Listen to my song about Charlottesville conflict

Poor Charlottesville VA. The community knows how it will be perceived for years and years. A community that I'm sure is wonderful, unwittingly became a flashpoint for old Civil War grievances. White supremacists and the "alt right" crowd gathered there. It got ugly and a person got killed.
I have always been fascinated by the Civil War and, just as important, Civil War memory. I have written a song based on the conflict in Charlottesville, called "I Thought the Civil War Ended." It was recorded at the Nashville TN studio of Bob Angello. This is one of those songs that I occasionally like to have recorded with just voice and guitar. I figure if a song is good, it will be impressive in that minimal form. I hope you will consider my song good. Because it was recorded in Nashville, maybe I should say "I hope y'all will consider my song good." It was put online by the always-capable Gulsvig Productions of Starbuck MN. I invite you to listen with this link from YouTube. Thanks a lot. - B.W.

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

 
Robert E. Lee is a complicated figure from U.S. history. Should he be viewed primarily on the basis of the treason he committed, by leading a war against the Union? A statue of Lee was a catalyst for the conflict in Charlottesville. Local government had already approved of taking the statue down. After that, though, we got one of those predictable "lawsuits." Ah, lawyers. We can't live with them and we can't live without them.
How might Robert E. Lee be viewed more charitably? That's easy. He pleaded, once the war was over, for the U.S. to become one again. It was a common attitude of the generals post-war. The issue had been decided. If Lee had remained belligerent, it might have encouraged a new guerilla resistance to the Union - quite problematic. The odds were decent that a substantial guerilla resistance could arise. Heaven knows the emotions remained high. It seemed rather a miracle that this miserable conflict did not develop. The South was left in ruins anyway.
I'm not sure the South has ever completely recovered. The industrial North moved forward just fine. Here in Morris MN we're pretty far to the west. The Wadsworth Trail was getting established at the time the war was winding down. "Wadsworth" was the name of a Civil War general. "Fort Wadsworth" was later re-named "Fort Sisseton." I remember chatting with the late Ed Kvatum who recalled that as a young person, he saw the old fort just sitting there and crumbling, as restoration and historical awareness efforts hadn't yet sprung up. You can purchase a book about Fort Sisseton at the Stevens County museum.
Morris has a surprising degree of Civil War connections. Most notably this is with the Sam Smith statue at Summit Cemetery. I think the level of awareness of this statue needs to be propped up a little. We have new generations coming to town who probably get little if any orientation. You can listen to my song about the statue by clicking on this link. The song is called "Ballad of Sam Smith." Thanks again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5HLk17oubM

 
In West Morris we have the grand "Stanton House," a Victorian mansion on Park Avenue that was originally put up by Lewis Stanton, the son of Abe Lincoln's secretary of war, Edwin Stanton. There are Civil War veterans buried at local cemeteries. I remember reading about an old-timer named Amos Pushor. These guys were old-timers by the turn of the century. Undoubtedly they all had interesting stories.
The Civil War was fought by human beings in the age before killing with industrial efficiency. It may have been the last such war. Samuel Smith was present for some of the best-known battles and campaigns in the Eastern Theater, including Gettysburg. He was assigned to the ambulance corps at Gettysburg. His local statue is a smaller version of the "Running Rifleman" statue at the Gettysburg battlefield. The Gettysburg statue memorializes the famous First Minnesota Regiment. The First Minnesota was called on to plug a hole in the Union line at the end of Day 2 of the Gettysburg battle. The casualty toll was horrible. But, can we consider the First Minnesota's heroics to have been essential to preserving the Union? A "yes" argument can be made.
Personally I have always felt the South never had the resources to "win." Maybe they could have embraced hopes of inflicting so much damage with Lee's pugnacious military ways, the Southern states could have simply gotten "concessions." But President Lincoln appeared not receptive to any of that.
The Civil War was probably the biggest tragedy in U.S. history. All these years later, we have learned due to Charlottesville that the conflict is not totally behind us.
"I Thought the Civil War ended." But it's not that simple, is it.
Click on the link below to hear my song about the First Minnesota Regiment, called "Take Those Colors."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1YCvsWr-6E

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

Meredith Carrington & Tate Nelson make state

The state cross country meet is a magnificent spectacle. MACA cross country has two runners who have qualified for it in 2017. Meredith Carrington will vie for the girls in the state Class A race. Tate Nelson will run for the boys. Qualification was achieved in the Section 6A meet held on October 26.
Carrington was No. 4 to the finish chute with her time of 20:30. It was Kira Sweeney of Staples-Motley taking first in the girls race with her time of 19:46. Lexi Bright of West Central Area was second (20:16) and Kristine Kalthoff of Albany third (20:28). Carrington in fourth was followed by Katie O'Brien of Sauk Centre (20:32).
Meredith's sister Maddie was second best on the MACA team with her time of 21:04. Also running for the orange and black were Caryn Marty (22:20), Malory Anderson (23:05), Kaylie Raths (23:22), Isabel Fynboh (23:36) and Madelyn Siegel (23:44). Eden Valley-Watkins topped the girls team standings.
On to the boys: Tate Nelson will be running in the prestigious state meet. Nelson covered the course in 17:46. The boys champion was Emmet Anderson of Staples-Motley with a time of 16:38. Nelson was joined in the MACA boys team effort by: Noah Stewart (17:57), Ben Hernandez (18:23), Solomon Johnson (18:26), Thomas Tiernan (19:21), Tyler Reimers (20:00) and Bradley Rohloff (20:04). Emmet Anderson and his Staples-Motley mates were #1 in the boys team standings. Jonathan Tostenson of Benson-KMS qualified for state by placing fifth.
The Section 6A competition was in Long Prairie.

