Music vs. sports, and who do you suppose wins?

Blake Karas, activities director

Stardate April 27, 2023. It is incredible but the weather does not improve that much. My mom died on April 24 of 2018 and I remember that in the days immediately following, I walked downtown very comfortably in the morning. I had been very sedentary taking care of Mom, so I went out of my way to get some exercise. Heavens, I ran the Twin Cities Marathon three times in the 1980s!

So the weather was far more pleasant back in the 2018 spring. I even walked across the University farm field in front of my neighborhood - the non-maintained road that has been there for (seemingly) time immemorial. It is very easy for that road to be more muddy. Would not consider using it today, Stardate April 27, 2023. 

So it's Thursday, a day for which I had on my calendar the big junior high (grades 5-8) band concert. Don't underestimate how exciting a junior high band concert can be. Last spring I felt it was right on par with the senior high concert, honestly. And this is not to take anything away from senior high band. I wouldn't dare insinuate anything different, lest I risk incurring the enmity of the director Wanda Dagen. 

We all know Ms. Dagen is brilliant and if anything might push the kids a little too hard sometimes. Oops, there I go risking her enmity. I hope to catch her this summer directing the Swift County Band when it plays in Appleton again. It was a delight to take this in last summer, at the park. What a wonderful setting for the performance. Some very large and majestic trees there. 

I wish Morris could have a community band that is just as active. We have the plus of a college music program right here. Some of those faculty are even involved with Swift County. People are evasive when I bring up the suggestion. It's kind of a Morris trait. Never admit to lethargy about anything, just sort of hem and haw and point fingers back. They might say "why not do it yourself?" I must be prepared with a rejoinder. 

People have long connected "apathy" to our Motown. People discuss this without even being concerned. It's the proper order of things I guess. Time immemorial. I was here for the Centennial in 1971. I even played in what MHS band director John Woell called the "German band." Our small group spent some time literally wandering around and playing for people. That's how I got inside the Met Lounge the first time! 

I'm on a tangent now - let's get back to the current MAHS instrumental music calendar. There is an issue here. The grades 5-8 bands were originally on the schedule for performing tonight, Thursday. And yes it would have been a most special affair. I'm certain that director Andrea DeNardo was looking forward to it, greatly. It's neat to see how the youngest kids in the band program have progressed since fall. Andrea has talked about this. 

Tonight's concert hasn't exactly been canceled but I would argue it has been diminished. It got moved to Monday and will now be paired with the jazz concert that was already on the slate. The jazz concert was originally slated as grades 6-12. That would mean we'd hear the most accomplished "Jazz I." Well, the best laid plans of whomever can get jarred by school administration. 

This fellow Blake Karas in school administration - I refer to him as "Alex Karras" based on the old football player - requested that tonight's concert be moved. Oh my, guess the reason. Can anyone challenge the absolute primacy of high school sports? A fool's errand. Like crime, death and taxes, the primacy is etched in stone - we are only left to shrug ours shoulders and complain some. Maybe more than some, but it is futile, n'est-ce pas? 

I could write volumes because I wrote for the Morris newspaper for 27 years. I wrote for the Hancock paper for 15 of those years too. Now I'm just getting old and tired. 

I strive to be an advocate for school music. In December I contributed $1000 to the Morris Area School Foundation (West Central Initiative) with a designation of music as a priority. I don't know if the Foundation honors such requests. I just left it at that. 

I don't like to see administrative decisions that have the effect of cheapening the arts. Oh Mr. Karas would never admit as much. I have never met him. The present administration has no idea what they are missing, as they do their work in a time when Brian Williams is not with the Morris paper. I began my career when Watergate was fresh and writers in the press were expected to go over the edge sometimes. This would be totally disallowed today. The standards today are totally taken for granted by everyone. I remember the changes over time. 

So Mr. Karas - "Alex Karras" - approached the senior high band director and wanted today's concert moved for sports reasons, because all hell has broken loose with our lousy weather this spring. That must have school people pulling their hair. Why do we accept the risk of this happening? There is no such risk for the fall and winter sports. 

Spring is a wild goose chase, which maybe I could accept some if sports wasn't put up on such a cotton pickin' pedestal. Of course it should not surprise me. I didn't come into town on a turnip truck. 

Sports parents can have explosive tempers. I wish they could get out of the way for the arts a little more readily. The school should have adhered to its original schedule of having the spring junior high concert tonight (Thursday), come hell or high water. But no, the sports sacred cow had to be acknowledged. 

As stated earlier, the Monday jazz concert should be grades 6-12 but it has been adjusted. You can see that with the poster image that I include at bottom of this post. No Jazz I ! Excuse me but that's a letdown. Jazz I, whether for MAHS or UMM, is always the much-anticipated highlight. Now it is scrubbed at least for Monday. Monday was originally set as the total showcase for jazz. 

The directors won't appreciate these words but now I feel this event will be watered down. I can't accept that without saying something. But administration will have the satisfaction of technically getting these events in. The events get shoe-horned in while accommodating some track meet or whatever. Those athletes have so many competition opportunities. They'd have a lot even if one or two events got cancelled. 

Band concerts really come along rarely. They are to be savored. Schools should have certain dates etched in stone for accommodating music, dates where the musicians and parents can focus 100 percent on music! Just as they would on a track meet. Is that so radical? No it isn't, Mr. Karas ("Karras"). 

Maybe Wanda will be mad at me for writing this. If she is, I might have to put down some whiskey.

Addendum: I have often been at Caribou Coffee, Willie's, at the same time as Andrea in the morning. Unfortunately they have been out of my favorite breakfast sandwich the last three times I stopped there, so I might have to change my pattern. I hope they fill Andrea's needs.

Addendum #2: In addition to being activities director, Blake is "dean of students." Dean of students! Strikes me as an arduous and maybe thankless role, reminds me of the school principal character in movies like "Teen Wolf" and "WarGames."

