Rather an odyssey to confirm Jim Carlson's death

Jim makes gesture of approval at Jazz Fest (Del Sarlette photo)

A stressful last few days for yours truly. It began in the middle of the night when I called up an email from a friend, relaying the sad news of Jim Carlson's death. Immediately I knew I should write something. I would write something whether the world was interested in consuming it or not. Certain people would tell me the latter applies. To them, I would use the language of Donald Trump and say "fuck you." 

I appreciated getting the news, but was a wee bit hesitant also. My friend cited his son-in-law as source. I'm sure my friend and son-in-law felt they were passing on credible information. Frankly it was the equivalent of rumor. While I wished to assume the validity, for the purposes of my writing I wanted a little more certainty. 

I tentatively wrote a blog post. Within a short time I had confirmation of the news, sort of. It was confirmation in the sense that it was the second time I heard the report from an unofficial source. My second source said he had heard from a "jazz alum." I don't doubt that all these individuals were well-intentioned. 

Well, I boldly went ahead and clicked on "publish." Nice thing about online writing, i.e. blogging is that you can delete or correct stuff. So I published, and then I assumed that within three or four hours I could get more definite confirmation of the news. So I was looking to the traditional or legacy news media primarily - this institution exists for the very purpose of sharing important news, right? Jim Carlson was not some ordinary citizen when he was here, he was a public future, the mastermind behind the UMM Jazz Festival. 

The Jazz Fest was an institution here for many years, just like Prairie Pioneer Days. I could ask the stupid question "why can't we have these things just like we used to have them?" But I get accused of asking too many stupid questions, and to this list I could add, again using the language of Trump, "why the fuck is an 'award' given for the softball complex, when in fact it looks like a disaster so far, for multiple reasons?" We see smiling people in a photo in connection with news of the award. These people know how they can get attention through the established commercial news media. They are selling themselves - I was around this sort of thing through my whole newspaper career. 

But Jim Carlson's death? Can we really be so cavalier to just ignore that? 

Within two or three days I was being scolded by someone who accused me of being clueless, because the news was "on Facebook." Really? So, are we supposed to look to Facebook instead of the news media we grew up with? The newspaper or radio station? Or, to be more contemporary, how about UMM's website? Couldn't a bulletin have been placed in some conspicuous way there? I am not aware of UMM blasting out an email on this in a timely way. 

Jim with his "ax" (Del Sarlette photo)

When my father Ralph died, the chancellor happened to be away from campus, so I looked up the phone number for campus security - easy to find - called it, and of course a real human being was going to answer, at perhaps any time. And, I knew campus security would promptly relay the news to Jacqueline Johnson. So I had it taken care of in an efficient and effective way. Not that anyone would want to give me credit for that. Quite to the contrary. 

So, I was supposed to "go to Facebook," people were implying, but what particular Facebook page would I have to find? 

 

An exclusive community?

I felt insulted by the suggestion that people close to UMM jazz, or the jazz people under Jim that is, were in this fraternity where they'd all gather the news pretty quickly, and if I wasn't a member of that fraternity, it was my problem. Fuck all of you, to again use the language of Donald Trump. 

I am a benefactor for UMM music but apparently still an outsider. I can get along as an outsider, but I resent having to jump through hoops to get real confirmation of Jim Carlson's death. He was a friend of mine, whether you can believe that or not. Probably the latter. I even played some "gigs" with him at one time. 

The Morris Sun Tribune had an editor once who essentially published a rumor. Jim Morrison told her she had better confirm it first, based on my memory. She did not, and reportedly grew frustrated encountering an answering machine repeatedly. This was before we assumed that answering devices were going to become ubiquitous. 

The article got on the front page. How about that? We subsequently had to publish a "correction and apology" on the front page. An affected party had to write a letter to the editor. He was receiving sympathy cards in error. 

Imagine if my "news" about Jim Carlson had gone along a similar course - my "tip" could have come from someone who simply misunderstood something. As an old newspaper person, let me assure you that things like this happen. 

Why couldn't the corporate media get going with better reporting on Jim's death? Are they all just stepping aside for "Facebook?" Is our media universe evolving that quickly? Are we wasting money on the old commercial media? 

A friend told me that because Jim died on Christmas Eve, it was harder for the usual wheels of communication to turn. Really? Funeral homes rake in tons of money from vulnerable families, and they ought to have the means, even on Christmas Day, to keep the wheels turning. They've heard of the Internet I'm sure. 

I checked with all kinds of keywords to try to find a more official confirmation of Jim's death. Within hours I discovered my own blog post, on my "I Love Morris" site, turning up in search. It was the only link I could find that even reported Jim's death. I shared this with a UMM-oriented friend, who in typical UMM smart-ass fashion questioned the size of my brainpan because I was not astute enough to consult with "Facebook." 

I happen not to like Facebook a whole lot. I assure you, there are many long-time residents of the Morris area who do not skip around to Facebook pages all the time, who remember Jim and loved him and would appreciate getting some reliable news about his death. A full obituary with his life story would be much appreciated. Granted, we would have to allow several days before that appeared, so as to give family time to compile information. Maybe we will still get that, even if it is up to UMM jazz alumni to do it. 

I'm not sure what kind of family Jim leaves behind. Based on my experience of the last few days, I think family could have done more. I worked on a draft obituary for my father within a day after he died, and as for my mother, she had written her own obit quite long before she died, and then I just had to update it in some ways. We were prepared, painful as it is to have to be prepared for these things. 

Prior to my father's death, death was simply a taboo subject in my family, verboten. Too unpleasant. After his death I got more real, accepting that death is inevitable for us all, and we are better off accepting this, talking about it and being prepared. 

My critics would shake their heads reading through all of this, although they would first say "no one cares about your fucking writing," again to use the language of Donald Trump. I do not appreciate being insulted when all I did was try to confirm the death of someone who I considered very special. 

It is 3 a.m. as I conclude the first draft of this post, and we're learning of Harry Reid's death, an event that I'm sure will be celebrated by the MAGA crowd. "Let's go Brandon." Senator Reid was a Democrat or "communist." You Republicans are a bunch of lemmings. You don't care about what the central bank, the Federal Reserve, is doing to this country, as it plants the seeds for the possible collapse of this country, but you feel it's important to cheer how Trump wanted to kick transgender people out of the military. And you all think I'm stupid?

Jim Carlson with Jazz Fest guest artists Bill Watrous (left) and Tony Campise (Del Sarlette photo)

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

MACA hoops teams active heading into Christmas

Girls: Eden Valley-Watkins 64, Tigers 54

The GBB Tigers have slid below .500. Their 0-2 showing in the EV-W Holiday Tournament left them with 3-6 won-lost numbers as we're all slowing down for Christmas. The third place game of the EV-W affair was played on Tuesday, Dec. 21. It had a 64-54 score with MACA having the lower number vs. the host team. 

The Tigers with coach Dale Henrich will be resolved coming out of the holidays to get the numbers turned around. 