Other sports
The high-flying MACA volleyball team is in a rather lengthy break from action, partly due to a well-deserved bye. So I'm on hold writing about that exciting team. As for football, we have had an unfortunate development of the Tigers disappearing from the West Central Tribune coverage (other than scores). I can cite three recent home games that did not get reviewed on the pages of that purportedly regional newspaper. I don't take notes week by week, but I also seem to recall at least one other game getting reported belatedly, in Monday's issue, which I assume that paper discourages.
Also, based on my memory, the boxscore (stat) review of the Benson game appeared twice. That led me to wonder if it was repeated in order to correct a mistake. And if there was a mistake, maybe a major one, maybe a coach got distressed and just decided not to call in anymore.
I have been waiting for that paper's system to break down. I suspect that the younger coaches are not as apt to view a newspaper as essential to their work. Younger coaches grew up in a time when we were surrounded by ever-burgeoning new media. We don't automatically delegate to newspapers anymore. Forum Communications came right out and admitted, at the time of cancelling the Hancock paper, that papers are afflicted by revenue issues.
I open the Willmar paper and find so much of the sports information reported in such small type, it's difficult to read. I would be hopeless without my reading glasses. Sometimes it's difficult even with those glasses on.
Coaches have got to feel pressure getting so much fine game info collected and ready to report within a short timespan at the end of game night. Here's a question: are coaches even required to keep stats? Would they be allowed to keep minimal stats? Who is the West Central Tribune to direct them to do otherwise? Who is the West Central Tribune to direct them to do anything? Could the school administration direct coaches to do anything in relation to a newspaper? I suspect not.
I have seen the West Central Tribune get the names wrong of players scoring touchdowns. I have seen the Morris paper fail to correct some of this stuff even when they have a week to do so.
A few years back there was a highly dramatic, memorable win by MACA football at Paynesville, a game that was severely butchered in the Willmar paper. It was so bad, Lyle Rambow gave me a heads-up via email late Saturday afternoon, just hours after I put up my blog post using info from the Willmar paper. The Morris paper had a week to start fresh with that game and put together a comprehensive, thorough article. Someone just had to sit down with coach Jerry Witt for a half hour or 45 minutes, take some notes and write a lively article. Could you imagine me still at the Sun Tribune and not taking the trouble to do this? I'd be called every name in the book. I might be burned in effigy on Morris' main street by a howling mob bearing torches. OK I exaggerate.
I was expected to try to be consistent when I was at the Morris paper. So if you start the season with game reviews of MACA football, as the Willmar paper did, you should be consistent and carry through to the end of the season. Of course they rely on coaches. That's really the crux of the matter. No matter a paper's philosophy or approach, it really comes down to the coaches. So, here is my suggestion: teams should design their own web-based home pages, just like we see for the UMM teams. It wouldn't be work, it would be fun. I have certainly had fun putting up my blog posts.
But in the end, my work wasn't considered satisfying at the Morris Sun Tribune. I was told in writing that I should try to get quotes from players for sports articles. How often does the Sun Tribune do that now? I was handed several pages of typed, single-spaced micromanaging sports directives. That was the end for me. The editor was Tom Larson, who did not impress me as an editor or as a human being.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Big-time football has problems beyond "kneeling"

A Star Tribune columnist outside the sports department has wondered if our new Vikings stadium was justified. He cited the expense. His main concern is that we may have put up this obscenely elaborate facility for a sport "that may be losing its cultural relevance."
Initially it seems like a long shot - I mean, to suggest that football could become like Goliath and fall to the ground. We feel some natural skepticism about the columnist's point. Our cultural habits tend to be very strongly ingrained. Now I have to wonder. The columnist's point may finally be bearing fruit in terms of our behavior and orientation.
Can we shift our attention elsewhere on Sunday afternoons? The "conservative entertainment complex" - term coined by David Frum - would have us believe the anthem protests are alienating the public. It's ironic to think this is at work. The normal conservative position is to leave private business alone. People in the top echelons of government should not be hassling a private business.
We have a president who refers to the protesting NFL players as "sons of. . ." I don't want to finish typing it. Could you imagine George W. Bush using terminology like this from a podium? Trump seems to be leading the charge encouraging fans to turn away from the NFL. While this may be part of the mix afflicting the NFL, I do not feel it is a primary factor. It may be a quite distant factor.
Certain other factors are now catching up to the NFL, factors I sensed quite a while back. Troy Aikman was quoted about one: saturation. It is common for people my age to comment about the ubiquity of pro football compared to when we were young. "Monday Nigh Football" was once a huge deal because it gave us a little extra dose of football. "Monday Night Football" was an entertainment phenomenon for quite a long time. A movie was made about it.
I should probably add Division I college football to what I'm talking about here.
We yawn as we channel-surf and find all kinds of football from all sorts of places on TV. There is nothing wrong on the face of it, with having more selection of anything. The whole institution of big-time football should be worried some, though. Whistling past the graveyard?