On the slate for Monday night: MAHS instrumental music.

 

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

Our contentment in the moment, versus mortality

My mother, Martha H. Williams

The stillness of morning is so soothing on this April 23. The day is Sunday, a day my parents always prioritized for their faith. They were temperate or mainstream Christians from a time when that outlook was common, rather the norm. The political aspect was felt hardly at all. 

Our church of First Lutheran in Morris had two services on Sunday. That was quite the norm, assumed to be permanent. My, it is such folly to consider almost anything the "norm" any more. Where would one start in assembling a list? You could go to a bank and arrange for a savings account that paid you enough interest to make a difference. I mean, it could cover a few bills. 

I'm thinking of Mom and Dad because tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of Mom's death. Have five years really passed? And it has been ten years since Dad's passing. Ten years! I can visualize them so easily in our house, as if they were continuing in their robust life. We had three small dogs through the years that were totally members of the family. 

I have written memorial posts about my parents before. Some might suggest it's time to move on. As a matter of reality of course we do that. I occasionally write a new memorial post about someone close to me who has just passed. In doing so I am most definitely existing in the present. I recently wrote about the iconic local educator Truman Carlson when he passed. He was 96. The same age as Dad when he went on to the next life. 

I have written in a memorial way about Becky Felstul-Burnett and Allen Anderson. So often we remember the struggles of these people in the closing stages of their lives. God created us in a way that means we get vulnerable if we're so fortunate as to have longevity. We like to assume longevity is a good thing. We always like to have our health issues addressed, right? So as to make sure everything keeps functioning?

I remember when Mom was at the nursing home in Barrett toward the end of her life. I stayed there a good share of the time, too, probably against the wishes of the nursing staff. Two young men came walking down the hallway one night. I heard one say to the other "it's better to die than to get old." 

Such frankness and candor. Has any nursing home visitor not thought that, as they observe the age-related trials, physical and mental? 

I think a huge conundrum is presented for medical people. I have a friend whose mom was in the nursing home late in life too. My friend related how his mom was evaluated and found in need of a heart operation. But her advanced age cast some skepticism. I suppose there was concern about getting through the operation. The conundrum is about the feasibility of extraordinary measures to keep life going. 

Our natural instinct is to say "yes" on such matters. Anyone my age who has been around struggling older people will sense that there has to be a gray area eventually. 

Young love: Ralph and Martha Williams

My mom had an impulse toward resisting medical intervention. She was born way back in the 1920s when medical science had far fewer tools. I remember her saying once "people died all the time." 

Oh, and I remember a little conversation I had with a local pastor just 3-4 years ago. This was not my First Lutheran pastor. We were actually at McDonald's one day. He talked about a previous chapter in his career when he went through the rolls of past members. He told me he was struck by how relatively young so many were at the time of death. We can forget about that element of our history: the fragility of life in past times, quite marked. 

So today the resources are enormous for solving medical issues. And people get old. In many cases they become not like their past selves. The essence of their personality becomes lodged in our memory, as if that "real" person has really ceased to exist. 

One of the most popular members of my Morris High School Class of '73 has a spouse who has come down with Alzheimer's. Think of the burden these caregivers face. 

The '73 class has its 50-year reunion set for this coming September. I hope the classmate I just cited is able to come. Our high school class recently lost Mike Eul of the very well-known hardware family. The list of deceased classmates will expand. The reunions held after our 50th will be quiet affairs, I'm sure, where the prevailing feeling would be one of just appreciating being alive. 

The anniversary of a parent's death makes one look back. We can wonder if we could have organized our life better, smoothed over some bumps in the road. I can look back on my own caregiving for both my parents. Anyone in my position would have to think there were certain decisions that could have been made better. It's the classic hindsight conundrum. Then I think to myself: had I addressed certain things a little differently, there still could have been an unforeseen calamity that could take their lives. 

Dolores Lammers told me at a time when both my parents were still alive: "They'd both be in the nursing home if it wasn't for you." 

My mom resisted medical intervention so she said "no" to Dr. Wernsing re. a mammogram, until finally I became assertive. I postponed the appointment at first after reading stuff online about mammograms that was concerning. Then I finally realized the necessity. The delay was just a matter of a week or two. And of course the examination revealed cancer. 

So Mom and I got an early-morning appointment at SCMC for Dr. Sam to do what he could. He was masterful as he always is. He could not get all the cancer but Mom was put on a stable course relatively pain free, for a long time. We were blessed in that extension of life. She was more alert in her very last days then you probably thought, if you were around her any. You just had to be around her in the morning in the familiarity of her home. She was alert, aware and happy on many mornings. 

We have big picture windows facing to the north. We often see wildlife. So I'd say to her sometimes "there's Mr. Rabbit!" It was on April 24 in 2018 that she left us. I wonder what she'd think of my holding my own in the family residence. I cannot predict the future. Who knows what course my own health will take? None of us can know. 

Your blog host w/ Mom in NYC, 1964

We'll praise God if we can just show up for our 50-year class reunion in a relatively stable state. You can double that feeling for any reunions after that. We'll be about 78 years old for our 60th! Mercy. A fair number of us will probably join our maker before then. 

Dr. Sam once operated on mom for something called "adhesions." She seemed gravely ill until Dr. Sam took over and remedied the situation. I remember him saying she had to "pass gas" before being discharged.

So Mom made it to age 93, almost 94, thanks in part to Dr. Sam's genius and caring. A long-distance friend recently told me "it's good you have a doctor that you have faith in." This was after my own episode with Dr. Sam. I have followed in Mom's footsteps this way, owing perhaps my very life to Dr. Sam of SCMC. 

From now on, I'll thank the Lord for every single day of stable health He blesses me with. Every single day. I have this feeling particularly in the morning. Hey, that's when Mom was at her happiest in her twilight of life. I feel happy right now, would like to tell "Mr. Rabbit" about it! 

