AP writer stirs pot with article re. Benson, Anfinsons

(image from facebook)

My eyes popped out as I scrolled down the headlines of "Yahoo News" yesterday. There's a heading about division in a small town somewhere, with a little photo of main street where I see "Benson." And I thought, "is this about Benson Minnesota?" Might it just be a business owned by someone named Benson? 

My goodness, the focus was indeed on Benson, located just down the highway from our Morris. Pass by Hancock and keep going. Slow down for Clontarf. I have not been to Benson in some time, as I have slowed my pace of life with age. Is there still that nice little welcoming  Dairy Queen on the outskirts? I enjoyed that place many times. 

Oh, and "Ambush Park." Brings back memories immediately, of when I wrote sports for the now-defunct Hancock Record newspaper. One of the Legion baseball coaches with whom I worked was park supervisor. I remember it well because he was on the cutting edge with his "modem." That's how I learned the word. I often sought info over the phone from him. This was in the days when we still expected people to "pick up" their phone - you might forget there was a time when we assumed this. 

Anyway, I got a busy signal very often when trying to reach this individual, last name of Mills, and he'd explain to me "I had my modem on." I felt inconvenienced sometimes. But a sea change was coming along, where people would rely on answering systems and caller ID. 

I have a tiny niche in Benson history: I won the Benson Kid Day 10K race in the 1985 summer. "And they've been talking about it ever since," a friend joked with me. Seriously I considered that a special thing. 

Nice town to visit, Benson. With a Burger King. 

Benson is in focus as I write this, probably not for a reason that is appreciated there. Remember the "Andy of Mayberry" episode where the Hollywood filmmakers came to town? Why am I reminded of that? Well, a big-time media writer, from the Associated Press no less, decided to single out Benson as a place to study cultural schisms in America. I shake my head: this article is exactly what I would expect of such an endeavor. It paints a picture of Benson that makes it look a lot like Mayberry, charming perhaps. But the people can come across rather like ignorant hayseeds too. 

The problem is one of stereotyping. The media and entertainment industries always present small town America like this. It "sells," I guess. I remember when Lee Grant did her little documentary on the Willmar bank employees "union" thing. Remember that? I watched the documentary at MAHS, then wrote about it for the Morris newspaper. I took some liberties in my writing, as critics of mine would say I was wont to do, and sort of criticized Grant for presenting Willmar "in a way conforming to the stereotype of small-town America." 

Was really an incontrovertible conclusion. Then again, I usually considered my conclusions to be incontrovertible. Ms. Grant or someone she assigned went into the grocery store in man-on-the-street fashion. There, of course, you're bound to find people who are not optimally informed on stuff, probably because they have a lot going on in their lives. You could walk into a grocery store in any major city and get the same kind of sampling. 

In a small town, though, the media expects to find the Mayberry type of template. They won't use the word "ignoramus" but that's what they clearly suggest. So the AP writer really lived up to my expectations with the current piece about Benson MN. There is conflict. Well, there is conflict everywhere. Where will you find more conflict than in Minneapolis MN? But out here the conflict can be seen through the lens of condescension, n'est-ce pas? 

That's what we have with the AP article. It is of high interest to those of us in Morris. It focuses on the Anfinson newspaper family. That's who owns and operates our former Morris Sun and Tribune. The Anfinsons rescued us from Forum Communications which according to very good sources of mine, was going to close the paper, just like they closed the Hancock paper. 

Reed and Shelly Anfinson

Reed and Shelly Anfinson are the players here. Shelly reached out to yours truly once and God bless her for that. You can put aside any rumors that I am blackballed. I left the paper with a feeling of PTSD after what I'd experienced the last 3-4 months. So very strange. 

Forum Communications is famous, I assure you, for turning thumbs-down on certain people. A former manager of Quinco Press once told me "they make it so you don't want to be there anymore." They sure aren't very graceful. 

Sue Dieter ended up on the sinking ship herself. She's now at UMM doing what she always does, acting important and being a curt know-it-all. I think she needs to lose weight. 

 

Breaking down the piece

I shared my analysis of the AP thing with two friends yesterday. Maybe you can be edified some by reading these. First, an email I shared with a fellow member of the journalism fraternity. He's in Bonanza Valley.

 

Hi (name withheld) - Kind of a bombshell today: an Associated Press article focusing on the Anfinsons and Benson. I saw it because Yahoo News re-ran it.

I read the whole article several hours ago. I'm not going to re-read it, so I'm just going to share my general sense of it here: I have seen this kind of article before, where a small-town editor is shown in a real favorable light because, well, who's doing the article? A reporter from the Associated Press, a person with the "same stripes" as it were. How would you expect it to be written? It certainly is not going to show in a sympathetic light all the "rubes" that surround the heroic Anfinson as he plies his craft.

My interpretation here is a little hyperbole but I hope you get my drift.

I do not think this article serves the interests of the Anfinsons at all. How did the AP get connected to Benson for this article? There has to be a reason of course. I think Anfinson should have just politely declined.

Now, if Reed were to be asked about the article now, I think he would say: it exaggerated the extent of conflict in the community. Well, why would the AP writer do that? Because "conflict sells" in the media.

And, I think it was a huge mistake for Reed to be quoted at the end saying he knows where his firearm is (if it comes to that). Hoo boy, leave that language alone. Reed should strive for the maximum comfort between himself and the community who are after all his customers.

Morris was not mentioned by name. It was alluded to tangentially in connection to Shelly. So, Reed and Shelly have a "politically mixed marriage?" Seriously, I have never understood those. I didn't realize both were married previously, and that they had only been married 20 years. I'm guessing Shelly will not be pleased with article.