EV-W built up momentum as the game neared conclusion. The Tigers faltered despite having the asset of balanced scoring. Indeed, four in our ranks posted double figures scoring. The charge was led by Sydney Dietz whose point total was 17. Plus she contributed eight rebounds and five assists. 

Meredith Carrington dished out four assists and scored 13 points. Then we see Shannon Dougherty and Cate Kehoe each with 12 points. Kehoe collected seven rebounds. So there were definitely strong suits. 

I get briefed on the team regularly by player grandparent Tom Carrington at DeToy's, early-morning, when our minds are quite sharp, right? We should be so lucky. It's a fan's prerogative to have opinions of course. The EV-W Eagles came out of the game at 3-4. 

No reason I couldn't write a little about MACA gymnastics, but I'm not familiar enough with the language/terminology of the sport. For example, when I see that an athlete "stuck her routine," I do not know what that means!

 

Mayer Lutheran 75, MACA 50

Our opening game of the EV-W event had us take the court against those Lutherans of Mayer Lutheran. The Lutherans worked to an advantage with a winning outcome for them, 75-50. Turnovers killed us at the Eden Valley gym. The stat here was 22, sigh. We were buried by halftime when the score showed us down by 24. 

Mayer has the "Vikings" nickname. Their stock is high in MN Class 'A', a ranking of No. 4. Those Lutherans came out of the December 20 game with an 8-0 record. 

There were bright spots in our performance. Like, Sydney Dietz putting in 17 points and grabbing five rebounds. Meredith Carrington gave her grandpa some reason to smile with 13 points/five assists. Cate Kehoe came through with ten for the orange and black, so grandpa Neal Hofland could smile some too. Alas, the game's final score could not have prompted any smiling!

Boys: Tigers 87, BOLD 60

Remember the old bumper sticker "where the hell is Bird Island?" My, we're going back to the '70s. "Hell" was considered rather strong language at the time. Our neighbor of Cyrus came up with a variant: "Where the heck is Cyrus?" Bumper stickers could be a big deal then. Here's a question for analysis: Is "hell" even a profane word? Input welcomed. 

The MACA boys basketball fans had to know where Bird Island was on Tuesday. Our Tigers took to the court to face the Warriors of BOLD. The West Central Tribune reported that BOLD's "scrappy lineup" was able to keep up with the Tigers in the first half. Not sure about that, really, as we led 43-34 at halftime. 

I imagine the WC Tribune cares more about BOLD than MACA. Isn't it true we no longer have athletes eligible for the All Area Teams, or for the Ranweiler Award? 

The Warriors certainly could not keep up with MACA in the game's second half. We truly soared, or roared, as we outscored the Warriors 44-26. So we won this game 87-60. We're 7-0, BOLD is 3-2. 

I remember writing about Jackson's father Kevin

We learn from the WC Tribune's coverage that Jackson Loge is committed to Augustana for his college play. Is this better than trying to make it at a Division I school? Maybe it is. I remember when UMM coach Perry Ford had a stint with Augustana after leaving here. 

Augustana sure had to be pleased with what they learned about Loge's play on Tuesday. Loge produced 32 points and nine rebounds. Plus he swatted aside four shots against the out-sized BOLD team. 

Cole Visser of BOLD kept his team's hopes flickering for a time. This he did with hitting 3-pointers. BOLD had a subsequent seven-point run but could not challenge the Tigers in a sustained way. The night belonged to coach Mark Torgerson's Tigers. We are ranked fourth in MN Class AA. A merry Christmas indeed. Ahem, let's call that "holidays." 

Opposing teams are sure keeping an eye on Loge. The Tigers can respond with some other options in their arsenal. So Thomas Tiernan seized the opportunity and scored 17 first half points of his game-total 19. Loge and Tiernan were joined on the scoring list by: Cole Wente 9, Durgin Decker 7, Tyler Berlinger 6, Sam Kleinwolterink 6, Brandon Jergenson 5, Trey Hunt 2 and Toby Gonnerman 1. 

Tiernan showed his well-known flair with long-rangers: five 3-pointers. Loge connected twice from beyond the 3-point line. Decker, Wente and Jergenson each connected once. Jergenson and Tiernan had nine and six assists respectively. Wente and Tiernan each stole the ball three times. 

The top BOLD scorer was Max Marks with 14 points. Visser made four 3-pointers, Hunter Borer three. Ryan King and Visser each had five rebounds. Ethan Sullivan had four assists and Visser had three steals.

Newspaper erratum

Looks like our Morris newspaper had an excruciatingly bad misspelled word in a sports headline last week. I do not have the paper in front of me as I write this. I only see it at the library or at church. The headline in question was the top one on the front sports page, ugh. "Reign" for "rein?" Holy cow, shouldn't we be setting a better example for our community's young people? We preach about the importance of education, and then we see this? 

What if I had committed this error in my Sun Tribune career? People would have choice words, to be sure, but there's no way I would make this particular mistake. Yet I was written off by so many of our community's stuffed shirts, beginning in the late 1980s when some strong party line stuff took over in this community. I wouldn't want the ghost of Christmas past to take me there again. Our school district became a true flashpoint, turning neighbor against neighbor in some cases. 

It should not have happened. Some issues simply had to be addressed. We got on a much better course as time went on. As I reflect on the "party line" folks, who socialized with each other a lot, I wonder: why so defensive, so prickly, so humorless? If you all were so right, could you not have been more relaxed?

Salute the band!

Our music programs do not get the regular media attention of sports, of course. But surely the MAHS music programs are boffo, as we saw on December 13 when band was at centerstage. It isn't always called band, sometimes it's "symphonic winds." Ah, Spinal Tap with its "Break Like the Wind" tour! 

Jazz I started out the Dec. 13 concert at our opulent concert hall. We could hardly have dreamt of such a place when I was in high school. In my high school days, concerts would be at the old elementary gym (now razed) or the 1968 gym at the high school. Actually I think the high school gym worked out great. The sight lines for the audience were better than at the high school auditorium which came later. I must confess: I have never really enjoyed the high school auditorium as it gets claustrophobic and stuffy in there. 

The concert hall of today is truly boffo - ironic that our public school has this and not UMM. But we'll take it. 

Jazz I gave us a reprise of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" with its jazzy feel. We could hear this every year, never get tired of it. Concert highlights for me - there were many -  included the piano playing of Henry Berberi and the singing, yes singing, of Emily Hamm. The microphone became a dud for Hamm's performance - it did not matter! Her song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" went over wonderfully. What impressive vocal range by Ms. Hamm. 

The "Nutcracker Suite" was a classy and sophisticated concert highlight. 

Kudos to the directors: Wanda Dagen and Andrea Denardo. Someday I think a statue of Dagen should be displayed on the school grounds.

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

Tiernan tops scoring, Loge reaches milestone

Boys hoops: Tigers 72, WCA 44

West Central Area made waves in football with its appearance in Prep Bowl. Congrats on that, but on Friday the Knights were outclassed by the host MACA Tigers on the hardcourt. The orange and black boys really owned the day as they turned back the Knights 72-44. It was a doubleheader day that also showcased the girls teams of MACA and WCA. 