I have joined the ranks of those for whom remembering to take one's pills in a certain way every day might be our biggest responsibility to ourselves. I am now a diabetic, perhaps have had this for a while. But I feel fine.

I did not take this photo. I am unable to credit it to anyone, but it was a UMM person who wanted to capture Mom in her well-known gait across campus when she managed the campus post office.
 

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

A trace of spring allows H.S. sports to get going

Baseball: Tigers 10, Hancock 2

Will "Minnesota Scores" even try to keep up with spring high school sports schedule information? It's normally a go-to site. That's in normal and orderly high school sports seasons: the fall and the winter. Things get haphazard in the spring. No comparison to fall and winter. The weather and the conditions are of course the factors. 

As I write this, there are still piles of snow in various places. The rain fell last night (Wednesday). I have a snowdrift just behind my house that is still so big, I can't get a ladder in place to attend to my rain gutters. And now we're getting rain. 

So what's it like for the high school kids to try to get outside? Will a feeling of "desperation" set in, as athletic directors seek to get their schedules going? To what extent can the parents and fans enjoy themselves, like on Tuesday of this week? I doubt that a whole lot of them turned out. Am I happy the games got played? Not if it was an ordeal for the kids. Maybe they would say it was not. Youth has resilience. 

A saying in baseball is that the pitchers are ahead of the hitters at season's start. That appeared to be illustrated on Tuesday. The Tigers got their first game in. Congratulations I think. The Hancock bats were sure not ready. Or was it a case of our pitcher being super-duper? The MACA pitcher was Drew Huebner. He pitched six innings and struck out 15 batters. Not exciting for the fans to watch, as it's nice to see a ball in play more often. The outfielders just stand out there. Quite a contrast with basketball! 

Huebner's pitching was part of the 10-2 season-opening win by the Tigers over the Hancock Owls. Action was here at Chizek Field. 

What are the odds of games being played either today (Thursday) or Friday? Sometimes I do get surprised by how sports adapts to the weather. Still I'm skeptical right now. When on earth is the "softball complex" going to be deemed ready? I'd eat my hat if anything happened there before the weekend, or even early next week. But we'll see. 

Our high schools need to take a serious look at whether these outdoor activities should even be attempted prior to May. I have written this before. Why do we assume this huge letdown from fall and winter in terms of the level of excitement with high school sports? Spring need not be any different. Something needs to get organized indoors. I mean, it sure works for fall and winter. 

The Tigers took over their Tuesday game in the sixth inning. This they did with a nine-run rally. 

It was Trevor Buss who began our scoring with a solo home run in the second. 

Meanwhile Huebner on the mound showed a no-hitter type of flair. Chase Evink of the Owls broke up the no-hit bid with a single. Ambrose Rinkenberger doubled to drive in Evink. The game was still close but that would end in the sixth. Ozzy Jerome broke the game open with a double that cleared the bases. Jerome sent the ball into the gap. The score was made 5-1. The Tigers never looked back. 

Huebner was totally in the groove with his pitching at the start: a skein of nine strikeouts. 

Hudson Ver Steeg was the losing pitcher for the Owls. Let's acknowledge Donovan Curfman for his home run in the seventh. Davin Rose had his pitching arm exercised for four innings and allowed one run. 

 

Softball: Tigers 7, Browerville 1

MACA softball made the pretty substantial trip to St. Joseph on Tuesday. The Tigers won their initial game of the new season, 7-1 over Browerville. Haley Kill pitched the whole way for the orange and black. Action was at College of St. Benedict. Kill set down ten Browerville batters on strikes. 

Nice to see Cate Kehoe back in action after her injury hiatus. We missed her in tennis last fall. Kehoe got back in the swing with a home run. Amaya Raths showed a hot bat with a double and triple among three hits. Raths drove in two runs. Nora Boyle chalked up two hits and two RBIs. As a team we pounded out 13 hits.

 

Track and field: 'Waska meet

The Minnewaska school grounds were a "go" for Tuesday track and field action. So the Tigers sprang into action. 

Lydia Fynboh sprinted to first place in the 100m dash. Heika Hall was No. 4 in the 300m hurdles. The high jump saw Mya Schmidgall and Hall place fourth and fifth respectively. Our boys team had Derek Waldbeser placing second in the 110m hurdles and 300m hurdles. Jack Tollefson and Blake Bruns were third and fourth respectively in the 400m. 

Then in the pole vault, Grayson Gibson took fourth and Noah Malek fifth. The shot put had Mitch Moser placing fifth. The 4x100m relay unit of Vladimir Rosillo Lara, Mitch Moser, Grayson Gibson and Kendall Waldbeser took third. 

Perham had a fine day with the team championship in both genders. The Tigers were fifth in both. Now pray for better weather conditions?

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

Nice weather, winning teams & lower interest rates?

Jerome Powell of the "Fed"

Certain "opinions" on newscasts are considered acceptable. Let's say benign. So in the weather report, the person at the desk can talk about "nice weather coming" with a smile. It's not a violation of journalistic canons. 

Normally there's a gospel-like adherence to this thing called "objectivity." The rigidness of objectivity does not go way back in American history, not at all. Advocacy was once out and about as sort of the norm. You can argue it was quite defensible because it was out in the open, no pretense. What harm does that do? 

Objectivity as a mantra in the media coincided with the advent of the monopoly distribution model of the big metro papers. Oh, it wasn't so much based on principle. It was based on not wanting to offend anyone. Retain your base of support and advertising with a Pablum-like product, wink. 

But even with the reigning ethos of this thing called objectivity, certain opinions got a pass, as with "nice weather on the way." Same with the sports report where rooting for the local teams is considered acceptable. 

But I noticed something new recently. It shocked me but I doubt many others have noticed. It is now considered benign to root for lowered interest rates. I caught some chatter along a news desk where all of this was intended to blend in with the obligatory "happy talk." 

