Are we getting out of the way of Easter too much?

Chocolate bunny for Easter (target image)

So our beloved Willie's Super Valu will be closed on Easter. There's a sign there. Willie's had better be beloved because it's the only truly full-service grocery store in the area. It really is beloved. 

I hope the store can put on the brakes some, with all the inflation that the media is breathlessly telling us about. I still do not see much similarity between current inflation and the 1970s version. Shall we assume the worst is coming along? Well, we must hope clearly that does not happen. You might have to do more than knock on wood. But you'd better get stocked up with groceries before Easter Sunday. 

How do you feel about the big slowdown of activity for a religious holiday? How do you feel about "blue laws?" What about Christmas knocking so many of us out of our routine? We pretty much act like we're willing to go along with it. We pretend there's primacy with the Christian faith, still. But these are not Norman Rockwell times. Increasingly we retreat from that. And it's not just because there are more non-Christians among us in terms of faith. We're also dealing with secularization. 

We're dealing with the "nones." The term "nones" developed just a few years ago - I learned it from a presentation on C-Span. I think most people instantly grasp what is meant by the term now. "Nones" are people who are not associated with a church or religious denomination. It's like they choose to live life without the element, which if you ponder a little, is a position that has merit. 

Religion is literally superstition. You have a right to your superstitious beliefs. But we all develop a sense that it causes needless conflict among us. 

The more "nones" that circulate among us, the less conflict. We defer to science more, the real world. 

My generation when young recoiled at the old model of small towns having this rigid distinction of Lutherans from Catholics. We'd hear stories about a family disowning a member - no longer on speaking terms - if that member married someone from the other side. And we thought "how ridiculous, how pathetic." Of course we recoiled about other issues in the world too, like the Vietnam war and racism. Music was not the main thrust of "Woodstock" - the event was a multi-cultural celebration. To hell with the long-established biases based on culture/skin color. 

 

A step back occasionally

We can question how far we have come as of today. Has there actually been some backtracking? Look at the outrageous abuse that a Supreme Court nominee had to take, the person of color. I'm not going to explain all that to you. 

We still have this "default" position for the Christian faith, even though it just has to be weakening. 

We retreat at times from the progress and enlightenment, and then those qualities will push forward again. We are simply not all Christians. We acknowledge the other faiths such as the Jewish people, who have had to learn to step aside for the default stuff. But it's not just the other religious faiths that must be respected and reckoned with, it is the "nones" and the whole secular sense. 

I mean, why the heck can't we consider going to the main grocery store in Stevens County on a day that happens to be called Easter? Don't people have to eat on that day?

I still choose to attend a Christian church. No talent is required to be a church member. Just park your rear end in the pews now and then and listen. You're supposed to give money, but no one seems to enforce this. It's called "tithing." 

 

Looming over Christianity

Just the other day, there was another article on Yahoo News about the continued fusing of Christianity with the political right wing. This might be the most concerning thing about Christianity in the present day. Maybe this problem supplants the old problem of the Lutheran-Catholic division in small Minnesota communities. 

The growth of the political right wing is one of the most puzzling things I've ever seen. These people gather like cheerleaders to watch the hearings/questioning of the Supreme Court nominee, this brilliant woman who happens to be black. The weirdos on the Republican side do their thing, they "throw fish" to their base. They have got to be smarter than that, deep down. 

Wasn't Lindsay Gramm a military lawyer once? Unless he has developed some sort of mental defect - who knows? - he has to know his histrionics are a disgrace. He's from South Carolina - is that helpful background? Wasn't that state at the heart of the old Confederacy? 

So now Christianity presents itself as a banner-carrier for the extreme political right wing of America. And young people do not seem to be streaming into the church pews. They are in fact populating the "nones" category. (The term came about because of survey forms, where they ask you what religion you have, and there is a "none" box to check.)

 

Are we ghouls?

So Easter is close at hand. I don't mind thinking about Easter bonnets and chocolate bunnies. What I find unacceptable is this increasing emphasis on the literal torture of this man named Jesus Christ. I never minded accepting the crucifixion in the abstract. The images were much milder when I was a kid. Maybe the Mel Gibson movie changed things. 

Gibson is nothing but an entertainment professional. He has hurt himself by being so terribly anti-Semitic. But we should not follow his lead in anything. Torture and death are not the thoughts or images I seek on any day of the year. 

If you shop at Willies, be advised you'll be paying $2 for the Morris newspaper after May 1. 

May 1, that's "May Day," right? The Communist holiday. Maybe we'll end up with communism someday, if the Republican Party is allowed to stay in charge over the near-term future.

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

So, varsity softball & baseball on tap for Tuesday?

April snow in Minneapolis (wikimedia commons)

The schedule says we're supposed to have high school varsity softball and baseball tomorrow (Tuesday). Monday greeted us with snow and fog. It's a winter wonderland at 9 a.m. Snow melts fast this time of year. But then we'll get "wet grounds." 

The high school sports schedule is so tentative this time of year. It happens to a degree every year: we'll see "PPD" over to the right as we try to browse scores from a schedule. "Postponed." These little announcements will appear through the media: "such-and-such a game is postponed." 

Maybe we could do better. By simply postponing it all? Not necessarily. 

Maybe some sort of indoor intramural sports season could be set up. A bridge between winter and spring. Boys play volleyball, girls play floor hockey. The competition would not be as intense as for varsity sports. In fact, wouldn't that be a very nice change of pace? A "breather?" Imagine, sports just being fun! 

