Tallahassee Journal by Margaret E. McColley

       Robert McNair McColley, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Illinois, passed away peacefully at his home in Urbana on the winter solstice, December 21st, 2025, with family at his side. Bob was born on February 2, 1933 in Salina, Kansas, the son of William Grant McColley and Alice McNair McColley. Grant McColley was an itinerant academic with a PhD from Northwestern University. He moved his family around the country, working various jobs during the Great Depression. Consequently, Bob spent his childhood in towns associated with Kansas Wesleyan University (Salina), Smith College (Northampton MA), Western Carolina Teachers College (Cullohwee NC), and Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago). The family finally settled in Washington DC, where Alice became a CIA analyst.                         Bob, front and center, with (from the left) Margaret&cat, Grant, and Carolyn Alic...

  Home is elemental (a piece in progress, here are some preliminary, rough sketches:)   A year following the worst (three-tornado) storm that Tallahassee has ever seen, I have thoughts circulating about a topic that speaks to everyone--What is HOME? ****** For two decades or more this topic has lingered in my heart (tho in some ways it has always been there, has its very genesis in life as a small child). It was the nexus of the study of women's travel letters that made it's way to the doorstep of my mind's eye in the early 2000s. And I must say, with no doubt, the "Home" that I wanted to explore wasn't the rosy red-cheeked children-scape at the dinner table of Rockwell (whose paintings I love). ****** The week I defended my thesis on the subject of Home at the University of Virginia in 2005 was the same week that Katrina blew in and devasted so many homes on the grittiest level of materiality. And I felt then as if I wa...

When I feel like the "world is too much with (me)," to borrow from Wordsworth, I take myself to St. Mark's. The capacity for unloading one's mental wastebin and drifting instead with the ebb and flow of the St Mark's river is so deep and expansive that I often give way to the pull toward this place. It's located just far enough away from Tallahassee to feel like I'm getting out of town without committing to a long drive, and for cyclists, there is the magnificent and well-known bike trail going all the way there from its trailhead off of Capital Circle. On my most recent trip down, I stopped at "The Shack," an inviting coffee shop with many options for cooling off, perking up, and feeling better through the nourishment of freshly-made treats. Just next door to this oasis is a wonderful antique shoppe for beach-themed decor, "The Beach Trader." The restorative experience begins when I hit the Woodville Road from Cap Circle and know I...

  Canopy When I returned to in-person teaching after lockdown but before the vaccine, I would come home and, before entering the house, I'd sit in my driveway on its warm, stony surface to unwind after work. A sit would become a stretch, and then a full lie down, a tree-gazing savasana. I would look up at the glittering leaves, the sunstream, and the blue sky behind and feel the caress of this entire arc of nature. My breath would adjust to the waves of breeze that would brush across the airscape and cause the branches to sway here and then there. In the flow of time a furbaby or two from the outdoor pack would come over and lie down near me and stretch. My movements were familiar to them--for this is how they spend hours and hours every single day. They move at the pace of the plants around them, at the speed of the breeze, deliberately yet, easily. I started to take to the driveway for daily yogic movement and lying down to gaze up at the canopy. She offered a whole new way of lo...

  Lynne is my friend, but Lynne is much more. She is bringing magic to a hurting world. The day I was unpacking my U-Haul trailer, she walked up to me and introduced herself. She was my upstairs neighbor in the new apartment building I had found by great chance, with hardwood floors and an old, Floridian flair. I knew we'd become friends, despite working in demanding jobs (full-time teacher, hospital administrator). In truth we came together because of our demanding jobs. What began as a simple greeting turned into dinner at the Mexican, then road trips to the Gulf. The rest is herstory in the making.  The smile of friends who hadn't seen eachother for months in the early 2020s. We compared notes. We found resonance. It was soothing. This is my interview in 3-questions with Lynne,  angelic friend, planner-pro, mom to interesting adult sons and high-energy shelter pups, and aspiring mahjong player if you have any Tallahassee leads... What new inspiration are you carrying ...

Diane Booth Gilliam is an extraordinary human, one whom I am grateful to have met and someone I will continue to seek out for guidance and creative inspiration. She is the creator of  Yogastrology ®, a practice that marries the lessons of ancient yogic and ayurverdic practices with knowledge rooted in Vedic and Western astrology.   To learn all about her offerings, visit: https://yogastrology.com/ . As a student and teacher of yoga, I was looking for something deep that went far beyond learning about the physical shapes the body takes in yoga. What I found was a supportive, intuitive, listening voice with whom to engage on the most gorgeous topics through which yogic practices allow us to explore and expand. Diane's curriculum is utterly unique, and allowed me to find a Home within while learning about interactions between the cosmos, the natural world, and an enhanced path to being. Here is our interview in 3 core questions:  1. How did your travels to India imp...