"The weather is nice, the home team wins, and it looks like the Fed will start looking at lower interest rates." So here's a toast, I guess. 

Maybe the Fed will be totally justified starting to push interest rates down again. We have drowned over the last 15 or so years with unusually low rates. Often this gets the "quantitative easing" label. And I don't think it was originally intended to last so long, or to be a model for "how things should be." 

There is always an upside to lower interest rates. Make no mistake. But it's far from a slam-dunk truism that this is how it should be in perpetuity. Even people without college degrees should realize that interest rates exist for a reason. "Free money" is pie in the sky thinking. 

So grandma puts her Social Security income in the bank, the bank makes money by loaning it around the community, and grandma gets paid less then one percent interest. Seems rather out of kilter. At least it does to me. But a voice like mine gets totally drowned out by the Jim Cramers of the world. Do you suppose Cramer secretly has all his own money in the bank? That's a joke. 

 

The "Fed" with its power

I have yet in this post to mention this many-headed hydra called "the Fed." You ought to realize this thing called the Fed has incredible power. And it's not really answerable to our elected leaders. Occasionally there will be "testimony from a Fed person on capitol hill." So there's a suggestion of accountability. Only a suggestion. 

The Fed will argue that higher interest rates are needed to try to hold down inflation. "Try to." In truth the Fed could be using other means to neutralize the chimera of inflation. My, what a chimera this was in the 1970s. 

Inflation in the present time got off the launching pad with the end of the covid lockdowns. The so-called re-opening, even though covid remains with us to this day. Inflation has gotten more high-profile in the news. However, I have noticed nothing like a full-fledged inflation panic. Might we be on the doorstep of this? Or maybe not? So we handle all the price hikes in perfect stride? 

 

Take a look around

Why do you think recent high school graduates have an increasing tendency to stay at home with parents for an indefinite time? Such a contradiction to when I was young. Man, you'd be expected to "move out" no later than the day after your high school graduation. Or else risk scorn. Well, it's economics, the cost of living. 

So we are in fact reeling from inflation as a culture. People make adjustments to keep from being overwhelmed by the forces. As an aside, let me suggest that extended-generation families are nice. Everyone can help each other. The younger people are right on the scene to help with parents as the parents begin to experience age-related limitations. People are living longer now. 

But consider how foreboding the outside world can be for an 18-year-old, let's say someone with a 'C' average in school who has no family connections for getting established in anything. You graduate and then stare out at the real world. Just browse at the local furniture store and look at the pricetags on things. 

Businesses have reasons for charging what they do. But what of all the young people who'd like to get established in life? 

The Federal Reserve could raise interest rates again at the beginning of May. The commentary in the media seems so absolutely stacked against the idea of hiking. But are these sincere opinions about what is best for us all? Rhetorical question. With the answer of "no" or "not necessarily." How naive to think "free money" is always the answer to everything. I don't buy it. But I feel so isolated with such views. 

The media feeds us the (purportedly) benign message of "good, looks like the Fed won't raise interest rates again." Maybe this position will be borne out as valid as time goes on. But heavens, this is anything but a slam-dunk. And the media people should know better. I just think there are powerful vested interests behind the positions that the media is always suggesting. 

Don't be Pollyannish, don't follow Jim Cramer's lead all the time. Don't let one or two famous "commentators" give you a snow job. They are part entertainers, doing what is necessary to stay popular. How much hope can I have, as I consider that "entertainer" Donald Trump has had a huge faction of America eating out of his hand? And it still does not dissipate, even with all of Trump's so-called "legal troubles." It won't be "trouble" at all until Trump faces real legal consequences. 

The media tells us Trump is in "legal hot water." What does it mean to be "in hot water?" If I get seen without a seat belt, it's all over in an instant as I get a ticket. But for the likes of Trump and Clarence Thomas? Oh hell, you know the routine. Pricey attorneys wearing suits and ties come at us to say white is black and up is down. Ditto with T. Denny Sanford in South Dakota. If you all haven't woken up to smell the coffee, there is no hope for you.

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

T. Denny Sanford behind a cloak you'd expect

T. Denny Sanford (minnpost image)

Has T. Denny Sanford made an unequivocal proclamation of innocence? Would that not be reasonable? The recent news articles indicate no such gesture. Shouldn't we be hearing more, directly from the person who is the subject of suspicion? 

What would you or I do, were we accused of something so horrible? Let lawyers do our talking for us? Let our case be furthered by the nuanced legal arguments that get into the weeds some? 

Wouldn't you or I want to "shout from the nearest rooftop," as they say? I would feel flummoxed if anyone suggested that I did what is suspected by T. Denny Sanford. 

Sanford is not your average Joe. Your average Joe probably would have been steamrollered by our legal system by now. Oh, you know how it is. We read that Clarence Thomas "may have broken the law." The media reports that as if the Supreme Court Justice has done something of startling impropriety. But again, you know how it is with big shots, white collar crime and the "suit" attorneys who cluster with such people. C'mon man. 

T. Denny Sanford has given money to Donald Trump's campaigns. Quite consistent with the state of South Dakota which smacks of one-party rule. Why has it come to this? It wasn't always this way. Remember Tom Daschle? South Dakotans may rue the day when they allowed one party to take over with vise-like power. 

Remember that Jason Ravnsborg came very close to not being impeached. We had to breathe a sigh of relief on that one. But so very close. 

T. Denny Sanford has some very important cover with his known partisan reputation. Stop and think for a moment: What if T. Denny Sanford was a well-known benefactor for political causes on the left? What if he was remindful of George Soros? Soros is the total boogeyman for the political right wing. His name is code for everything that the Trump crowd reviles. Such simplistic thinking, if nothing else. Anti-Semitic? That may play in also. 