Marketing 101
There is a well-known principle in entertainment that scarcity or the perception of scarcity is an important factor in determining the value of something. I was about 19 years old when some friends and I made the trip to the Twin Cities to see "The Exorcist" at the Gopher Theater. We went to these lengths because of perceived scarcity. Compare that to if the movie opened on screens all over the U.S. at the same time. We saw the movie because it seemed like a phenomenon. Johnny Carson told jokes about it. Watching the movie was supposed to be a very troubling experience. That notion was really just a product of all the hype and hoopla. I was not that impressed with the movie. I thought it was a garden variety horror movie. But the perceived scarcity in the early weeks of release made us feel certain it was a must-see. It was like a status symbol to be able to tell people we'd seen it at the time we did. Ah, marketing.
Pinch yourself and realize what's going on. The old NFL "blackouts," which grew controversial, reflected the model I'm talking about. Politicians felt they had to get involved there too. They harangued the NFL about how citizens had some sort of "right" to see the games. The tone went up a couple notches when the Washington D.C. Redskins got involved in the conversation. Remember George Allen and his "over the hill gang?" Billy Kilmer was their quarterback. He beat out Sonny Juergensen who was a darling of the sports broadcasting class, sort of a "good old boy" in their ranks. I remember Del Sarlette saying "The Redskins will only win if they have Billy Kilmer at quarterback." He was right.
Today the NFL has invaded Thursday night with results nothing like that Monday night phenomenon of many years ago. Thursday night football has seemed like "a bridge too far." We assume we can watch pro football from noon all the way through bedtime on Sunday. NBC has the Sunday night game. Monday night football has gone to ESPN, the network that has now become a whipping boy for that "conservative entertainment complex." Jemele Hill aroused ire among others.
We can easily yawn when we see any sort of football on TV as we channel-search. Channel 22 on Mediacom brings us high school football from Iowa!

Better entertainment options
Here's another factor I see: Our family has "cable TV" but whether you have that or satellite, you have such wide entertainment options. Of course, this has existed for some time. What seems different now is that the quality of entertainment over the whole spectrum is better. It's about time. The entertainment industry waited too long before developing products that can compete with live football. We have the "binge-watch" phenomenon for programs that are clearly just as "addicting" as football. They can make us forget about football.
Starting maybe five years ago, I found I'd watch some football mainly as a "default" choice. "Well, there's nothing better on." Football has had advantages, such as 1) it's live, 2) it has suspense, and 3) it has human interest elements. Fine. The entertainment industry can take a look at that, evaluate and come up with products to compete. This ought to be a given because of the commercial incentive. I do feel it is happening, and in the back rooms of the NFL offices, I do believe they're talking about this.
Entertainment products are famous for running their course. We the public have an attention span.
I read an analysis once that suggested a danger sign for football: the game has become over-managed, in the sense that "the element of chance is eliminated." That sounds like hyperbole. But I fully understood the point. I remember during the Bud Grant years with the Vikings, he called for a double-reverse play that had receiver Bob Grim getting the last handoff. Grim took off around end into a wide open field. The defense was clueless. Very unlikely for that to happen today. See the point?
I will risk sounding like a conspiracy theorist here, but indulge me and allow me to point out that we don't have boring Super Bowls anymore, not like when the Vikings played in them. Consider the Patriots' comeback against the Falcons last year. It seemed suspicious to me. I'm not saying a script was followed as in pro wrestling. But maybe there's an agreement between the coaches that if you get a lead of a certain number of points, play a certain type of defense that will increase the odds of the other team catching up. My theory isn't outlandish: I remember Dick Cullum of the Minneapolis Tribune theorizing this way after the first-ever Fiesta Bowl, a game that was suspiciously high-scoring (by the standards of the time). The Bowl was trying to get established and couldn't risk a boring game.
In the NFL's case, there is such a staggeringly high amount of money at work with advertising, it is essential to keep as many eyeballs as possible.
I refuse to be a lemming and go along with this entertainment. And I haven't even gotten to the biggest reason for turning away from big-time football. That of course is the revelations we are receiving constantly about the horrible health consequences for players of the sport. Years can pass before symptoms develop. Read a few of these horror stories like for the late Fred McNeill of the Vikings, and your outlook on football will be moved.
So all in all, we need to take a very hard look at this "addicting" pastime of watching football, show some intelligence and shift away from it. This includes college football and even high school.

Football in regional newspaper
Now that I have broached high school football, I'm wondering: has our local MACA football team vanished from the West Central Tribune? It wouldn't bother me if it has. The Osakis game didn't show up there at all: a win. I theorized that maybe the halftime ceremony for Homecoming went so long, the game went too late for the coaching staff to call in. But then the BOLD game didn't get in either. Of course we lost that game badly. The coach should not not develop a pattern of calling in just after wins. What would the paper think or do? That's an interesting question because I don't think the Willmar paper has any power to make coaches do anything. It's strictly an honor system. The newspaper probably has to grovel at their feet.
I have been waiting for coaches to take a skeptical look at this practice of calling in sports news. It must be a source of stress for them at the end of a long day. If several were to simply stop doing this, would it be like a house of cards coming down? I suspect an athletic director has no power to direct a coach on this. The West Central Tribune is a private business. The coaches have no contractual obligation. They risk having parents complain if there's an alleged misreporting of information, which believe me does happen.
So we'll see. I have advocated a long time for schools putting sports news on their own web pages.
 
