A recent commentary of mine evaluated the effectiveness of certain policies, among which was race based school discipline. An article by authors Katherine Kersten and Catrin Thorman in the fall issue of Thinking Minnesota documents the issue. Anyone who cares about our children and their education should be horrified by the egregious conduct of the Minnesota Department of … [Read more...]
Men are from Mars – Women are from Venus
The relationship between men and women has been a source of exploration and controversy since the advent of Adam and Eve. As a young woman I found myself destined to be part of the action. One evening I was with friends at the Ocean Grill in Vero Beach, Fla., when a young man approached our table. “There is someone who would like to meet you. Within minutes I found myself … [Read more...]
Finding your polling place… To the Editor,
This year more than ever, I encourage my fellow citizens to vote on Tuesday, November 6. Finding your place to vote is easy: go to www.pollfinder.sos.state.mn.us/. Select your county, then township according to your street address. There is also a map option at the end. Remember: If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain about policies and decisions our lawmakers make. … [Read more...]
Caution to farmers… To the Editor
Fellow farmers, with Trump’s trade wars hurting farmers and Trump’s tariff taxes soon raising prices on numerous goods, I urge caution with increasing your debts. I believe two issues are especially driving trade wars. Aluminum and steel tariffs applied because of “national security,” while seemingly silly, allows the Trump Administration to selectively give waivers to … [Read more...]
Collaborating for regional vitality
A couple of years ago we went through a rebranding exercise at Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF) and settled on the tagline, “collaborating for regional vitality,” as a simple way to represent our work. This phrase gets to the heart of everything that we do, whether in early childhood, economic development or community vitality, and it really comes alive for me … [Read more...]
Letter to the Editor Policy leading up to Election Day 2018
“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” — Benjamin Franklin In case you hadn’t noticed, the 2018 election season is well underway and as Election Day draws near, so does its impact on the community and this newspaper. This is also the time … [Read more...]
I’m endorsing you
Eric Luoma Fountain, MN I’m endorsing you. Oh, and me too: Us — a pick-up team! Yay! The never-ending task is to save us from a dystopian future. As election day nears, we will witness our National dialog devolve into evermore divisive and hateful rhetoric, because in the perfect zero-sum game everyone loses, and that’s what we are playing today. Most will blame the media, … [Read more...]
Kitchen comedy
I feel like I’ve been writing this column long enough for us to be close enough, dear reader, for me to start sharing deep, personal secrets with you. I imagine the FCJ readers putting up their feet in front of a roaring fire and eagerly turning to my columns with eagerness shining in their eyes, ready to welcome me into their homes as a kooky uncle, or perhaps as the ranting … [Read more...]
Conservatives and Liberals
By David Webb, MD Lanesboro, MN In his commentary of September 10, Jeff Erding gives a fair description of pragmatism, which however he erroneously conflates with conservatism, and then proceeds to give his own highly distorted view of liberalism. Better to stick to accepted dictionary definitions of terms and to let proponents of various ideologies speak for themselves … [Read more...]
The just shall live by faith
By Aaron Swartzentruber Greenleafton, MN “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?” (Galatians 3:1) The Apostle is writing to a people that believe in Christ, that Christ paid for their sins but now they’re trying to perfect their salvation by their … [Read more...]