Troubled community, troubled church, troubled USA

The Norman Rockwell ideal

Wednesday is Thanksgiving eve. It's a stepping-off point for the Christmas holiday season. We used to have a community Thanksgiving meal at the Catholic Church, was a grand event for a long time. What happened? Well, what happened to Prairie Pioneer Days? We no longer deem community events as being worthy of continuing. People "get away to the lake" in summer and "go to the Cities" for outings the rest of the year. 

People associated with UMM can be so transitory. I question whether it's good to even get to know these people. We had two choir directors at First Lutheran Church over the past few years who were a delight to get to know, then "poof" they're gone. UMM is like a way station for these people - fine in the short term because of a lack of options at the time. Then they move on. 

I used to think it was OK to start listening to Christmas music right after Thanksgiving. Later I moved the timetable later. Is there less Christmas spirit now? The Christian faith is not so dominant now. The Christian faith is being tossed and turned by what has happened in politics. That trend never abates. 

My church of First Lutheran was very up-front in showing sympathy for the Palestinian people for a long time. While I would not put this forward as a high priority for church, I would not really object to it. I mean, if facts clearly show the Palestinians are suffering because of Israel, there ought not be countering of facts. None of us should feel content about the persecution of a people. Or am I off-base here? 

The turbulence surrounding Israel creates arguments that are unresolvable. I wish Israel would just go away. Why are so many of us so eager to have a bond with a religious-based nation, the "Jewish state?" Oh, I'm anti-Semitic, am I? Not only am I not anti-Semitic, I don't understand what the basis for anti-Semitism is. Only in vague terms might I understand that, like with the idea that Jewish people are good with money? They're very smart and ambitious? They value education? Is it the naive part of me that asks "aren't these in fact good traits?" 

I have written previously that I would love to be accepted as a "Jewish intellectual." There is a cynical but very honest base to their thinking, rather in line with how I am reputed to think. I love honesty, candor and a keen insight. Thus we see Jews engaging in satirical humor a lot. Yours truly appreciates the attitude. But I cannot accept the religious nation-state of Israel. 

I agree fully with the late famous journalist Helen Thomas, a pioneer for her gender, who said of the Jews of Israel that they should "go home." "Go back to Europe," she pleaded. 

 

Adjustment?

I am guessing that some of my fellow congregants at First Lutheran have insisted that we at least tone down our sympathy for the Palestinians. I would guess there's a push to eliminate that priority of ours. Maybe it's already too late and we've lost even more viability. It's challenging enough that we are in the ELCA which has gone through great adversity generated by gay rights. 

What about gay rights? I think most of us think reasonable gay rights is most defensible. Just on the basic moral criterion. We want fairness and non-discrimination. But the issue surfaced and "metastasized" at one time. Became an overzealous cause? Well, such I am implying. 

We are all being judged. Gays are not perfect people just as none of us are perfect. They can "come out of the closet" but they can also make an effort to blend in with the rest of us. 

I will wager we don't hear any more pro-Palestinian thoughts at my First Lutheran Church. I could be wrong so I shouldn't wager. It has gotten so bad now that if you espouse any sympathy for the Palestinian people, there are people out there who will point fingers and call you "terrorist sympathizers." 

People my age are sick of hearing about Israel and its problems. 

The muppets' take

Tomorrow night (Wednesday) is one of those rare occasions where my First Lutheran will have a joint event with Faith Lutheran. These are the two ELCA Lutheran churches in town. The separate churches would never be created today. But the two are working to survive today in a time when the ELCA has lost so much ground. We are "liberal" or so the image gets presented. And I guess we are, based on how most of rural western Minnesota has taken on the tone of conservatism or beyond conservatism. 

Our congressperson is going to be primaried "from the right." Do not bet against any Republican that mounts a challenge from the right. Any Republican's biggest fear is being challenged from the right. 

So we have the challenge here from a guy who openly talks down Michelle Fischbach, who herself is an election denier, or who has at least shown behavior that would indicate she's an election denier. She voted against certifying the 2020 election results. And that's not good enough by the standards of western Minnesota now? So we're an extension of the Dakotas? 

Fischbach's challenger says the incumbent has done certain things merely for "keeping her job," the insinuation goes. So I take that to mean Fischbach might work across the aisle just a little sometimes. I mean, for the sake of getting things done for the people. That objective has to be figured in sometimes IMHO. But the steamroller of MAGA makes itself felt increasingly. "Nationwide abortion ban." That sort of thing. And this must sell from the pulpit of most Stevens County churches. 

 

Schools, pay heed

Again, our public schools should stop designating Wednesday as church night, if the objective of church now is pure politics. Pure right wing politics or MAGA politics. Open up Wednesdays for regular school activities like sports and music. Oh what a breath of fresh air that would be. 

Pastors are learning that it's risky to quote Jesus Christ himself sometimes, like from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus could sound a little Bernie Sanders-ish sometimes. Most people out here are more infuriated by that than anything. 

Republicans like Mike Lee want a literal end for Social Security. So what's to become of older Americans? To be taken care of hopefully by their adult children? That is how it used to be. Senior citizens used to live in fear. So we want to resurrect that? Is this what the older parishioners of our western Minnesota churches really want? Do you think Lee really cares about you? Or might his priority be to keep taxes low for wealthy Americans, for multi-national corporations? Wink. Don't you see? Well, I don't think you do. 

