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The cold might be the worst, at least the persistent nature of it. The distinguishing trait of this winter might be the blending of arctic-like cold with strong winds. Memory indicates to me that extreme cold is usually marked by stillness. The weather people on TV should just dispense with the "windchill" talk. We all know what the blending of cold and wind means.
Remember Dick Guindon, the Star Tribune cartoonist from long ago (like the '70s)? He was an acquired taste. I read that his medium of charcoal made him stand out. Many people my age can remember several of his classics, one of them based on Minnesota winter weather. A group of young schoolchildren are off to school, walking. It's an odd-looking little group with the caption explaining that they were walking to school "backwards." We can all recall when we turned away from a stiff wind in winter to protect ourselves. We'd literally walk "backwards." It's something we all knew about but had never seen portrayed in the media before, at least I hadn't.
So the cartoon was really a hoot.
Back in my newspaper days I was probably too busy to really get bummed by the worst of winter weather. Today? It's a different chapter of my life to be sure. The weather gets to me. Maybe this is exacerbated by other things that are going on around us. Like, our political culture.
"Political culture" seems almost too generous a term. Political disagreements existed when I was young but they were civil and mostly intelligent. You had Democrats and Republicans, both interested in what was best for America. Tip O'Neill could be friendly with Ronald Reagan at the end of the day, after they had disagreed strongly about various things. That was "politics" in my younger days. Today? I am getting hesitant to even write about it.
My writing isn't going to persuade anyone or even get anyone to be contemplative. Is it all over? Is the whole "American experiment" nearing an end?
West Central Minnesota has gotten under the magnifying glass for this. We didn't need this. It would not have happened if the Anfinson family had not agreed to cooperate for an Associated Press feature article, an article that has appeared to run the breadth of the U.S. The thrust is: it is neighbor-vs.-neighbor out here, you know the lingo: "liberals, conservatives, MAGA" etc. We hate each other, and Reed Anfinson explained to the writer that he knows where his gun is (if it comes to that).
I agree there is considerable conflict. I genuinely worry about the state of the country. But I'm not sure West Central Minnesota needed to become a poster child in all this. We definitely are. I am guessing that Shelly Anfinson is not pleased with the likely fallout from the AP article. She runs our Morris newspaper, which flirted with closing before the Anfinsons took over.
I write more about the AP article, the Anfinsons and Benson on my companion blog "Morris of Course." I invite you to read with this permalink:
Worst winter ever?
Lest we think the current weather is rock-bottom for inducing a sense of futility/exasperation, a friend enlightens me on this, gives persective. He is on the road in his work.
No, there were worse winters in our time. ‘96-‘97 (I think) was when there was a ton of snow. I remember seeing a US Army snow plow out on highway 75 while doing my school route – strangest machine I’d ever seen. That was the year of the terrible flooding in the spring because of all the snow. Then there was the winter of ‘68 when we had so much snow that you had to put those yellow or orange Styrofoam balls on your car antennas so that you could be seen at intersections. Driving in town was like going through a chain of tunnels. Unless you’re talking about cold, but we’ve had winters where the temp was below 0 for weeks at a time. I remember driving on my school route in February of ‘96, listening to WCCO that morning when Mike Lynch broke in to say it was 60° below in Tower, Minn. Actually, there’s nothing unusual about this winter, it’s fairly “normal." We were just spoiled by a couple consecutive winters with less snow and not as cold temps.
Better snow removal
Have you ever been annoyed by city snowplows that go by and leave a big ridge at the foot of your driveway, causing you to shovel on some occasions when you might not have to otherwise? There are municipalities that try to relieve this annoyance, I will have you know. So a friend shared with me the following:
Why can’t the city invest in some of those add-on secondary blades that some cities have for their plows, where-in the second blade drops when the plow goes by a driveway and channels the snow away from the end of the driveway? I’ve seen a video of that, looks slick. I’d rather the city spent my tax dollars on those than the solar-powered “Welcome to Morris” signs that they’re buying. And, if they can fine homeowners for throwing snow into the streets, why can’t we fine the city for pushing snow into our driveways?
Sports, sports, sports
I will shortly try to get caught up with my writing about MACA and MBA sports. Oh, and MAHACA too - alphabet soup to be sure.
I am happy to do this, let me emphasize. I am starting to feel concerned by the frequency of games. We seem to be getting more games on Saturday now. In a nutshell: it is hard to keep up. Also, I don't have much time to sit back and enjoy an article I have just written. It gets forgotten quickly as the new game is upon us, a whole new set of "stats" to process. At a certain point it does get aggravating.
I began my coverage of Tiger sports in 1972, so this is my 50th year of the activity, longevity that I am proud of, even if almost no one knows about it. As I recall, I covered Tiger football and baseball in my first year but nothing in winter.
I was asked to do this by Sun Tribune editor Arnold Thompson. Yes, my journalism background goes back to ol' Arnold, who had "girlie" burlesque photos under the glass on his office desk. Those were different times. We had different standards, but I don't buy this excuse where Andrew Cuomo is concerned. What about Bill Cosby? My feelings about Bill are that his mind was steamrolled when he was young by urges that God created within him. So, let's get mad at God, seriously.
I have never even dated a woman, so I cannot be sued by anyone. I remember going to DeToy's once with friend and co-worker Howard Moser, and I mused with him: "How would everyone in here react if they saw me come in with a woman?" And the gimlet-eyed Howard said: "They all know you're too smart to do that."
Might the whole thing be Freudian?
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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