Islamic State “freedom fighters” welcome at Cornell University, says this assistant dean, even to set up training camps.

Some of those Ivy League schools are far out.

First of a series by the excellent Dolores Madlener, “Conversations with the Consecrated” — that is, religious women, that is nuns. This one a Benedicting, living in community at St. Scholastica Monastery, 7430 N. Ridge Blvd.

“I grew up in a small town in New Jersey, and attended public school all the way through. I’m the middle of three sisters. My dad worked for the state of New Jersey and mom worked in our local libraries when I was in middle school.

As a child of the ’70s, I never thought of being a sister until my late 30s. Before then I had only known three nuns. “I dreamed of being an archeologist. I went on my first dig at 17. I did my B.A. at Boston University, my master’s at the University of Chicago and Ph.D. at Northwestern. I still work part-time as a research associate at U. of C.

I’ve also been cataloging books, photos, religious objects, as well as household items from the oldest Benedictine women’s monastery in the U.S., St. Joseph’s Monastery in St. Mary’s, Pennsylvania, which is in the process of closing. Since many monasteries descended from it, including our own, we want to preserve its history — our shared history.”

And standing ovation for the writer of the headline, “She digs,” etc.

The history of our great state:

Public funds spent on jets and horses. Shoeboxes stuffed with embezzled cash. Ghost payrolls and incarcerated ex-governors. Illinois’ culture of “Where’s mine?” and the public apathy it engenders has made our state and local politics a disgrace.

In Corrupt Illinois, veteran political observers Thomas J. Gradel and Dick Simpson take aim at business-as-usual. Naming names, the authors lead readers through a gallery of rogues and rotten apples to illustrate how generations of chicanery have undermined faith in, and hope for, honest government. From there, they lay out how to implement institutional reforms that provide accountability and eradicate the favoritism, sweetheart deals, and conflicts of interest corroding our civic life.

By a couple of people who know.

A racist has her lunch handed to her.

Midwest Maize: How Corn Shaped the U.S. Heartland (Heartland Foodways)

Food historian Cynthia Clampitt pens the epic story of what happened when Mesoamerican farmers bred a nondescript grass into a staff of life so prolific, so protean, that it represents nothing less than one of humankind’s greatest achievements.

Blending history with expert reportage, she traces the disparate threads that have woven corn into the fabric of our diet, politics, economy, science, and cuisine. At the same time she explores its future as a source of energy and the foundation of seemingly limitless green technologies. The result is a bourbon-to-biofuels portrait of the astonishing plant that sustains the world.

Let’s hear it for corn!

(Cynthia is smart on top of smart, riveting when she talks corn. Book has to be good.)

Consider this article summary (from Reboot Illinois) and ask yourself what’s really, really unusual about it.

Rauner’s juvenile justice team vows retooling to keep kids out of jail chicagotribune.com – Gov. Bruce Rauner’s Department of Juvenile Justice says it will retool efforts to keep low-risk juvenile offenders out of state facilities and help those who are incarcerated successfully re-enter their communities.

A five-point plan for how to do that was unveiled Friday. It relies on a new tool for measuring young offenders’ risk factors — including mental health, IQ and family history, among others — to determine whether a juvenile would be better served with treatment outside of custodial facilities.

Give up? It’s the reference to IQ! When is the last time you saw that reference?

Calls her “an extraordinary appointment,” urges Repubs to confirm her as AG.

My Afternoons with Margueritte (2010)

Lovely love story . . .

A man bites dog story to beat all. Greenpeace co-founder is a denier:

Editor’s Note: Patrick Moore, Ph.D., has been a leader in international environmentalism for more than 40 years. He cofounded Greenpeace and currently serves as chair of Allow Golden Rice. Moore received the 2014 Speaks Truth to Power Award at the Ninth International Conference on Climate Change, July 8, in Las Vegas.

I am skeptical humans are the main cause of climate change and that it will be catastrophic in the near future. There is no scientific proof of this hypothesis, yet we are told “the debate is over” and “the science is settled.”

My skepticism begins with the believers’ certainty they can predict the global climate with a computer model. The entire basis for the doomsday climate change scenario is the hypothesis increased atmospheric carbon dioxide due to fossil fuel emissions will heat the Earth to unlivable temperatures.

Lots here in important story . . .