Writer and director Ruth Mataya Gango is a storyteller. And the story she has chosen to tell is that of the abuse she suffered during her childhood at the hands of her mother. It is a difficult tale to share, especially when Gango, of Dubuque, has chosen a public medium for what has too often...

Many people think of the art of writing as a solo enterprise. They picture a wild-eyed, highly caffeinated creative type locked in the writer’s room, surrounded by piles of notes and a wastebasket filled with discarded paper balls of bad ideas. It’s a fair description for some. But for poets Valorie Broadhurst Woerdehoff, 65, and...

It was the creation and love of art that brought Stormy Mochal and Connie Twining together. The business partners own Outside the Lines Art Gallery, with locations in Dubuque and Galena, Ill. “I saw Stormy’s artwork before I actually met her,” Twining said. “I was a parent volunteer at the Nativity School, and they had...

According to brainmadesimple.com/left-and-right-hemispheres, the right hemisphere of the brain coordinates the left side of the body and performs tasks that have to do with creativity and the arts. I must not have much in the right side of my brain. I have never considered myself a creative person. For example, I am not good at...

If you are a caregiver, you know how important it is to carve out time for play, enjoyment and engagement. Often when caregiving, the most prominent areas are doctor’s appointments, three balanced meals per day, medication management, dentistry, bathing and other daily tasks. Although those areas are so important in a care plan, it is...