Most of you are still so upset over gay rights, you have allowed our ELCA churches to almost die - you flock instead to churches like Good Shepherd. And because this is an issue you have never been able to handle, you have signed on to the whole Steve Bannon agenda. I see no reversal in these trends out here. 

So for that reason, I am feeling zero Christmas spirit in 2023. I have had a good life. I am prepared for the U.S. as we've known it to devolve into a full-on Fascist dictatorship. You all seem to want this. You may vote out Michelle Fischbach. I'll just try to get by for as long as I can.

 

Addendum: So the Pentagon cannot account for $3.8 trillion? Where did the money go? And yet if I ask for an appointment with a dietician when I visit SCMC today, I may end up getting a letter from Medicare saying the claim is denied. Well, this is the kind of USA you apparently want, even you older Americans who need some assistance. Just keep waving your MAGA flags. Go get those "libs." You are lemmings.

 

Addendum #2: I must have guessed five times at spelling of "metastasizing" before I looked it up.

 

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

Photo reminds of the caregiving/watchfulness

Bittersweet to look at the photo above. Shows my late father Ralph as he was coming down the home stretch of life. Maybe taken at Prairie Pioneer Days? I was made aware of the photo just recently. The person who shared it says it's from a YouTube post called "Morris Minnesota - Our Town." He said it's about 15 years old. So yes my father had entered the final stages of life. You see me in photo getting close to communicate with him, something I did for both Mom and Dad. I was probably unaware of the photo being taken. Pleasant surprise to see it now, although yours truly doesn't look the best. That's OK. I probably had untreated diabetes for a long tine. 

 

Both my parents lived out their lives at our Northridge Drive residence. Both passed away at home with me very close by. Mom had a stay of about five weeks in a nursing home toward the end: in Barrett. Dad never stayed in a nursing home although looking back, he certainly had to have been considered. 

I have abundant time to reflect now. I realize I was taking more risks than I realized - risks that something bad could happen to my parents where I might be suspected of negligence. People around age 90 become so frail and vulnerable. Dad was 96 when he died, Mom 93. Mom nearly made it to 94. So both of them did very well on balance. 

I remember one day our church nurse called to sort of feel me out on how things were going. She wanted confirmation of whether my parents were getting enough to eat. Well without a doubt they were, so in a very relaxed way I tried explaining that to her. Mom got thin toward the end and it wasn't for lack of available food. At the very end of her life I was getting a chicken spread sandwich from the Willie's deli almost daily. I knew she would eat that, or at least half of it. She'd hand me the other half and I would object to no avail. So I'd finish it for her. 

A diet with "variety" for Mom would have been ideal on principle. Only in principle. She avoided eating many things, for example ham. We'd be at a funeral where ham buns were served. I did get a little upset at her reluctance. I'd be thinking "Mom it's free food." But I had to accommodate her. 

Both my parents liked cold cereal in the morning and that made my job pretty routine. Dad liked Raisin Bran while Mom had regular bran flakes. My parents were loyal to our now-defunct Morris Senior Citizens Center for many years. So that most certainly took care of lunch except for Saturday and Sunday. Soup and sandwiches often did the job for the evening meal. I liked to get canned pears and peaches too. 

 

A throwback?

So we had a "church nurse" back then. I was questioning the need for such a thing even then. While I spoke pleasantly with this person, I was a little taken aback by the phone call. The only "nurses" we need are those working with our health care system IMHO. Nurses who come forward from churches can come across as busybodies. 

Our home hospice nurse said of Mom that she maybe had a distended stomach. Mom did in fact have a variety of health issues which I guess should have concerned me, worried me more than they did. And I say that from the standpoint of looking out for my own interests. Not that that was top-of-mind. In fact I'm only realizing now that it was not a paramount concern of mine. 

I realized that my parents would want to stay in our precious home indefinitely. I was able-bodied and able to look over them quite well. But nobody lives forever. Many of us break down in ways that call for extraordinary intervention. In Mom's case, five weeks or so at the Barrett facility. I was a little unhinged for some of that time, frustrated over how her condition had come to that, wondering what all I could do, if anything. 

 

Resliience

Mom always claimed she was a "tough Swede." So I figure that's how she climbed out of that calamity and was able to come back home for a full year in fact. God bless Knute Nelson Home Hospice.

Dad as seen in UMM's first year

Because I lived full time with both parents, I had a hard time noticing their rate of decline. I saw them all the time. I do know I should have acquired a wheelchair sooner. It's tough to accept that, but you need to be tough and take the step, i.e. the loss of pride your parents might feel. Obviously I should have ignored that thought. 

But a wheelchair did eventually come on the scene, first for Dad and then after his passing, for Mom, who used to be "famous" for her rapid gate as she crossed the UMM campus doing business as the campus post office manager. 

Ah, the days of mail before electronic communications! Imagine living without electronic communications. Young people might ask "how did you do it?" To which people my age say "we just did." 

Our wheelchair was actually a "transport," the kind with the small wheels where someone else does the propelling. My father never took to a walker.

Mom lost strength after a bout of pneumonia. She lost mental sharpness at the same time. A loss of mental sharpness can show itself in many ways with variance of severity and consistency. 

People who thought Mom's condition was really grave should have been around her at about 10 a.m. when she was pretty relaxed and lucid. Then I learned the term "sundowning." Because Mom quite definitely showed the condition, apparently common among the elderly: restlessness and unease toward the end of the day. Then in the tranquil morning, everything was quite fine. How exhilarating as I awoke to such mornings. Then the daily "routine" awaited. 