Addendum: What in God's name did Bill O'Reilly do to Lis Weihl, in order to get him obligated to pay her $32 million to get rid of a sexual harassment suit? What in God's name? I'm sure it's not the kind of thing I could describe on a family blog.
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

1967 Oldsmobile Toronado: quite boffo

Your blog host and mom Martha H. Williams pose in 1976 by our marvelous 1967 Oldsmobile Toronado. What a monument to American style! Note my 1970s appearance. It was the decade of disco, 8-track tapes, Euell Gibbons and pet rocks!

What does "Toronado" mean? It has no linguistic meaning. It just sounds cool. It was the name of a car which I consider unmatched all-time. That says a lot for a car that was in its classic prime in the latter part of the 1960s. We remember the decade for a lot of disturbing stuff. It's with a sigh of relief that I remember something like a classic car that was away from all the contentiousness.
My father and I obtained our 1967 Oldsmobile Toronado from Bill Dripps. We got it in 1973. Bill was still at his old location across the street to the west of the public library. It was "Dripps Oldsmobile."
I spent the '73 summer away from home. It was when the Richard Nixon administration was crumbling badly. The car was nothing but joy at a time when all was not coming up roses in the USA.
Our car had a maroon body and white top. I made many trips to Grand Forks ND in that car, as a member of the "Tempo Kings" music group. It was pleasant taking that ribbon of Interstate Highway, No. 29, from Moorhead to Grand Forks. We'd have supper at the Grand Forks McDonald's Restaurant. Back then, smaller communities like Morris tended not to have nationally known franchise restaurants. We did have the "Quik Stop" in Morris which was quite similar. The Quik Stop opened with hamburgers priced at 19 cents!
The 1967 Olds Toronado, in case you're not familiar, had a real air of grandeur about it. I never associated it with snob appeal, not like Cadillac. The Toronado simply had class. It turned heads. It was considered a "muscle car." I should have kept it longer than I did. I could have driven it in parades!
The Toronado is historically significant as the first U.S.-produced front-wheel drive automobile since the demise of the Cord in 1937. It was designed to transcend the Ford Thunderbird and GM's own Buick Riviera. It debuted in 1966 and lasted until 1992, although at a certain point the original styling gave way to a more standard appearance. The original styling meant everything to me.
The car was sort of a trademark of mine in the 1970s before I began full-time with the newspaper. I attended college elsewhere but came home often. The Tempo Kings played gigs often. I drove through a couple snowstorms in that vehicle, not showing the best judgment perhaps. I got stranded once in Westport. I believe the Tempo Kings group was forced to spend overnight in Watertown SD once. Such an adventurous spirit in my youth! I'm at an age now where I feel maximum contentment just being at home.
The Toronado in its first year of 1966 won the Motor Trend Car of the Year Award in the U.S. It sold reasonably well at introduction with 40,963 produced for 1966. The car got a slight facelift for 1967 and was designed for a slightly softer ride. However, sales dropped by nearly half. So hey, maybe the collectible nature of our car would have been enhanced. That's all hindsight now. I considered the car, however beautiful it was, as a utilitarian thing for the Williams'.
We installed an 8-track tape player! I acquired some 8-track tapes of big band music which we'd play on those Grand Forks treks across that wonderful serene North Dakota terrain. We knew we were getting close to Grand Forks when we'd see what Del Sarlette described as "the Grand Forks glow" (all the city lights). We listened to Garner Ted Armstrong on the radio.
It would be 1971 before the Toronado would match its first-year sales mark. The first generation Toronado lasted with the usual annual facelifts through 1970. I will never drive another car like our fabulous 1967 Oldsmobile Toronado. God bless you, Bill Dripps. I have written a song entitled "My '67 Olds Toronado." I don't know if I'll have it recorded. Here are the lyrics:

  

"My '67 Olds Toronado"
by Brian Williams

It was a car
A superstar
I get nostalgic at its name
With front wheel drive
It came alive
No other car will be the same

The '60s rocked
When it was hot
We watched "Bonanza" on TV
And like ol' Hoss
My car was boss
I felt it when I turned the key

CHORUS:
My '67 Olds Toronado
Maroon and white
Man what an auto
With headlights popping up
It was boffo
My '67 Olds Toronado


I could not change
The war that raged
Though it was clear we had to leave
We dropped those bombs
In Viet Nam
And I just watched in disbelief

We forged ahead
With our best bets
My generation would not blink
I kept my wheels
My Oldsmobile
It was the straw that stirred my drink

(repeat chorus)

I stopped for gas
The man would ask
If he could check my motor oil
He filled the tank
And then said thanks
It was a car he knew was royal

My 8-track tapes
Would sound just great
We hummed along with Elton John
No cruise control
So we just rolled
We're here one minute then we're gone

(repeat chorus)


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

Here's my song re. First Minnesota Regiment

The image shows Private Marshall Sherman with captured flag from Battle of Gettysburg.
 