Article should have mentioned that Benson High School still has a Native American nickname, "Braves."

All in all, I think people around Benson will be irate at the stereotype suggested by the article, of Benson being basically a town of rubes, who should maybe be analyzed as if in a science study. The AP writer doesn't care because he doesn't live in the community, he escapes back to wherever he lives, probably some large East Coast city. I remember when the big-time writers focused on Morris for a heartbeat when the "goalpost incident" happened. They dust themselves off when it's all over and then they never think about Morris again. Now it's ditto with Benson. Curious little place full of ignoramuses I guess. - BW

 

Here's an email I sent to a fellow Morris resident who happens to be an attorney, and is a committed advocate of Morris and UMM. 

Hello to (name withheld) - I was very surprised to see an AP article that got picked up by Yahoo News, on the Anfinsons and Benson. Thrust of article is about political divide in rural U.S., and Reed comes off as the big liberal who bothers people. If I were Reed, I would not have cooperated for this article. This cannot help his business. The reporter writes the article with a slant toward Reed being the smart one. I wonder how the AP ended up picking Benson, was there a "tip" involved, or what? There's always a story behind these things, as you might suspect. 

I think the story suggests that Benson is filled with lots of rubes, and Reed has to deal with it. I suggest you read it yourself, it's a long article. Reed even says he knows where he can get a firearm if he needs one. That's serious. Article says Shelly is involved with newspaper business in another town but does not mention Morris. I didn't know Reed and Shelly were both previously married, and that they got married just 20 years ago. - BW

 

I wish Reed and Shelly good luck. I am on the scrap heap when it comes to corporate journalism. I can still write online, and on a good day I might even be able to out-pace the corporate folks. 

My Bonanza Valley friend said the AP article seemed like a "hit piece" on Reed. 

Why would the AP writer do that? Well, big-time writers like sensationalism, to create caricatures of people in order to pit them against each other. Avoid boring. As Chuck Todd of MSNBC has said: "The media don't go out to the airport to cover all the successful takeoffs and landings."

The article made Reed look smart but also disruptive, maybe a little quirky.

Addendum: Reed may write a lot about how we need the press to be a watchdog. But, I don't see his property here in Morris behaving like that at all. I think it can be a total lapdog for special interests. It strives for a "smiley face" tone all the time. This is practical to an extent - you don't want advertisers to get nervous. But come on, Reed preaches about how the press can and should be tough. I would indict the local radio station on the same grounds. This is one small town stereotype that is probably on the money.

Could Benson High School maybe knock it off with the "Braves" nickname? We're in the year 2022.

 

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

A bleak winter Saturday but stuff was happening!

Prep hoops on Saturday? Why not? Helps address the boredom and exasperation we feel with our weather circumstances. Uffda. Cold and wind. Bleak forecasts. What would we do without high school sports? So on Saturday our MACA girls basketball Tigers played Litchfield. 

It is Sunday morning as I prepare this blog post and I only find two sentences of coverage from local commercial media. Give the Morris radio station credit: two sentences is something. I don't mean that sarcastically. Someone has to "work during the weekend." We have all changed our ideas about "work time" versus "time off" and what the "weekend" means. Is it antiquated to say "TGIF?" 

Quaint to remember the early digital times, when there was a dispute over whether "employees" should be required to check for work-related emails in "time off." As time passed, we began to realize that simply checking emails was not hard labor. Secondly, if someone has a work-related reason to contact me, I'd rather read the email sooner rather than later. 

I gather that people in academics can check their "work" email from anywhere, in the same way I can check Yahoo email from anywhere. So if I want to email Sharon Martin, I can do so anytime and expect a response anytime! It sure will be a sign of spring when Sharon and her faithful dog "Goldy" get out on the biking/walking trail again. Sigh. Seems such a distant image now, out of reach. But the seasons do change. I think. 

The MACA Tigers under Dale Henrich played a competitive game on Saturday but fell to the Litchfield Dragons at Litch, 52-45. I heard in church this morning that Shannon Dougherty of the Tigers experienced an injury. Very sad news. Not sure if it was in the Saturday game or the previous one. Maddy Grove scored 14 points for the orange and black on Saturday. Plus she grabbed five rebounds. Sydney Dietz put in 13 points and snared six boards. 

We're now 5-10 while Litchfield is 12-6.

 

Headline writing

A newspaper writer has to show some caution with headlines. When a team loses very badly, resist the urge to become "sadistic" with word choice! The Star Tribune observed "Minnesota women fall apart" in its headline following the hoops game versus Iowa. The full heading: "Minnesota women fall apart, lose to Iowa by 56 in program's second worst defeat ever." 

"Fall apart" is figurative of course! How could the U fail to show up, in effect, for this Big 10 game? It does not show coach Lindsay Whalen in a very good light. Williams Arena is known to lift the Gophers' chances in any given contest. How much worse would this game have been, had it been played in Iowa? "Whoa Nellie," as the late Keith Jackson would say. 

It's really not funny of course. Whalen's Gophers were outscored 58-15 in the second half. Iowa poured in 37 points in the third quarter. The Gophers (or "rodents" as Patrick Reusse has called them) made one of 15 shots in the fourth quarter! Couldn't you or I coach for a better result than that? Just set a screen for your best 3-point shooter and let 'er rip. Of course this is mere fantasy. 

It's a shame because Whalen is such a basketball legend in Minnesota. Oh, the final score: Iowa 105, Minnesota 49.