We're all probably a little groggy still from the demands of state basketball. Many of you had to reach deep into your wallets. Three games in the Twin Cities. The Twin Cities are not as safe a place as they once were. It's not like when I was a little kid and my family would dine at the Forum Cafeteria, that's for sure. 

Naturally the prices have gone into orbit for state basketball. And can you blame them, if you all keep ponying up? Back off, stay home, follow these games on available media. Hey, maybe a lot of you have already started doing that. Congratulations. 

So, Tiger softball is set to play tomorrow (Tuesday) at the mess of a place called the softball complex. I had really thought sidewalks would be put in there. I had thought the whole place would be really super-duper by now. Maybe it would be, if the State of Minnesota had overseen the whole thing, applied its deep pockets. But now, I would suggest it has turned out rinky-dink. 

In fact, if I had been a donor, which I would have been if someone had just approached me at the start, I would probably be agitating for some sort of class-action lawsuit on the part of donors who are upset that the place did not turn out as promised. It's not done yet? UMM's official website has announced that it is, as of "the summer of 2021." Oh, that's wrong info? If it is, why has it been out there? 

 

City of Morris folly?

The city got talked into a financial stake. A councilman with whom I communicated recently struck me as a little defensive. He stressed that the city's only involvement is "monetary." Is this responsible? I mean, to give money to a project with no assurance as to how it will turn out? 

"Only monetary." So, "it only cost us money?" Of course, no layer of government really has money, it just gets money from the people. How do you feel about your property tax statement? You should know, if you haven't already suspected it, that the property tax is a regressive tax. Republicans don't want us talking about this. They just want the ultra-rich to have their interests protected. You haven't figured this out yet? You're still hypnotized by the foul-mouthed Donald Trump, who didn't even win the popular vote in 2016? Who calls one of the top U.S. generals a "fucking idiot?" This is your man. 

A majority of Stevens County churches probably feel more devoted to Trump than to God and Jesus. I have been around these people. 

So now we're approaching Easter, when we're told again in graphic terms about the torture leading up to Jesus' crucifixion. How incredibly gory, gloomy and depressing. I want no part of it. I celebrate Easter with chocolate bunnies from Willie's, $2.13. And, by watching the concluding scene from the Monty Python movie "Life of Brian." "Look on the bright side of life," the guy sings while nailed on the cross. 

 

The parking snafu

I shudder as I think of the dangerous parking congestion that we will likely see around the softball complex this spring. Cars parked along Prairie Lane, a road where cars proceed faster than on normal city streets. 

And, I am offended, as any sensible person ought to be, by these statements about how "we're still fundraising." Well, aren't we all? I'm "fundraising" to pay my property taxes, sort of. Everyone and everything needs money. But the donors for the softball complex probably made assumptions about how the project would proceed in an orderly way toward completion. They trusted the people. Trust and ten cents will get you a cup of coffee. 

Will the fundraising continue into the non-foreseeable future? Will the project just sit there half-done, or a quarter-done, indefinitely? Again, were I a donor, I would press for some legal action on the part of donors. I think it's ticky-tack to have the signs with donors' names in various place. Or for certain features to be "sponsored" by a particular individual or family. Do you see signs like this around the public school concert hall? No, but the concert hall was a grand and transformative project for the Morris community. It also "shafted" UMM because it meant that UMM would never get its "Humanities Phase III." 

I don't like the idea of UMM music concerts being at the public school. One of the special things about UMM in the community is that it has its own facilities. Now I hear that Cougar baseball will be playing at Chizek Field which is the high school or community facility. I must admit, the long-time UMM baseball field seemed awfully desolate. 

 

The bigger picture

Is UMM "in retreat" in general terms? Is anyone else bold enough to ask this question? Everyone is so intimidated by the "party line" in this community. I got some pushback recently when I wrote my revelatory blog posts about the U-Crookston chancellor also being UMM's "executive chancellor." I sure thought this was "news." 

No one has suggested that my facts were wrong. I think we all need to ask what it means, this situation now with UMM vs. UMC. I think it's pertinent to our future. You can't tell me the Crookston person's title relative to UMM is ceremonial. She is using this in applying for other positions like at NDSU (which she didn't get). 

We'll probably have to wait this spring for high school varsity softball and baseball to get going. But why is it, that this big high school sports "machine" never slows down? We're never allowed to come up for air. The student body is always invested in it, they can't just behave like normal students for a few weeks. 

The state basketball tournament included a major embarrassment for the Morris-CA endeavor. You know what I'm talking about.

Wow!

 

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

MAHS band/choir has boffo trip to Texas

MAHS music talent on display in San Antonio

How wonderful to have the opportunity to share the photo above. It's MAHS band members during the exciting trip to Texas. I understand they're back now. Their director is Wanda Dagen. Let's emphasize that choir was along for this trip also. Their director is John Kleinwolterink. 

There was a Kleinwolterink on the MACA boys basketball team. That's Sam. The basketball team climbed to such great heights at tourney-time, there was a close call with the clash of schedules at the end: basketball and music. For a time, I thought the situation might not be repairable. At the end it was, sort of. Some hectic last-minute adjusting appeared to be required. 

The pep band fulfilled its obligations for the Tigers, then the whole music group immediately departed from the Twin Cities. I personally feel the music trip was far more enriching for the participating young people than sports. So few kids actually play in the game of basketball, while everyone else just sits and watches. 