I enjoyed writing about the Knights as they climbed in football. I always enjoy writing about prep sports. The year 2022 will mark the 50th anniversary of my start writing about the Tigers in the media. How about that? Can anyone else come close to matching that longevity? It all started when I wrote about Tiger football led by Willard Wevley and Dan Long. I answered to Arnold Thompson at the Sun Tribune. I could not have envisioned the world wide web then. 

Here I sit today harnessing the web, so I can report that MACA really took control by building a 29-point halftime lead. Our sharp execution was also to the tune of inducing 24 turnovers. If this is to be Mark Torgerson's final season at the coaching helm, he is going out with a flourish. The talent on the roster says a lot about that. 

Jackson Loge scored his 2000th career point Friday. Not long ago he ascended to the No. 1 perch on the MACA career scoring list. He scored 17 points but he was second-best on this night to sharpshooter Thomas Tiernan. Tiernan had a point total of 19. 

WCA may have had a humbling day Friday, but surely they excel on many nights: record now of 4-1. Nice to have a "neighbor" doing so well. Barrett is a nice little burg. WCA's top scorers were Ryder Staples and Nas Dotts each with ten points, and Cole Anderson with nine. 

The Tigers are sitting pretty with a 6-0 record. Will the holidays provide much of a break? C'mon, slow down a little. 

Tiernan made 7 of 13 field goal tries. Loge was 6 of 12. Cole Wente was the third Tiger in double figures, ten points on 4 of 6 shooting. Also scoring: Tyler Berlinger 8, Durgin Decker 7, Brandon Jergenson 5, Sam Kleinwolterink 5 and Kyle Fehr 1. Our team field goal shooting was 26 of 49, 53 percent. 

Tiernan nailed five of nine 3-point shots. These Tigers each made one long-ranger: Decker, Wente, Jergenson and Kleinwolterink. Our team numbers in 3's: nine of 16. 

Loge put up seven freethrow shots and made five. Berlinger was a perfect four of four. Wente and Fehr each made one freethrow. The team numbers were 11 of 18, 61 percent. 

Rebounds: we had 28 total, six offensive. Loge snared ten so he dominated in this department. Wente was the top assist producer with five. In steals we see Jergenson and Tiernan each with four. Loge and Kleinwolterink each blocked a shot. We turned the ball over 15 times. We're riding high with the No 4 state ranking.

 

Girls: West Central Area 65, Tigers 40

The script got flipped for Friday's girls game, as fans saw the Knights establish a clear advantage. Lexi Bright had a lot to do with that as she scored 29 points. The Tigers had the kind of turnover problem that the Knights had in the boys game. Our girls squad committed 23. Compounding that stat was our lackluster 27 percent in shooting. 

Orange and black fans were kept quiet much of the time as we fell behind 34-20 by halftime. Then we got buried with an 18-4 run by the Knights to open the second half. Ouch. 

Bright collected nine rebounds. Claire Stark contributed ten points for the victor. Macy Grosz came off the bench to score five. Addison Staples pulled down seven boards. 

We're on the threshold of the holidays with our W/L at 3-4. WCA sits at 3-2. 

Our Maddy Grove put in 14 points, plus she got eleven boards. Cate Kehoe supplied ten points. Kaylee Harstad was in position for ten rebounds. 

Santa is on his way, remember!

 

Some reflections

I don't mean to seem dramatic reflecting on the 50-year timespan that spans my writing. It was not continuous, I mean there were two interruptions, the first one planned, the second not so much. First I attended college. I felt I had to get away from Morris. That wasn't necessary, or maybe it was, considering I might not have been able to cut it at our UMM. 

I should not have cared because now, I really wish I hadn't attended college at all. Maybe it just seemed like a necessary rite of passage. My generation was like that. It is a shame we tended to look down on young people who did not seek a post-high school degree. Many in my generation chose "tech school." It seemed fine and logical, because what could be better than to prepare for "work," to do something hands-on? 

Well, the passing years have instilled some wisdom, and I now think that "learning on the job" is to be recommended. Just have reading, writing and arithmetic down pat, and you are ready for so much, almost anything. I'm told that the trucking course in "tech school" just involves "learning how to fill out forms." I'm sure that responsibility could be learned and polished just fine if you just "get behind the wheel," eh? But now we hear of "self-driving trucks." If that takes over, what will happen with all the country music songs that romanticize trucking? 

I spent time at St. Cloud for college, driving often between there and Morris in my 1967 Oldsmobile Toronado. Eventually I returned to the Morris newspaper where my experience was often bumpy, often due to circumstances out of my control. I wish I had never filled out "timesheets." I wince. Would have been better just to resume working piecemeal. But that's water under the bridge. 

My second hiatus from being a scribe for MAHS was when I left the newspaper. Now, that was certainly an unpleasant thing when it happened - the paper had been taken over by bean counters from Fargo. Any joy that was there evaporated. At the end I felt I was answering to the Cyclops character from Homer's "the Odyssey." Life is too short for that. I literally pleaded with Sue Dieter one day, wondering why we couldn't just "enjoy life." I was truly a silly fool for asking such a question. 

I asked Jim Morrison one day: "Did the Forum buy the Morris newspaper just for some tax purpose?" He was unsure but it sounded plausible. Fargo ownership sure didn't work out. I was so utterly burned out, I didn't do any writing at all for over three years. That speaks volumes. 

Finally Del Sarlette convinced me it would be easy to start a blog with Google's "Blogger" system, and he was right. Easy and free. The whole digital world eases your tasks for you, rather the opposite of analog. So I have remained most active on behalf of MACA Tiger sports. 

No longer do I have an obligation to answer to the non-Morris sports constituencies. 

I did always enjoy Chokio-Alberta. I enjoyed covering Hancock for the Hancock paper. Covering all the area teams for the Morris paper was unwieldy and often impractical. 

The Morris school district fell into a deep funk in the 1980s with problems that festered. The morass reached a crescendo in about 1988. What a rough ride that was. Teachers promoting boycotts of businesses? I'll bet that would never be countenanced today, not for one second. 

In spite of the many shoals I encountered, I produced voluminous stuff on Tiger athletics. I really wish I could have continued longer. But the bartender finally issued "last call." Which reminds me, I'll miss getting my complimentary Tom and Jerry at the Met Lounge on Christmas Eve Day. I always thought the tradition was for the working people of ol' Motown, and I am no longer in that category. 

But life goes on. "Add dreams of glory," as author/ballplayer Jim Bouton would add to his thoughts, putting things in perspective. I have joked that "Add Dreams of Glory" would be the title of my biography.

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

MACA boys win battle of powerhouses

The Tigers traveled to Gotham, i.e. the Twin Cities, for significant weekend hoops action. It wasn't in the inner city, which might be termed Gotham, but it was in the suburbs. So the site was Hopkins. I remember when we had a girls basketball coach here who was from Hopkins. Her name comes back to me: "Ellen Hanson." She wasn't here long - one year? - but was successful, as I recall. 