 

Right here in Morris

Saturday had some features to offset the dismal weather, one being the UMM women's basketball game versus Martin Luther. I heard at church this morning it was free admission! The reason? The explanation that came my way was shortage of labor. Yes, admission was supposed to be charged and was not, so it looks like UMM missed out on some revenue? Is UMM's top administration aware that this happened? 

I heard there was a good crowd. The crowd saw the Cougars beat Martin Luther 68-60. Our Cougars forced 28 turnovers. The Cougars had five score in double figures: Haley Wollschlager (16 points), Lexus Eagle Chasing  (15), Malory Anderson (13), Jadyn Sondral (12) and Jay Kwateh (10). 

Tarig Brownotter put in two points. The revenue issue sticks in my craw a little because of what I'm learning in connection to money management in the music department. I guess that's a priority for me. 

Shall it just be assumed that the UMM Jazz Festival cannot be held any more? No! No such assumption. But the UMM administration appears not to be propping up the music discipline as well as it might. An email from someone close to the situation:

 

Of course, the cancellation of this year’s jazz fest is due to the instability of the director position. When it looked like Dusty Retzlaff was going to move in and take that job, he had started working on the Fest from his home in North Carolina. But, when UMM dropped the ball and changed the job specs on him enough to cause him to back off, then the fest planning went out the window as well. The director this semester is the fellow that comes down from NDSU to teach trumpet lessons, and is just basically a “long term sub.”If the school hires a full-time person for that job, then it’s possible the Fest would return. But by then, with no Fest for 3 years (at least), it’ll be hard to resuscitate. It will be difficult for the school to hire any music department positions in the future, at least concert band and jazz directors, as they have removed the “tenure track” status from those positions. Now no one will apply for those positions with any permanence in mind, unless they want the words “University of Minnesota” on their résumé as a stepping stone (see John Stanley Ross).

 

I shared this with someone who like me is a UMM advocate and he chimed in: "Too bad about the JazzFest. Just another example of a lack of big picture focus by the admin."

  

The firemen's steak fry

Maybe I made the mistake of getting to the fire hall too early for the steak fry, which required $20 for admission. It's an outrageous price for a public supper unless you consider it a donation. Maybe in another ten years, $20 will not be an outrageous price. But who wants to think about that? Inflation is not really dawning on people, yet. Maybe you're more concerned about the green M&Ms. Maybe our leaders in the nation's capital would prefer you think about the M&Ms. 

The Morris Firemen's steak fry was held Saturday beginning at 4 p.m. and I arrived early, about 4:15. I shared about the experience in an email to a friend: 

Cost of firemen's dinner was way too much but I went anyway, sort of to just get out of the house, cabin fever or whatever.

So. . .

Steak was perfect, large and tasty. Kudos on that.

Rest of the meal was decent too but with one big exception: the baked potato. It was very hard, almost inedible. I forced down half of it with sour cream, then left the rest. I never leave food behind as a rule. I saw Monroe Estenson on my way out and he said his potato was hard too. Undercooked? It was not hot or even warm.

Very sad. I would have felt satisfied otherwise. Now, I will not go to any other comparable public suppers this spring. When you're serving a supper and charge $20, you really have to bat a thousand.

Also, no spoons available, and cups of pudding was a desert choice. So I asked, and the guy came back a couple minutes later with a spoon. The woman sitting across from the Voorhees was using a fork to eat her pudding.

Also, we got one small napkin when we entered, not near enough with this kind of meal.

So. . . Young people today just don't know how to do stuff!

If CATTLEMEN had served this meal, would have been more reliable??

It felt unusual being in this type of social setting, as it had been AGES. It felt good in that way. Brought back memories of the pancake breakfast for Prairie Pioneer Days, Rob Eul preparing my pancakes, and it was great!

 

A knowledgable friend informed me at church coffee that when the Cattlemen put on their supper, it is not a fundraiser.

 

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

Dominant form by MAHACA vs. BOLD at Olivia

The Tigers of MAHACA came on strong on the wrestling mat vs. BOLD. The outcome was a 69-12 win over the Warriors on Tuesday. The action was part of the BOLD-hosted triangular. 

Tyce Anderson manned the 106-pound spot and he won by fall over Tanner Kantz in 1:15. Grayson Gibson was our 113-pounder and he had his arm raised via forfeit. Jeremiah Schmidgall was assigned the 120 position and he lost by fall to Brady Kiecker in 1:16. 

Dallas Walton at 126 pinned Trey Zamarron in :53. Our 132-pounder was Ethan Lebrija and this Tiger pinned Gavin Hammerschmidt in 1:22. Caden Rose was a forfeit winner at 138. David Rose was assigned the work at 145 and this Tiger decisioned Austin Kiecker 5-4. 

At 152 pounds, Hunter Massner won by fall in :57 over Neil Young. At 160, Dain Schroeder won by fall in 1:49 over Elijah Swenson. Our Connor Olson lost by fall in 4:44 to Connor Plumley. Asher Malek was unchallenged at 182. Forfeit wins were also awarded to Hunter Gibson at 195 and Brock Marty at 220. Levi Kellenberger won by fall in 4:52 over Xavier Basaldua in the battle of the big guys at 285. 

Action was at Olivia.

The "Minnesota Scores" website identifies our team as "Morris Area Tigers." And to that I say "amen and hallelujah!"

 

Girls hockey: Storm 2, Prairie Centre 2

Overtime failed to produce a winner in the girls hockey contest Tuesday at Sauk Centre. The Storm scored two goals and so did the host Prairie Centre squad. MBA surged to get the score tied in period No. 3. This was with goals by Taryn Bent and Karlie Burns. But we couldn't quite get over the top, and the final horn sounded with the 2-2 deadlock. 

