Thinking of community focus, youth, music

The old hub of PPD, the Killoran stage (mapio image)

We are blessed on this Sunday as we are bathed in midsummer weather. Enjoy it while you can. This all-too-brief window will close. 

Today is three days after a most special day on the calendar: Ringo Starr's birthday! We love Ringo and especially his message of "peace and love." To hell with MAGA, let's just love people. Let us embrace universal love, honesty and forthrightness. 

Sad that I must share a reminder on these virtues. So the IRS has targeted known critics of Donald Trump. Well of course it has. If you dispute that, as many of you might, your loyalty to MAGA rules your life - then you think it's random that Comey and McCabe were singled out. The New York Times has computed the odds of these two being chosen randomly as one in 82 million. Trump seeks to acknowledge nothing untoward, "nothing to see here" as it were. 

So if you believe him on this, maybe this blog isn't for you. Maybe you should be reading the funnies. Do they still have "Dagwood and Blondie?" Maybe you should check to see if Dagwood and Blondie are still doing their thing. (The highlight for me was seeing the expression on the dog.)

 

PPD-time here?

If you thought that Comey/McCabe was random, maybe you will think too that it was benign judgment for the Morris Community Band not to be invited to perform at the park in the last year of the "old" Prairie Pioneer Days. 

We are right around the time when the long-time iteration of PPD would be held. Anyone would conclude that the Morris Community Band would be No. 1 on the list for getting invited to play at the park stage. But the band was not invited. 

Let's make a conclusion just like with the IRS audit. There was a method to the madness. Trump or his people are harassing known critics. Totally unforgivable if you subscribe to any basic sense of ethics. Maybe you do not. I don't rule out anything with Trump people these days. And when the Morris Community Band was not invited to play at the park, this was a sign that the Chamber of Commerce just wanted the whole PPD thing to go away. We could later deduce as much, easily. 

The summer PPD was considered a totally wonderful thing when it was first conceived. I was there "on the ground" with the efforts. I was with the Morris newspaper. PPD appears to exist now in name only, really, in the fall. Fall weather is not dependable. 

When the summer PPD was first created, it replaced a fall event. PPD was clearly a "step up" and we were all so proud. The problem now? More than one well-placed source tells me our community leaders desire to "go to the lake" on summer weekends. So that killed it. Well, I protest. I am often portrayed as a contrarian or "negative" person. I simply seek to be constructive, to actually be positive. 

 

In terms you'll appreciate

I have put out feelers recently for making another financial contribution for our well-being here. When I talk about money, maybe that ensures I'll get some readers for my online writing, more than usual. Sigh. 

I have made a commitment in theory for purchasing genuine jazz band music stands for the MAHS instrumental music program. Talks have proceeded on this. Unfortunately they have encountered muddy waters. Three people primarily are involved in these deliberations. No voices are being raised or anything like that, but we have gotten to a bump in the road. One of the parties in this is now "gone" for a brief time, vacation to Michigan I'm told. 

This is a common problem in our Morris: "We're going to be gone." I have joked that the phrase be placed on the water tower. Interesting expression, as we might analyze the word "gone." Has rather an existential ring to it. Cease to exist? The word doesn't shed any light on where you went or why. You're just "gone." But that's Morris Minnesota. We have our attributes but lakes recreation is not one of them. 

So I'm a "negative" person even though I try arguing that Morris is an acceptable place to spend your free time. You might be aghast to read that. 

If I'm not negative, maybe I'm an outlier. 

How shall I explain this music stands thing further? One of the interested parties is the band director. She is wonderfully talented but I have a wee concern about the program's numbers: seven seniors last year, only. Might she be pushing the kids too hard? It is nice to have high standards naturally. If this comes across as implying anything negative about her methods, I'm in big trouble. It will not be the first time. 

Example of the "Poly" company's music stands

The director insists on doing business with the music store. I approve of this avenue but the music store is restricted to doing business with one company. There is another company that might be preferable. The music store owner has told me he "won't take it personally" if we deal with the other company. The band director seems to only want to communicate with the store owner, not lil' ol' me. So I'm disconsolate. Just kidding. But I am concerned that we can't all get comfortably on the same page. Time is going by. The music store owner reminded me of wisdom from his late father: "If someone wants to give you money, take it!" 

I do these things partly because I have no family left in the world - oh, a cousin with whom I exchange emails at Christmas, maybe. Nothing that suggests a bond. And when it comes to friends, I'm rather bereft also. Not sobbing or anything, it's just reality. 

So I have made financial gestures hopefully for the betterment of the University of Minnesota and now Morris Area High School. The high school was nice enough to allow me to get a diploma way back when (1973).

 

Speaking of the high school

I see there is a new administrative team member at our beloved MAHS. 

From an email I shared with a friend:

 

Well, someone left a Morris paper behind at DeToy's yesterday but I didn't have my reading glasses with me. If I pay with cash, I don't need my reading glasses. I am learning to just take my glasses wherever I go. I could read the headlines and I saw the one about the new school activities director. Later I went to the library with my glasses and read the article. Well, the guy has an impressive resume, has had several stops in his career. No doubt he's an idealistic and motivated guy. And to think there was a time here when an actual written statement had to be presented to the board saying the AD should be an "enthusiastic person." Why did it come to that? Looking back, no one should have considered the 1980s to be a throwaway decade. That is largely what it turned out to be, for athletics.