I'm told that when you're in a nursing home, everything is on schedule every day like pill-taking. Same thing at every time each day! 

I remember looking Mom in the eye toward the end of her stay in Barrett, asking her if she wanted to go home or to maybe stay longer. She most definitely responded "yes" on going home but at the same time, said she'd miss all the people at Barrett. I'd miss them too. But spending a lot of time in a nursing home is a difficult thing because of the deteriorating and precarious condition of so many. Well that's the way it is - that's why we have nursing homes. I have suggested that it's impossible to present a comfortable life for so many of these people. 

My biggest concern about Mom staying longer in Barrett was that she'd refuse food because she had objections to so many kinds of food. The "variety" in the dining room was great in theory, not advantageous for Mom. I knew if I brought her home, I would carefully select certain food items where I knew the odds were high she would eat, like the chicken spread sandwiches from Willie's. And only half the sandwich. She would eat a Hostess cupcake if I offered it. 

 

Inevitability

In the end despite our best efforts, our bodies do fail us. It's just a question of when and how. Caregivers take substantial risk because we'll have to answer for everything we did. Maybe I knew the risk but forged ahead anyway. So I figured "if you want to blame me for something, go ahead. I'll be at your mercy, I don't care." 

 

The legacy

I keep the memory of my parents alive with a fund named for them at the University of Minnesota-Morris. Dad was a founding faculty member at UMM and was the only music faculty in the institution's first year. He directed the first-ever UMM concert which was at the Morris armory, where the public library is now. The concert was for Stevens County 4-H. Dad had the band perform his own "UMM Hymn." 

The numbers for band were higher than what the institution expected.

We have a family scrapbook that shows Dad was really kind of a big shot in Twin Cities music in the 1950s.

 

For want of some pills

Mom and Dad could have gotten in trouble because they didn't supervise me well enough. They had a neighbor girl babysit me just once, as I recall. It was Janet Holt. There's a good chance she told my parents I was too much to watch over. 

Today I would be put on behavior meds, no doubt about it. The kind of meds that basically work as a tranquilizer. But such pills weren't a common thing. We lived with each other's shortcomings more. In school the problem kids got "mainstreamed." Get them through the system and hope they can hold their own in the world that awaits. 

Do I resent having been mainstreamed? Well I guess to an extent I do. But I did not get drafted and sent to Vietnam.

 

Signed, sealed, delivered

I recently added a thousand dollars to the Ralph and Martha Williams Fund at UMM. I shared an update on the Fund with a friend:

 

Warmed my heart yesterday to get a nice big envelope in mail "report on endowments from the U." Nice big sheet of paper headlined Ralph and Martha Williams Fund. So we are not forgotten. The principal value as of June 30, 2023, is $30,743. "This fund provides support to the Music Discipline at the University of Minnesota Morris to enhance the experiences and opportunities available. It was established to honor and extend the Williams family's deep ties to the U of M Morris community and generations-long belief in the importance of music."

 

Headwinds

I realize these are not hearty days for our UMM. Quite to the contrary based on available evidence. I feel the school can hang on if for no other reason than it serves the Native Americans. 

The Williams Fund is devoted to music. So I certainly hope that aspect of campus life hangs on. But I do wonder a lot these days. 

 

Hey, the public school too!

I try to be a benefactor for the public school music program too. I owe something to that. I was able to see the world at age 17 thanks to my involvement in music. Was able to perform at Royal Albert Hall, London, England, in summer of '72. It doesn't get more exciting than that. 

I met with our high school band director Wanda Dagen Tuesday afternoon, supporting the planned spring trip with a $ contribution. My plan is to visit the school office on Friday to submit a 4-figure check. Looks like the destination will be New Orleans. I encourage others to chip in, reduce the burden on the kids some of whom might face $ stresses. If we can't help a project like this, what is there?

Wanda said the preferred destination might be Washington D.C. but a problem with that is the possibility of a government shutdown. So many Republicans in Congress (my comment). 

Some people might think I'm contributing because I have some personal affection for Wanda. I can categorically deny that. Well, maybe not categorically.

 

Consider attending the MAHS school musical! Here's the poster. 

 

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

U of M needs nudge to get more fired up?

Ken Powell: not thinking on his feet

It feels odd thinking back to how standards were set so high for my work in my old Sun Tribune days. 

Do you still remember the Sun-Trib name? From the days when the paper published twice weekly? And I was never given a sense that my performance was good enough. 

I remember having a chat with a fellow Morris native who I'd known in school here and was in the newspaper business, Southern Minnesota. This gentleman's name: Seth Schmidt. The two of us played French horn together in school band. 

Seth shared with me a distinguishing trait of having an occupation like ours: "It feels like your work is never done."

I eventually left the Morris paper because too many work pressures were building up. It was an unavoidable decision. My angle for bringing this up today? It is not to make a point about the newspaper/media field. Rather, the point is irony. We in Minnesota have the highly important institution called the University of Minnesota. We have dozed into complacency in the sense we accept unstable or "interim" leadership so much. The periods become extended. 

Common sense suggests that leading the U in an effective, hard-nosed manner is elementary. A person is at the top who should be invested in the mission. The last "permanent" president of the U was permanent in name only IMHO. I shouldn't have to add "IMHO" but it's my old journalist's impulses (cover your back). 

