Disruptive effect of the time change

It occasionally makes the news! The actual threats to one's health, especially if you're older, of the time changes when we go off/on daylight savings time. 

All things being equal, everything can be harder for adjustment when you get older. I do not consume any standard TV any more. If I were to watch some mainstream type of news programs, I would be more likely to get the heads-up on the time changes. Actually I think more people get "fooled" on this than we realize, because we're too embarrassed to admit it. 

I had a strange experience Sunday morning. My only way of becoming aware of the time shift was through my "atomic clock." Fine, I became aware, at least for awhile. I made a trip downtown for my breakfast sandwiches at Caribou. Everything fine. Upon getting home I checked my watch which I had not adjusted. Maybe because I am getting older - having attended my 50-year high school reunion recently - I went and forgot about the time change. 

So I drove into town an hour early in my attempt to attend church. I arrived at church and realized almost immediately the reality: basically no cars parking around the place. Although I later joked with a friend: "I might have thought this was just an average Sunday at First Lutheran." Rimshot on that? 

First Lutheran does not have the hardy air it once did. We don't have a pastor but this is actually no big deal for me at present. I think the idea of a well-paid guy wearing a robe who composes an original sermon every Sunday, helping lead and inspire his flock, is really quite antiquated. But I see value in church as something "different" to break up the week and for seeing certain people regularly in a social way. 

Such experiences are harder to come by in the post-covid age. We do not mix in social situations as much - we do not take this for granted as part of our lives. But church can provide some relief for that. 

I am bothered that the ELCA Lutherans of Morris are divided into two churches. This is totally unnecessary. The word now is that Faith Lutheran is doing so much better than First. It's too bad we have to compare at all. We are Americans and we are naturally competitive. Having two churches in town means we'll compare. Maybe it's part of our sinful nature. We go to church to be reminded of that, but I don't need some guru wearing a robe to remind me. 

I got to church an hour early Sunday, pulled into the courthouse parking lot and had the opportunity to chat with a nice person out walking her dog. She confirmed my mistake in understanding what time it was. I'm not too embarrassed to admit it. I went to Willie's to get a snack and then went home, not to return that day. 

I took a look at our YouTube post for the service and again surmised that we are not doing well with numbers. Many in our church are old including me, and it would be reassuring to get more young families in the ranks. I hear that Faith Lutheran is doing that. Congratulations to them. 

Churches can change their image through the years. First and Faith have definitely been through this. Faith long had the image of being more of the "working class church." That's such a generalization, I'm not sure it means anything. Stereotype? Sometimes an image grows just because of the presence of a small group of people. First Lutheran was once associated with the Eidsvolds. It was blessed this way. I don't know to what extent the Eidsvolds might still be tied to Morris institutions - I think they still make gestures for UMM. 

UMM like First Lutheran Church has really come upon some shoals, some adversity. Is it bad luck for them that I am associated with both? I would not want to be a hindrance. 

We are approaching the end of the year so I have to consider writing a check to the U of M Foundation, in support of the fund in my family's name. To benefit music. I don't know how much this helps if UMM music is so desperate as to charge $10 admission for the Homecoming concert. I believe there was a time when this concert was free - a nice gesture for those taking the trouble to come and support UMM. 

Hey, ski-U-mah

UMM is trying to "squeeze" us now, at a time when "real" enrollment has seriously, almost catastrophically, shrunk. The overall U has not had capable leadership for a long time. I'm incredulous about that. Nevertheless if I were to share concerns, a fair number of the usual glory-seekers around town would pillory me, condemn me, insult me on personal grounds which is something I have had to deal with all my life. I just try to "call 'em as I see 'em." 

I don't even believe in PSEO. High school kids should stay with their peers and progress toward maturity in the standard way. Of course colleges want to get their mitts on high school age kids because colleges need bodies. So then the public subsidizes that while at the same time continuing to pay a fortune for our standard K-12 system. Jim McRoberts taught me the expression "figures lie and liars figure." 

I plan to bite the bullet and make my usual $ contribution to the U of M Foundation, designated for the Ralph and Martha Williams Fund at the U of M-Morris. I don't even know if "UMM" is the correct reference any more. UMN? Things can get so crazy out there. Well, government is involved. People are embedded with their own self-interest in bureaucracies. As a newspaper person I learned to see through all of this. Nothing I can do to change anything. 

Maybe we'll get a new U president who seems really truly invested in how our U performs and serves the state. We had a U president for three years who came here from South Carolina - culture clash, yes - and it appears now she was one of those people who never stops sending her resume around. I detest that. 

I have began feeling great skepticism about our vaunted "board of regents." The term regent once inspired some awe in me when I heard it. Heavens, that has certainly changed. How do we know that certain regents don't just like "schmoozing" with administrators? I think a small group of really focused state legislators, even if they were Republicans, would do a better job of oversight. Maybe especially if they were Republicans, and that's a hard statement to get out of me. 

The Democrats' one biggest weakness is that they put up with largesse in public education. Maybe some progress is being made with that, but not nearly enough. Republicans are less likely to be impressed by the flowery, lofty talk coming from the education bureaucracy do-gooders. 

What is to become of the U of M? What is to become of First Lutheran Church in Morris? I will now have a full week to prepare for the correct time of day. I went for my usual walk last night and found darkness was setting in by surprise - should not have surprised me as we were off daylight savings time. I am getting older and sometimes struggle to be aware of everything. 

I had to change my walking route so that I would not be walking along the bypass east of town after dark. The risk is that you could be accosted by cops. This happened to me once. It was an unmarked vehicle. For a moment I tried ignoring the guy but he followed me. I was walking properly on the proper side of the road, on the shoulder of course and facing traffic. I wonder what would have happened if I steadfastly refused to talk to him. Would I have been tased? 

I will start my walks an hour earlier now. In the '80s I was a jogger and often out at night. But we lived in a much more relaxed world then. Today things are so nervous, I will not walk through the UMM campus after dark. At age 68 I might look suspicious, which I would claim is an unfair stereotype. Being old and male and a loner, I have to be careful. Gender should not figure in. UMM is not supposed to stereotype anyone - it's against their ethos, isn't it?

 

Addendum: When I send my check to the U Foundation, to a Twin Cities office where I know things will be more orderly than here, I may include a little note saying I hope the new U president - heavens whenever that person comes along - will take a very hard look at UMM. Maybe that person will just be more interested in glad-handing which is always tempting. So we may have to call on the Republican Party after all.

 

Addendum: I know of at least one person in the UMM bureacracy who would laugh at me because of some of the things I write here. Belittle me. Minimize me. Mock me, whatever. I've seen it all.

 

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