So it was in Hopkins where our boys basketball team played another highly-touted team, Blake. Both teams are among the top five ranked. The Tigers performed superbly and put away Blake by a margin of ten points, 84-74. The game was part of the Tip-off Classic. 

We held down the Bears of Blake after halftime quite well. We took care of the ball: just five turnovers in the game. We're 5-0 now and ranked fourth in AA, a super place to be going into the heart of holidaytime. Blake's loss was its first. 

Blake held a one-point lead at halftime. After that, our precise ball control helped make the difference. Jackson Loge just keeps rolling on, amassing stats and stoking success. The story for Jackson Saturday included 25 points on 8 of 16 shooting. Four of his mates scored in double figures too: Thomas Tiernan (19), Durgin Decker (12), Cole Wente (10) and Brandon Jergenson (10). Tyler Berlinger put in six points and Sam Kleinwolterink two. 

Our team shooting numbers were 28-for-56, right on the nose 50 percent. I can do that arithmetic myself! We put up 3-pointers pretty often. Nine of these shots succeeded in 23 attempts, 39 percent. Tiernan was three of six, Decker two of two and Jergenson two of four. Berlinger and Wente each made one long-ranger. 

Loge went to the freethrow line for eleven shots and made nine. Our team numbers were 19 of 25, 76 percent. The rebounding story: here we see Loge with 13 total rebounds, five offensive. Decker was second-best with six rebounds, two offensive. The team numbers were 32 total, ten offensive. We had 18 assists of which Loge led with six. Tiernan had two steals. I don't see any blocked shots in the stat report.

 

"Cracking an egg"

I am thankful sitting here working on a blog post instead of consuming the news about the Jan. 6 committee. But it is so discouraging to observe how plodding this committee's work has been. It has plodded in the face of dogged maneuvers by those who have something to hide. 

Our legal system is designed so that you can "crack an egg" in these situations. A smaller fish finally decides he has to tell on a bigger fish. The smaller fish does that of course to save his own behind. Self-interest rules, or ought to. Trump appointed lots of judges who probably will not grease the skids for the 1/6 committee. Our systems need to come through anyway. 

Liz Cheney is a key person leading the charge. Another Republican at the fore, this Kinzinger fellow. These two have been incredibly brave. One day of news about all this stuff just leads into the next. And the next. The Russia investigation was like this too. Trump has always been able to pull enough strings to gum up the works. A lot of this is through simple "delay." Our legal system needs some patching up, undoubtedly. 

What many of us are waiting for rather desperately now, is for the "dam to break." Remember the movie "Force 10 From Navarone?" The good guys knew that once the first small cracks appeared, after a blast, complete breakdown was coming. So as I sit here now on this mid-December day, I ponder: can sensible and wise people everywhere feel confident that those first few cracks have appeared within the Trump defenses? Are people willing to go to prison to support Donald Trump? Herman Cain was willing to die for Trump the grifter, the charlatan, the flim-flam man. 

Chris Christie says he definitely got covid because of Mark Meadows failing to advise him that Trump had tested positive. Ol' Fatso had a difficult hospitalization. And after all that, couldn't Christie just turn on that whole mob, to call them out for what they were? Instead he became measured. Or as they say, "nuanced." 

John Dean caused the dam to break with Watergate. The reason is simple: he saw that the Nixon people were planning on making him a scapegoat. See? Cracking an egg. 

Right now, don't you want the whole Jan. 6 thing to just be over, a year after it happened, and for the public to have virtually all the facts? Will Meadows finally have to turn on Trump? How would an arrest of Trump be executed? I'll bet lots of extra security would be required, maybe even a military presence. What a spectacle. 

If Republicans hadn't thrown up so many roadblocks, we might be at resolution now. We could work on more pressing priorities like our defense vs. covid. Inflation? Worried about that? There is one solution. Don't you understand? The Federal Reserve will have to jack up interest rates. Worried about your stock investments? I guarantee you, you'd be more worried about going to the grocery store and seeing a loaf of bread costing $30.

We should all be embarrassed that we elected Michelle Fischbach as our congressperson. She isn't even articulate or attractive.

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

I-94 trip has MACA girls winning by 20

Tigers 61, Melrose 41

The MACA girls began West Central Conference play on a winning note Friday. The Tigers breezed down I-94 to play the Dutchmen of Melrose. We were coming off a Thursday game that had a great first half and a rather disastrous second. That was against Willmar. On Friday the Tigers put it all together for both halves of play. 

We outscored the Dutchmen 28-22 in the first half and 33-19 in the second. So the final score was 61-41 to inaugurate the conference slate. The Tigers breezed back on I-94 feeling most satisfied. 

I do not have individual stats available for the Tigers, sorry. The Melrose scoring was dominated by Brooke Meyer who put in 18 points. Paige Gruber scored eight and Madison Stusse seven. Four Melrose players each scored two points: Brooke Finken, Vanessa Leukam, Ria Nelson and Courtney Revering. Meyer succeeded three times from three-point range, Stusse once. 

Meyer had the team-best eight rebounds and four assists, and she was one of three Dutchmen with a blocked shot. Then we see Gruber with two steals to lead. 

Melrose is having a rough road, no wins to date. 

I have learned to be a little suspicious of won-lost numbers on the Willmar newspaper website. They have us at 2-2 coming out of Friday, but a check of a more reliable source - "Minnesota Scores" - has us at 3-2. The 3-2 numbers sound better. Is there any hope for getting the Willmar newspaper to refer to our athletic programs properly, as "Morris Area Chokio Alberta." That's the name, whether the Willmar scribes like it or not. There is such a thing as accuracy. 

Regarding game stats, I have coach Dale Henrich's email address which means he has mine. That reminds me: I should probably send him a link to my annual original Christmas song from YouTube. My song this year is "Star on the Barn." I will be writing a specific blog post about this soon. 

The "midmnsports" YouTube site has video to watch from Friday. Here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lfXPnxVnM4&t=37s 

 

Boys hockey: Storm 3, Willmar 2

Thursday was hockey night in Benson. So the Storm of MBA skated onto the ice to take on Willmar. Suspense was high as game's end neared. The teams had a 1-1 stalemate in each of the first two periods. The dramatic game-winner for the Storm came with 2:54 left. The hero was Brady DeHaan who got the puck in the net. Brett Hanson assisted. So the game goes into the books as a 3-2 triumph. 

Willmar's loss continued a skid for them. The Cardinals opened the season with a win, then were turned back four times. "Minnesota Scores" has the MBA won-lost mark at 2-2. 

Willmar scored the game's first goal: Ethan Stark scored unassisted at 9:11 of the first period. Hanson of the Storm answered with an unassisted short-handed goal at 12:08. MBA went up 2-1 in the second period as Cole Blume struck with an assist from Tim Blume at 5:18. Willmar answered to create a 2-2 deadlock going into the final period. It was Samuel Beutow scoring Willmar's second period goal, assisted by Stark at 10:17. 