Prairie Centre has the nickname "North Stars" just like the old Minnesota pro team that played at the Met Center, Bloomington. 

Our goalie was Ava Breuer who had 17 saves. 

Prairie Centre had the only first period goal. This was by Natasha Ledwig, assisted by Faith Zigan at 15:57. The second period was scoreless as Breuer and her goalie rival Kennedy Lemke kept the door shut. Bent got MBA on the scoreboard at 4:03 of the third. Her goal was assisted by Kortney Sanasack. 

The North Stars struck with a Maddy Koltes goal, assists from Kyra Swanson and Zigan. Burns got the score tied with an MBA goal at 15:57, assist from Bent. 

Lemke's save total was 44.

 

Boys hockey: Litchfield-DC 7, Storm 2

The weather was howling Tuesday night - a frigid temperature too - but the skaters of MBA and Litchfield-Dassel-Cokato were able to vie in hockey action here. It was not a winning night for our Storm. It was the Dragons of Litchfield-DC gaining the win in the 7-2 final. 

MBA was left with a W/L of 6-8-1. The Litch numbers: 9-5-1. 

Just one goal was scored in the first period, then the pace of scoring picked up. Unfortunately for MBA this was to their disadvantage. Litch scored three goals each in the second and third periods. Litch's Daniel Estrada got the first period goal at 8:36, short-handed. Grant Grochow assisted. 

Litch went up 2-0 at :29 of the second period as Zachary Zwilling scored unassisted. Things got worse before they got better for the host Storm, as Connor Taber scored at 5:57 with assists from Jaxon Gustafson and Gavin Hanson. Then at the 10:57 mark, MBA's Tim Blume scored unassisted. But LDC kept going with an Estrada goal at 15:32, assist from Grant Haataja. 

Bring on the third period! LDC's Wyatt Larson scored at 3:15, assists from Zwilling and Gavyn Lund. LDC kept pulling away with a Zwilling goal, with assists from Ryan Schutz and Lund. MBA's Ian Rajewsky scored with a Brady Peterson assist. One more goal was left to be scored on this night, and it was by LDC's Lund, unassisted. 

An entertaining night of hockey, even if a losing one for the Storm at their Lee Center. Christopher Danielson was our goalie and he had 30 saves in 37 attempts. His goalie foe was Travis Halonen: eleven saves, 13 attempts.

 

Boys basketball: Tigers 56, Sauk Centre 42

The teams took turns getting hot Tuesday night at Tiger Center. Fans gathered on another night when the weather might be best described by "Yukon Cornelius" of the "Rudolph" story: "It's not fit for man or beast." Have you all ever seen such a protracted combination of extreme cold with wind? How many of our residents might think of moving south permanently? 

The fans who gathered at Tiger Center saw a game with a quite back-and-forth complexion. The orange and black got hot to close out the first half: a 10-0 run. This pushed us to a 30-12 lead. But this would not be a prelude to the rest of the game. Because, Sauk Centre seized the momentum to open the second half. The Streeters came at us with an 11-2 run. They got to within seven points of the Tigers. 

MACA fans cheered as their team decisively seized the momentum after that. Indeed, we went on a huge 17-2 run. How can anyone explain the pendulum swinging like this? We won the game 56-42. 

Thomas Tiernan (undated image from "hudl")

Our Jackson Loge had more of a complementary role on this night. Loge with eleven points complemented two of his mates each of whom scored 14: Thomas Tiernan and Tyler Berlinger. Berlinger is building a reputation of providing important spark off the bench. Tiernan supplied four assists. Loge collected eight rebounds and blocked two shots. 

Brandon Jergenson supplied ten points. I hope the fans didn't chant "let's go Brandon." This is America in the year 2022. 

Cole Wente provided four points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals, according to the reliable kmrs-kkok site. Thanks Brett. "Let's go Brett!"

It was Jay Neubert leading the visitor in scoring with 13 points. Matt Warring had ten rebounds. MACA proudly owns a 14-0 record now. Wow! It is getting state notice. Sauk Centre sits at 8-4. 

Bear with me some

The harshness of this winter has impeded yours truly some. There's a spot in front of the soils lab where drifts build up rapidly whenever there's a northwest wind. Recently during a spell of real inclement weather, the roads out and around looked open - I saw headlights - so I chanced a trip downtown to maybe get a frozen pizza. I hadn't eaten since breakfast. 

I didn't quite make it to the end of Northridge Drive. I had to race back to get a shovel. There is a happy ending as I eventually got out, but it was work, but worse than that I feared the embarrassment of being noticed there. Someone driving a 4-wheel drive pickup night notice me! I remember years ago when my old neighbor, the late Bert Ahern, got stuck in the same spot. So I'm in good company with this episode, with a UMM professor! 

In my haste while shoveling out, I shoveled without gloves on for a couple minutes, ended up with blisters on two fingers. It is healing properly but I do not feel 100 percent for typing yet. 

Problem No. 2: During another spell of the godawful weather, I walked to town 3-4 times over a weekend, as I had decided to put off clearing my driveway. Fine, I was comfortable enough, but I had my reading glasses in my jacket pocket. The extreme cold must have caused them to become brittle. They came apart when I was indoors. 

I bought a new pair but these don't function quite the same as the previous, so more adjusting is called for. I require maximum-strength reading glasses. My writing at this time is a little more labored, but I stick with it, and please bear with me. It's hard for me to get along without doing some writing.