The pep band certainly does its thing. There is a bone of contention in connection with pep band: is it art? I know many people in the academic side of music pooh-pooh that, while I think a more reasoned assessment would suggest otherwise. Personally I have always seen pep band as an art form. I am guessing that our director Dagen would demur on that. Fine, the MAHS music program puts on boffo concerts these days at the concert hall. I am delighted to attend. 

But pep band? Former football coach Jerry Witt would tell you that I often made comments about pep bands when I was at his home. Pep band can be artful if it's approached seriously. There are "stock" arrangements for pep band tunes that probably do not come off exactly as art. A critic might suggest it's noise. I think that's a little knee-jerk. But an enterprising director could find arrangements of tunes that we don't hear all that often at gyms for sports events. 

I personally like it when there's a trap drummer. I heard a band at the Concordia Fieldhouse once play an arrangement of a Blood, Sweat and Tears tune - trap drums in the picture. I haven't heard this tune before or since in a gym setting. A performance like this moves me. 

The game at Concordia involved the Cyrus Panthers.

Sometimes I think academic music people assume that music connected with sports must be low-brow. Here's where I demur. A really sharp pep band doing distinctive stuff might draw the same kind of response from the audience - yes, sports fans - as a really sharp jazz band. This has the bonus of taking some of the attention away from sports! Hey music people, doesn't that interest you? 

So, the MAHS band and choir kids are back from a trip they will never forget. Meanwhile the sports "monster" rolls on, never retreating, hardly ever exhibiting humility. Music is always supposed to roll over for sports, to make accommodations for sports, and it's never the other way around. The local newspaper might try to sell a "special section" for a sports accomplishment, while music must stay in its place. The media's recognition for music is much more restrained, like it's just an obligation being fulfilled. "Let's be nice to music too."

Well, to hell with that attitude. I know how media people view things, believe me. 

Post-season sports is set up these days with marketing in mind: create the best possible opportunity for all teams to at least look like they're accomplishing something major. And then, you'll get the media eating right out of your hand. It does work. 

The Morris and C-A schools had to suffer through a huge embarrassment in connection with the state basketball tournament. It makes us wonder if the whole thing was worth it. Then again, it was just one kid doing something impulsive with social media, where all it takes is one little push of a button to "send." Not the kind of world I grew up in. 

Remember when Don Imus got forced off the air? I always thought he should have defended himself by just saying he was doing a parody of hip-hop culture. However, the lines for impropriety are drawn so clearly and unequivocably now. It still surprises me, because my young adult years were when the movie "Blazing Saddles" came out. That should tell you a lot. 

The wonderful picture you see with this post was forwarded to me by a friend, who says it was on the Kleinwolterink Facebook page. Thanks to anyone connected to it. In the "old days" when I was with the Morris newspaper, I would interview one or both music directors for a feature article in the Morris paper. There was no social media for touching those bases then. I have wonderful memories of doing interviews one-on-one with people, taking notes in spiral notebook. 

I always tried to create a pleasant atmosphere in those interviews. I'd love to do such a thing again, especially in connection with the band/choir trip to Texas. I would especially like to interview the band director! But such a thing is probably just fodder for my dreams. "Mongo just pawn in game of life." (That's a line from "Blazing Saddles," Alex Karras.)

 

The spring season

A friend from out of town is ahead of me on this one: The UMM baseball team now has its home at Chizek Field. Around and around we go with change these days, n'est-ce pas? 

I appreciate the info because I try to stay current. I responded to my friend from BBE with an email that had some background about Chizek Field. I touch on media-centered topics too. Here's part of what I wrote:

 

Thanks for telling me about UMM baseball at Chizek. There has always been an issue with evening sun angle at that place. I remember covering Eddie Feigner the softball guy when he came here in the 1980s, and he abbreviated the whole show because of that. That was his stated reason but there was another: his barnstormers were facing a team of all-stars and they were pissed. Those things were set up for the visitors to just play some local celebrities like the mayor. I remember that evening so vividly. I mean, those guys were really pissed. Eddie's son came jogging over and said "playing you guys is like being on Valium, man." So they were pissed, although I've never been on valium. I was just there for the paper.

Oh, Chizek Field is designed the way it is because when first built, it was understood that all games were played in the afternoon. So I was told recently.

Here's the deal: If it's UMM's intent to share with the public school so much, I think this hurts UMM's image. UMM should have its own distinct facilities as much as possible, for prestige reasons. UMM should not use places that are also used by snotty-nosed young kids, to be blunt. Remember the "Humanities Phase III" proposal? It died. There are bad signs with the UMM music program. I wonder about the future of the whole place. There is a legislative proposal for "grant" money for kids to attend outstate U campuses. In other words, go to the gov't trough and get more money, the approach for every problem these days.

Very, very depressing weather of late: gray, windy, too cold etc., and this is why I've been writing more than usual. I am writing more than I even want to write. I got on such a "roll" with Tigers in state tourney, plus the unexpected excitement at the end with the scandalous message. I'm having to try to withdraw now.

As for my future writing, it may be scaled back. My sources for covering Tiger sports are becoming less and less. I used to rely on the Willmar paper a lot. When it came out six days a week and even five, I could go to library with my notebook and accomplish a lot. Yes, the Willmar paper had issues with factual consistency at times. But on the whole I got a lot of help from that resource. Often I would write about their consistency problems. Yes I know it's hard covering all this stuff. Football is the hardest: the game summaries are so involved. Often I'd see mistakes with "score by quarter." I suppose the writer would ask the source for this info and then the source had to quickly try to figure it. Oh, I smile as I remember the days where I'd interview some coaches (like Steve Harter) and he'd add up stats as we went along. Time-consuming, and he'd whisper as he added stuff up. There are so many teams now, and parents are so demanding, I would not want to step into that arena again.