The stage was set for the DeHaan goal at 14:06 of the third. DeHaan worked his game-winning magic with Hanson's assist. Quite the air of triumph among the MBA players, parents and fans at the Benson Civic Center. Our goaltender was Christopher Danielson: 24 saves, 26 shots. The Willmar net was guarded by Mason Thole: 36 saves, 39 shots.

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

Jackson Loge reaches heights with his scoring punch

Email from a friend this a.m.: "Heard on the radio that Jackson Loge passed his old man Kevin last night to become all-time points guy at MAHS." 

Let us not overlook grandfather Craig who is on the all-time points list. I remember covering Kevin as he made his ascent in career points. Kevin passed a high school classmate of mine, Gary Lembcke ('73) to occupy his No. 1 spot. It' still a Loge at No. 1. Now it's Jackson. The young man would probably say the stat milestone is secondary to the team's goals now. 

I personally never got that excited about career stats/milestones. Sometimes I thought they got hyped too much. Maybe they have an arbitrary quality too: a player with a bigger school will have a harder time getting varsity playing time in the younger grades. I still remember well how our basketball program once had a policy of playing only juniors and seniors on varsity. Career stats would be an uphill battle in that system. We're talking early '80s. 

Forget that I am a stick in the mud on this, so congratulations to Jackson Loge. There sure wasn't much suspense in the Tuesday game. We played New London-Spicer which typically has a pretty competitive look. But on Tuesday the Wildcats got pretty much buried by our Tigers. Fans could have the luxury of focusing on Jackson's stat ascent. The Tigers defeated NL-Spicer 76-37. 

Jackson entered this game needing 15 points to reach the summit. He reached the summit with his first field goal of the second half. He rolled through the game with typically fine offensive productivity. His career total is now 1,955 points. I hope someone notified my old peer Mr. Lembcke, who fashioned quite the career coaching girls basketball at Norwood-Young America. I believe he got "famous" for something called a "fish tie." He and I ought to be slowing down now. (For sure I beat him to that.) 

I was in Las Vegas once with Gary, back around 1980. We flew all the way to Vegas and then we ate at Denny's! The late Joel Jallo was with us. We rented a car and drove out to Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. Saw some bighorn sheep in the desert. Did we cash in? Memory is rather blurry. Evidently not. 

The late Sid Hartman realized re. Kevin that he was "homesick" and thus not up for the U of M challenge. Nothing at all wrong with pining for home. What could be more rewarding for Kevin now, than to watch Jackson excel to such high standards? 

Will the Loge name assert itself in another generation? Looks like coach Mark Torgerson won't be around for that. Word is, the gentleman is coaching his last season with the Tigers. 

I have always felt haunted by how Kevin and his mates got toppled (upset) in Kevin's junior year. We were a substantial on-paper favorite for the game at Concordia-Moorhead. The opposing coach concocted a formula to stymie us. That coach was Lynn Peterson of Staples-Motley. I was there. I sure remember the bratwurst at the concession stand at the Concordia fieldhouse. The parents stood behind the Morris players as time wound down - we were going to have to lick our wounds, alas. 

Me, I could handle it with another bratwurst. 

 

Rolling over the Wildcats

On Tuesday we were up on New London-Spicer 36-17 at halftime. We outscored them 40-20 the rest of the way. The orange and black was 31 of 54 in shooting from the field, 57 percent. Loge sure shone at 13-for-18, 31 points. There was one other double figures scorer, Thomas Tiernan who made all but one of his six field goal tries. Tiernan scored 13 points. 

The rest of the scoring list: Durgin Decker (9), Tyler Berlinger (7), Brandon Jergenson (6), Sam Kleinwolterink (6), Ayden Schmidgall (3) and Drew Storck (1). 

Tiernan made three 3-pointers. Decker, Loge and Schmidgall each made one. In this department the Tigers shot 6 of 17, 35 percent. We were 8 of 13 at the freethrow line, 62 percent. Loge was 4 of 5 in freethrows. And in rebounding, Loge was the clear standout with 14. The Tigers collected 37 rebounds with seven being offensive. Jergenson was a whiz with assists, contributing eleven. Three Tigers each had two steals: Berlinger, Cole Wente and Tiernan. Loge had three shot blocks and Storck one. Our turnover total: 10.

The Tigers are 3-0. You sure you want to retire after this season, Torgy? 

None of the Wildcats scored in double figures in this game at NL-Spicer. Grant Paffrath and Aedan Andresen each scored eight. So, there's an "Ayden" for MACA and an "Aedan" for NL-Spicer. 

Andresen and Peyton Coahran each made a '3'. Mason Delzer was the top NL-S rebounder with seven. Andresen and Brycen Christensen each contributed four assists. Christensen had three steals and a blocked shot. 

A humbling night for the Wildcats, a most memorable one for the "roaring" Tigers! Jackson Loge has new dragons to slay now. 

Just a thought: Perhaps Jackson could suggest not so much hoopla when the 2000 milestone comes. He might say it was such a big deal to pass his dad in scoring, that's enough hoopla for now. Then again, I'm not sure the fans can be held down. There is no suspense about 2000. 

I had thought Torgy might eventually move on to his third generation of players.

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

MACA boys down Lac qui Parle 60-37 in opener

The new season began with a flourish by the MACA boys on Thursday. We hope the season proceeds with a minimum of inconveniences that might be brought on by the pandemic. Too bad we are even having to deal with this. 

Don't you all think we could have had a more coordinated, more determined national policy right from the start? And, don't you think the desired approach would have been pushed by the political party that did not have the presidency from 2016-2020? OK now you'll call me a "Trump hater." Such is life when you're having to deal with a cult. And for the fifth or sixth time, let me just say, "cult leaders take their followers down with them." History underscores this. 

I sure couldn't get away with writing like this, were I still with the Morris newspaper. 

So, on to basketball and the upbeat story from Thursday night. A thorough review is on the West Central Tribune website. I don't know if this means the paper took notes from the Morris coach. I know from experience that our boys coach, "Torgy," is devoted to calling the WC Tribune and to media commitments in general. He even posts game stats on Maxpreps. Other MACA coaches have tended to be inconsistent by comparison. 

I have written as fact that MACA is now out of the WC Tribune's coverage territory, as a rule. This would appear to be underscored by the recent All Area Volleyball Team announcement. I looked over that spread and was surprised to see that New London-Spicer had not nominated anyone. That tells me there's a formal nomination process - it's not the newspaper "winging it." 

I have always had mixed feelings about the All Area thing from Willmar. Because, the honor lacks the type of imprimatur we expect for such things. It's the newspaper in charge. Yet the awards suggest some true legitimacy. No mention of MACA in the spread. The spread reported that Minnewaska in addition to New London-Spicer did not nominate anyone. What that tells me, is that Minnewaska is still recognized as being in the WC Trib's territory. 

How important is all this? Frankly, quite important to me as someone who likes to stay abreast of Tiger sports and share through some online writing. At present it looks like I'm in good shape for MACA boys basketball. Looks like Torgy will pull strings. At present I am doubtful about the other teams. 

