My older son, Sam, and I were up early, waiting until it was late enough to decorate for his little brother’s fourth birthday. On that morning of remembering babies and births, it was a nice surprise to come across a photo of Sam’s three-week-old sunlit toes [...]

When she was ten, my great-grandmother picked watermelons so she could buy shoes. Her education ended in sixth grade. She married at age sixteen, and moved with her husband, and eventually their three children, to a series of mining towns. She started washing the miners’ laundry to help bring in money. Over the next several [...]

A major milestone: my older son, Sam, age six, can now read stories to his younger brother, Eli, age three. When Eli was a baby, it was hard to imagine just getting through a story with both of them, let alone one brother reading to another. It never occurred to me that one day they [...]

“He takes more breaks than a union supervisor,” said Ted, exasperated with three-year-old Eli’s frequent sit-downs in the middle of a scooter practice session in Washington Park in Springfield, Ill. A heat advisory doesn’t take away the boys’ exhausting flow of energy, which must be harnessed into positive outlets. Ted pushes the boys harder than [...]

It is rewarding to photograph people I am proud to share with the world. In the last several weeks I’ve photographed three women confronting serious illness in themselves or in loved ones. Their reactions are all very different, but each woman is using her gifts to help better treat or prevent disease in others. In [...]

On May 3, I photographed at the Illinois State Capitol for the University of Chicago Medical Center as two moms, Laura Lutarewych (black suit) and Sheila Quirke (red sweater), and Dr. John Cunningham testified before the Illinois House Revenue and Finance Committee about the need for greater children’s cancer research funding. If passed, House Bill [...]

It takes courage to begin a book with “Is a pen a metaphorical penis?” as Susan Gubar did in 1979 in The Madwoman in the Attic, her widely acclaimed and groundbreaking book with writing partner Sandra Gilbert. It takes even more courage to write about your own serious illness and its debilitating treatment. I photographed [...]

As a parent trying to make good education decisions for my own children, I respect the parents, some who don’t speak English, who trek to the Illinois State Capitol with The Ounce of Prevention Fund to ask state legislators to preserve early childhood programs. Teachers and early childhood professionals also gathered to advocate at the [...]

You can vote in a residential garage and get home-baked treats along with your ballot outside Springfield, Ill. You can purchase the latest community cookbook when you choose your candidate in Dawson, Ill. You can get a warm greeting from poll volunteers, even though they know you’re not local by looking at your car, in [...]

The Domestic Life Archive is now expanded, with more pictures and text and easier search capability. Some photos will be accompanied by essays, like the one below.                         Stubborn Toddler parenting: if you’re yelling, you’ve lost. If you’re asking for sympathy, you’ve lost. If [...]