But let's imagine that Sanford was in fact a Soros-like figure who championed such causes. How would that reputation have affected the reaction to suspicions of his despicable behavior? Let's make clear we're talking about accessing child pornography. The political right goes nuts when assailing judges or Supreme Court nominees who have given out sentences that appear on the more lenient end. Let's consider the newest member of the court, Ketanji Brown Jackson. 

The background you need to know, is that judges in general sentence on the more lenient end for the kind of misconduct we're talking about here. The reason is this: the laws on such matters were passed in the days when accessing the prohibited material was much harder. The big change of course came with the development of the Internet. 

Karl Rove gave some essential background on this. I'm pleased to be quoting someone associated with the political right, in case you feel I'm unreasonably biased the other way. Rove explained that being on a computer "gives you the illusion of anonymity." 

You might want to cry out "that's no excuse." In principle you're right. But think of basic human realities. There's a good chance that you the reader have looked up some things with the convenience and ease of your computer that you would not readily admit. It might be basic porn. The concept of porn has been turned upside down by our new age. It used to be "underground." It kept that stigma for a time in the early days of the 'Net. It then went through one of those inexorable changes wrought by the 'Net. The 'Net insists we follow along. "You have to follow the bouncing ball and sing along." 

So porn got consolidated on certain master sites like Porn Hub where it became pretty clear you could go and watch stuff without "stumbling" onto something that could get you in prison. Prior to this development, I literally held off on acquiring my own computer, because I feared "stumbling." Maybe I'd seek a little standard porn, as nearly all of us do, and end up with something else. 

 

Base impulses

Young men fell victim to the "anonymity problem" as cited by Rove, and began showing up on camera for Chris Hansen and his TV exposes. And of course what the boys/men did was despicable. The problem is the ease in crossing the old lines. And yes, couple that with the "dark side" that so many of us have. Christian preachers would tell you about this. The old "fire and brimstone" sermons were borne of this. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. 

Shall we lock up all the guys who showed up for Chris Hansen? Do this kind of sting in all major cities? It's embarrassing for humanity. Plus wouldn't we need to build new prisons all over the place, bankrolled by our tax dollars? The offenders need a really good scare - let them be on their way and say a prayer. And for God's sake, give underage kids firm direction on how to manage their online life. The basic principle of "beware of strangers." 

People who find access to child porn simply for the purpose of looking at it, probably don't need the maximum kind of punishment. I don't know if T. Denny is guilty or not as an absolute fact. I will suggest by way of opinion that he is. And that if he were not, he wouldn't rely on lawyers speaking legalese so much. Or on court pronouncements that merely state he "didn't commit a prosecutable offense in South Dakota." Oh, the legal people and their massaging of the English language. Such masters. 

 

Close your eyes, imagine

I would suggest that poor T. Denny would be absolutely hung out to dry, raked over the coals by the Bill O'Reillys of the world, if he had a track record of giving $ to left-of-center political interests. Hoo boy. 

Child molestation is a cousin to the kind of offense we're talking about here. O'Reilly became so fanatical on that, he suggested that the guilty parties are not even entitled to defense attorneys. I remember him trying to "corner" a defense attorney or two. That was with his "ambush" style. 

(Didn't O'Reilly eventually reveal his own "beast" within?)

Of course, the problem with all the right wing histrionics about molestation and related offenses, is that they sure seem quiet when it comes to the Catholic Church. Josh Hawley has a record of restraint when it comes to the Catholic Church. Expedience? But watch Hawley sink his teeth into any new Democratic-nominated Supreme Court justice! What a tangled web we weave when partisan motives and money enter in. 

 

Cut to the chase

Would I want to come down hard on T. Denny Sanford? I am in the opposite political camp from him. It does not matter. As you've consumed the many recent news articles about T. Denny and his travails, I am going to guess you all know exactly what is going on. This is never stated as such in the articles - the articles are full of lawyer-speak. "No prosecutable offenses." Especially not for a "Scrooge McDuck" like T. Denny, wink. 

We all know the guy is very old. We should not speak with prejudice about that. But you probably know that old people are not that intuitive about making all the changes associated with the Internet age. I'm 68 and I struggle myself. I have become astute enough to realize that if I want to look at a little porn, I'll go to "Porn Hub." I finally got my own computer, a laptop. 

T. Denny Sanford perhaps let his dark side get the best of him. He lacked astute-ness. No cardinal sin there. And if he was not involved in the production of the despicable material - if he simply observed - well then I'd say just scare the hell out of him to make sure he doesn't do it again. And if he does, maybe just take away his Internet privileges. The prison is no place for someone like him. Just start taking away some of his privileges, or more effective yet, his money! There is more than one way to skin a cat. 

Republicans will reserve their harshest, most holier-than-thou judgment for the Democrat-appointed judges/justices. 

What a strange world we have allowed to develop around us, n'est-ce pas? Tom Daschle, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you?

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

"We hardly knew ye?" U's Joan Gabel is departing

Fit for Pittsburgh, Joan Gabel (WDIO image)

I saw a school bus making its rounds this morning (Tuesday) as I headed home from Caribou Coffee. So it was clear that school was starting on schedule, despite more problematic weather. 

The roads are slippery. Maybe we should just let the kids stay home. Life goes on in Minnesota even with the weather adversity that is dealt us. It's beyond acceptable norms now. 

I'm sure that a few MACA baseball and softball games have been appearing on the schedule. So futile. Taking a look at the news, well, we see considerable attention given to our esteemed University of Minnesota. Our UMM is the jewel in the crown, as you well know. 

Twice I took the trouble to attend sessions where we could meet and interact with Joan Gabel. I confess to having had some prejudice about her because she came here after five years in South Carolina, a state where my negative prejudices cannot be tamped down. You only need look at Lindsey Graham. Look, if Graham were to simply disappear from the picture, a perfectly intelligent and reasonable conservative Republican could be elected to replace him. 