The Morris newspaper unfortunately has a "teaser" site that cannot be counted on at all. The newspaper is a business, and they must feel their approach serves their business interests. The Morris newspaper site was actually much better when it was under Forum Communications. Yes, I'm sure a lot of people didn't like how a lot of the links were to Willmar newspaper coverage. The Forum also owned the Willmar paper. Still does. 

The Forum has left Morris. Their presence here was a little puzzling. Excellent sources told me the Forum was planning to close the Morris paper like they did with Hancock. I used to knock myself out writing sports for the Hancock Record, over about 15 years. You'd think I'd be a candidate for grand marshal of the Hancock July 4 parade. Just kidding! 

As we speak, the kmrs-kkok website looks like the best place to find timely coverage of Tiger sports. Although, summaries can be disappointingly brief, darn it. Life goes on. And to think people used to think I was lazy! 

 

Tigers 60, LQPV 37

Let's get into the Thursday night win by the MACA boys over Lac qui Parle, game played at LQPV. That high school is out in the middle of nowhere. I remember when it opened. Can you hear coyotes out in the distance? 

No surprise to see Jackson Loge picking up where he left off. Look for him to just keep churning out the stats. Loge took care of business with 19 points scored in the Tigers' 60-37 win over the Eagles. Loge complemented that stat with 17 rebounds, four blocked shots and two steals. Thomas Tiernan was back at it with his long-range shooting. He made four 3-pointers as part of scoring 18 points. 

Three Tigers each put in six points: Durgin Decker, Tyler Berlinger and Cole Wente. Wente made two 3-pointers and Decker one. Brandon Jergenson scored four points and Sam Kleinwolterink one. Decker backed up Loge in rebounding with eight. Jergenson dished out five assists. Decker, Tiernan and Loge each had two steals. 

Lac qui Parle Valley's top scorer was Kaiden Allpress with 15 points. He made one '3'. 

So, will we continue seeing regular MACA boys hoops updates on the West Central Tribune site? Would be nice if answer is yes. It would be nice if the girls program would develop an online channel to give us some reliable game updates, timely. 

The long winter season lies ahead. Can we keep the pandemic concerns off to the side somewhat? I'm not betting on it.

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

Ekren and "Torgy" heading toward sunset

Our beloved Morris Area High, MACA sports hub (B.W. photo)

Email from a friend: "Heard on the radio news that Mark Ekren filed his retirement papers at the school board meeting this week. And, overheard Mark Torgerson in Willie's telling someone that this will be his last basketball season at MAHS." 

Best source for news imaginable: "Overheard someone in Willie's." 

I remember back when I'd scramble to get photo caption info for Morris paper - name of someone that was not practical to acquire at the time of the picture-taking - a good strategy was to just go to Willie's. Look for someone with a promising connection. 

Another resource might have been the restaurant where Riverwood is today. The restaurant had the Kelly's name for a long time, then became Ardelle's. It was the type of main street gathering place that I think this town misses now. There was a community meeting room with a piano. The place had fine food for middle class prices. A fine salad bar. Will we ever see salad bars or buffets again, in the wake of the health scare/turbulence? Will restaurants even survive? Will the higher prices finally discourage a substantial number of customers? 

Seems unthinkable that restaurants as an institution could vanish. But many surprising trends come along, right? Things we could not have easily envisioned. I began full-time at the Morris paper when the Jimmy Carter era "malaise" situation existed. It wasn't something that he necessarily imposed on us, even though his story about the swimming rabbit in the swamp caused head-scratching. "Malaise" denotes a period when doubt reigned about a whole lot of things. Cynicism. 

We were still in a post-Vietnam war funk. Don't underestimate that element. I made rounds for the Morris paper and heard talk about how the small schools near Morris surely were headed for demise. "Oh my, they won't be going on much longer": a typical remark. You might say it was a glass-half-empty attitude. People got bored easily. 

So I could not have envisioned at all, our current times where the Hancock school literally has to turn students away! And, where money is being plowed into facilities there including sports facilities, e.g. a softball field where I've read that fans can sit on top of the dugouts. Boy, that's enterprising. Looks like the people in Owl country are more trailblazing than in Morris. We have a vaunted new softball complex that could use an innovation or two, or five or seven, for serving fans better. 

Chokio still offers a grades K-12 education. No more Chokio-Alberta sports - a sob uttered here - but certainly these little schools didn't just up and die. Well, Cyrus did. Cyrus had a varsity basketball program which as late as the '80s could compete with Morris. I know that seems like "news of the weird." Does to me, anyway. 

But my mind was on a quite different wavelength from many Morris community leaders and pacesetters. I assessed things for how they appeared really to be, not based on whether I'd find agreement within a certain social clique. I deserve no medals for that, except maybe one for stupidity. Remember the slogan for Goldwater? "In your heart, you know he is right." And Goldwater got clobbered, eviscerated in the election. 

 

A case study

I think back to when our beloved boys basketball coach, "Torgy," got the head basketball job. Seemed as plain as the nose on one's face, that he and friends acted as if he was simply entitled to it, like the job could not realistically be considered "open." I most certainly thought it was open. And while the late Dennis Rettke confided in me that he actually preferred someone else - this was after the fact - who knows in these matters who is really telling the truth? 

My supervisor when I began at the Sun Tribune advised early-on: "Brian, people will lie to you." He looked me right in the eye. Maybe Mr. Rettke knew my biases and was simply catering to me. Biases? When it comes to the "toy department" of sports, doesn't everyone have biases? Isn't that baked into the cake? It's merely entertainment. It's fun, Kemosabe. But in Morris in the 1980s, it was a gravely serious matter where you could court personal or professional hardship if you expressed views not in line with certain other people. 

So yours truly grated on certain people. When all that reached a head, I remember the very wise Mick Rose stopping in one day. I had such a convenient office for people stopping by, chatting. Nothing like the Pacific Avenue location of the newspaper now - "the boonies," to use Jason Kirwin's term. And Mr. Rose - how we bemoan his health issues of today - gave insights into how yours truly was perceived. He summed up my problems thusly: there was a "professional class" in Morris - doctors, lawyers etc. - that had come to resent me, had me in their crosshairs. 

 

It takes all kinds

No wonder it was a dentist, my own personal dentist in fact, who dropped off a letter to the editor that the professional class probably felt would spell my doom. But people read it and figured it was just a typical obsessed sports parent. A tantrum. (He wasn't my family's dentist any more.) 

Mick Rose said that when you're a sports parent, your oldest kid to go through the system gets you all excited, out of proportion. And then when the younger ones come along, you calm down. The dentist didn't just have things out of proportion, he seemed rather out of orbit. I could be less charitable in words chosen. 

So, according to Rose, the doctors and lawyers of the world and other such brethren had it in for me. Why? Well, they had reached consensus opinion on certain things that were contrary to moi in some cases. They resented like hell that I had the influential position of newspaper writer. Those were days when newspaper writers felt their oats because of Watergate, along with the role they/we played in getting U.S. servicemen home from Vietnam. So we thumped our chest a bit. 