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

The obituary for jazz impresario Jim Carlson

Many of us had a "Blue Christmas," as per the Elvis Presley song, as we learned of the death of Jim Carlson. It was sudden and unexpected on Christmas Eve. An especially sad time to die? Any time is sad. 

Carlson had jazz blossom on the UMM campus. What a heyday it was for the UMM Jazz Festival. Let's not overlook all the other jazz concerts on the calendar. Musicians were organized in a variety of ensembles and combos. 

There was no Jazz Fest in 2021. The pandemic stood in the way. Did the cancellation dim the lights permanently for the Fest? A good source informs me we cannot count on the Fest returning. Shall we take this decision sitting down, with a shrug? Maybe in our community of Morris we are inclined that way. Let's all take some pep pills. C'mon Motown! Never say never, in terms of accepting the end of the Fest. 

Jazz is Carlson's legacy here. Let's not overlook a passion for golf too. 

Since his death, I'm realizing just how much impact his personality and presence had. 

Master of brass

Hiers-Baxley Funeral Services of Ocala, Florida, has Jim's obituary up on its website. Let's reflect on the warmth of Jim Carlson's life during this frigid stretch of weather back in his old stomping grounds. He was in my father Ralph's men's chorus when it opened the Minnesota Day program at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair a.k.a. Century 21 Exposition. 

I wrote feature articles on both jazz and concert band and took a great many photos of all the doings - a labor of love. I remember the "Godzilla concert!"

The end comes for all of us. Here is the obituary for Jim:

James Carlson, 78, was born in Sioux Falls, SD on July 29, 1943 to Jack and Ethel Carlson. He passed away unexpectedly on December 24, 2021 in Ocala, FL of natural causes. Jim was raised in Glenwood, MN with his five wonderful brothers and sisters whom he loved dearly. He met his wife Kay (Joranger) when they were in MN All State Choir in high school. He attended the University of Minnesota, Morris where he began dating Kay. Jim graduated with distinction with a degree in music education in 1965. Kay and Jim were married in 1965. Jim went on to receive a master of music in trumpet performance with high distinction from Moorhead State College in 1968 and a doctor of music education with high distinction from Indiana University in 1972. Jim began his music teaching career at Hancock High School in Hancock, MN, Augsburg College in Minneapolis, MN and Manchester College in Manchester, Indiana.

In 1978 Jim, Kay, and their three children Jay, Brent and Kim moved to Morris, MN. He taught music at the University of MN, Morris and created the UMM Jazz Fest in 1979. He received the Minnesota Music Educators Association (MMEA) Educator of the Year award in 2000 and was inducted into the MMEA Hall of Fame in 2006. His UMM jazz groups played at Carnegie Hall and the Montreux and North Sea Jazz Festivals as well as concerts around the Midwest. He taught at UMM until his retirement to The Villages with Kay in 2009. Jim “Doc” Carlson loved teaching his students and was proud of each one of them for their accomplishments.

Jim also loved to golf. He liked it because it was quiet. He was exceptionally good at it, and managed to accomplish 25 holes-in-one. Mostly he enjoyed being outside in the fresh air and spending time with other golfers – especially in The Villages. His children and grandchildren loved to play golf with him because it was where he was quintessentially him.

Jim was preceded in death by his parents, his niece Jody Solarzano and his nephew Connor McGee. He is survived by his wife Kay, sons Jay and Brent and their wives Mandy and Sue, his daughter Kim and grandchildren Noah, Eliza, Jonah, Jack and Bethany, his brothers and sisters: Jack Carlson, Mary Thompson, Linda Carlson, Alice McGee, and Bob Carlson, his Aunt Lorraine Eggimann and his nieces and nephews: Liz Heberlein, Erik Thompson, Petra Nelson, Kirsti Hiltner, Maureen McGee and Caitlin Stokstad.

Donations may be made to the Jim “Doc” Carlson Jazz Fund at the University of MN - Morris and other cash donations included in sympathy cards will used for a bench in his name on hole #2 at the El Diablo golf course where he got his 24th hole-in-one. Please no flowers.

MACA boys force 22 turnovers in downing Hancock

The weather looks menacing as I type this, Thursday afternoon. Gray skies, the kind of wind that tells me "something's up." We won't know for sure until it happens, though.

 

The Tigers built a 28-24 lead by halftime and won the Saturday game at UMM, 63-48. We took care of business in the second half, 35-24. The success was vs. county rival Hancock, the Owls. We made 25 of 65 shots from the field for 38 percent. Three in our ranks scored in double figures, led by Jackson Loge: 15 points on six of 15 shooting. Brandon Jergenson and Toby Gonnerman each scored 13. Brandon was five of 13, Toby five of eight. 

Other point-scorers for the Tigers were Tyler Berlinger 8, Thomas Tiernan 7, Durgin Decker 5 and Cole Wente 2. The Tigers were not burning the nets from 3-point range. Here it was Jergenson leading with his three makes, but as a team we were four of 27, 15 percent. Decker had one make. 

We went to the freethrow line 15 times and made nine. Loge was three of five in freethrows, Gonnerman three of three. Berlinger made both his freethrow shots and Tiernan made one. The Tigers collected 27 rebounds of which 14 were offensive. Loge led with eleven boards, four offensive. 

Jergenson had five of the team total 16 assists. Berlinger had four of the team total nine steals. Our turnover total was seven. Loge blocked two shots. The Tigers remain unbeaten at 11-0. 

