Hilary Decent – Page 23

Decent: If laughter is the best medicine, then humor is an essential business

May 29, 2020 at 1:48 p.m.

Being funny is a serious business when the world is crumbling around you. Currently in week 732 of lockdown, we no longer feel we're all in this together. Every state...

Decent: As hard as it is to put Ribfest on every year, it’s just as hard to ‘deconstruct’ it, organizers say

May 22, 2020 at 1:29 p.m.

We've known since April 2019 that Ribfest 2020 was going to be one for the local history books. That's when the Exchange Club of Naperville announced it would be moving...

Decent: DuPage PADS unlikely to return to old homeless system in wake of pandemic, outgoing agency CEO says

May 15, 2020 at 3:13 p.m.

When I heard Carol Simler was set to retire as CEO of DuPage PADS on June 30, I made a note to interview her before she left. I've known her...

Decent: Loaves and Fishes adjusts as demand for food grows: ‘What do we need to do to get to where we need to be?’

May 1, 2020 at 1:26 p.m.

"With food, the need is right here right now. We are the boots on the ground," Mike Hvala, CEO of Loaves and Fishes Community Services in Naperville, says. Hvala wasn't...

There will eventually come a day when being outside won't look like something from a science fiction movie, columnist Hilary Decent says.

Decent: So much to miss in these days of self-isolation, and so much to look forward to when it’s in the past

April 24, 2020 at 5:33 p.m.

Some days I feel I'm a character in "The Handmaid's Tale." On others, more like the victim of the world's biggest prank. When you look out of the window, nothing...

A sign posted at an entrance to a 365 Whole Foods store advises customers to not to use their own bags while shopping in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Grocery clerks are nervous the coronavirus could linger on reusable fabric bags.

Decent: When a trip to the grocery store feels a lot like going on a dangerous mission, you know we’re living in strange times

April 17, 2020 at 12:47 p.m.

Cue "Mission Impossible" music. Purse, check. Wallet, check. Shopping list, check. Plastic gloves, check. Face mask (not N95 quality), check. I'm off on a COVID mission to Jewel. As the...

Decent: If you received a cake with the letters ‘HA’ adorning it, would you know what the sender was trying to say?

April 10, 2020 at 2:45 p.m.

I'm not one to look a gift cake in the mouth, but there was something about this one that left a bitter taste even before we took a bite. It...

Window signs reminds shoppers to keep their social distance while waiting for their turn to shop at a grocery store in Salem, New Hampshire.

Decent: With the need for human contact ‘hard-wired’ into us, finding alternative ways to communicate key to mental health

April 3, 2020 at 4:25 p.m.

Social distancing's a phrase none of us had heard of until a few weeks ago. A little like Gwyneth Paltrow's "conscious uncoupling," it sounded a bit like a joke, until...

U.S. Census workers go door-to-door to obtain information in 2010 from people who did not return the forms they were sent. The process is getting ready to start again for the 2020 Census.

Decent: Seeing the census through the eyes of the person charged with getting info puts things in a different light

March 27, 2020 at 2:20 p.m.

Part detective, part law enforcement officer, part educator. The role of a census worker isn't always as simple as it sounds. As one of 500,000 temporary workers employed by the...

Decent: Naperville woman’s podcast shares insight from WHO officials in Italy on the coronavirus pandemic

March 26, 2020 at 2:21 p.m.

A Naperville woman who"s a health care expert and humanitarian is using her podcast to educate listeners on the world lessons that can be taken from the current coronavirus epicenter,...

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