Why did this bother the stuffed shirts of the legal/medical world? Well. . . Maybe it's because someone like me could come to occupy my position without any special degrees/"stud papers." So, I wouldn't be in hock forever because of college loans to get through all those rarefied post-high school studies. And yet I could put myself forward as an erudite person, fully capable of expressing myself as well as any lawyer! (I can hear the teeth gnashing.)

And if I really was stupid as alleged by some, why did such a broad swath of the community come to act like they feared me? I mean, just because I considered the boys basketball position to be "open" after Bob Mulder's exit? It was an ignoble exit but let's not get into that. 

Sources told me that "Torgy" was never a slam-dunk for the spot even though a certain clique tried blessing it as such. They all had the right to lobby as they chose, naturally, and also to lobby hard for a certain girls basketball coach in the late '80s who very sadly wasn't cutting it. That individual had been a UMM superstar. I'm sure Fred Switzer thought he looked real good for guiding this person onto our coaching staff. What could look better? New London-Spicer meanwhile got Mike Dreier established. I would say the latter appointment was at least 100 percent better than what we did. 

Our community of Morris seems to fumble at so many things. Why? And why do we just seem to accept it? Maybe because most of our community leaders, including the doctor/lawyer types, live for going to their "lake place" in the warm weather months. I think the Beatles had a song with the line "life goes on." And so life goes on in our Motown. 

I'm writing this post on "Black Friday." Sounds like a commemoration of an awful massacre somewhere.

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

Prices jump upward as Thanksgiving arrives

Dateline: Day before Thanksgiving, 2021. Much is being made of the increased cost of the Thanksgiving meal, as families gather. Is there any reason we all cannot treat tomorrow (Thursday) like any other day? Reduce the stress and relax. You can touch base with your family members on your own terms, whenever convenient. The electronic communications of today should actually make this a snap. 

We have come to take for granted the communications revolution. YouTube by itself is transformative. Think of what it would be like to go back to the days before "screens." I lived a substantial portion of my life that way. Sometimes people like me get confronted: "How could you do it? How did you get by?" 

Looking back, it did not seem as rough as you might think. We definitely needed more patience. There were more hoops to jump through, like going to the bank and standing in line at a teller window. ATMs puzzled a lot of us at the start. I remember some politicians expressing concern about people having to "pay to get their own money." People had to be reminded that banks are profit-making businesses. Any pushback against the ATMs seemed to evaporate. We were paying for convenience and in the end, we didn't mind. 

Further note: I have yet to use an ATM. Any day now, will change. An old high school friend says he'll advise me, next time he comes to town. He stays up on all the new stuff while I am a laggard. 

 

Ingrained in us

Don't we sort of get pushed into accepting the ritual of Thanksgiving without exercising our own critical thinking? And does this not pertain to Christmas too? Does a part of you feel disrupted by getting drawn into the traditions? We commemorate the Pilgrims dining with Indians. This was not a prelude to the kind of relationship that would develop between these groups. 

Europeans penetrated the North American continent in many ways before the Pilgrims. The Pilgrim story became a charming way to share our nation's background with our kids. The whole Christmas thing is based on religion. This is becoming dicey because of the melding of Christianity and politics. The chant of "let's go Brandon" has begun entering our churches, according to news reports. I suspect pastors might be inspired to speak on the Rittenhouse verdict, in a celebratory way. 

At some point, might we push flashpoint topics like this aside and just focus on Jesus and the Gospel? Could any of you really see Jesus celebrating right wing politics in America? Yet so many of our churches push down that path. And if you choose not to attend such a church, you might get a hard time from friends. I realize that our world around Morris MN is much more red state-attuned than the average. Not sure why this has to be. 

We have so many older residents who benefit from Social Security and Medicare, programs that the political right associates with "socialism." They even come at us with the word "communism" now. That's an old trick that got shot down for a while - now it's coming back. Donald Trump talks about the "communist Democrats." He continues to speak with a potty mouth so often. It does not deter his local fans who flock to churches where you might hear "let's go Brandon." 

To review, the phrase means "fuck Joe Biden." Not exactly sterling eloquence. 

Jeb Bush has spoken up for "abolishing" Medicare. How would you feel about that? Would all the local red staters say "aye?" 

The right wing comes down on Joe Biden for any little reason. Today's little snippet: brickbats for Biden's decision to continue a family tradition of joining relatives in Nantucket. The righties thought Barack Obama was spending too much time playing golf? How did Trump do on that score? 

 

The real warning light

I will repeat: All these little issues that red staters seize upon will in the end seem insignificant. The rising cost of things will become paramount. There is literally only one cure: allowing interest rates to rise. Oh but woe is us: rising interest rates could/would kill the stock market. We have had years of accommodation for the stock market. The powers-that-be simply cannot allow stocks to slide in a substantial way. 

Is prosperity this easy to script? Of course it isn't. A healthy stock market goes up and down. People learn how to make money when it goes down. At least, that's the way it used to be. And then the era dawned for all the common folk - the masses - getting coaxed into stocks as in "401Ks." 

And now with interest rates at basically zero, the chimera of inflation raises its ugly head. 

What on earth is going to happen? I mean, we see news reports of all the "food insecure" people, the stretched food shelves etc. A friend of mine who used to teach in the Lad qui Parle school told me "there's lots of poverty" there. So whither all those folks with prices taking a new jump upward? I mean, really. 

  

The micro picture

Are you all concerned that we have a big grocery store in Morris that has pretty close to a monopoly? Realistically there is only one full-service grocery store: Willie's. The price inflation makes me wonder: would we be better off with two viable grocery stores engaging in a certain level of competition? 

I remember a book I read by the libertarian John Stossel: he talked about the myth of how people in the business world admire competition. Competition is a bulwark of our free market system, right? In reality, Stossel wrote - and I think I can remember his exact words - "people in business hate competition and they try to shut it down wherever they can." I checked out the book from our public library. 

Morris certainly had competition with grocery stores once. And it wasn't just two stores. The main ones were Willie's when it was Red Owl, and Super Valu which had the Juergensen name. Plus there was a Holiday grocery store. There is a belief that Mitch's Food Pride got wiped out by the city's Atlantic Avenue project. Also, there's the very strong legend that Coborn's left town because it wanted to build new and also wanted a liquor license. The answer was "no" on the liquor license and the rest is history. Which I suppose makes Paul Martin happy. 

Boy, I don't know. A fresh new Coborn's store would be a real plus. They were open 24 hours. 

 

What are banks up to?

This is bizarre: I remember going to the Morris banks back around 1980 and finding interest rates that were in orbit compared to what we see now. What we see now is basically zero. So even though there was inflation coming out of the 1970s, one could keep pace with your savings. Are banks even doing a lot of loan business now? If not, what is their raison d'etre? They occupy a lot of real estate on Atlantic Avenue. Riverwood displaced a very popular old restaurant. That is fading in our collective memory. 

