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.
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."
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
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