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.

• Love, adventure — and curry

  By Lauren ShowsJune 13, 2018

  

  You have to be willing to hand over your comfort to receive the blessings of a truly adventurous vacation. But sometimes, comfort — and food — can be the balm to an adventure-gone-wrong.

• C’mon and dance!

  By Lauren ShowsMay 31, 2018

  

  The annual Senior Center flash mob dance on Wednesday, May 30 on Short St drew participants from both the Senior Center and the Children’s Center.

• The physics of the Force at Little Art

  By Lauren Shows

  

  “Star Wars” fans who have mused about whether or not working light sabers and blasters will ever be available for purchase on Amazon are in luck: Patrick Johnson, author of “The Physics of Star Wars,” will be at the Little Art Theatre on Sunday, May 27, to talk about his book.

• Mayor proclaims ‘Tracy H. Logan Jr. Walk and Bike to School Day’

  By Lauren ShowsMay 16, 2018

  

  Last Wednesday, May 9, Mills Lawn Elementary School held its annual Bike to School Day event, at which the late Tracy Logan was honored.

• Celebrate ‘baby season’ at Raptor Center with a baby shower

  By Lauren ShowsApril 11, 2018

  

  The Glen Helen Raptor Center is preparing to celebrate the coming of spring with a special open house event on Sunday, April 22, beginning at 2 p.m. — a baby shower, for all the baby raptors who will be raised and rehabilitated by the Raptor Center in the coming months.

• BLOG — A funny old dog

  By Lauren ShowsMarch 28, 2018

  

  Lauren “Chuck” Shows writes about a favorite children’s book — and what it means to belong to yourself.

• Way Back Wednesday — Spring musicals, 1974 to 1999

  By Lauren ShowsMarch 14, 2018

  

  With the McKinney and YSHS spring musical, “Disney’s High School Musical, On Stage!” running for its second and final weekend beginning this Friday, Way Back Wednesday takes a brief sojourn to the final quarter of the last century to remember spring musicals past.

• Of cabbages and kings

  By Lauren ShowsMarch 12, 2018

  

  Lauren “Chuck” Shows writes briefly about cabbage soup and American attitudes toward food assistance.

• Way Back Wednesday — The Red Book

  By Lauren ShowsFebruary 7, 2018

  

  The deadline for the Yellow Springs Community Directory — The Red Book — approaches. We take a trip back to 1989 to when the first Red Book was produced — and explore why it was produced in the first place.

• Way Back Wednesday — The Blizzard of 1978

  By Lauren ShowsJanuary 31, 2018

  

  The end of January marks 40 years since the worst snow storm Yellow Springs — and Ohio — has ever seen.