Berlinger gave a push with his role off the bench. The kmrs-kkok summary shares that this Tiger "constantly disrupted the Owls' offensive flow with deflections and tie-ups. His contributions were timely." 

The Tigers leaned on defense a lot. This was underscored with 22 turnovers forced. Meanwhile we only committed seven turnovers ourselves. 

The game's high scorer was Hancock Owl Hudson Ver Steeg with 20 points. Ver Steeg was "on" from long range with five 3's. Fellow Owl Matt Thompson put in 12 points and grabbed eleven rebounds. Zach Koehl had five assists. Hancock came out of the weekend 5-3.

 

The macro world

When will people start noticing, I mean really noticing, the inflation rate, officially at seven percent? Realistically it may be much higher. People are so distracted by their politics. We here in Stevens County are in red Trump country, to an extent that I find hard to understand. 

Subscribing to Trump these days is an all-in thing: you choose not to find middle ground with Democrats on anything, you absolutely denounce Democrats. You look to your fearless leader, Trump, who obviously did something criminal when he called the Georgia secretary of state. Nothing happens. The news media has become like a circus sideshow with all the revelations clearly showing that the Republican Party is ignorant and criminal. Shall we call the media a cottage industry now?

Shouldn't there be consequences for some of the wrongdoing? It all gets hung out to dry, ad nauseam, but nothing happens. And we all get up in the morning for another day of it.

Yes, the foot soldiers for Trump, the small fish, can get in trouble. But not the higher-ups. Yet the Trump camp seems not to be wising up. Such lemmings.

The media cacophony drones on.

I'm trying to push away from the table, as it were. For a time I was taken in by a lot of the news and analysis. But finally you must ask: are there any real consequences? If there are none, then maybe we can start to talk about biased reporting: reporting on the premise that surely this behavior is inappropriate. If it's inappropriate, we need the levers of justice. If not, it's just media noise. 

Merrick Garland looks to be in suspended animation. That's my opinion. But in America, we look to the justice system. Its actions or lack of same will write the record for history.

At present, IMHO it is such a losing proposition to think that good will prevail over evil, that our justice system would do what it has historically done. Perhaps we are too accustomed to seeing the Judeo-Christian ethic prevail in America. 

Perhaps many of us are saying "just give it more time." However, it won't be long before the campaigns for the mid-terms begin. There is such a strong consensus now that the Republicans will win back the House. 

The ex-president hovers out there like he thinks he still wields the power of the presidency. And such power he has over his flock, mesmerizing, intimidating, scary. So many people are under his thumb who clearly have too much intelligence to be doing that sort of thing. The weeks roll on. The cable news programs chug onward, as if waving furiously at us to try to get our attention. So much wrongdoing seems plain as the nose on your face. Nothing happens. Can't people work on weekends? 

Is Matt Gaetz guilty of child sex trafficking, or isn't he?

When will inflation finally get your attention? Why haven't you all been paying more attention to how our financial system has been operating? "The Fed" answers to no one. President Biden cannot control the Federal Reserve. He can try to influence those people, but that's all. There is corruption within the Federal Reserve itself, but no system of accountability there. 

And yet so many of you think all we need to live happily ever after is to get Trump back in the presidency. Trump's followers show cult-like traits in spades. If you feel insulted by this, you should know you're in the company of people in high office like Lindsay Graham. Again this week he has been talking nonsense. Senator Graham needs a full-fledged deprogramming. 

Never in a million years would yours truly succumb to the power of a cult. And yet, sadly, I'm just an anonymous person living in Flyoverland. Graham is a U.S. senator who can get quoted in the national media at any time. Me? I'm just writing on this "Morris of Course" blog. And I do it proudly. It is all I have the power to do. Heaven help us all.

Graham is from South Carolina. How did that state come out in the Civil War?

For a long time I had a little "Kamala" sticker on the back of my car, from when she was seeking the Democratic nomination. Recently I covered it up with gray tape, as I feared my car could get vandalized.

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

You know people smile when remembering Jim Carlson

Jim Carlson

Fan mail from some flounder: First, I'll quote here an email from a fellow UMM advocate, someone like me who believes our long-term memory of all things UMM is important. "Good for you, on remembering Jim (Carlson). Talk about a guy with a positive attitude, that was Jim." 

  

Might the years be passing by faster that I realize? Rhetorical question. Big stuff from past epochs in this town's history can start to fade. Jim Carlson's UMM Jazz Festival at its height was boffo. 

Here's another email I received just this morning (Sunday) from my Bonanza Valley friend: "Hello Brian, very sad to read that Doc Carlson passed away. I so enjoyed being in his jazz band for one year. Damn that was a blast." 

  

The best kind of testimonial, right? From someone who had a student perspective. So we remember the days when various communities would send their band kids to Morris. We saw the school buses around town. The event happened right at the cusp of springtime. It's all past tense as I remind of such things. Does it have to be like this? 

The pandemic was bound to bring a pause, regardless of how UMM was choosing to allocate resources. The 2021 Jazz Fest was canceled. Did this cause all the air to go out of the tires, as it were? Did the interruption cause the Fest to fade as a priority among UMM's decision makers? 