The monument to the First Minnesota Regiment in Gettysburg looks exactly like our Sam Smith monument here in Morris. It's the "running rifleman" statue. The history of the Regiment has always fascinated me. Same with the whole phenomenon of Civil War remembrance. I strongly recommend the book "Confederates in the Attic" by Tony Horwitz.
I am pleased to have a new original song online, inspired by the First Minnesota's heroics at Gettysburg. The late Jack Imholte wrote a definitive book about the Regiment. Jack was our UMM chancellor (called provost at that time). I invite you to listen to my song. It's called "Take Those Colors" which is a paraphrase of the orders given these intrepid men (many of them lumberjacks) by General Hancock. The general, relieved to find troops available to plug a hole in the Union line, gestured toward the oncoming Confederates with their red battle flags and said "See those colors? Well then take them."
The song was recorded at the Nashville TN studio of Frank (Franklin) Michels. Frank is a sensitive musician and always does a great job. I love the Nashville music community. He plays all the instruments himself.
I again thank Gulsvig Productions of Starbuck for getting the song online. If you ever have media transfer work that needs to be done, contact the Gulsvigs. Here is the YouTube link for my song, "Take Those Colors." Thanks for listening. - B.W.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1YCvsWr-6E

 

The First Minnesota Regiment saw action in most of the major battles of the war's Eastern Theater, mainly covering Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Minnesota was a newly-minted state, having joined the Union in 1858.
The regiment mustered for duty at Fort Snelling on April 29, 1861. It was heavily engaged at the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21. It took part in the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days Battles near Richmond VA. It incurred serious losses at the pivotal battle of Antietam. Men charged at each other through cornfields. It was spared direct battle at Fredericksburg which was a major Union loss.
Of course, every battle in the Civil War worked against the Confederacy because the Confederacy could ill afford any losses of men. The Union could always replenish its resources. Robert E. Lee gambled that the Union would tire of the conflict and negotiate to get out of it. Gettysburg might have tested that. But the South failed to prevail there.
Did the South actually "lose" that battle? The large-scale battles of the Civil War basically ended in stalemates. That's because of the advanced state of the weaponry. The losing side tended to be presented as the one that had to leave and go home. Lee's army was in Pennsylvania. It had to go home. The Union pulled out all stops to win at Gettysburg. It used "flankers," considered a drastic move: these soldiers shot anyone retreating or withdrawing without orders to do so.
 
An engagement for the ages
The First MN Regiment gained permanent fame with its fighting on Day 2 at Gettysburg. The day was drawing to a close. We were quite outnumbered as the "Alabamians" advanced. We engaged the graycoats at close range over 300 yards of open ground near Cemetery Ridge. It was a strategy of "buying time" while reinforcements were on the way.
Cemetery Ridge would prove essential on Day 3 of the battle. The Union had the coveted "high ground" for Day 3. Remember how Sam Elliott pronounced "high ground" in the movie "Gettysburg?" It was quite the factor.
Lee could be faulted for attacking the middle of the Union line. The rest is history. We have our statue of Sam Smith in Morris to appreciate it. Corporal Henry O'Brien and Private Marshall Sherman received the Congressional Medal of Honor. Alas, hundreds of Minnesota soldiers died or were wounded.
The regiment was nearly destroyed. But we survived to help quell the New York City draft riots. Our last fights were the Battle of Bristoe Station and the Mine Run Campaign. The regiment returned home in February of 1864. On April 28, exactly three years after many of its men had enlisted, the First Minnesota held its final parade and was dismissed from service.
Remember to pay a visit to our Sam Smith statue on Memorial Day. There's an American flag pushed into the ground there, so different from the other flags adorning the cemetery, because this flag does not commemorate service against a foreign power like Germany or Japan - it commemorates service against our own countrymen, profoundly sad but necessary.
The First Minnesota will always have a distinctive place in Minnesota memory. "Take Those Colors."
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Tigers sweep an impressive Melrose team

Tigers 3, Melrose 0
The Tigers played with a sweep flourish once again, dispatching the Dutchmen of Melrose on October 10. Scores at the Melrose gym were 25-13, 25-14 and 25-16. It was a significant win as it dislodged Melrose out of a tie for the WCC lead. We breezed into mid-week with a 15-3 record. Melrose has impressive numbers too at 18-4.
It was a feather in our cap to win at Melrose. Jenna Howden led the spiking as she typically does - she had the team-best 13 kills. Jenna Larsen was No. 2 on the list with her nine kills. Bailey Marty and Lexi Pew each had five. Kenzie Hockel had four kills and Karly Fehr three. Fehr and Howden each executed four ace blocks. Pew had two ace blocks and Marty had one.
Riley Decker was busy in digs, posting the team-best 29. Marty complemented her efforts with 22. Howden dug the ball up eleven times while Fehr had ten digs and Larsen nine. Howden showed diversified talent on this night, coming at the Dutchmen with two serving aces. Marty, Fehr and Larsen each had one serving ace. Fehr facilitated the winning offense with her 33 assists. Decker added two assists to the mix.
For Melrose, Mallari Funk led in kills with seven. Mia Meyer went up to perform three ace blocks. Kelsey Fleischhacker and Cassie Klaphake each had 13 digs. Luetmer and Mashayae Tschida each had one serving ace.

