Opinion

Thousands of Kansans showed what bravery looked like on Saturday.They filled the streets in Topeka, in Lawrence, in Wichita, in Kansas City and elsewhere. They marched, they chanted, they waved signs.

As a first-generation college student who is now a professor, I know firsthand the vital role libraries play in providing access to knowledge and opportunity, especially for those from underserved backgrounds. At my university, nearly half of the student population is also first-generation, and like me, many have relied on libraries as gateways to education, technology and personal growth.

There is an interesting story in Matthew 14:22-33 about a sinking disciple named Peter. He tried to do the impossible - to walk on water like Jesus.

Separated by six states and a time zone, students at two universities got opposite lessons about free speech last week.In Somerville, Massachusetts, immigration officials detained a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University. It’s not certain why she was taken into custody, in full view of security cameras.

Many years ago, when I interviewed Wes Jackson for a “Sunflower Journeys” story related to his work at The Land Institute near Salina, he referenced a book by his friend Wendell Berry — “The Unsettling of America.”A line he told me has been going through my head lately: “They didn’t know what they were doing because they didn’t know what they were un-doing.”Those may not be the precise words, but that’s the gist of it. It pertained to Berry’s assessment of the way that industrialized agriculture historically plowed through the native prairies of the continent without bothering to understand the nature of the ecological relationships that were disrupted and destroyed.I recall this quote as I consider what’s happening to the social and cultural relationships being dismantled by the wrecking crew known as DOGE, the so-called “government efficiency” team led by Elon Musk.They, too, don’t know what they’re doing, it seems to me.

No one asked for hippos to overrun Colombian rivers.But hippos frolic in the South American country anyway, thanks to the extravagant ego of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. He imported four of the beasts for a private menagerie.