People have trouble weighing reasonable alternatives sometimes. We accept the status quo so readily, a status quo that would have us assume that the oddball Sen. Graham will appear on "Face the Nation" periodically. So many of these long-established pols who get their palms greased by special interests could easily just exit the picture. Exit the picture and make way for replacements who can see the true interests of the American people so much more clearly. 

 

Oh to see it happen

I have fantasized about George Stephanopoulos concluding an interview with Sen. Graham as follows: a couple of seconds of intense eye contact, followed by "should Americans be concerned about your personal mental health?" The governor of Graham's state of South Carolina has committed for the Republican nomination for president. Nikki Haley is a conservative Republican. Ought to make Graham and conservatives in general proud. But oh no, Graham is joined at the hip with Donald Trump. 

Graham has even hinted that violence might be the proper reaction to Trump's indictment. The violence of Jan. 6 has certainly not sunk in with Republicans in general. Our former state representative out here in Flyoverland, Jeff Backer - he now represents a different area - voted against condemning the violence of Jan. 6. 

The Upper Midwest is supposed to be more sensible, more sane as it were, than the Deep South states like South Carolina. South Carolina was the first state to secede for the U.S. Civil War. But look at the Dakotas now. Remember when Tom Daschle of South Dakota was a leading pol up in this neck of the woods? It's practically an extinct species now: Democrats of note in the Dakotas. Gone with the wind or whatever. 

I spoke briefly with Ms. Gabel twice in her visits to Morris. The first time, she was under consideration for being the U head. The visit went pleasantly enough. It began in the cafe area of Oyate, whatever it's called, and it was informal. 

I was all set with something to say: I mentioned to her that in contrast with South Carolina, she wouldn't need to deal with hurricanes here! True, but as it turned out she was dealt some pretty significant issues. Maybe she should have condemned Steve Sviggum after his awkward - that's the best you can say about it - comments about our Morris campus. 

"Too diverse." Heavens to Betsy. 

BTW I got to campus via bicycle for Gabel's first visit. I got no email heads-up about how campus security would not be issuing parking violations. You need a permit out there, and I don't go there really often enough to justify getting a permit. I so often bike or walk. But Gabel's first visit was on a frigid winter day. All my life I have been intrepid so I hopped on bike. I am now 68 years old, have to re-think some things. 

Gabel's second visit here was to the LaFave House. Do I have to get into how I questioned the whole LaFave House project? I'll pass on that. I will mention that any time you're at an important gathering there, you hear people saying "excuse me" constantly as they mix - it is cramped, claustrophobic. Ill-suited actually, IMHO. 

So, that house was the first place where the concept of UMM was ever mentioned? It's legend. How do we know it didn't happen at a local barber shop? Maybe there's a little chutzpah? No more thoughts on that now. 

 

Rarefied air, yes

Gabel approached me at her second visit, having apparently forgotten me from her first, and I smiled and said "pleased to meet you." I forgot to mention my own name to her. Maybe I'm intimidated by being around such prestigious academic people. I wore a suit coat. Kind of neat to pretend on that one day that I can actually mix with such important people connected to the U. 

I enjoy my friendly relationship with Neil Schmidgall and other local Apostolics even though I don't like how they so reflexively support Donald Trump and other Republicans. This is certainly my assessment from just "getting around." On a purely personal level I like so many of them very much. I wish they'd moderate a little politically. Only in a dream world maybe. 

 

Worth the bother?

I can't help at the present time feeling a little embarrassment having paid so much attention to Gabel when she came here, because now I feel a little betrayed. The sudden announcement of her leaving, for Pittsburgh out east, has me feeling she never had her heart in being here. She would deny that certainly. 

And not only is she leaving, we now have a search process for a new chancellor here at UMM. We are justifiably confused over whether the Crookston head ever had any impact here. A supposed insider commented on my blogs that there was no such impact from that person. So, was Gabel the person who gave the Crookston person the title of "executive chancellor of the University of Minnesota-Morris?" 

It was reported this way with emphasis on KFGO Radio of Fargo. It was reported when the Crookston person was a finalist for the NDSU head position. She did not get it. 

Janet Schrunk-Ericksen

I must ask a painfully obvious question now: Is there any reason why Janet Schrunk Ericksen could not just continue as UMM's leader? She sure strikes me as sincere and insightful. Expert on "old English," you should know. I asked her if this meant Charles Dickens and she said "older." I can't even follow the original Charles Dickens. 

So we're into this ballyhooed search process for a new UMM chancellor, who will accomplish what, exactly? I mean, if the mission of UMM remains un-tweaked, what's gonna happen? We've been hemorrhaging students, from 2017 to now. This is what got Regent Sviggum all excited. Why did he feel he needed to speak out, to stick his neck out, when any public statements about this should have been made by Gabel? 

Did Gabel herself have a vision for UMM that would solve enrollment? Or was she too busy with her Securian responsibilities? Why can't the Gophers men's basketball team be performing a little better, if nothing else? Look at the glory achieved by Iowa women's basketball. It would be a nice consolation if Gophers athletics could be creating a mania now and then. Instead it seems we have a raft of troubling issues. Crime around the Twin Cities campus, a mediocre food service, various other matters. 

But what we're focused on here in Morris is the long-term viability of our campus. Are any concrete proposals coming forward to address this? We shouldn't have to wait for the end of a hot-air "search process." 

I wish to conclude on a positive note. I have been unsure if I'm still considered a member of the U's "President's Club," or if I'd have to keep making new $ injections. I got an email from the President's Club just in the last couple days, addressing me as "President's Club member." Glory hallelujah! Seriously, I really do appreciate it. And I actually made a four-figure contribution to the U of M Foundation in December. These are always with the idea of honoring my late parents Ralph and Martha Williams. Me? Mongo just pawn in game of life. 

I'll share here an email I sent to a fellow UMM advocate Warrenn Anderson a couple of days ago. It does get a little inside baseball.