Cross country: meet at Benson
The assignment for MACA cross country on October 9 was to visit Benson. It was a day when Lac qui Parle/Dawson-Boyd impressed with a No. 1 showing in boys and girls. Marquee runner Keiser Freetly of the Eagles was No. 1, timed at 16:42.30. Jordyn Sterud of the girls took champ honors with her time of 19:55.60. There were nine teams in the boys field, eight in girls.
How did our MACA runners fare? The Tigers were No. 4 in the boys division, No. 3 in girls. Here's who ran for the boys: Tate Nelson (7th, 18:02.20), Ben Hernandez (12th, 18:10.80), Thomas Tiernan (28th, 19:07.80), Bradley Rohloff (32nd, 19:37.60) and Judah Malek (44th, 20:37.30).
Meredith Carrington set the pace for the MACA girls with her fourth place showing, time of 21:35.20. Caryn Marty arrived at the finish chute No. 14, time of 22:25.80. Malory Anderson was 17th with her 22:34.60 showing. Also wearing the orange and black were Kaylie Raths (24th, 23:23.10), Isabel Fynboh (27th, 23:54.00) and Alexis Motz (34th, 25:09.30).
The site of the running was the Benson Golf Club.

Cross country: meet at Sauk Centre
Unfortunately we're still seeing just one Carrington name in MACA cross country data. Meredith Carrington is doing fine as shown in info from the Sauk Centre Invitational on October 3. Carrington placed eighth in this meet that had ten teams. She covered the course in 21:36.2. We're awaiting the return of Meredith's sister Maddie. Maddie is reportedly dealing with a foot issue.
As a team the MACA girls placed fifth at Sauk Centre. The host Streeters took first. Meredith was joined in the MACA effort by: Malory Anderson (22:51.4), Caryn Marty (22:55.7), Isabel Fynboh (23:30.3), Crystal Nohl (23:34.1), Alexis Motz (23:40.1) and Kaylie Raths (24:04.8).
Noah Stewart was quite excellent for the MACA boys. Stewart was No. 3 to the chute in the boys race with his time of 17:31.7. Tate Nelson was the next orange and black runner getting there, timed at 18:20.0. Solomon Johnson had a time of 18:20.3, then it was Ben Hernandez (18:22.1), Tyler Reimers (19:09.8), Thomas Tiernan (19:11.2) and Bradley Rohloff (20:07.5).
Staples-Motley had the top boys team among the eleven total boys teams.
There was a junior varsity race also. Our Katya Lackey was the girls champion in JV with her time of 24:11.1. Meghan Goulet placed tenth with a 26:32.9 time. Victoria Vargas was clocked at 27:47.7, and Bobbi Wohlers had a 28:45.6 performance. Boys running JV were: Allen Roberts (20:41.5), Judah Malek (20:51.3), Colton Wohlers (20:55.5), Micah Aanerud (21:48.2) and Tyce Anderson (23:07.8).
I am having to wear powerful reading glasses to learn this information from the Morris newspaper. The meet data is reported there in type size that is way too small. Newspaper readers are an aging population, so this makes no sense.
With papers shrinking all the time, there is a natural inclination toward running stuff smaller, except for the front page photos which sometimes take up half the page in the Morris paper. This happens even when the photo is quite pedestrian and with no photojournalistic merit. Killing space with photos means, of course, the news department doesn't have to work as hard.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Whither the concept of Homecoming royalty?

Will high school Homecoming continue to be a solid tradition into the future? Surprised I would ask this question? Look what happened to the concept of Homecoming royalty at UMM. The students seemed to be determined to make a mockery of it. We suspect that in high school, the concept is more likely to remain within safe and traditional bounds.
Sometimes there are undercurrents, though. Why would this be? There is precedent in the sense that we have seen cheerleaders, the "class will" and class prophecy wiped out. The will and prophecy can be added to the list of things we used to consider fun, harmless, innocuous etc.
We used to consider heavy consumption of alcohol acceptable. With alcohol, though, we discovered the undercurrent eventually. People were outraged at traffic fatalities caused by drunk drivers.
People rose up through the political process wherein we finally saw a prohibition on smoking in restaurants and other public places - pretty much everywhere now. Step into your imaginary time machine and go back to when you'd enter a restaurant like DeToy's and find several people smoking. Imagine having to work in a place like that.
I have opined that a high school "cheer team" would be acceptable and desirable in this day and age. It would be considered like an athletic activity. We'd see boys with girls. Remember the cheer team competition in Las Vegas in the movie "Dodgeball?"
I think back to high school and how in my era the cheerleaders were the "cute girls." They had to have a modicum of coordination to perform the cheers. But fundamentally they were chosen on the basis of being cute - we all knew that. We knew certain girls would never be considered because of their appearance, like being heavy. They need not apply.
The "cute" criterion has been rendered anachronistic. This may well be the reason, even if unstated, that cheerleaders were canceled at Morris Area.
So now we proceed on to the subject of Homecoming. On what basis exactly are the "royalty" chosen? Are these criteria also to be considered anachronistic? Ponder the criteria: Is it "popularity?" That doesn't even answer the question because we must then ask: What is the popularity based on? If this cannot be answered, then the royalty concept might well be considered a candidate for the scrap heap like the class will and prophesies.
I remember that Tony Cruze of my class had a prophecy of being "mistaken for the Hamm's Bear and shipped to the Como Zoo." I remember a couple females who sniffed at how they were referenced, for good reason as I recall, but I don't remember enough of the details to share them here. So we saw cracks in the tradition even back then.
There is a little nugget of Morris history that ought to be preserved in connection to royalty. Certainly the Historical Society would have nothing to do with this. It's significant though because a particular glitch happened not once but twice within a relatively short period. The crown got bestowed on the wrong girl. It happened with the high school junior attendant and it even happened with Miss Morris. These events have receded in time so perhaps not many people remember. I was there so I remember. Had I been a cartoonist, I might have done a drawing with a billboard outside of Morris saying "Welcome to Morris, home of botched coronations."
A Morris school administrator commented in the wake that no longer would we have a crown presenter "fake" putting the crown on a certain head, going back and forth until finally putting it on the right one. The administrator thought this practice to be "tacky." In saying this he was offending the small schools around Morris who indulged liberally in this.
When I was in high school the coronation was held in the 1968 gym. So were many music concerts. That location seemed quite nice - people could sit up in the bleachers and get an ideal view of everything. I remember a band concert that featured Renee Schmidt (male) as flute soloist. You could see every member of the band. Once the auditorium got built and concerts moved there, you could only see the front row of clarinet players.
We performed a pops concert at the 1968 gym. Tables were set up for the audience, as I recall. I played a trumpet solo on a "Carpenters" medley.
Jane Larson was crowned as our Homecoming queen there in the fall of 1972. We had pep rally skits on behalf of the various candidates. Jane's skit presented her "first date." But you see, this stuff can get dicey and personal. Maybe the day will come when Homecoming royalty gets phased out just like at UMM. It'll be a dinosaur.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Home volleyball for Homecoming: a 3-0 win