I reflect a lot and I figure, the '80s saw the last vestiges of an old public school model. How to describe? Well, a government supported bureaucratic monopoly, and of course there's nothing worse in the world. The system slowly got adjusted so that today it's much better, more accountability. I suppose open enrollment was the first step?

 

Further note on facilities for youth

Oh, the softball complex continues getting attention among the local denizens, eh? From an email I shared with a friend:

 

The softball complex: where are the lights? A year must have passed since we saw the headlines about how the funeral home had donated $15,000 to light up the place. But I do not see the lights. Also, there are three "no parking this side" signs along north shoulder of Prairie Lane - go and look yourself - and the people are totally ignoring them. There are strings of cars there. Also, it is an ABSOLUTE ABOMINATION that the pre-existing UMM softball field was torn up to make way for a new field with the diamond on the opposite side. They wanted the diamond to be close to the pressbox, I'm told. I will repeat: There will be a problem with batters facing the sun at the new diamond. Walk over to where the batter will face the pitcher and look for yourself. I take the trouble to do these things. When people complain about the fan viewing at Holmberg Field, who are they directed to? Who is the head person, and how does this person respond to the complaints? There is no satisfactory response.

 

Final thought:

Maybe we can close eyes and reflect back on the wonderful event once known as Prairie Pioneer Days. Boy, I sure remember. I covered it for many years for the Morris paper. 

I remember when we had an editor who tried to get an editorial published that harshly criticized the parade committee for having Ronald McDonald as grand marshal. Jim Morrison refused to run it. That editor was about the heaviest cigarette smoker I've ever been around. Hope it didn't shorten my lifespan, or Jim's. 

Jim is from a local family that is a benefactor with education too. The family is the type you'd expect to make gestures like that. But me? I hope I have emerged as a pleasant surprise. But maybe not. I mean maybe not pleasant. As far as I'm concerned, there is a lot of negativity in Morris MN. Which might be hard to appreciate if you're "gone." "We're going to be gone."

 

Different heights for different sections

For the record:

Below is an email I recently shared with the Morris Area School Foundation. It pertains to my interest in supporting the MAHS instrumental music program. I did get a nice and informative response. But nothing has moved forward yet. You can read here how I shared. If you are reading, maybe you are not "gone." Interesting state of being, to be "gone."

 

Hello Ms. Solvie - Lately I have proposed the idea of purchasing genuine jazz band music stands for the MAHS jazz music program. Director Wanda Dagen knows about this. Mostly I have communicated with Del Sarlette who of course has the music store in town. He's an old high school peer of mine.

Last spring I attended the jazz concert and noticed the musicians were using the standard stands from the band room. In my opinion the band didn't even look like a jazz band. I have some experience with this format. This is just my opinion of course. Whatever gets done on this matter, it will have to have Wanda's 100 percent support. That's a given.

The talks on this have gotten a little confused. What I gather right now, is that Wanda would like some nice stands for the front row, but as for the other musicians, they could continue using the standard stands but with banners placed on them. I guess she saw the banners in a website that was suggested.

I think we'd all like some graphics on the stands. I'm told there's a local MAHS graduate with professional expertise who could do this "at a reasonable price." Last name is Heck - I know his parents. But no one says what reasonable is. I have tried pressing people for a rather firm figure in terms of a quote, but that has become difficult. You can run into cost overruns with this sort of thing, like with "storage cases."

You might end up dealing with three different parties for payment.

Del has gotten a little frustrated dealing with this.

So, in trying to cut to the chase here, let me say I'd be happy to provide $1000 to the Morris Area School Foundation to cover the cost of this, but if the estimate runs to between $1000 and $1500, I'd be happy to write out the check for $1500. If it's over $1500, I might have some concerns based on principle. I am 67 years old and I still think of a thousand dollars as being a lot of money.

The Foundation can of course give me a nice little receipt that I can give to my tax accountant in March.

If Wanda cools on the whole idea, fine, we can just skip it. I'm just trying to be pro-active.

I'm a 1973 graduate of Morris High School and was in the 1971 Minnesota All-State Band.

- Brian R. Williams, Morris MN

 

Jenessa Solvie answered my email. Thanks to all. Most importantly, "peace and love." Ringo is 82 years old and almost looks to be an example of "reverse aging."

Another example of the "Poly Band Stands." The jazz band has its needs just like the concert band. Remember the UMM Jazz Fest from when it was in its prime? Why do we discuss these things in the past tense so much: Prairie Pioneer Days and the UMM Jazz Fest? Such magnets for "people." Have we lost that touch, perhaps influenced by pandemic anxiety? The anxiety has its basis for justification. But let's weigh our reaction. Human beings are social creatures.

Personally I'd like to see Morris Area High jazz have the kind of attribute you see in this photo. Maybe it will just be a passing suggestion. My heart is in the right place. - BW