New year, new assessment of our Morris?

The image shows Neil and Linda Schmidgall of Superior Industries. I had the great pleasure of getting a personal tour of the extensive Superior operation from Neil recently. So eye-opening. You might say humbling also. Man, the work and sense of organization behind all the elaborate things there! The bottom line is that there's a passion for "making things." It makes the world go 'round.

 

First morning after the holidays so now we should look at an extended time of normal life: the "routine." One little complication is that we have this little thing coming up called Martin Lutheran King Day. It's hard to know to what extent we really should move over for it, wouldn't you say? 

The holiday became created when our U.S. government had quite different leanings. Hoo boy, there is no way our national government in D.C. would create it now. Not with the political winds blowing the way they have been. The purpose of MLK Day seems to have shifted from one of simply paying homage to the man, to a "Day of Service." A "Day of Service" is always something to be celebrated. So if you have a problem with the basic principle of MLK Day, well you can be happy with how it has evolved. 

And why would you have a problem with the basic purpose? Well, MLK came along to crusade for things that our society should have been able to take care of on its own. We're honoring this iconic person who made us aware that Jim Crow was an unspeakable abomination along with discrimination and prejudice in general. The idea was to lift up the "black folks" or the ":African-Americans." 

No doubt laudable but in the years since, a real rainbow of races and ethnicities has characterized America. It's a "melting pot." Asians make up an important element. But if you really respect the "melting pot" as I do, we should put aside such pigeon-holing. "MLK Day" is a reminder that the black folks needed a concerted effort to get liberated, freed from the earlier shackles. It is a reminder that the "whites" had a lot to answer for. And it is so true. 

The main thing is that the legal levers got applied to guarantee success. That's what it takes, even though we have seen a pullback with the Supreme Court's erasure of affirmative action at colleges. College people are oh so clever so I'm sure there are ways of tweaking the old programs. I am quite certain that our U of M-Morris still offers free tuition to Native Americans. I don't think the policy is based on an actual "treaty," rather it's just old law or policy. 

But the Supreme Court's judgment was enacted to supersede mere laws or policies, wasn't it? I am not intending to criticize the policy. I am not addressing its merits. Heaven knows UMM needs help now, Lordy. Man, I could never have anticipated this years ago. I feel like I've been bludgeoned. Morris was once a "company town" with UMM. Well, today we may still be a "company town" but now it's with Superior Industries and maybe Westmor too. 

The Superior Industries commitment

Remember when Westmor was "Kleespie Tank?" Kleespie Tank seemed like the 800-pound gorilla here for a long time. You never know what's going on behind the scenes with businesses. I heard someone say at the time of Kleespies' demise "well, when your outgo is more than your income. . ." I guess it always comes down to that. 

UMM appears to have suffered a severe blow - perhaps existential? - when the DJT presidency decided it wanted to get rid of the foreign students. As my friend Michael Lackey points out with his keen expertise, "the foreign students were UMM's cash cow." So if you voted for Trump, you were pointing things in this direction. 

And yes, I have at least a couple personal friends who will pounce on me with every skeptical reference I make to DJT. These people have turned to DJT to fulfill all their hopes and dreams. They are in a (expletive) trance. Sad. 

So if UMM is fading into the sunset, whither our community of Morris? 

Can Superior and Westmor take the reins in a totally commensurate manner? I think actually they can. In the meantime I think it's quite sad seeing the trends at UMM. Consider the changes to the music department now. I addressed this in an email I sent to friend Warrenn Anderson yesterday. I will let that email do the rest of my talking here today, the day after New Year's Day. God bless and thanks for reading.

 

Warrenn - I sent email to Del Sarlette today wondering if he knew when the first UMM music concert for next semester is. I can't count on this info being online, at least not in an easily accessible way.

I was a little shook by Del's answer:

"There won’t be any UMM band concerts next semester – that  'CommUniversity Band' is replacing the Symphonic Winds."

I was aware of this transition but it still slipped my mind. So are we seeing the slow death of UMM music? What about humanities as a whole? Michael Lackey says they're all in the same boat. If the big hulking HFA gets closed, what about the gallery with the Morrison name on it, for which the family donated $? And what about me with my family's contributions? The idea is to support UMM students. Should I ask to have fund shifted to Twin Cities campus? Well I won't do that, at least not now. 

The HFA at UMM (my photo)

How could this not be disheartening for me? Do you have any encouraging comments to offer? Well, my relationship with UMM the past few years has given me a sense of purpose and reward. I can't regret it. 

I am also wondering about any future contributions I might make to First Lutheran Church. You may know that FAITH Lutheran is losing its pastor, so both ELCA churches will be rudderless. Unless there's a miracle, both churches will suffer looking for leadership. This whole big decline got started with the gay rights thing, where UMM got so involved being pro-gay rights. This caused so much irritation. I witnessed it out and around.

So strange recently to see the UMM men [basketball] playing Oak Hills Christian. You couldn't find a more anti-gay college anywhere than Oak Hills. And, you could not find a more pro-gay college than UMM! Amazing. I think there was a time when an element of UMM staff would have risen up to insist we cancel the game with Oak Hills, to not have that game here at UMM. Remember when Carthage College football came here with Native American nickname? I think that game was endangered. A big fuss was made. I didn't hear anything about Oak Hills, and I think that's because UMM people are scared now, anyone on the payroll. The last thing they'll do is stick out their neck on anything political. So different from past times at UMM! I think administration has just laid down the law now: NO FUNNY STUFF, nothing stupid to get headlines for here. 

U of Iowa has dropped all the "diversity" stuff from their programs. I just saw headline the other day.

SPEAKING OF IOWA. . .Maybe I will shift my charitable giving to the Caitlin Clark Foundation, seriously. Of course that $ would go to Iowa-based causes. But I think so highly of CC.

Is there a chance UMM would not open for business next fall? Maybe we'll just have some research-based stuff here, no more undergraduate activity.

- BW

 

Addendum: When the MLK Day was first proposed, I was amused by Barry Goldwater's response. The then-charming old conservative from Arizona said "it's just another day when the mail won't get delivered." Barry was ahead of his time back in 1964. Remember? "In your heart you know he is right." Lyndon Johnson defeated him overwhelmingly, the guy who escalated the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. It was Johnson's war and Nixon had a chance to be a hero and end it. Alas, no dice, at least not for a very long while.

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota -  bwilly73@yahoo.com