Mark Torgerson stepping down, and he has posted game stats reliably on Maxpreps. Very likely he did this because I put him on to Maxpreps. It has been very helpful, but his successor won't do it, I'm sure, unless Torgy makes a strong suggestion. My last reliable resource could be the kmrs-kkok site, and while you can find timely stuff there (unlike the paper), it tends to be pretty brief. Besides, if that is my only source, I should just step aside and let them do it.

So Sue Dieter was going to be all gung-ho with the paper's website. That was a huge factor when I left, my fears of "a press day every day." So now what do we have? A VESTIGIAL website. Shelly must get complaints about it. I wonder what she tells people. I was expecting a special section about the Tigers in state but it looks like they just used the normal 'B' section. Maybe advertisers are getting a little drained, or they already spent $ for the Hancock girls. Enough is enough.

 

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

The prep sports cavalcade retreats for no one

(image from kbjr)

Only occasionally does a Morris paper become available at DeToy's Restaurant. It's a nice little bonus when it happens. Outside there is a Star Tribune vending machine that has been unattended or some time. The same old paper is on top. Are newspaper vending machines everywhere just phasing out of existence? The price for any paper now is such, you'd have to have far more quarters on your person than you normally would. You could get change, or easier yet just go to Willie's or a convenience store and get a copy. 

Subscribe? It's harder all the time to justify that. Obviously the online world gets progressively better to get news of all kinds. The Star Trib is available to look at, at our Morris Public Library. I do not think the overall activity level at our library is back to pre-pandemic levels. Might our daily habits have changed now for the long term? Looks like a mask is no longer required there. 

So, I look at the new Morris paper and it's quite obvious what is going to be there. That thing is going to hit us over the head with basketball stuff. It's the boys basketball team, having gone to state and won one game there, lost the next two. Hard to see how that isn't anticlimactic. 

We revere basketball not because of the real rewards or enrichment it provides to its players. If I were to suggest those rewards are nil, would you dispute me? A mere five athletes are in a team's starting lineup. I remember from when I was in high school, I thought it was actually sad when the "reserves" got into the game. A game of this type would be decided well before the end. Therefore the coach had slack to send in the "shock troops." I learned that term from the notorious Hancock girls basketball coach of years ago. The fellow was Dennis Courneya who of course crashed and burned at the end. 

Seems like a lot of highly successful coaches can have a volatile nature. They can exit the role ignominiously. Institutions have to take risks with these guys sometimes. Look at all the attention that Bill Musselman brought to the U of M Gophers program. A plain vanilla coach would have kept the profile quite low. 

Ah, the private thoughts that school administrators must have about sports! 

So the new Morris paper heaps attention on basketball in the most predictable fashion. I had thought the paper would issue (and sell) a "special section" on this. However, it appears it's just the usual 'B' section. Maybe the public is getting a little weary of all the hero worship in connection with a prep team? I hope that is the case. 

We had been dragged through hype in connection with the contemporary iteration of Hancock girls hoops. The Owls won the state championship. The coach who I alluded to earlier brought the Owls to great heights in the daunting two-class system. So it's hard to compare the current Owl iteration with the past one. 

The past one has a significant historical niche. It was when so many post-season games were played at our UMM P.E. Center. Fans seated all the way up toward the top, many decibels of sound. Hancock and its rival at the time would draw hordes of preoccupied people. Preoccupied with success, as if that success was a highly meaningful thing, affirming their place in the world. 

Did everyone have a good time? I really think not. The pressures of competition had to create anxiety for many of the young athletes. They were in this fishbowl that I'm sure disturbed them at times. Game-time approached and the "starting five" would be announced to a thunderous acclamation. 

Is this "war" or what? These are just young people with delicate psyches. Look at the world we dragged them into. 

 

Fast-forward

Today because of all the school activities, the public interest is more dispersed. The Morris fans have to depart from our town almost immediately when the post-season begins. We head south. Marshall is a common destination. No way are "hordes" of Morris fans going to show up for an 8 p.m. game at Marshall, at least I don't think so. So maybe it's a more healthy arrangement. I worry about fans having to drive over such a long distance on the way home, so late at night. Just think, a game like this would at one time have been at UMM. Believe me, I remember. 

 

(image from kstp-tv)

Revealing the obvious

On this Wednesday we look at the Morris paper and perhaps we smile because we know exactly what we'll see there. As if it's news: "Tigers place fourth in state." Wow! Well, in a 4-class system, I think our enthusiasm can be tempered. 

The High School League sets up all the post-season stuff in a calculating way, trying to make even modest accomplishments seem special. 

For example, a team might win its first playoff game and lose its second, but it gets honored as "sub-section runner-up." The sub-section finals might just as well be called the section semis. Creating two layers gives more opportunity to bestow recognition. That way, the local news media can "lay it on thick" with coverage that echoes Lake Wobegon where "all the kids are above average." 

Young adults are choosing more and more to not have children. This is caused by economic pressures. Supposedly we have serious inflation now. A common view is that all the current policies are turning the screws on the "middle class." We have depended on the middle class to have kids. Without kids, how can all these school activities thrive in order to give us reason for living? I mean, "fourth in state." What else is there? 