Bob Bruininks

I'll tell you someone who would always choose to keep the priority high: Robert "Bob" Bruininks. On the chance that Dr. Bruininks had not gotten word of Jim's death yet, I emailed him last week. Truly he has been a prime leader in the U of M firmament. He is a past U president. I covered his visit here once when he wore a UMM Jazz Fest T-shirt under a sport coat. He went out of his way to praise the Fest. He responded to my email:

 

Hi Brian,

Thank you for sharing this sad news about the unexpected death of Jim Carlson. We often traveled to UMM for the jazz festival. It was one of the highlights in my tenure and Jim was one of my favorite UMM professors, among many others, on this inspiring University of Minnesota Campus. In my last year as President, we attended often with Regent Dallas and Joannie Bohnsack, very enthusiastic jazz patrons. Dallas and Joannie traveled to jazz concerts frequently in the U.S. and abroad. I enthusiastically supported the Jazz Fest and was deeply honored when the Campus and Chancellor Johnson presented me with a framed copy of Take Five, one of my favorites, now hanging proudly in my home office.

 

Close eyes, remember applause

Looks like I served a purpose with my journalism in connection with Jim's tragic death. The sadness of the death is accompanied by robust memories springing back, like how the audience at Edson responded so lustily to the jazz pieces each year, to each and every solo in fact! The enthusiasm was irresistible. 

I continue to use past tense, unfortunate naturally. How can we let such a good thing slip away? Unfortunately, as far as our community of Morris is concerned, a pattern is developing. We have lost several events or traditions that were once important just because of the "people traffic." I remember when MAHS Tiger sports along with other area teams had post-season games at the UMM P.E. Center. What a "crowd" phenomenon that was, like with the Wheaton community showing up en masse from the west, seemingly everyone wearing red, and creating, well, pandemonium. 

These days, Tiger basketball heads south for the post-season. A parent explained to me about the loss of the huge crowd phenomenon: Today there are so many activities, parents (and other boosters) get spread out. 

Hancock girls basketball used to fill the P.E. Center just like the Wheaton girls. To be honest, I'd sometimes feel a little unsettled by the pandemonium nature of it all. Pep bands could be loud. Emotions often struck me as excessive. But these were phenomena where people simply assembled in large numbers.

The trend here has been away from this, thus we have said goodbye to the once-big midsummer fest that enlivened our community, was once a symbol of pride for us: Prairie Pioneer Days. Some profound things must have happened in our culture, society or economy to have something like PPD just die on the vine. 

Oh, and a source tells me the UMM Jazz Fest is done, it is nixed permanently. I'm sure Dr. Bruininks would be disconsolate about that. Might he use his "clout" to perhaps accomplish a reversal with this?

 

Remember Les? 

At this moment I'm thinking of the wisdom of the late Les Lindor. Lindor, who was associated with the institution now known as the WCROC, said it's always tempting for people who run academic institutions to think of "cutting." Let's cut this, or that. Always have an eye on the budget. I know that even when the Jazz Fest was still fairly strong, there were financial issues in connection with it. Well damn it, you can't take it with you. 

Cut some programs with the idea of making others stronger? Not so simple, as Lindor pointed out that all programs have a constituency, a constituency that can be helpful for the institution getting funding. Do not disregard the wisdom of ol' Les. I visit the grave marker of Les and Virginia Lindor every Memorial Day weekend. (Oh, and they were our neighbors.)

Another "people" event that has died here is the Community Thanksgiving Dinner. 

Are we all just "hunkering down" in the year 2022? Just taking care of No. 1? Will the pandemic have a permanent effect of exacerbating? Let me just state my opinion: I hope not. Just as we could not have predicted the retreat from so many big gatherings of humanity, maybe we should not rule out their triumphant comeback. 

A scene that should be kept alive (UMM image)

The Jazz Fest? Its chemistry was once right-on. Look at how the event stimulated the enthusiasm of someone like Dr. Bruininks along with many others. 

I shared some concerns about the current trend with Jim Morrison of the Morrison family. The Jazz Fest was a celebration of the performing facility that bears the Morrison name. Edson Auditorium is within that facility. You might say the Jazz Fest was the pride and joy of the Edson/Morrison venue, right in the middle of campus. Now the Fest is apparently gone with the wind. I hear this on good authority. 

My source also indicated that UMM has become frugal with music discipline resources. Word is, Dusty Retzlaff was almost lined up to take over jazz for the rest of this academic year. Would have been wonderful arrangement, even with Jazz Fest having gone kaput. But there was a problem: a low-ball compensation offer, reportedly. "Dusty" withdrew, so now we're looking at an NDSU grad student doing the job. Who I'm sure is a wonderful person. But it was option No. 2, alas. 

Remember what Les Lindor said: Keep your programs propped up and with as much vitality as you can inject, because this is the real key in the long run to keeping budgets and resources healthy. You have to perform! You cannot "cut" your way to budget health, except maybe in the very short term.

 

Downbeat note

The frugality has not kept UMM from hiring Sue Dieter, a development I truly bemoan. That's just promo and PR, of doubtful value even in that narrow context. Sue was with Forum Communications in its ill-fated stint in Morris, and then with Congressman Collin Peterson in his ill-fated effort to keep his position. Memo to UMM: you cannot "sell" your way to success in academia, you have to perform. Sometimes that takes money. You may get a rude reminder of that down the road. 

 

Yours truly, proud scribe

Again, I am pleased to have been of service rendering my journalism in the cause of reminding of Jim Carlson's legacy. Unfortunately his death was the catalyst for this, but what wonderful memories we can sort through. None of us can escape death. In Jim's case it was unexpected: a cerebral hemorrhage on Christmas Eve. 

Take a look at my journalism and compare it to the dearth of attention on the matter in the Morris commercial media: radio/newspaper. And to think some people thought I was washed-up! Those people will not even be convinced at the present time that I have anything positive to offer. To them I can only say: go sit under a cow. I will say they are great at partying. I am not.