The U board of regents has been through an obvious shakeup which makes us wonder why it came to that. The chief Minnesota newspaper could not come out and say "shakeup" but the conclusion seemed rather to shout at us. A fellow last name of Powell did not pass muster. 

Many of us in Morris were shocked and taken aback when Powell did not have an immediate proper rejoinder to the inappropriate Sviggum comment. Why did Sviggum stick his neck out at all? My, it was because of our little ol' U of M-Morris campus. Called "UMN" now? 

I have said all along that Sviggum had a valid point he wanted to make. But he chose language along the lines of racism - really truly he did - instead of merely talking about how a good idea - diversity - can get gummed up by Byzantine guidelines. 

We're hopeless if we don't all agree that "diversity" is fundamentally good. But we needn't talk about it so much! Or, like academicians are wont to do, "preach" about it. Talk down to the regular people, who really do have more good sense than academics think. 

So all the preaching we once heard emanating from UMM on gay rights caused a backlash. Not that people out here in the hinterlands really want to see gay people in the closet or marginalized. No, it's a matter of personal modesty, how people don't want matters of sex in our faces. 

So I think Sviggum and his constituency would have disapproved of the crusading nature of it all. I have posited that basic gay rights was on its way whether UMM made a fuss out of it or not. 

Torrey Westrom? I think he is totally kin with Sviggum on these matters. 

I will suggest that Sviggum is fundamentally smart and wise. But he sees a college's mission in a different way from many in academia's rarefied air. Let's look at it another way: UMM has shifted its priority toward "grievance majors." Again, is it necessary to assume such a proselytizing tone with the implied suggestion that the outside world needs straightening out? Because, people can obviously be offended by that. Offended more than the academic types might realize. 

Westrom would be more guarded in his words than Sviggum. 

So the U board of regents had some turbulent times. Powell is out. 

The headlines screamed that "Sviggum resigns" but at the time he did not actually resign - I mean he did not resign from the board, and shame on the state's media for misleading us all. Sviggum resigned only as vice chair. 

Powell? He should have felt the immediate obligation to assert that Sviggum's comment on UMM was out of school. Nothing to be taken personally. It simply had to be said. Sviggum could have crafted an appropriate apology, one of those where he says "what I really meant. . ." 

Maybe he ended up saying something like that, I don't recall. I'm not going to hold his comment against him because I think in his own mind, he was oriented in a different way. 

 

UMM and the Natives

Maybe we don't need a collection of policies related to diversity. Well, one very pregnant one at UMM is the free tuition thing for "Native Americans." Surely if the Supreme Court decision on affirmative action is to be interpreted properly, this policy should be immediately overturned, unless it's based on a real "treaty."

If UMM gets a pass on this, how much teeth does the court's decision have? Academic people would be great at doing end runs around such things - sleight of hand with the language, wink. 

We'll probably stick to our status quo here at UMM because it's in line with the "grievance majors." Such majors might have been cute for a time. Times change. 

 

It was anathema

The founders of UMM fought tooth and nail against the idea of a "community college" here, then called "junior colleges." What's in a name? Realistically not very much. But remember the big push by so many colleges to shed the "college" term to become "universities?" They thought the marketing would be more effective, pilgrims. But today? A sage friend of mine asserted that "college" might be a preferred term to "university." 

We'd like to see more activity here

And what of the community college concept? Would that be any less desirable than the state that UMM is in now? 

I'll be blunt: the campus seems almost dormant at times. It's not just me thinking that. I overheard some guys at the restaurant just yesterday. They talked about how we once had students all over the place. They talked about how UMM's athletic teams once seemed so impressive, and how today "we're playing the Little Sisters of the Poor." 

Why in all of God's creation are we having to schedule football games against a little no-name liberal arts school from way down in Missouri? Contradicts basic good sense. Missouri? We used to play the likes of Moorhead State and St. Cloud State and others of that standing. We know all about those places. We had teams that could beat these schools. Our football team beat Northern Iowa. I personally went out to Ithaca NY to cover the Cougars in the NCAA Division III playoffs. 

Maybe we didn't know how good we had it. 

I will share here an email I sent to a friend the other day. It sheds more light:

 

I had my fingers crossed behind my back when I stated that I was done with the U of M Foundation. I will be mailing a $1000 check but I'll mail it to the Twin Cities address, because I don't trust the keystone cops here in Morris. My envelope is all prepared. I do this because blood is thicker than water - it's the family fund. If I get a tax benefit, authorities must assume the $ is going to do some good. If not, we have a lousy system.

In the last 4-5 years I have made a smaller contribution to the WCROC Hort. Garden. I was prepared to do that also, but I just read their fundraising letter that they send out this time of year. Very, very strange: they more or less admit things are going to heck out there and they cite lack of finances as a reason! If you are trying to raise money, don't ever admit that things are going to heck. I could show you the letter if you like. I was pretty well set to write my usual check but now I just can't. I wonder if the letter is more evidence that the U's operations in Morris are really on the skids! What do you think?

 

Public school becomes germane too

Sometimes I get my point across better in emails than straight journalism. So in the spirit of that, I will share also a portion of an email I sent to Mary Holmberg of our public school. There is crossover between the school and UMM with our athletic facilities. I start out talking about my raison e'etre, the media.