It appears school activities are the raison d'etre for community media now. There's the "business/professional group." This didn't exist when I was in the Morris school. We didn't have FFA. Or interscholastic hockey. Girls sports was just getting started. Isn't that unbelievable? If you went back in time to 1970 and told the people that in the year 2022, girls sports would be taken just as seriously as boys, their jaws would drop. 

Ironic, because the period around 1970 was when there were so many of us kids - we were the "baby boom," children of the World War II generation. Boys took "shop class." What happened to that? Girls were in "home ec" and when it came to sports, they were represented on one page of the school yearbook for "G.A.A." (Girls Athletic Association). A friend in Morris told me about his hometown where "G.A.A. did a tumbling demonstration at halftime of a basketball game." 

What does the future hold? We had better keep policies to preserve the middle class, or we won't have student athletes any more. Don't count on the Republican Party to help. They just take care of the "one percent," even though they posture about cultural issues. It's all a clever smokescreen.

  

The thoughts I share here began with an email I sent to a friend shortly after breakfast at DeToy's. I share here a portion. Certain sentences would have to be redacted!

 

Hello (name withheld) - Did you order this weather?

Was at DeToy's for biscuits/gravy, Morris paper was there so I looked at it for couple minutes. Total "happy news" front to back, nothing but joy, Lake Wobegon with all our kids above average. Was there any mention of the offensive message from the C-A kid? Star Tribune covered it with Reusse's column.

So the paper goes crazy with sports stuff on Page 1 and in 'B' section. Is it over the top? Maybe after the Hancock girls and what they did, public is starting to get a little weary of it all? Sports is king? Music has to adjust to sports, it's never the other way around. Five kids who are good at playing basketball. What does that prove? "Making state" in the 4-class system is not what it used to be, not even close. But media covers it like it is.

Just checked newspaper's website, and NOTHING about Tigers in state. So the paper is evidently just withdrawing from online news and banking everything on its once-weekly print edition. Sue Dieter was going to really prioritize the website for current reporting. The "photo gallery" would have to be filled all the time. The paper made a big deal about making photos available "for purchase." I hear nothing about that now. Is that because people can easily grab any photo they see online, no sweat, save it on computer? So, tech has evolved? When I left the paper, I was being battered daily by all these expectations for all the super-dynamic things we could do online. I was in a stupor. And every time I walked into the building, I could be reprimanded for some little thing I didn't do. Now the paper's website is dormant and the "paper" only comes out once a week, plus no more Ad-Viser, no more Hancock paper.

I had thought paper would "sell" a special section on the Tigers. Not happening? Did they sell a congrats thing with Hancock? It is all starting to seem like overkill, and I wonder if businesses and the public are starting to wake up to it, even though they won't want to say much.

We all want a good school system, but should the school be so preeminent in the media's coverage? It's just one part of community life.

Is Kleinwolterink still on the UMM music faculty? Does he go to the concerts? I think he would have to feel pretty major concern about the quality of the choir concerts this year. No way would Miller want to answer for these. He saw all this coming? If St. John's program is doing better than UMM's, why?

Re. the bill in legislature for scholarship $ for kids attending outstate U campuses, let me know if you see any updates on that. I am 100 percent sure that Backer and Westrom as a matter of principle would oppose this. In the old days, Republicans would still support it here because it's good for their district, but Republicans today are not as inclined to be expedient like that. They stick to their hardcore ideas.

Will the paper make a big deal about the MAHS music trip when they all get back? They might.

I'd still enjoy getting a photo of the Alamo, but my journalism probably doesn't count for anything. I'm just "Mongo." I hope Wanda enjoyed herself and can get some rest now! - BW 

We love the Tigers! (image from Jackson Loge's twitter page)

 

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

Attention will turn to softball and the new "complex"

Study this please, then go over and look

Basketball ends most abruptly today (Saturday) for Morris Area Chokio Alberta. Is it possible to start thinking about spring sports yet? Well why not? 

Take a walk past the softball complex on east edge of town, take a look. Compare what you see with the original drawing that was presented to "sell" us on the project. 

What nightmares await for the coming spring? The nightmare of rows of vehicles parked along the shoulders of Prairie Lane, like last year? Vehicles squeezed into the grassy area? They tried a barricade for that for a while last year. Just for a while. Now there's a bunch of tree stumps there. 

Mark Ekren alerted us all about the substantial safety issues created by the parking mess out there. He did this in a public meeting. So if nothing changes or improves, and someone gets hurt there, well it could be hell to pay for someone, or should be.  

Below you'll see a portion of an email I sent to a Morris city councilman this past week. The councilman is someone who I think has a modicum of intelligence. I've known his family a long time. Intelligence seems to be in short supply here sometimes.

 

It is spring so we will have to start watching the "softball complex" again. I am guessing that behind closed doors, certain people have already starting calling this a total fiasco, perhaps with some colorful language. The place is nowhere near to being done, if you look at the original drawing. The high school activities director has stated at a public meeting that the safety issues there are enormous, with the parking. This spring, will we see cars parked along the sides of Prairie Lane going all the way out toward the bypass? Will the new fields be lighted? The funeral home has already gotten headlines for purchasing lights for the place. Where are they? Why does the funeral home do this? They charge a fortune for funerals. Well, Sydney Dietz is a softball player, maybe there's a clue.

