"You'll never get ahead if you don't take care of what you have." - Doris Waddell, RIP

The late Ralph E. Williams with "Heidi" - morris mn

The late Ralph E. Williams with "Heidi" - morris mn
Click on the image to read Williams family reflections w/ emphasis on UMM.

Tuesday, June 3, 2025

Advancing storm waits for no one

Stardate June 3, 2025. Got caught in the nasty weather yesterday (Monday). Was out seeking peace east of town, peace being a more sought commodity for us all these days. Too late I saw the ominous clouds forming to the west. I turned around and headed home as swiftly as possible for my 70-year-old body. And to think I once headed out to these parts running, not walking. Advancing age is a reality. As is eventual death, as the senator from Iowa reminded us in such stark terms the other day. 
Can America even be considered a Christian nation anymore? A basic caring for others was once part of our basic ethos. The onslaught of "conservative" values has become so intense, our political leaders can simply shrug about people dying, people who may be "below average" but so what? Medicaid recipients. Should we round them up and send them somewhere just like the immigrants? 
"We all die," Joni Ernst said. So don't go out of your way expecting the government to help in any way. And it's not just the below-average folks (i.e. socioeconomically deprived) at great risk now, it's lots of people above that. 
Our basic health care system in this country has become quite attached to the "bottom line." Increasingly it has drifted away from a fundamental caring about us as human beings. 
My detractors would want me to be specific. Well I can accommodate you, not that you will be satisfied.
Dr. Liz Meischner
Take a look at this new "Willow Creek Health" with Dr. Meischner in Morris. Clearly this service is a welcome attempt to push back against the alienating nature of basic U.S. health care now. I have read some of their promo material. Talk of how your basic doctor these days "checks boxes" and "meets quotas." 
I will not criticize my current doctor who is part of the standard system. He does what is expected of him. I told him that I had learned from YouTube that doctors today are "terrified of their patients." He responded: "A lot of the older doctors are having trouble adjusting to new ways." 
I think the new ways make the whole system less personal, less feeling, more detached. 
I didn't finish my story about being out for a walk. I was assaulted by the weather as I walked along the edge of the UMM campus. Drenched, cold, attacked by wind. 
I may not run any more but I am resilient, knock on wood. I arrived home where I looked immediately to see if my gutter/drainage system worked, did not get obstructed. And it did work! That relieved some of the distress. 
Sen. Joni Ernst
This nation's weather forecasting its going to be hurt by all the cuts that the president is pushing. Our many Trump supporters in the Morris area don't care. They are undoubtedly like Senator Ernst. "We all die." They'll say "stop expecting the government to help you with your health care." And with fewer government dollars flowing through our health care system, how will everyone who is employed in health care continue to be properly paid? 
Can us peons fall back on using the "emergency room?" But the emergency room doesn't really work for managing chronic conditions, right? 
Isn't it obvious that people are having increasing trouble paying their day-to-day bills? I mean, just to live? And so a health care emergency comes along. What to do? Medical bills can be enormous. Well, and I'm sure insurance costs a hefty amount too - a growing amount - because the execs of the big insurance companies like UnitedHealth must be compensated with an obscene amount of money. 
Is your homeowners insurance going up? Look at what the top execs of those companies make. And we are discouraged from raising any concerns about this because we are supposed to respect our "private free enterprise system" all the time. It's that system that allows the insurance company execs to receive such ridiculous compensation packages. 
But you're all OK with that. I sense no shift in our local political mood. Donald Trump might just as well be our new Jesus Christ. 
People at my favorite restaurant in the morning know I'm inclined to think like a Democrat. A comment was made to me just yesterday. Someone said "I suppose you were at the big anti-Trump rally." 
Well, I was aware of such an event but I thought it was called "meet in the middle." The whole point being, to discourage so much conflict. This is how U.S. politics used to be. The big clashes happened on the edges. Certainly there will always be conflict in politics. But it used to be we'd "meet in the middle" on many things. We agreed that a large number of government programs had a good purpose for us. 
Today? Let's diss all the people on Medicaid because, after all, "we all die." So let's get on with it, just die and then you won't be so much of a burden for government. 
How would Jesus Christ react to this? 
 
Local church "dies"
My church of First Lutheran is in the ELCA which has tried to be a holdout against the toxic wave of Trump-ism. We are waving the white flag. I now pronounce First Lutheran dead. When a church can no longer have weekly Sunday services at the sanctuary, it is dead. This summer we will have services only every other weekend. 
I asked this past Sunday if the doors would at least be open if we wanted to at least come inside and sit for a few moments, contemplate, maybe converse with a friend. The tentative answer is yes. But that is so futile. It's over. 
Faith Lutheran is hanging on as the much stronger church. Why has this been allowed to happen? I could consider going to Faith Lutheran of the ELCA but there may be people there who wouldn't want to see me. I may be left all by myself to have spiritual thoughts and ponder my mortality. 
Losing a church can only be a negative. Our community of Morris is showing serious signs of decline and retreat. Defeat? Why did we allow a situation where one grocery store has a monopoly? A monopoly is always a bad thing. 
UMN-Morris really seems to be slipping even more. I got an email informing me of more faculty departures and openings in humanities. I'm well aware of the music department's fissures. Michael Lackey told me all the humanities are dealing with that. Meanwhile we have this huge hulking albatross building called the HFA on campus. You might say it's an ugly building too. 
And UMM cannot even have a band any more? I have suggested that UMM just put out word that "a band is forming." Have an organizational meeting/rehearsal. This band would reflect the extracurricular philosophy. The activity would be fun for the students and enhance campus life. 
I'm sure there are back room meetings at UMM where the people are worried about how UMM's stakeholders are reacting to all that is going on. Then they step outside those rooms and try to tell everyone that everything is rosy, no problems. Obviously that doesn't work with me. 
How can UMM survive with all its "DEI"? Makes no sense. My only theory is that UMM is such a small out-of-the-way place, people will feel sorry for us, just ignore us. Is this the kind of thing that our community can really build upon? 
 
Shhh, pay no mind here
Normally our Republican state senator and representative would be all-in with what their national party wants. The national party is trying to wipe out DEI. I think Torrey Westrom and Paul Anderson just hope no one asks them about it. They know UMM is an economic driver here. And they probably realize our options are limited for re-purposing the place. 
"All politics is local," n'est-ce pas? So let's smile about DEI. Good luck with dealing with Stephen Miller on that. Can we count on Miller just shaking his ahead about how small and remote we are out here? "Oh just leave UMM alone." I doubt it, but we'll see. 
When I talk about jump-starting the UMM band, I'm talking about a band that would be almost entirely UMM students. We have an enrollment of about a thousand, right? Can I assume lots of those kids played in high school band? And, that they would enjoy doing something like that again? I mentioned this to a friend and his response was that UMM's true enrollment is probably just 2/3 of what I just typed. I guess "a thousand" is such a nice round number. Rolls off the tongue.
Footnote re. grocery stores: Coborn's would have built a nice new store if it could have gotten a liquor license.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

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