 

I won't be able to blog quite as much about Tiger athletics now that Brett Miller has left the radio station. He put a lot of helpful info on the station's website. We don't get any details in the West Central Trib anymore. When the Tigers play a team that the WC Trib covers, we always see "stats not available" for MACA. I have the belief that if our coaches would call in, the paper would accept them and take notes. The Morris paper does not use its website at all for timely MACA sports coverage, instead it's all UMM and I mean almost 100 percent. I find that strange.

That day when I saw you and Mary Ashe outside the softball complex and we talked briefly, that was the day when I began to sense that the complex was not shaping up like I expected. The complex is on my daily walking route.

When I see fans sitting out by the outfield fence, I wonder if this is really where they want to sit. Everyone has to bring their own chairs. This after all the hype of the new "complex?" There's only a small space behind home plate where fans can sit and see whole field.

I feel sorry for fans who try to watch from outside of third base. Not a quality view from there at all. I assume it's the same on the first base side. The old UMM field had a lower fence so an adult of average height could see over the fence from anywhere around the perimeter, as I often did.

I wonder if the new higher fences are required to protect fans from getting struck by hard-hit foul balls? Especially in this age when people are looking down at their phones? Always worries about liability.

I have blogged with great emphasis on how Morris should try to get an inflatable cover for Big Cat Field like St. Cloud State has. If we had that, the softball games could start right after basketball, guaranteed. I think that would be very nice. I have seen the softball Cougars play at Big Cat the way it is now, and I asked my UMM contacts if the high school could do the same. I was told "yes" but I don't know about that. I was surprised how effective Big Cat was for softball, would be neat to see the Tigers there for 2-3 games. Super for fans too!

 

Don't be caught napping

People say I'm "negative" when I really just feel I need to be straightforward. So I'll share further: I notice that the little dirt parking area for the softball complex has a sign at the entry making clear it is to be considered a UMM lot with the permit required. Really? I thought the complex was a joint venture in which UMM was just a partner. But UMM gets to put up this sign which indicates it expects money from people parking there? 

Maybe the revenue should be divvied up some. See? The athletic facilities out by the UMM campus come to be seen as UMM facilities. That's why the "Minnesota Scores" website announces upcoming Tiger football games as being at "UM-Morris." Big Cat is a joint facility. I have inquired with my main UMM contact person about whether MACA softball has equal access to Big Cat in spring. I have seen Cougar games played there very successfully. My contact person replied in the affirmative. What else could this person say? "No, we're stiffing the public school." 

No, I'm not betting that Tiger softball would really have access for spring games when the "complex" has too much snow and mud or whatever. The high school softball season can get compressed down to as little as one month. I am greatly disappointed that our Morris Area school board suckered for the softball complex. The City of Morris at least got smart when the promoters came around asking for more money. The city said "no" and I assume they have stuck to their guns on that. 

 

U should be gung-ho

The U of M needs a leader who steps right in with enthusiasm and a long-term commitment, to work very hard to ensure that UMM has its best mission. The standards for performance ought to be at least as high as for me when I was at the Morris newspaper. Don't hold your breath on that. 

The UMM goalpost incident of 2005 proved to be my downfall at the Morris newspaper. 

I will quote from one more email I sent yesterday:

 

To (name withheld) - Did the Morris paper publish a correction on the spelling of the chancellor's name?

I put check in mail this morning for $1000 to support Ralph and Martha Williams Fund. UMM has an address on the Twin Cities campus and that's where I sent it. Check is made out to U of M Foundation like always.

Maybe the main reason I did this was it increases the odds I'll get a Christmas card from the U. I hardly get any other Christmas greetings, maybe none at all. The last two years, I emailed my cousin Debbie in Hawaii and she did not answer. She's from the family where we got separated from them for many years, due to ugly divorce of parents. My aunt could have gotten killed. Debbie is my age.

Well, at least I send her Xmas message. She is not on the island that had the big fire. I emailed her brother Kenny right away about that.

So if I get a Xmas card from the U, I can prop that up on my main table in the house. That might be the extent of my celebration of Xmas this year. 

However, I am cheering up rapidly because yesterday's elections turned out to be a big loser for the MAGA crowd. I have been waiting for America to get over that. If I see more encouraging signs, I will have a Christmas song recorded next year.

Overheard the gang at DeToy's this morning - Dean Monson et al. - talking about how strange it is that UMM has become so dead. Dean was saying "there used to be students everywhere." I walked over to those guys and told them about how "real" enrollment is only about 500. Dean said our sports teams used to be so impressive, but now "we play the Little Sisters of the Poor." That is very true.

In the letter that I sent today to the U, I included a note about how I hope that the new long-term U president will take a hard look at UMM. It's a nice campus and it ought to amount to something.

I'm getting sick of all this "interim" leadership, both for the U of M and for First Lutheran Church. We haven't even found an interim pastor yet. 

 

Addendum: I don't have a prayer for typing "proselytizing" without having to look up the spelling. Give me five guesses and I still can't nail it. It's the same for "hemorrhaging."

 

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

BBE football flashes offense en route to state!

Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa is making waves in prep sports yet again. Now it's football getting the attention. The Jaguars are in for the state level of play. They took their final step en route to that rarefied air on Friday. 

It was a big day for prep sports at the Fargo indoor facility. Certainly nice to have a roof overhead this time of year, even though weather has been decent. 

So with the Fargodome as the backdrop, those Jaguars went to work with an offense that was again very productive. Fans certainly enjoy offense. An exciting offense has been a trademark of the 2023 BBE gridders. So I'm sure my old newspaper compatriot/friend in Bonanza Valley, Randy Olson, is having lots of fun covering this team. 