Tigers 3, BOLD 0
MACA was back in familiar position of winning by sweep in the match vs. BOLD. The Tigers showed the kind of dominant flair that is so often their tendency. MACA won this October 3 home match by these scores: 25-9, 25-18 and 25-14. It was our 13th win of the season, coming during Homecoming week. BOLD was a conference opponent. The Warriors are having a sub-.500 season.
Jenna Howden showed power at the net, her forte, accumulating ten kills on this night. Here's the rest of the kills list: Bailey Marty (5), Jenna Larsen (4), Lexi Pew (3), Karly Fehr (1), Kenzie Hockel (1) and Hallie Watzke (1). Pew came at the Warriors with three ace blocks. Fehr went up for two ace blocks, and Hockel and Howden each had one.
Riley Decker performed her forte of digs well with 13, but Marty was right with her with 13 also. Larsen had nine digs followed by Fehr with eight and Howden with six. Fehr in her specialty of setting had 20 assists. Hockel, Fehr and Larsen each had two serving aces. Marty, Howden and Decker each had one serving ace.
For BOLD, Makenna Steffel led in kills with seven. Ashley Trongard and Taylor Sagedahl each had six kills. Steffel and Elli Honzay each had one ace block. Brenna Weis had the team-best 12 digs and Sagedahl had ten. The primary setter was Makayla Snow who had 24 assists. Morgari Schmitz and Alex Revier each had one serving ace.
MACA owns a shimmering W/L record for Homecoming week 2017. Let's cross our fingers for ideal weather for the Friday parade.
 
Recent football action
My summaries of MACA football have been on my companion website, "Morris of Course." Things didn't go so well at the Minnewaska gridiron last Friday as we were dealt defeat. Click on the link to see the review. Thanks for reading. - B.W.

http://morrisofcourse.blogspot.com/2017/10/gruber-lakers-surge-late-to-35-7-win.html

 
The previous week saw the Tigers shine in a win over Benson. Click on the link below to refresh on that game.
http://morrisofcourse.blogspot.com/2017/09/tigers-defeat-benson-as-again-arndt.html
 
Pro-referendum voices heard
We have now seen a standard public statement from someone proclaiming we need to support our school. As if anyone would present a contrary opinion. Public schools can seem like a bottomless pit when it comes to funding. Periodically the public must make a "no" statement to simply force the school to live within its existing resources.
If we have allowed our school campus to over-expand, well then that's our fault. When the "new elementary school" was built it ended up including a new varsity gym, new high school band and choir rooms and an expanded and remodeled high school cafeteria. School advocates craft these "end runs" because they are always after more. Often the public acquiesces. Parents can feel an emotional pull and then they condemn those like me who want to promote realism and some fiscal restraint.
Go ahead, vote yes, and then within a few years we may start hearing cries about how we need to build a new high school. And we'll be dragged through all that again, like when we nudged the 1914 school into retirement and then the wrecking ball. I thought the art deco auditorium was quite nice, complete with balcony.
School advocates push for new and improved all the time. They seek money like a big vacuum cleaner. Even if you support the current referendum, you must look upon the pricetag as being rather bloated. Should we be surprised, what with "consultants" coming here and writing prices on a piece of paper? As Count Floyd of the old SCTV TV series would say, "brrrr, scary." Be sure to ask "Sick Rick" Lahn - nickname given by a regional blogger - tough questions.
Or don't - be lemmings.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Seeking optimal relationship with UMM

The image shows your blog host and mom Martha H. Williams in front of the United Nations, New York City, during the UMM men's chorus' exciting trip for the World's Fair in 1964. (photo scanned by Del Sarlette)

