By Trevor Garner Sympathy and empathy are two different emotions with two different ways of expressing them. Sympathy is judging how a person feels, meanwhile empathy is when you can imagine yourself in this person’s shoes. Now I ask you to imagine what this world would feel like without these two things, looks pretty bleak doesn’t it? No light, just a cold empty place. … [Read more...]
Don’t forget to remember and don’t remember to forget
If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, what app do I use? I remember a day before apps when a kid named Harold got on the school bus and announced that from that point on, his name was Eugene. That wasn’t his middle name, but he preferred it to Harold. I could never remember not to call him Harold, but thanks to that memory, I remembered other things. I taught … [Read more...]
Pastor Devotions – Lamenting with God
By Pastor Nissa Peterson Chatfield and Root Prairie Lutheran Churches February is always a tough month. We get through the anticipated cold and ice of January and we are emotionally ready for spring. Enter February. Although it’s short in days, February is often cold, dreary, and drags on for approximately a million years. This year we don’t even have Lenten Wednesdays at … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Bells rang for classes, curfew and calamities
Before people had clocks and wristwatches, bells rang out the time of day. Centuries later, but still before electricity provided conveniences such as fire sirens, bells were a source of community communication - sometimes summoning people out of their homes, sometimes sending children back home. In the early 1900s, there were bells all around Houston, Minn. – according to town … [Read more...]
A Little of This a Little of That
“LOVEUARY” is what the Hallmark Channel has named the entire month of February. Does that make you deliriously happy or incredibly sad? I guess it depends if you are in a romantic relationship or not. A bakery in Los Angeles bakes 1/2 heart cookies for the broken hearted, and they are big sellers! Of course any business that depends on romance to sell their products will … [Read more...]
A Goodly Heritage
Valentine wishes It is not always that I get the chance to publish an article on the exact date of a holiday. So this is a unique opportunity to share with you something out of the ordinary. My interest in writing did not emerge until my children began to learn about composition and creative writing in high school. Since then I have tried my hand at writing short stories, … [Read more...]
Pastor Devotion – Deep water
By Pastor Pam Seebach Harmony, Mabel, and Newburg United Methodist Churches In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 5 begins with a story about Jesus trying to teach the people while standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret (which is also known as the Sea of Galilee). The people crowd closer and closer until Jesus finally hops in a boat and asks the owner to put out a little way … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Carrying lunch pails, they traveled by buggy, bus or train – even on foot
It was a black covered wagon, with curtains on the sides, that was pulled by a horse. For seating, there were benches on each side of the wagon. Small passengers entered by way of two steps leading to the back door. It was the first school bus for the Houston public school – maybe the first such education transportation in Minnesota, surmised Ingrid Julsrud, who was one of 15 … [Read more...]
Frank Zappa and weasels ripped my flesh but I caught a crappie
Weasels ripped my flesh. My mother wouldn’t have approved — either of weasels ripping my flesh or me searching for a magazine article carrying that title. Years earlier, it’d been the main cover line of an issue of Man’s Life magazine. I’d not seen that magazine, but I’d heard of it. I’d hoped to somehow find it in a year-old Argosy magazine in the barbershop. “Weasels Ripped … [Read more...]
Journal Writing Project Sex and gender: is there a difference?
By Rainn Meyer We all know that sex and gender are similar but are they the same thing? Let’s look at the definition of sex on Google: “either of the two main categories (male and female) into which humans and most other living things are divided on the basis of their reproductive functions.” Now let’s do the same for gender: “either of the two sexes (male and female), … [Read more...]