The new Holmberg Field is absolutely terrible for accommodating fans. It could not be worse for this. Where was the oversight? Is there oversight now? Is it just a big money pit? What about the ballfields on the public school property - I counted four diamonds up there when I took a walk last summer. A couple of those could have been upgraded, and you have the benefit of the huge paved school parking lot. As for UMM softball, they had a 100 percent great place to play already, no improvement needed at all. I saw where Blaine made a public comment about how the city would not make a second $ contribution. And then the school board disgorged about $220,000 and did this with the pledge that it would be valid even if other entities decided to bow out (like the City). So I congratulate the city on not making a second contribution, but maybe we should be upset that the city made the first contribution. 

I watched part of a Tiger softball game at Wells Park last spring and I couldn't think of a single thing that was missing from the experience there. There was even some off-street parking on the south end. Maybe the bathrooms weren't open yet - I know Blaine had to go to the radio station to explain why bathrooms couldn't be open so soon. Are porta-potties really so terrible? How often do you have to relieve yourself anyway? Wells Park accommodated both the varsity and 'B' team. 

Maybe the story of the softball complex is this: some young professional dudes who just wanted to put this on their resume. I am insulted when I look back at the original groundbreaking photo, and how they gave the impression that this complex was going to be so super. What about the diamond on the east end? It's just a sandlot. What about the diamond on the south side - it is clearly far from finished. And now the old UMM diamond has been torn up? They'll have to remove the old brick dugouts - more trouble than it's worth. They want the diamonds in a tight radius around the pressbox. UMM had a perfectly nice place to play. And, their fans are now going to be shafted at the new diamond. They were very happy at the old diamond, I actually observed it.

The councilperson responded in short order, informed me that the city only had "monetary" involvement with the softball complex, was thus not involved in its planning. I take that to mean the city wishes to wash its hands of it. He also said he thought my issues would be addressed in "phase 3" of the project. 

Fine, but I doubt anything can be cone to remedy the horrible fan viewing experience at the new main varsity field. Why isn't the local commercial media highlighting this? Too many suck-ups, to be sure. All it takes is one person to start asking questions, then people can feel more free.

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

Jump-start needed for U of M's outstate campuses?

(B.W. photo)

Why did the guy rob banks? "Because that's where the money is," he said. So where does everyone go when some economic support is needed? Well, the government. We're suffering because of inflation, right? That's the word out there, anyway. In the state of Maine, our elected people in government want to help. Inflation a problem? The state can respond with "inflation relief payments" to all residents. It's $850 per person. The debate now appears to be whether the payments will be electronic or paper. 

Inflation relief? Well, why not? The people appear stressed and so "government is here to help." Didn't Ronald Reagan get laughs by parodying the government when it says "I'm from the government and I'm here to help?" 

It's such a popular thing to decry socialism. As much as we feel government can be ungainly, well, that is where we all naturally turn. Even the supposed "naked capitalists" turned to government in 2008, right? We got the TARP legislation. Where else would one seek help? It's like the bank in the gimlet eye of the robber: "where the money is." 

 

The trouble with colleges

We have known since the Clinton presidency that when government enacts measures to "help families of college students," colleges just react by raising tuition. The colleges end up showing further signs of stress - wouldn't you know? - and then they expect more support. It's the easiest relief one can find: support from the government. 

Where else would you turn to? It's "where the money is." 

We pay lip service to the old dictum of "hating socialism." We want to thump our chests about being so self-reliant. Mostly it's an act, fills a psychological need. David Stockman called the 2008 "financial crisis" the "Blackberry crisis." The crisis was not an act of God. Obviously we should have just let capitalism work the way it's supposed to. That would make too much sense. People and special interests just plead "stress" because, doggone it, life is just full of that commodity, n'est-ce pas? And there's the government with the money. 

Help out college students? Colleges raise tuition and continue these "arms races" with each other, for more amenities. I laugh about the "climbing walls." I'd like to see the days return of college campuses and even K-12 schools being mostly utilitarian places. Forget the awe-inspiring impression. We began seeing new public schools built with such elaborate "commons areas," gyms bigger than the needs suggested. Government was trying to sell the public on its schemes. 

 

The essential task

Schools are places for young people to do essential learning. Colleges are really just way stations for this, relatively brief. Let's borrow a word the Federal Reserve made famous recently: "transitory." Oh, it wasn't long before the Fed had to do a turnaround and say the word was really totally wrong. The Fed had said inflation was "transitory." Was the Fed just wrong on that, or was the Fed just plain lying? 

Maybe the Fed was just trying to keep the situation calm - no point in arousing the masses. The government, of which the Fed is a mysterious sort of extension, is always looking over its shoulder, making sure that if all else fails, it can prevent a violent mass uprising. As Greg Mannarino has so clearly explained, the purpose of government is not to help the people, it's to survive. 

History has shown how "the masses" can rise up and regimes can fall. Can't happen here? Well it certainly could. Sinclair Lewis wrote a book "It Can't Happen Here," his focus being on German-style autocracy. Look how far Donald Trump and his crowd pushed toward autocracy. We may not have escaped the threat yet. Democracies are fragile. 

If Maine finds it necessary to distribute "inflation relief," what kind of road might we be headed down? As for my Clinton-inspired thought about how subsidies for colleges just lead to more bloat and more demands, look at what's happening in Minnesota now. The Star Tribune headline: "University of Minnesota proposes up to $11,000 in new scholarships for residents who enroll at regional campuses." The subhead: "Resident students who enroll as freshmen could get thousands in new scholarship aid." Well, aren't the "scholarships" nice? Such a lofty ideal, right? But the pleading never ends for more government support of "education" at all levels. This in the age of the Internet, where all the information in the world is online. You can teach yourself trigonometry by going to YouTube. Well, maybe I couldn't, but this is what I hear. 

