To the unsung heroes out there, and to glimmers of hope

After a brief battle with cancer and a lifetime in Peoria's poorest schools, a goodbye to the most selfless person I've ever known

There is a card sitting on my dining room table with two $20 bills next to it. Forty bucks for me because I just turned 40. The card has an avocado on the front with a hole in its belly and on the inside says “holy guacamole, it’s your birthday!” My Aunt Fran loved funny cards. Two days after I opened the card and remembered that she’d sent me $40 becau…