Another UMM Homecoming is now history. I was pleased recently to write a check that would benefit UMM music. The check is on behalf of my mother Martha and I. Maybe it's an attempt to stay relevant in the Morris community. We have been on the sidelines for a long time.
Years have come and gone since my parents' involvement at UMM. Generations of students and staff have come and gone. Systems and priorities have changed. Mom had a reputation of having a fast "gait" as she crossed the campus doing business for the UMM post office which she supervised. I would guess few people on campus now are familiar with that. We have in our family photo collection a shot of Mom doing this activity, taken by someone on campus who wanted to preserve it. The photo has been scanned by Del Sarlette and I will be displaying it sometime.
Giving to a college can leave one with mixed feelings. The institution has fund-raising people who will be dripping with gratitude about this. But I'm sure that once any contribution is tucked away, those people without missing a beat try to get more. This is how they are incentivized. They are good people to be sure. But they are likely numbers-driven and salivate over getting more $. If you stop giving, the communications from them will dry up until you finally get nothing. It can leave you with an empty feeling.
My father will always be remembered to a degree because he was an original faculty member. He has been cited for helping cement UMM's future because of the high profile and popularity of his men's chorus. I was just the kid who would hang around. As an adult I had no chance to be accepted by the UMM community on the same terms as my parents. There was even some resentment which I never understood. People thought I was privileged.
Maybe I would have been better off as a kid being sent to a foster home somewhere.
I came to campus often as a newspaper person, probably more often than anyone else who would have held my position. My coverage of UMM was never comprehensive or totally consistent because that would have been an unattainable ideal. In the pre-Internet days, communications outreach was not nearly as high a priority for UMM, not at all like today when there is a sharp commitment to PR via UMM's website including its sports component.
I came out to UMM for music concerts. Often I'd get a photo of a musician or musicians warming up before a concert. I'd get their names and I also had a high priority for getting their hometowns! It was always interesting to find out where all these kids came from.
One day I photographed a Homecoming parade float that included a kid whose last name was Vick from St. Cloud. I asked "is your dad the speech teacher at St. Cloud State?" He answered yes. On another occasion I photographed some students - if I remember right they were in costumes for Halloween - at the Newman Center, and took down the last name of Nistler. I asked, are your parents the mass communications alums of St. Cloud State who I once knew? The answer was yes.
It's nice to see these young people with strong ties to St. Cloud State choosing Morris for their college education. St. Cloud State doesn't even have a Homecoming anymore. Why? Ahem, let's not get into that.
Not that UMM has a spotless Homecoming background, as many of us still remember the harrowing goalpost incident that left a student deceased. I wasn't there when it happened. I was at that game in the first half before departing. I came back for the 4 p.m. volleyball match at the P.E. Center. But I missed the horrible tragedy and I really have no misgivings about that. It probably left psychological scars for a lot of people. My coverage in the paper included an eyewitness description which I acquired from the ESPN2 website. I was happy to find such an account because I couldn't find people willing to go on the record. Some people took issue with what I quoted. I think maybe they were trying to create a red herring: let's make yours truly the issue.
Was there really a phantom gesture made by a UMM security person, a gesture which according to legend and rumor, had the effect of shooing the rowdy kids away from one goalpost and toward the other? The incident happened back in 2005. UMM has since moved to a new football field with artificial turf.
I got one of those mass emails Thursday informing us that the parking lots would not be checked for permits Friday, the day of the chancellor's inauguration. We have a Retirees Association permit. But I was bothered by the whole issue of UMM charging for parking. We have to try to understand why. I suppose it's a fund-raising source and also a way for discouraging rabble from coming to campus. That said, I think the permit policy is a hindrance for people who might have only an occasional reason to visit campus for something or to see someone. It might be a one-time visit. It might be a visit with UMM's fund-raising people. It's a distraction and a worry.
Don't a lot of students park off-campus to avoid the fee? I'm told some students park at Willie's and leave their car there all day. It's not like parking space is a limited commodity like it might be in a big city. We're a small town surrounded by prairie.
I made a financial contribution to UMM because I, or we, wanted to continue having a feeling of connection with the UMM community. I owe it to UMM music. I gave lots of coverage to UMM music through the years, mostly in connection with Jim Carlson. I did interviews for articles. Yet I always felt like an outsider away from the mainstream. That sense always hovered over me. A friend tipped me off once that Kay Carlson, Jim's wife, murmured some disparaging comments about me when I showed up to cover a music event. I photographed a visiting pianist who posed pre-concert with the event's sponsors. The photo turned out great. Was there something so terrible about me being there? I'm not from the right tribe, I guess.
I was raked over the coals after the 2005 goalpost incident. A Morris physician name of Mike Busian, who I always gathered had a volatile personality, wrote a bizarre letter to the editor in which he suggested the public had to put up with my coverage because of "the First Amendment." He's dead now.
I have now spent eleven years out of the loop in regard to public things. Mom retired long ago. Dad died four years ago. I am trying hard for that optimal relationship with UMM, with our recent financial gesture (of $10,000, hope it's not chump change). Already we have gotten communications seeking to wring out a little more from us. Money's honey, I guess.
All three of us are represented on our cemetery bench monument. Please stop by and visit sometime and feel free to sit on the bench. I haven't been able to bring Mom out there because our cemetery is not handicapped-accessible. There aren't many institutions you can say that about anymore.
I don't even know how UMM did in its Homecoming football game. And I don't care.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com