short story, ?Surviving? in four installments. The following is the first of the four installments. - Curt Swarm, Empty Nest columnist Grief is a funny ...

Sometimes you just need to be with people who get you ? or at least that?s how I have felt recently.Three years ago, I graduated college. I had been a Hannibal-LaGrange University student for four years. From 2010 to 2014, I ate, slept and breathed all things HLGU, and then in one day, it was gone.As it happens, all of my close gal pals from university live in different states now, and I went through a bit of ...

Remember when there wasn?t an Internet or social media?That is starting to become a question that only middle-age people and senior citizens can answer affirmatively.Many of my co-workers were born after their parents already had begun surfing the web. While I can?t say they grew up with social media, it became part of their day when they were attending college and its impact continues to grow.At the risk of ...

?I?m sure she had no idea that relationship was going to cost her life.?I paused the Springfield, Mo., KY3 News clip, allowing the woman?s words to swirl around my head and trickle out of my ear like blood from a perforated eardrum. No, I doubt any woman ? or man ? believes their relationship would lead them toward their death.I scrolled down the article and clicked to enlarge the thumbnail photo. Though I ...

For as long as I can remember, I have been a dog fan of epic proportions. My family has always had dogs. Even most of my extended family are dog people. In fact, my passion for dogs is so great that I asked for an encyclopedia of dog breeds when I was in elementary school, and yes, I have read that thing cover to cover at least twice!Between working full-time and living in town on my own now, it isn?t wise for ...