 

Hello Warrenn - First of all I'm feeling fine.

Had KFGO Radio on just now, got significant news of Joan Gabel leaving U! 

My, not a very long tenure here. The news report says her tenure was marked by controversy. But such a short tenure. One reservation I always had about her was that she came here from South Carolina so I guess I'm a little prejudiced against that state. The state of Lindsey Graham. Even with Nikki Haley announcing for president, Graham can't find it in himself to support her, he's in lock step with Trump. Strange times. South Carolina was first state to secede from the Union.

Trump's attorney says the mug shot would be "theatrics." I laugh because that's always a last-ditch argument around court proceedings - when all else fails, say the other side just wants "theatrics."

A grand jury can indict a ham sandwich.

Wait'll the Georgia case gets going. One wrinkle there, is that I think it could involve others besides Trump, like Lindsey Graham himself. Would Graham turn himself in? Will the military have to get involved?

And ol' Jack Smith - you don't want to mess with him.

This incredible weather has me thinking that my push for the inflatable cover for Big Cat Field is quite spot-on. Am I the first to really push for this, or have there been some private conversations? If you are privy, maybe you could let me know. Has anyone looked into the feasibility?

My own photo at entry to our cherished campus

I have been getting lots of emails from UMM on the search process for chancellor. I think at one point I was solicited to be involved but I'm not sure on that - I just scan lots of emails. I remember when Jason Lina was on the search committee and that was when Rodney Hanley was chosen. He quickly withdrew. I emailed Maura Lerner of the Star Tribune so she could write about Hanley's withdrawal. I'm sure you know that Hanley did not stay at Fisk University. I believe he's at Lake Superior State or some such place. I had brief contact with him, found him to be likeable. I wrote a blog post with perhaps an inflammatory headline about how Hanley may have withdrawn because of racial or political harassment. That would have resulted from a full page interview feature with Hanley for the University Register newspaper. It has been a while but I believe he talked about his adopted children of color. 

That University Register feature was exhibit 'A' of what the "Northstar" publication kids hated, and they were soooo incendiary. I still don't believe UMM put up with it, I don't think they had to.

If what I wrote was patently false, someone should have contacted me and asked me to delete the post. No one did. Was there any conventional wisdom about why Hanley withdrew, because this was highly irregular. And he was not blackballed for what he did, because he got the new job. That's at least strange.

Another late spring. Like the guy said a couple years ago, "we're getting a 500-year flood every three years."

- BW

 

I think I'd better post here a link to the post I wrote about the Hanley withdrawal, a post that had the heading "Was Hanley harassed for racial/political reasons?" It was posted on May 19, 2016. It reports that his adopted children of color were from Africa. And, that he frowned on certain political views that he considered regressive in today's America. Ought to be tame fodder, really, but that's just me. Here's the link:

https://ilovemorris73.blogspot.com/2016/05/was-hanley-harassed-for-racialpolitical.html

 

I'll share here too, an email I received from a friend this morning pertaining to our weather. I had posed him the Minnesota-speak question "did you order this weather?" Hackneyed, yes.

Yes, I did order this weather. I was getting nostalgic for the winter of ‘68-‘69, when there was so much snow that driving the streets of Morris was like driving through tunnels. Remember the orange Styrofoam balls people put on their radio antennae in order to be easier seen at intersections? One of the scariest car rides I was ever in was that winter when Scott Groth picked me up in his Volkswagen Beetle to go up to the school for something, and I found out he didn’t believe in the cautionary driving methods in town. His MOA was to retain a brisk speed but beep his horn as he went through the intersections. 

Brrr . . .scary.

 

Trying school in vain

School was in fact called today. What did it cost to send the school buses around this morning?

As my old newspaper colleague Ron Lindquist would say at the end of his columns: "Til' next week, Brooker, wherever you are." I might post again before that, because I'm kept indoors by the ridiculous weather. Oh, to take a nice walk of a couple miles. I am settling down after my recent surgery for a bowel obstruction. God bless Dr. Sam.

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

It's April 1 with no shortage of significant news

We definitely must be concerned (youtube image)

So it's April 1, a day which through most of my life has been associated with pulling pranks. But today we have very little of that tradition, probably because we have gotten so serious. Or litigious. That wipes things out pretty quickly. 

I remember a well-known prank pulled on a local gentleman with initials K.K. at a local diner. Something about a huge winning lottery ticket. Which was fake of course. He picked up the tab for his buddies that day, so giddy was he. The prankster was among the buddies. 

The target of the prank ended up not exactly humor-filled, the story goes. 

So, the media backs off these days in reminding us of the tradition. I remember the Martin twins, Sharon and Sheila, coming into the Met Lounge on the eve of April Fool's Day with noisemakers to usher in the day of foolery. No better sense of humor could one find. But to repeat: people are more serious today.

 

News gets close to home

The passing trains through Morris do not seem as routine now. We have had this rash of derailments. We should be whistling past the graveyard some. The incident in East Palestine OH was the first eye-opener. Then we heard of more of same. We might have thought, "oh, this is the sort of thing that happens 'someplace else.' " 

The "someplace else" thinking probably happened as the Catholic priest scandal unraveled. "Oh, that's out in Boston." I can illustrate: We had our local Catholic priest come in to the paper office and vent anger at a syndicated cartoon we published. Yes the cartoon came across as an indictment of the Catholic Church. Eventually we got the movie "Spotlight," lest you have any doubt. 

So the local priest with hand-wringing histrionics said the cartoon misled the locals because surely this problem would not happen here. Let's not mistake our bucolic setting for Boston. We're different here, right? Not so. Eventually a misbehaving priest was discovered here and he had to be whisked away. He was delicately spirited away, our law enforcement people said to us, "for his own safety." 