We learn that "state lawmakers" may choose to fund the new program that would be a shot in the arm for our UMM (or UMN, "in the middle of somewhere"). 

The U has asked the legislature for $30 million to create a new Greater Minnesota Scholarship Program for resident students who enroll as freshmen at its Duluth, Rochester, Crookston and MORRIS campuses. I guess our campus has a top administrator with her office in Crookston, if you can figure all this out. 

"University leaders say the program would lower the average student debt for graduates by a significant amount and help boost enrollment." Ah, "boosting enrollment." Progress. But is it a genuine response to demand? Isn't higher education better able to sell its rewards in a way that doesn't make subsidy so essential? Like maybe with fewer "climbing walls?" 

 

The unforgettable Jim Carlson, at right

Recalling a UMM heyday

Why might UMM need special help? Yesterday I watched the tribute video to the late Jim Carlson which is on YouTube. The video has been around for a while, but it is now sharpened from its previous "archival" quality. 

The video is an absolute must-see for everyone. It almost makes me cry. The UMM jazz program as it existed under Carlson is completely gone now. Stored only in historical accounts and people's memories. That's not to say other aspects of UMM music were not strong also. We see John Stanley Ross speaking in the tribute video. He was a real asset here. He and my late father Ralph E. Williams had a close friendship.

I think we all came to take for granted the vitality of UMM music, like it would be around forever. Go to the HFA on any concert night and the hallway would be filled with highly enthused, highly talented musicians who came here from a vast array of places. We assumed this would always be with us. 

Carlson's old jazz program is gone. You might say it put Morris on the map at one time. Why did we let go of something like this? These are conscious decisions made by people in positions of authority. These are the people who, at present, I'm sure are smiling and glad-handing as they seek greater funding from the legislature for "Greater Minnesota." 

Music for UMM graduation (B.W. photo)

The term "Greater Minnesota" is cooked up in a promo sort of way - there is nothing greater about the hinterlands, there's just fewer people. But let's say "Greater" when we ask the legislature for money! It's "where the money is." 

I personally do not think the UMM choir has had a good year. Although I spoke to people in a positive way after the most recent choir concert, I was disappointed. Please do not take my word for this. A friend of mine with high standing in the community was at the concert and she emailed me the following:

  

I was disappointed with the choir concert last night. Just mediocre except for the guitarist. I think back to Ken’s or Brad Miller’s choirs (your dad was before my time) and a 25-member choir just seems sad.

 

More intriguing background

I quote below from an email from a different acquaintance. If this makes me cry, it's for a different reason. Could the Crookston chancellor reverse some of the things we read about here? Shall we become "Crookston South?" Jack Imholte the "Silver Fox" would faint. Please read:

I’ve heard no negative comments relative to the UMM choir this year, other than that the numbers went down a lot from last semester to this. But, the same thing happened to the Symphonic Winds and Jazz Band – both of those suffered serious drops in enrollment since last semester. I don’t know why that is – students dropping out? Transferring? Having conflicting class schedules? Who knows. You do remember that the UMM Jazz Dept. was severely handcuffed by the actions of that German dude, Martin what’s-his-name, who somehow assumed control of the music department after having been here only a couple of years. He wanted UMM to become a music conservatory, and felt that the “heathen music” embodied by jazz would curtail that. 

If that former UMM Jazz disciple of Jim’s (Joel V) had been hired to replace Jim, and had Martin moved on at that point, the jazz program wouldn't have missed a beat (so to speak) and kept right on rolling along. But, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a happy Easter.

 

Once an entity like UMM music begins faltering, righting the ship can be arduous. The solution? More money from the state? Or should UMM back off from so much marketing and PR and put its eggs in the basket of "programs and people." Rhetorical question. 

Carlson was all about people, excitement and talent.

Here is the link to the tribute video to the late Jim Carlson, who we lost at Christmas:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtv3XQefIfE

A treasured color photo of the UMM men's chorus, 1960s, Ralph E. Williams, director

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

Carrie Fisher could have played her (life) cards better

As "Princess Leia"

I saw the original "Star Wars" movie in Brainerd MN. Having grown up reading lots of sci-fi comic books, story did not seem novel. Struck me as rather a generic sci-fi story. 

Sci-fi did not always have the highest reputation in Hollywood. Many of the 1950s offerings came across as campy. Let's say not high-budget. A movie of the genre did break through to be taken seriously sometimes. If the cards were played right, it did not even have to be high-budget. "The Blob" was a vehicle to launch Steve McQueen to stardom. 

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" gave us a serious message about the specter of nuclear weapons. Its re-make years later changed the theme to climate change. 

But at this moment I'm thinking of "Star Wars." Hollywood had decided to put big money into the basic outer space adventure sci-fi thing. So the production was elaborate and the promotion huge. The story still does not captivate me. As a comic book I would have considered it typical. 

I loved the comic book "Space Family Robinson" when I was a kid. This story "sort of" morphed into "Lost in Space." A connection, yes, but not totally direct. "Lost in Space" resulted in the campy TV series with the "Dr. Smith" character who was not in the comic book. 

