HeyJaredKen Trainor
- Indexed articles, last 90 days
- 8
- Latest publication
- Sep 15, 2026
- Outlet visibility, for Oak Park
- Top 1M sites
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 14, 2026
Latest articles
Where oaks find safe arbor - Wednesday Journal (opens the original)
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As our trees begin to please, turning color, some sooner, some later, I thought I would revisit a column that echoes back to 2014. You can also find it in Our Town Oak Park, available at both of our excellent new indie bookstores, Dandelion and Book Loft: The Downtown Oak Park Business Association recently sponsored an Arbor Day contest, asking us to wax eloquent about “what trees do for you,” a remarkably pastoral notion for a business organization whose main job is promoting commerce. Arbor Da
Summer’s end, 2026 - Wednesday Journal (opens the original)
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Summer’s over. We mark it unofficially with Labor Day, as if to say, “Time to get back to work.” Summer ends not with a bang but with a whisper. Some bid farewell with a hushed “good riddance,” others with a more funereal release. We declare summer over, with relief or regret, and turn toward the year’s final third, with eagerness or reserve. The weather either overwhelmed or underwhelmed, climate change clearly altering a season we once cherished. Health issues complicated my summer, but Wednes
Rebooting our democracy - Wednesday Journal (opens the original)
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We are the champions, my friends. Not the White Sox or Cubs or Bears, all struggling valiantly for municipal glory. Certainly not Trumpty Dumpty as he flounders, falters and flails, falling flat on his face. No, we are the champions because we rise to the reboot — like the one I underwent this past week on my heart. An ablation they called it, not the same as ablution, i.e. cleansing yourself. Whatever ablation is, it felt like a reboot. I hope it lasts, just as I hope for an ablation (and ablut
Odysseus and the long way home - Wednesday Journal (opens the original)
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Keep Ithaca always in your mind. Arriving there is what you are destined for. But don’t hurry the journey at all. Better if it lasts for years, so you’re old by the time you reach the island, wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way … Ithaca gave you the marvelous journey. Without her you would not have set out … Wise as you will have become, so full of experience, you’ll have understood by then what these Ithacas mean. Odysseus took the long way home to Ithaca — a very long way home indeed, 10
The balm of roadside wildflowers - Wednesday Journal (opens the original)
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With the blooming of Queen Anne’s Lace and its annual sidekick, chicory, along our roadways, summer for me reaches full flower. This year I’ve been appreciating roadside wildflowers more than ever. Weatherwise, we haven’t had the greatest of summers. Climate change is the culprit — intense heat and humidity, flooding, more tornadoes, and wildfire smoke from Canada. We’ve had some fine weather, too, but for much of this, my favorite season, I have felt confined indoors. But summer is outdoor time
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Top 1M sites
For Oak Park, the outlet · Measured Aug 1, 2026
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