I remember getting swept up in post-season excitement in my newspaper days here in Motown. I felt that the sense of excitement bordered on the excessive sometimes. We want the kids to maintain a good sense of perspective. Perhaps there's no issue with this, and maybe the potential issue is with the parents! But right now, let's assume that the whole outlook in Jaguar country is healthy!

What excitement the people have been able to cheer! Those Jaguars rolled forward Friday with a 36-12 win over Upsala/Swanville Area. How fortunate the BBE fans were with the totally accommodating 10 a.m. game time! Here in Morris, our fans had to cope with the quite late time of 8 p.m. (in Fargo) which got pushed even later. Yes, I editorialized some on that. But BBE had it made with kickoff set for mid-morning. 

Waves of cheers came from the BBE turnout as their team churned out points. In the end they could celebrate the 36-12 win by their squad. So the Section 4A title is theirs. Congratulations Randy! 

Football teams were blessed having the dome setting for Friday, so I sort of thought this would be standard henceforth. It is not! We hope the weather stays pleasant for the Jaguars' next game which will be at St. Cloud Apollo. Might the game actually be played at the SCSU facility? I don't know. "Minnesota Scores" just reports "St. Cloud Apollo." 

SCSU has an artificial turf field and it's basically like in Morris. But no roof. I know SCSU has an inflatable cover available to employ. But I don't know if this is practical for an actual football game with fans present. 

BBE is now preparing to face Mayer Lutheran - one of those private schools making state - at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10. Kickoff-time is an acceptable 7 p.m. Good luck to the Jaguars. They were the No. 1 seed at the section level. BBE is in the state quarter-finals for the second time in three seasons. 

 

A QB with impact

My, the BBE quarterback was quite on top of his game. This is Luke Dingmann. Luke was dead-on slinging passes, underscored by numbers of 14 of 17, 216 yards, three touchdowns. His connections went deep. He found paydirt with a 52-yard completion that had Luke Illies on the catching end. The big second quarter play was good for a touchdown and gave the Jags a 20-6 lead. 

Dingmann tossed two TD passes in the opening quarter. First there was a 12-yard scoring strike to Hayden Sobiech. Then Luke tossed a 42-yarder that had Ryan Jensen gathering the ball in. A successful two-point conversion put the Jags up by 14. BBE built its lead to 28-12 when Owen Paulson ran the ball into the end zone from the three. 

The 28-12 score stood for halftime. There was one more touchdown to come: Jack Lundberg scored this with a two-yard burst in the third quarter. Lundberg rushed for 83 yards on the day in 16 carries. 

The BBE defense earned credit too. The Jags forced three turnovers by the Patriots of Upsala/Swanville. BBE coach Chris Moscho cited his team's defense as "huge." 

Hey, the Jags are undefeated on the season! What a plum if they can finish things up that way. Mayer Lutheran comes out of Section 2A. 

Coach Moscho described QB Dingmann with the superlative "phenomenal" (in comments to the West Central Tribune). Dingmann was the top ballcarrier, grinding out 92 yards in 14 carries. BBE had 436 total yards. Illies had three pass catches for 63 yards. The Patriots' final record is 8-2.

Congrats to the BBE Jaguars! (facebook image)

 

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

"Now and Then" emphasizes the "then"

It's time to remember the tongue-in-cheek quote "nostalgia isn't what it used to be." 

At the same time we'll be reminded that this quote is not from Yogi Berra. Berra according to legend said, "that restaurant is so crowded, nobody goes there any more." 

Berra was made into a caricature because of one or two malaprops he may have uttered - no big deal really. But certain people like Joe Garagiola seized on that, built upon it, used it to create this image of Berra spouting such stuff routinely. Berra seemed to have mixed thoughts about this. He didn't really fight it. At times he openly went along with it. He eventually said "I didn't say half the things I said," giving yet another example of Yogi-isms, I'm sure intentionally. Or is it possible this was another "invented" quote? It's all quite harmless. It's just entertainment, which is what baseball is. 

Ralph Kiner was a source of real malaprops. I find these most funny as they're real. 

So on nostalgia, how about the flood of attention once again for "The Fab Four," the Beatles? I am age 68, a perfect candidate for being taken in by this. So I admit: I am paying considerable attention. Music defies any kind of scientific analysis. This in an age when science purports to explain everything. 

Music begs us to feel nostalgia. The many "ear worm" hits from over time get lodged in our minds, associated with time periods in our lives. The Beatles had remarkable talent, especially John Lennon. If Lennon thought he had the veto power in his collaboration with McCartney, I think that was totally justified. I think if Paul's "Uncle Albert" song had been a Beatles song with Lennon in charge, it would have been better. It would have been more hard-edged. Lennon would not have allowed some of the stupid gimmicky things that McCartney applied. McCartney could be whimsical that way. 

McCartney has never been as consistent with his songwriting creations as Lennon was. Too many of the non-hit songs on McCartney's solo albums, like during his "Wings" phase, came across like "filler." Let me put in this way: if an unknown songwriter (like yours truly) had the stuff prepared as "demos," it would not only go nowhere, it might prompt some choice expletives of rejection from a publisher. And boy, people in the music business can be rude. Let's re-phrase that: they can be direct and honest. Maybe these are actually good qualities. 

