By Jordan Fontenello My name is Jordan Fontenello. I have been a resident of Fillmore County for over 20 years. I graduated from Spring Valley High School, then served in the Minnesota and Michigan National Guard from 1989 to 1995. From 1992 through 2000, I was an x-ray technologist at War Memorial Hospital in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. Upon moving back to SE Minnesota, I … [Read more...]
One Moment, Please… We are all in this together
On Thursday, March 12, 2020, our family was joining friends at the Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis to watch the Fillmore Central girls basketball team battle for an opportunity to earn a state title. Before we left Preston, Minn., for their first game, there was speculation that the state tournament was changing to a single elimination format. By the next day, on Friday … [Read more...]
Journal Writing Project: Procrastination…it’s complicated
By Makayla Braaten Have you ever gotten an assignment and noticed yourself putting it off for a long while? Do you find yourself becoming stressed because you’re losing time? Are you thirsty? See what I did there, I distracted you. Procrastination is the act of delaying or postponing something. There’s many reasons why people procrastinate, whether that be forgetfulness, … [Read more...]
Devil’s Advocate… Virus, disease, symptoms
One of my earliest articles for the Fillmore County Journal attempted to explain the importance of foresight, and the resources and techniques required to construct figurative towers of foresight in our society so as to give our civilization as a whole the ability to become aware of problems before they arise. Known threats can become disasters at alarming speeds leaving … [Read more...]
What to value about America
Sometimes, you just need to step back. The political conversations I hear these days are strikingly negative, dominated by what’s amiss in Washington, by the deep divisions in the country, by President Trump’s actions and the aftermath of his impeachment, and by the difficult problems we face but seem to make little progress toward resolving. There’s a lot of discouragement out … [Read more...]
One Moment, Please… Voting nostalgia
Have you ever purchased an item that offered a mail-in rebate? Yeah, me too. To receive your rebate, you usually have to jump through some hoops with sending a UPC code cut off of the box of the item along with filling out a form and including a copy of the receipt as proof of purchase. All that work, and from my experience, I have only ever received about one out of five … [Read more...]
Journal Writing Project: There’s more to us than a test score
By Alison Freese Should students only get noticed by a test score? In order for a student to get into most colleges they have to take the ACT test and get above a 25. Some students are very smart and do very well in school, but struggle when it comes to tests. Could there be an alternative to big tests that make up what college you get into? Some students who get bad … [Read more...]
Celebrating 25 Years of National Service
One of my proudest moments as a congressman was voting to support the creation of the national AmeriCorps program 25 years ago. Little did I know at the time how central this program would become to our culture of volunteerism and giving back to our communities. Even more surprising, and delightful, to me is the fact that I am now president of an organization that has stewarded … [Read more...]
Without civility, our system doesn’t work
When he was just a young teenage schoolboy, George Washington sat down and copied out 110 “Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior.” Many of these had to do with simple manners. “Cleanse not your teeth with the tablecloth, napkin, fork or knife,” reads Rule 100. Good advice at any time. But the first rule the future president wrote down and followed for the rest of his life … [Read more...]
Getting to know you!
We in Southern Minnesota are fortunate to have the editorial staff of the Fillmore County Journal supply us with news about events and profiles of some of the people in our area. I also enjoy reading the pages with opinions and commentary. On February 17, two commentaries caught and held my attention. One was written by Aaron Bishop and the other by Jane Peck. They … [Read more...]