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

Jim Carlson and legacy of jazz at U of M-Morris

Jim with guest artists Lin Biviano (left) and Bobby Militello (Allen Monroe photo)

Music is such a highly fluid thing, yet we study it as if we can get it all figured out. That's always the aim in academics, right? To get everything figured out? Nice try, but I would suggest these efforts are always going to come up short. Often a new thing develops in music that we could not have anticipated. 

I doubt that the UMM music people of the institution's first decade saw a big wave of "jazz" coming along. The wave most certainly arrived. We had the right individual in the right place at the right time to seize on it. It was Jim "Doc" Carlson who established the UMM Jazz Festival, perhaps the most ballyhooed event in the whole UMM academic year at one time. 

The success sort of spoke for itself: an auditorium filled with wildly approving fans of the music, those orange school buses seen around town for the event's duration - buses from the various communities that sent kids here. The audience members were left with memories that they would never put aside. They'll smile with any mention of UMM jazz today. 

UMM still has jazz. I find the level of artistry pleasing. UMM music has lots to be proud of today. But the true heyday of Jim's program seems past. Sad? Not sure we need to make a judgment. Music is fluid by its very nature, it gets pushed and nudged in various directions. Academic leaders come and go who don't see things in a common way. 

Am I overstating the popularity of the Jazz Fest in Jim's tenure? Well, allow me to share the memory of the U of M president coming here proudly wearing a Jazz Fest T-shirt. That was Robert "Bob" Bruininks. It took some discipline for me to get his last name spelling mastered. It's pronounced "Brunix." So I wondered why he couldn't just spell it that way. Then again, once you have typed his name correctly a few times, it gets fixed in your mind. 

Thinking of Bruininks reminds me of the issue of alleged largesse in how the U spread money around. Well, if the man was capable of acquiring money and using it to reward people who had a true commitment to the U, well then maybe we should say "all the more power to him." 

 

The intangibles

Looking back, Jim Carlson seemed bigger than life at UMM, just with his persona. It was energetic all the way. He could disarm you with his nature. A hearty laugh came easily to him - it was infectious. The personality trait complemented the musical enrichment he instilled. 

The quality of the music was super but allow me to suggest: it wasn't as connected to the pure "jazz" as much as might be suggested! Jazz is improvisation. While challenging and artistic, pure improvisation has limited crowd-pleasing effect. No, I think a lot of the music's appeal here had to do with the structured arrangements. They were powerful and with a most contemporary type of rhythm underpinning. Jazz rhythm reflects an African influence. To be very raw and candid here, this aspect held back the art form's advancement for a long time. Finally a young generation came along that didn't give a rip about such inhibitions. You might think it was the 1950s, when rock 'n' roll burst out of its cultural confinements. The process happened in the 1930s with big bands starting to flourish. 

The trap drum players were quite the ingredient for supplying sounds to the liking of young people. So in the 1980s we got the popular rage of jazz at UMM: bands playing structured arrangements, making them seem not a whole lot different from the "concert" band. And concert band music is boffo. But the jazz groups had the trap drums that drove a particular type of energy. 

I found the jazz bands appealing largely because of their smaller size, compared to concert band or "symphonic winds." I saw two advantages with the smaller size: each musician had a better chance of standing out. Also, because the students were arranged in tiers onstage, we could see all of them so much better than with the concert band. 

Mind you, concert band need not be "stuffy." Oh, it can be. But, look up the "Windstars" ensemble playing "El Cumbanchero" and you'll be enlivened, truly. John Woell once directed "El Cumbanchero" for our Morris High School band. The "Windstars" version is too advanced for high school band, but Woell directed a most appealing version here. 

Woell made his mark too by continuing the marching band tradition at the school. He picked up from Bob Schaefer. Woell did yeoman's work keeping it going until youth culture began to change and interests began diversifying. Until 1972 there was no varsity sports for girls. Egad! Well, that was the world we lived in. It was a fact. So even though a huge wave of the boomer population kids was "in force" by 1972, girls sports was just starting to take some baby steps forward. It took time, patience and dogged advocacy by those who would never accept a "back seat" to the boys. 

Chris Voelz became controversial at the U of M. I confess I sometimes felt a little exasperated by her - Sid Hartman shared that exasperation. But now I look back and realize the dogged advocacy was needed. In the same way, we can look back at the early jazz music, along with the seminal rock 'n' roll, and feel befuddled about how white culture seemed to recoil at it. Strange but true, just like a world with no varsity girls sports. Heck, we didn't have an indoor arena for hockey either. All this with the wave of boomer kids reaching a (thunderous) crescendo. 

 

His soul has departed us

I share all these thoughts at the very sobering time of realizing that James "Doc" Carlson has gone to that big jazz nightclub in the sky. How tragic that he left us so suddenly on Christmas Eve. 

There was horrible reporting of the news of his death. The news has sort of trickled around through chance conversations at the slow time of the holidays. Was University Relations responsible for the negligence here? Maybe someone should be fired. 

At some point there would have to be a standard obituary. The University of Minnesota-Morris is in mourning.

Jim with Jazz Festival guest artists Ed Shaughnessy (left) and Jim Pugh. Photo by Del Sarlette. Sometimes people mispronouned Ed's last name "O'Shaughnessy." He played drums with the Tonight Show band, remember? Mr. Pugh was trombonist. I remember him playing with Woody Herman's band at the old St. Paul Prom Ballroom. What a place! Lots of boxing matches there. It was like an extra-large version of the old Lakeside Ballroom, Glenwood. Pat Boone sang there.

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