Lennon was so good, he often wrote "idiosyncratic stuff" that on the surface seemed little more than impulsive - no real merit to it. The only way to suggest merit was to "look below the surface" on the lyrics. Yes, to find those "hidden meanings." Meanings that may not have been there at all! Once the critics start mining that, they'll start proclaiming a particular song is classic when really it was nothing special (maybe nothing at all). 

What songs might I be thinking of? My, someone my age ought not be putting down "Strawberry Fields Forever." Art is judged by the emotional response by the listener/viewer. Even after several listenings, I cannot stand "Strawberry Fields Forever," yet the song is on "best of" lists. I look at "Lucy in the Sky" the same way. 

If the subtle meaning of these songs had anything to do with drugs, as is so often postulated, I'm turned off even more, considerably more. Maybe Lennon thought drugs were mind-expanding. I would assert "that was his opinion." As a young adult I felt considerable peer pressure to never talk down drugs. You just have to understand the 1970s: the youth culture saw themselves as so much more "with it" than their parents. 

I really have to ask about the Beatles: were they truly "into" drugs as much as we were led to believe? Was this just an attempt to romanticize the group? To make them cultural symbols when in fact they were simply hard-working musicians, and deserving of much credit for that. 

Lennon went along with the drug image to act downright silly, iconoclastic in an abrasive way toward the end of his abbreviated life. He could be negative and caustic in so many of his comments, even about his own work. 

 

Effect of fame

A theory I have sometimes shared is that fame sort of flummoxed Lennon. Words can hardly describe the sheer fame that came to the "Fab 4" over a short period of time. Lennon seemed shocked and rather disbelieving about it. Didn't they start out just wanting to make good music? Of course they did, but their talent was not that far out ahead of many top practitioners in pop music. 

The British recording industry was more advanced than in America. George Martin was on the cutting edge of knowing what style of music was going to appeal to the new young generation. 

Rock 'n roll had established itself and wasn't going to be stopped despite real controversy. The older generation seemed taken aback. The pulsating rhythm of rock 'n roll and its more layered descendants - African feel for rhythm - was here to stay. 

I'm not the first to suggest that the Beatles simply rode the wave of good timing. They were talented guys who got the absolutely optimal amount of support to be catapulted into fame. It was fame to an extent that I think John found ridiculous. Paul absorbed the effect better, I feel. He understood fame and did not feel the need to make sense of all of it. He knew he was an entertainer, not a philosopher by trade. Most practical, he wanted to reap the benefits of music to enrich his own life by material standards and to bequeath eventually to family. Which is certainly the ultimate objective of a pro, you might assert with dead-on logic. 

Lennon never lost sight of the more intangible things. He was really more of a talent than McCartney. 

Lennon may have gone a little nuts because he appealed to the U.S. boomer population which went off the rails because they saw the absurdity and tragedy of the Vietnam war. The war gave the kids an excuse to detach from the values of their parents. And then years later, long after the Vietnam war had receded as a reality, the boomers had their come to Jesus moment. "We didn't really understand our parents." Well yes they did in some respects, as the U.S. parents never tried hard enough to see the war for what it was. They allowed themselves to be led by John Wayne. And for that they richly deserved acrimony. 

Remember the book "The Greatest Generation?" That was the come to Jesus affirmation. Blood is thicker than water. Let's love our parents. It was easier to do when the war had receded into the past. 

So Lennon wrote about love and he surely scorned war. But he would have used any philosophical underpinning for his music because he was simply a genius song creator. 

I'm sure many have wondered: had Lennon lived, would he have "straightened out" from his deconstructionist, unorthodox times? A conventional personality and personal appearance? We can never know. The silly persona of the 1970s would no longer have been cool. He might not even want to talk about drugs today. Or he'd dismiss the topic as having been overblown once. 

To do anything really well, you cannot be "under the influence." You're naive if you think any special genius or spark comes from drug use. It can only be an impediment. And hey, realize that certain celebrities who came to be notorious for alleged drug-influenced behavior probably did their defining work before they dabbled in drugs. A really good example of this was Hunter Thompson. Truman Capote was a dead-serious author with a stolid lifestyle when he wrote "In Cold Blood." Fame transformed him into an almost cartoonish figure. Could he have done the same work then? 

 

"Now and Then" song

And so now we have "Now and Then," the final Beatles single. The song has been so over-analyzed. We're so saturated in it. Which makes me think it will run its course of popularity pretty quickly. Pop music is like that: we get tired of popular melodies and want new stuff. 

Lennon has been dead and gone for so long. The nostalgia is waning. Pop music is the domain of the young. That is an indelible rule. Where did ABBA get with their "comeback" a couple years ago? 

You like the Beatles? I suggest you simply call up their original stuff. Enjoy.

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

Volleyball: Tigers fall to Paynesville, end season

Let's be frank: MACA volleyball had a disappointing season. It happens sometimes. We'll see how the page gets turned for the winter basketball season. Of course I don't assume the same group of kids plays volleyball and basketball. 

The winter season awaits. Of course that means winter itself awaits! Such a long, dragged-out season. Spring softball seems like it can get compressed into a mere month - that's with all the weather-necessitated postponements. Postponements or cancellations. Wouldn't it be wonderful if our Big Cat Stadium had an inflatable cover like they have at St. Cloud State? What a transformation that would be. Softball could start as soon as basketball is over. But no, we lack that asset now. 

Winter sports are quite guaranteed to go on for the full scheduled term. 