Will food get so expensive, restaurants will cease to exist? You have to pay a cook and a waitress when you dine out, plus the restaurant has an assortment of other overhead costs. Will prices rise to where the customer base will erode? Erode to where the businesses cannot sustain themselves? 

"Ours is not to reason why," Tennyson wrote. (I have previously written "wonder" instead of "reason," but seems to mean the same.) 

If we wonder why, re. the inflation and other woes, we might conclude that "Brandon" is our best hope for recovering. 

Our Christian churches are so charming now, n'est-ce pas? "Let's go Brandon," i.e. "Fuck Joe Biden." Let us put this in a time capsule. Maybe just skip celebrating Christmas.

 

Addendum: What would Jesus say about the new Penn State football coach getting a contract for $85 million? This individual should be able to handle inflation.

 

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

"Hard rolls" at Willie's bakery: 45 cents to 75 cents!

Willie's Super Valu, Morris (B.W. photo)

Is inflation flashing a red light for you yet? The word has more than crept into the headlines. Is there a degree of "media frenzy" here? I mean, there's at least a nugget of truth with the inflation fears now. Does the media latch onto this and sort of sensationalize? 

I'm admitting my age when I share how I remember the inflation of the 1970s. The media conjures that up quite a bit. As a "veteran" of those times, let me tell you that inflation did flash a red light. It became a hot potato political issue, to where the point was reached that someone in an influential position had to reach into his bag of tricks. That "someone" was Paul Volcker. He took the reins at the Federal Reserve. 

"The Fed" has gotten so high-profile in the recent past because it has been indefatigable in putting up guard rails for the stock market. The stock market has seemed like Emerald City with its allure/magic. People have been guided into those magical "401Ks" everywhere, yes with ubiquity. And so the Fed guards the "green arrows" of the stock market in a dogged way. 

The financial news media provides support as if its on-air people are actually wearing cheerleading costumes and doing high-fives. Lordy, "business news" ought to be dull. It was definitely dull in my growing-up and young adult years. The network evening news would have some token boring person do the business update, pretty obligatory. Ah, Irving R. Levine of NBC News. He did fine with his dry assignment. I can at least remember his name. 

Then we plunged into the age of Ron Insana, Joe Kernen et al. Donald Trump sought to go on TV with the latter. Nothing made Trump thump his chest so much as to report the stock market going up. But how legitimate was this phenomenon? And at present we must wonder: has it been rather an illusion, the prosperity I mean, because interest rates have been kept abnormally low for so long? Seems quaint to remember "QE" as this little obligation for applying emergency first aid after the "financial crisis" of 2008. 

"Financial crisis": sounds rather like an act of God. It was totally not an act of God. It was of the making of us flawed mortal folks.

 

Jerome Powell of the Fed

Going to the well

Once the Fed saw it was like a guardian of the economy, feeling its oats as it were, it steadily got more full of itself. It felt ever more empowered. And can you blame those people? Our political leadership wanted one "fix" after another from the Fed. 

Interest rates exist for a reason. For one thing, it makes politicians more responsible with their spending decisions, n'est-ce pas? You may pause to laugh here. 

Actually we may not be in a position to laugh much longer. I mean, some telltale signs are definitely out there. 

Reality check: People have not stopped dining out. I had to circle the DeToy's parking lot more than once at about 10 a.m. today (Saturday), seeking a parking spot. 

I think dining out is therapeutic for people who grew weary with the pandemic-caused restrictions/isolation. I know that's a motivating factor for me. Now, my favorite breakfast at Caribou Coffee (at Willie's) has not gone up in price since the hair-pulling with inflation started. Perhaps that breakfast was over-priced to begin with? Oh, I need to be more positive. You know what? People don't mind paying a hefty price if a meal is really satisfying. 

DeToy's is holding its own. For now. If any more price hikes become necessary there, it will be a test. I strongly hope they pass the test. One cannot predict the future. In fact, it is an absolute truism that you cannot predict how interest rates will behave. But, I think this particular truism applies more in normal times. In normal times we expect a certain ebb and flow with the economy. 

 

Is there a home base?

For a while after QE started, we heard how interest rates would "normalize." But then all the bull market cheerleaders, all those folks who try to stuff stocks down your throat - "no-load mutual funds" - began to act like they were offended by the term: "normalize interest rates." Hey, interest rates can be kept at zero forever because, well, we're really in Emerald City! So "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain." That be the Fed chair, and under current circumstances it seems not to matter who that is. 

And you know what really gives me a belly laugh? When the Fed puts out a "statement" and then all the analysts, gathering like moths to a light, analyze it word by word. There is a term called "Fedspeak." So it's as if the Federal Reserve people speak in a foreign or coded language. That's really not exaggeration. 

But what really makes me laugh now, is how each literal word of a Fed official's statement gets the analysts scrambling. The analysts are perhaps vain in this venture, seeking to impress us? Jim Morrison in his wisdom told me those people "want you to buy their newsletters." I suppose it's online subscriptions now.

But what this all shows, is that the economy is too dependent on the Federal Reserve, as if this entity is going to create real wealth. Real wealth comes when we produce things. If we aren't producing, we should be whistling past the graveyard. 

So, are we on the verge of seeing real unmistakable inflation, to get the "red flag" of a warning? Well, let me just report: this past week I went to our beloved Willie's Super Valu in Morris to get a favorite snack item: a "hard roll" from the bakery. Typically I get two. Now I get one. I was in the habit for a long time of paying 45 cents per roll. If I submitted a $5 bill, I could get four one-dollar bills in change, which I then used to get my lunch at the former senior center - it's where the Meals on Wheels kitchen is now. 

 

Canary in coal mine?

This past week, I found that the price of a hard roll had gone up to 75 cents. To make clear, a hike of 30 cents: 45 to 75 cents. 

I mentioned this in a nice way to a checkout clerk and she, equally nice, pointed out that price hikes were really going on throughout the place. In other words, get ready. You won't need a store clerk advising you of this - a bell will go off for you at some point. 

We heard lots of bells in the 1970s, that's for sure. Oh and we heard disco music. We watched "The Gong Show" on TV and "Smokey and the Bandit" movies. Euell Gibbons was a celebrity and we heard about the decadent "Studio 54" in New York City. And more importantly we dealt with losing a war. We lost the Vietnam War and had to witness the incredible "fall of Saigon" on the evening news. 

My God, you think the departure from Afghanistan was awkward or incompetent? It was NOTHING compared to our exit from Vietnam. 

Euell Gibbons, RIP

That war colored my whole growing-up years. It was fought because of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Or, was it fought because of the military industrial complex? The latter question is rhetorical. 

Well, good luck with dealing with the rapidly increasing prices. At some point you may not be so infatuated about your 401K. You may not want to listen to all those stock market hucksters. They have had a heyday, a spree, with their selling message for so long. Their luck is going to run out. 

Good luck to you all in dealing with "shrinkflation" too. Just don't become like Euell Gibbons. (You can look that up.)

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