Give It to Me Plain: Reflections of an Opinionated Lady

As a columnist for the Ashland (Ohio) Times-Gazette, JoAnn Streeter Shade has been writing about small town life, family connections, and social issues of all kinds for eight years. These short essays on social concerns and political order and disorder first saw the light of day on the pages of the newspaper, and are now offered as an assortment of reflections from an opinionated lady.

In this collection, Shade searches for life lessons in the exploits of the Cleveland sports teams, the g...