"Star Wars" had the trio of primary heroes - something about the number three, eh? The dashing, charismatic Harrison Ford played one. Mark Hamill played the Force-sensitive Luke. Then let's consider the darling "princess." There was more to her image than we realized. She was unreservedly presented as the cute ingenue. 

You must consider that in front of a camera, a female presented this way must look thin. Let's emphasize: she must look more thin than would be needed to make the same impression away from the camera. Neil Cavuto of Fox News is known to say "the camera adds 20 pounds." So movie producers are most aware of how such things work, how an "attractive" woman must tend to her body, if the idea is to entrance audiences. Part of that is to make men salivate, in effect. 

 

The "O" word

It is sad because it is such an obvious case of "objectifying" women. Shall we admit this to ourselves? We demand the epitome of cuteness, for our entertainment benefit. It is true that our societal values have been slowly changing, so as to accept a heavier weight as being just fine. At the time of the birth of "Star Wars," no enlightenment on that front yet. 

Judy Garland as a young girl was known to be "tortured" this way. But there must have been countless such actresses. A writer for the Minneapolis newspaper recalled a few years ago meeting the actress Frances McDormand. I'll never forget reading that: the paper columnist was struck, actually shocked, by how small or minimal McDormand was. This is away from the movie screen. 

The screen adds weight, a cruel reality of the entertainment business, along with the reality that entertainment consumers have historically wanted to see ultra-cute girls and women, at least in certain roles. And the Star Wars female hero had to fit the desired look. 

Are these actresses tempted to take certain drugs in order to get to the desired look? Drugs in lieu of food, to maybe make them forget about food? Fisher ended up on a roller coaster of drugs, readily acknowledged by those close to her. She also went through unreasonable shifts in weight, to accommodate the movie business. 

 

What consequences

I will assert here that her drastic weight loss for her final movie appearance literally killed her. You might say it was the final nail in the coffin. So sad. 

Maybe it would have been a blessing for Carrie to choose a normal life away from entertainment. Real estate or something like that. Be yourself, consume food in a sensible and prudent way, maybe just some light social drinking. Maybe not even the latter. Sad how we used to call such people "teetotalers." Why a term for this? Why have any stigma for someone who simply chooses not to do booze or drugs? 

Heavy social drinking was quite accepted in the 1970s, strange decade. Youth turned to drugs partly as a gesture of rebellion. I can look back now and say it was terrible. I personally never liked marijuana. To this day I can feel rather an outcast among my age peers for saying that. 

I did a little research on Carrie Fisher at the time of her death. We had discovered how absolutely different she looked toward the end of her life, as if she had become a totally different person. I could be quite impolitic here and say she looked like an "old lady." I would deserve any slings or arrows I get for that, but I'm trying to be candid about how men tend to see things. 

I'm not going to review Fisher's sordid drug history here because it was out in the open. Info is readily available. 

Maybe it's the induced weight loss that concerned me more. Even for her first movie, at a time in her life when she was surely naturally slender, Carrie was required to lose ten pounds. Have you ever tried to lose ten pounds? Not so routine. If you look at "stills" of her from the first movie, she looks just anemic. But men saw this and saw "attractive." Hollywood producers know all about this. I'm sure Cavuto does too. 

When Carrie returned to her "Leia" role in the twilight of her life, Hollywood was unyielding in its demands of her: lose 35 pounds. Think of that! It's not good for your heart. Certainly it compounded the drug-related aspects of her body's decline. An aging person has a hard time withstanding this. 

I read reports that even though she lost the weight, Hollywood did some CGI things with her body. My opinion is that Carrie should have just turned down the role. My other opinion is that she should have retreated from drugs, long ago in her life. And in a galaxy far, far away. 

Carrie Fisher RIP.

 

Reminder in song

I have written a song based on my thoughts shared here. I have a neat melody for this. Perhaps the song isn't "upbeat" enough for commercial music standards. Well that's OK, I seek to make a serious point about how this talented woman's life went wayward. I invite you to read my lyrics. Her dad was a singer, remember? May the force be with you.

 

"Ode to Carrie Fisher"

by Brian Williams

I read comic books when I was just a little child

I preferred them to the books I got in school

As I turned the pages I was surely mesmerized

The science fiction was the height of cool

There's a story that was long ago and far away

On the movie screen it took us into space

Where we love to watch the heroes come and save the day

And see the princess with her pretty face

CHORUS:

You are still in our minds, Carrie

Were you close to our hearts? Very

With a dress of shimm-ring white

You were quite the splendid sight

Before the whole galaxy

You were born into a family with celebrity

How so few of us are able to relate

So your mother was an actress with such gravity

Your father was a singer who was great

And you dealt with how they chose to go their sep-rate ways

With the public pointing fingers at your dad

So you blossomed with a talent that would captivate

And rule the movie screen with such command

(repeat chorus)

Is it true that being famous is a cross to bear

Not the paradise we sometimes might assume

So the people who are living in its constant glare

Might just as soon be living on the moon

We have learned about the Golden Age of Hollywood

Back when Judy Garland had to keep her weight

And the angst it must have caused was barely understood

Enough to make a child almost break

(repeat chorus)

Did you really have to go and use such awful drugs

Was it something you discovered in your youth

Were they needed to maintain your body thin enough

If so your fans should know the awful truth

In the end I had to wonder what became of you

You were not the person I had come to know

You were looking like a senior with the years accrued

And not the face that launched a thousand boats

(repeat chorus)

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