Our volleyball Tigers had a limited post-season experience. There was one very satisfying win: a sweep over Litchfield. The Tigers were seeded fourth and Litchfield fifth.  The success put us up against the top seed in sub-section. That would be the Bulldogs of Paynesville. We managed to win one game against those Bulldogs but not the match. (The guys on radio use the term "set" instead of "game" and they may be right.) 

So it was a 1-3 loss for the orange and black Tuesday night at the Bulldogs' gym. So Paynesville advances to the 3AA-North championship match which will be against New London-Spicer. Don't ever bet against the Wildcats in girls athletics. 

Paynesville owns a 15-5 season record going into tonight's (Thursday) match vs. the Wildcats. Action will be at The Big Red gym at Willmar. Paynesville is on a roll at the sub-section level. They are striving for their third straight sub-section crown. NL-Spicer has the No. 2 seed. Let's look at the background with these two teams: Paynesville had a 3-1 win over NL-Spicer on September 25. 

The Tigers close out the 2023 fall with a 9-16 record. We took the first game versus the Bulldogs 25-22. Certainly heartening considering we were up against the top seed. Alas, Paynesville performed up to their status the rest of the night. After our 25-22 win to start things off, we bowed 18-25, 17-25 and 21-25. Season done. 

Rayna Spanier batted four serving aces at the Tigers. Emma Flanders had three while these teammates had one each: Kaydence Roeske, Ava Martinson and Grace Roberg. 

Spanier took charge in set assists with her 36. Roberg chipped in with four assists. Then we see Flanders with three followed by Roeske and Maddie Frieler with one each. 

Hitting! Here the premier Bulldog was Flanders with 22 kills. Emma Kolstad pounded out ten kills. Roeske came through with six. The list continues with Spanier 3, Finley Anfinson and Roberg each with two, and Frieler and Martinson each with one. These three Bulldogs each had one ace block: Flanders, Roeske and Frieler. 

Roberg was busy in digs with her 23. Flanders had 16, Spanier 14, Roeske and Kylie Pauls eight each, and Kolstad 7. Let us note that this match was played on Halloween night! 

I am very disappointed that the kmrs-kkok website could not report some individual stat highlights for the Tigers. We have lost a lot with Brett Miller walking away from the station. He was setting some pretty good standards for coverage. This void leaves yours truly in a more challenged position as I try to keep prioritizing online coverage of the Tigers. Looks like the radio station will now fall into a routine of just providing the basic score/schedule information. They ought to try to give us more than that. 

Our newspaper here only publishes one edition a week. When I was at the paper it was two. I got the Paynesville stats for this post from the West Central Tribune website. We used to count on the WC Trib for a fair amount of coverage of our Tiger teams. It's very rare now. 

Yes the West Central Tribune has coverage of the MACA/Paynesville match, but only with details for the green-clad Bulldogs. I'm happy to use this as a resource. Obviously I would like to report on various members of the Tiger team and their stats. With Brett Miller's help I could have done that. Not now. Life goes on, I guess.

 

Erratum

Speaking of our Morris newspaper, it has the kind of glitch on its front page that would have caused the local folks, at least the pompous usual suspects, to raise heck at me if I had been responsible. 

I took a look at the Morris paper yesterday at our public library. There's a big banner headline across the top of the front page. No, this was not really "news." It was just puffery for announcing the obvious: UMM has a new chancellor. Much of what the newspaper does is puffery. 

Janet Schrunk Ericksen

One big problem with the banner headline: it misspells the name of the new UMM chancellor. Oh, is that all. Hey, UMM is pretty important in this town. (Is it OK to still call it "UMM" instead of "UMN?") 

The middle portion of the chancellor's name is "Schrunk." The paper has it spelled "Shrunk." I shared a heads-up about this with a friend who responded as follows:

 

Yep, checked my paper when I got home and your observation was correct - they left out the “C” in Janet’s name, not only in the headline but also in the body of the article. If you had writ that, you woulda got fired. 

 

Spot-on observation, yes. This is why my position at the Morris paper became untenable toward the end. I met the end of the line with the goalpost incident at UMM (2005). Did I make an "error?" No, not at all. People with dark minds began speculating, that's all. One was a now-deceased Morris physician. Such glass-half-empty people. 

Is UMM in trouble now because of headwinds having to do with enrollment? Over the past several years I have had close association with UMM and First Lutheran Church, two institutions that now seem to be terribly stressed. Is this just bad luck for yours truly? 

As for the family fund I established on behalf of UMM, I had it painstakingly explained to me that there are "contingencies" that will guarantee that the money does something good. This is in the event that all hell breaks loose with UMM and it sinks right into oblivion. This is looking ever more possible. The campus will have to be maintained (just like the City of Morris has to spend $ to maintain the Killoran stage at East Side Park). 

If the family fund goes to benefit music at the Twin Cities U campus, that is all well and good - my late father got his undergraduate and Master's degrees there. He was really a "big city guy" through that young portion of his life. This was after growing up in Glenwood. His first visit to our campus in Morris was in 1928. 

My church of First Lutheran appears to be stressed just like UMM. Attendance is low for an average Sunday. There's just not a lot of spark there. We belong to the ELCA which has been losing ground fast due to the perception that it is "liberal." It may be killing us in this age of Donald Trump. However, the ELCA-affiliated Faith Lutheran appears to be doing fine. Well, congrats to them.

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