Lauren Shows was born to a preacher and a preacher's wife, and spent the majority of her earliest childhood years rollin' 'round the bible belt, to end up in Panama City, Florida. After graduating from Florida State University in Tallahassee, she spent the next several months in existential crisis, making lattes for snowbirds and spring-breakers, before moving to Kentucky to get an MFA in writing from Spalding University. A chance meeting at Spalding landed her in Yellow Springs. She was graciously hired by the News, though her only previous dealing with newspaper publication was in third grade, when she wrote a story about a bunch of skeletons rising from the dead on Halloween, which was printed in the Owenton News-Herald. Lauren enjoys cheese, giant squid, and Michael J. Fox.

• Village planning commission — New distillery at Millworks

  By Lauren ShowsJune 24, 2020

  

  At its June 9 virtual meeting, the YS Planning Commission unanimously voted to approve a conditional use permit for a new distillery to be located at Millworks. The distillery, Tuck-N-Reds Spirits & Wine, will be located in currently vacant space next to Yellow Springs Brewery; it will also use the site of the former S&G Distillery as its office space.

• Wright State Archives collects pandemic memories

  By Lauren ShowsMay 29, 2020

  

  Wright State University’s Special Collections and Archives is collecting journals and diaries documenting the pandemic, with the documents to be available for public research in the future.

• Antioch School‘s online learning curve

  By Lauren ShowsMay 28, 2020

  

  Communities of all sizes and natures have had to redefine what it means to be together in the long weeks since the coronavirus pandemic has forced people to remain physically distant. The Antioch School community is no different in this regard, and has worked together — from a distance — to maintain the closeness at its core.

• Digital D&D— Players move fantasy game online

  By Lauren ShowsMay 20, 2020

  

  The coronavirus pandemic has, for the time being, put a moratorium on in-person games. Not to be discouraged, Oskar, Jaden and Wills — and many others, both locally and worldwide — have moved their games online, adapting to the virtual environment and using the internet’s tools to their ­advantage.

• Unemployment woes in village

  By Lauren ShowsApril 23, 2020

  

  Villagers reported varying levels of difficulty with the unemployment application process, with the process working more smoothly for some than others.

• Making masks— Villagers stitch to save lives

  By Lauren ShowsApril 9, 2020

  

  Locally, sewing-machine-wielding villagers have beaten the CDC to the proverbial punch, having already mobilized a large effort to provide face masks for those in the community and surrounding areas who work daily in the village’s public eye.

• Fear, hope, anxiety, gratitude— Villagers talk sheltering in place

  By Lauren ShowsApril 5, 2020

  

  As Ohio made its way through the second week of the governor’s mandate that all Ohioans “stay at home,” the News reached out to several villagers to find out how they’re navigating their lives under the order.

• Stay active, connected in quarantine

  By Lauren ShowsMarch 31, 2020

  

  How can individuals stay active, physically, mentally and socially, and stay connected when it’s so important to remain physically distant from others?

• Reprise— Battle, Lopez return for concert

  By Lauren ShowsMarch 7, 2020

  

  Mark Battle and George Lopez will perform Friday, March 13, beginning at 7 p.m. in Antioch College’s Herndon Gallery. Donations to benefit YSYOA will be taken at the door. For more information, visit http://www.ysyoa.org.

• Spring forward — a little history on Daylight Saving Time

  By Lauren ShowsMarch 4, 2020

  

  Most of the continental United States will spend a bleary-eyed morning this coming Sunday, March 8, as Daylight Saving Time returns, requiring all villagers to set their clocks one hour ahead — and potentially get to bed an hour earlier — on Saturday night. But who to thank — or blame — for the annual time change?