And now we can make a parallel observation of how catastrophic train derailments are not confined to the eastern U.S. Why should they be? We awoke on Thursday to the news of a derailment by Raymond. A friend who has family connections there assured me by email that "everyone was safe." Nice to hear that, naturally, but what about long-term environmental consequences? I seriously doubt we are out of the woods on that. 

My God, what if this had happened right in or around our Morris? Doesn't it cross your mind that the consequences would be catastrophic for property values? And how would you feel if you were impacted this way? Would you suddenly start waving your arms and wondering why government could not have had more regulations in place? But we had a hardcore "conservative" president for four years for whom regulations were anathema. 

Trump said "I had nothing to do with that," if you even care to pay attention to his comments anymore, from this man who had such a hard time controlling his sexual urges. Given that he wanted to be president, couldn't he have just found contentment with his wife Melania instead of going after porn stars and Playboy models, and then paying them? 

It's "Alice Through the Looking Glass" in that I would expect true conservatives to be revulsed by this man. My late uncle the Glenwood banker, he of the Goldwater cigars in 1964 - he showed them to us - would be revulsed almost to the point of fainting. "What kind of world have we entered," he might ask. He was not even fond of George W. Bush based on the proclivity for foreign military intervention. Conservatives should have universally rejected that. 

But conservatives have been floundering so hopelessly of late, trying to find their real voice. So many have gravitated to Trump for reasons they probably don't even understand. It's like people in the church choir following their director - they have chosen to follow certain voices from conservative media. The people leading conservative media are probably not following their own heart or their own soul. They have merely "tested the waters" and found certain buttons that they couldn't resist pushing. 

For a while this meant supporting the Iraq invasion and roundly condemning anyone who doubted it. The war skeptics were chided with insulting language - you know the words. But then, as Trump fumbled along trying to be president, he happened upon this novel idea that maybe foreign military intervention really sucks. And lo and behold, his vast following did a 180 and decided "war is bad." 

Laura Ingraham of Fox News came forward and said she was "retracting" her support for the Iraq war (invasion). Laura, you can't do that. 

You readers probably don't remember, but Laura and Tucker Carlson both had dead ends with previous gigs in cable news. For sure you don't remember Ingraham's show called "Watch It!" Carlson has struck me as a phony from Day 1, a guy who just likes saying whatever it takes to get an audience. 

(Trump said he had "nothing to do" with more lax regulations, but of course he would not be the one doing this, it would be an appointee. And now Janet Yellen says the Trump administration "decimated" financial oversight. But he's on your side with the green M&Ms I suppose.) 

 

Daniels gave Trump a hard-on (the scottish sun)

No surprise here

So it's April 1, 2023, and what's the big news? You can open your laptop in the morning, cup of coffee beside you, and know for sure how the headlines are going to scream at you. What hath God wrought! 

The media assaults us with the frenzied histrionics around Trump, a guy who cut his teeth as an entertainer on TV. He would have gone nowhere without that grounding. Instead he cornered a certain fixed-in-stone base of people who call themselves conservative, and then the other Republican candidates of whom there were 16, divided the remaining primary votes which ushered Trump into the nomination. 

We have all been spellbound since, as if it's like this "siren song" in "The Odyssey." I've given up waiting for us all to extricate ourselves. It's a siren song. 

How to tell your kids, about how Trump got in trouble with Stephanie Clifford (Stormy Daniels) or Karen McDougal? We are starting to hear more about the latter now, Karen. So men might salivate looking at photos of the two, preferably photos from when they were in their "prime" with sexiness. So let's objectify women a little more. That is supposed to be a terrible thing to do. 

McDougal gave Trump a hard-on too

Most of us have looked down on "porn" for most of our lives. But so many of us want to shrug about Trump wanting to shop around for the best sex possible, in his mind, and what better place to look than in porn? 

"Porn Hub" has really become pretty mainstream. So mainstream it has been parodied on "The Onion" humor site. "Are these really certified stepmothers?" 

In my childhood, this would be mind-boggling. My late uncle and his wife might be turning over in their graves. They are buried at the "Williams" family plot at Glenwood Lutheran Cemetery. You'll see a big master slab with "Williams" on it. Makes me proud. 

The big news as of Friday is that Trump is indicted. Why the big deal? Do any of you really think it's going to be hard proving legal wrongdoing? The hammer is set to come down on other cases as well, like with this Jack Smith in charge. Boy, you wouldn't want to cross that guy. 

We cannot risk having Trump become president again, for any number of reasons. After all the help we've given to Ukraine, Trump would cause a 100 percent turnabout and then we'd be on Russia's side. Trump has such a convivial relationship with Putin. Can we allow this? What if Russia continues its military adventurism right into Europe? Eventually we'd have no choice but to react like we reacted to Nazi Germany. History repeats itself. Or it at least rhymes. 

Let's pray against that, and also against more episodes of catastrophic train derailments. It's April 1, the old "April Fool's Day," with outside weather looking like anything but that date on the calendar. The Martin twins might not be so giddy ushering in April this year. Oh but you can't keep those two down.

Happy to wind down this post with a little levity. 

We heard thunder on Friday. Today (Saturday), the snowplows seem slow in getting out, at least out in my neck of the woods. But snow is supposed to melt fast in April, right?

 

Back in the swing

My medical-induced hiatus from writing has been followed by a period of time where I am perhaps posting on my sites too often. I think this is because we have all been "cooped up" due to the weather, and it'd be nice to shake things up with a nice walk out to the bike trails. Let my mind escape a little. Sharon will probably be out there before the change in weather.

I share Sharon's zest for being outside. And my God, how big is the gap going to get between winter and spring high school sports seasons? Mercy! If we had an inflatable cover for the Big Cat playing field, that would solve soooo much.

Sharon has joked about her "evil twin sister." That be Sheila. I hope to see the eldest Martin girl Edith back in Morris this summer for the MHS Class of 1973 50th reunion. We graduated when Richard Nixon was president.

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