Summer of precipitation, other things

It's the summer of ten inches of rain in four days. That's the word out there re. the quantity in and around Morris.  So it's worse in Chokio? That's the word too. It's the summer of smoke from fires floating in from Canada. Smoke gets in our eyes, yes. Wicked "water hazards" at the golf course? A train derailment out by there too? But no hazardous material spilled, so they say. 

Crazy Days now history. It has had a resurgence, but never again to be like what the boomers (like me) remember from our childhood. "Main street" was a true people traffic place.

It's the summer of Trump and Epstein. I have tried sharing as much background as I can about how Trump is a dangerous, self-interested and dishonest person. It is so hard to continue with that thread of thought. It is futile. We have a congressperson out here in our part of Flyoverland who is like a clone of Trump. She would not second-guess any tiny thing with what DJT says or does. She's scared that next time she might actually lose to Steve Boyd. And Mr. Boyd is even more right wing than Fischbach. 

"Right wing" might be too generous a term because it suggests a clear body of ideological thought. William F. Buckley would probably accept the right wing characterization. He was a thinker's thinker. And the contemporary MAGA crowd? Well, rather the opposite. It is emotional, impulsive, reminds us of cult members. There are no revelations about DJT that would dissuade these people. They get led along by conservative media, primarily Fox News. 

Fox News makes us wish for the expedited end to "cable TV news." Cable news had a nice run and it had lots of promise at the start. Many of us were amazed at how there could be a 24/7 news channel to call up on the tube. By the same token, I was amazed to discover "Joe and Mika" in the morning as a nice extended discussion on the political goings-on. I know many people shared my enthusiasm about that show. 

All of this should have led to a better and more educated USA that could move forward in the most positive way. Ah, the best-laid plans can go awry. We have a president now who wants to go back to coal power. He wants to go back, period. He named Supreme Court justices who he knew would erase Roe vs. Wade. 

Trump likes coal

Across the board he wants to see the U.S. reverse course as if we might capture a previous era. Maybe it's just the fallacy of thinking "the old days" were better. Which of course they weren't. I grew up during the draft for the Vietnam war. Time moved like molasses. The great Lutheran Church did not allow women pastors until 1970. Girls sports in high school did not start until about the same time. I would peg that year as 1971. 

 

Here's an idea 

Does anyone have a record of the first varsity roster for Morris girls basketball, or the first five starters in a game? It would be neat to gather that group together for a recognition ceremony at MAHS. It would help us appreciate the history. The sad thing is that as time went on, Morris girls basketball and volleyball had prolonged periods of not being competitive. It was so bad, it seemed the program was not even trying to be competitive. No one even spoke in terms of these teams being a contender for anything. 

And there was a firm faction of teachers who resisted any sentiment that somehow we needed to adjust things. You would think that women's liberation would want to see our teams do really well. But if anything those folks felt threatened by talk of being competitive. 

You see, the libbers were entrenched in "academia" which in Morris had a firm base at UMM. It did fan out though. Such people would look down their noses at you, if you projected the "small school" innocence of thinking that our teams should just go out and try to win. It was "Neanderthal." 

As a newspaper person whose rounds included those blessed small schools, I got concerned. I didn't see any inherent clash between "academics" and the simple aim of trying to win games. My outlook got me put down badly in certain "snooty" circles. 

My outlook finally pushed through after much difficulty and even some broken lives. Should this have been so hard? 

 

The religious side 

What about women in ministry? Isn't this fully mainstream now? Isn't it hard to even remember pre-1970 when "women need not apply?" I mean, can you believe it? Just try enforcing the old standard today. 

Today it's nigh impossible for an ELCA church to find any kind of new minister. 

My church of First Lutheran has fallen so far, we have paired with Federated for the summer. There are some Sundays where the FLC church building is completely idle. Sacrilege? I'm sure some people of old would react that way. God's house idle on a Sunday. Its members told to go over to the Methodist church? 

Well I don't care much about theology. 

 

This exists 

I wouldn't go near a church whose members would declare that Donald Trump was "sent by God." 

DJT as a symbol of the Christian faith? Much of American Christianity has been dragged down by this false prophet. This obvious charlatan. But I go against the grain asserting thoughts like this. My contrarian proclivity maybe? Just like when I tried shaking this community out of its slumber with girls sports competition? Or competitiveness overall with our athletics? 

Look, there finally was an "awakening." Was around 1988. People got hurt along the way, some businesses got hurt. People felt they had to rise up even at the risk for their business or personal interests. My family had to change dentists. 

The "academic intelligentsia" as we once knew it, I think, is gone. I'm amazed as I think back to how they once ruled! 

Or you can think back to what it would have been like sitting down with Pastor Grindland at First Lutheran in the '60s and asking him, "do you think women should be ministers?" And he'd have to say he had reservations about it. He'd have to because it was church policy. "Well, we have to be careful not to be too radical. Let's not rock the boat." These are just imagined quotes by me. But the message would be "maybe it's not time." 

So keep the prohibition on women? Well yes. That would have to be the message. Up through 1969. Not that long ago. Of course it seems utterly absurd now. 

Donald Trump wants to live in "throwback" America. Go back to coal power. And of course crush the "Green New Deal" and all that comes with it. We had a stark choice between Trump and Harris. A stark choice also with Trump and Hillary Clinton. And we chose Hillary because she received three million more votes. But she did not become president. The electoral college is a holdover from 19th Century America which felt measures were needed to suppress black people. 

We reap what we sow. 

We could have gotten lucky and discovered that Trump was a good person after all. No such luck. If the rest of the world begins to think that the U.S. is making climate change worse, there may even be military action directed at this country.

 

Addendum: Girls sports in Morris perked up with the 1987 volleyball season. We went from 3-17 the year before to 17-10. And I was fascinated in the upbeat season to hear people actually talk like MAHS might be a factor in the playoffs. Would have been unheard-of previously.

I'm sure some people don't believe me when I try telling them how bad things were. I had a teacher friend who was not part of the undesirable crowd. She told me that an elementary phy ed teacher approached her every year before 1987 and said "how are things going for (your daughter)?" My friend further reported that when volleyball took off winning in '87, that phy ed teacher said nothing.

There was an element that did not even want to see the teams start winning. Well I suppose if one team wins, it puts pressure on the other coaches? And who needs that? Worse yet, the problem teachers/coaches had such a big chip on their shoulder.

We are blessed today by comparison. 

 

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