Softball season's end seems bittersweet

It's always mystifying how high school softball teams in southern Minnesota prove to be such a barrier. We have learned this on many occasions in Tiger softball.
Our Tigers are often showcased at the unusual time of Memorial Day weekend, obviously an important holiday weekend. The reverence that one normally associates with that time is interrupted for high school sports to push forward. Some people also seem to feel "reverence" about the tradition of getting to "the lake" on the three-day weekend.
Those of us who aren't lake people are not crestfallen when the weather is not cooperative. It surely was not cooperative for summer-time activity in 2019.
I took a long walk on Memorial Day and was dressed like it was March. It was an enjoyable walk to be sure, but this time of year a simple T-shirt ought to suffice, and maybe even shorts.
Well, let's get to the subject of MACA Tiger softball. The fans have to feel disappointed, don't they? I mean, we rolled through the whole regular season losing just once, to Proctor. Not only that, we won by commanding scores much of the time. So surely we could roll through some opponents in post-season, right?
Didn't we seem like a team that might be destined for state? I surely thought so. But I had a feeling in the back of my mind, based on memories, that those juggernauts from the south might thwart us. What is so different about southern Minnesota? It's not so far to the south that the climate is appreciably better. So I'm kind of drawing a blank. We were the top seed coming out of the North but I guess this does not stoke supreme confidence.
Yes, we took care of business at the start, downing Minnewaska with the kind of flourish our team always shows. Then we faced Luverne. Alas, we were stopped in the 3-2 score on Saturday. The site was Marshall. We got down 3-0 early. There was more than a glimmer of hope in the fifth frame. My, we had the bases loaded with no outs! The pressure was on Rylee Olson, Luverne pitcher. She faced the pressure admirably. She bore down to retire the next three batters. No more runs in.
Hope grew for MACA fans again in the sixth. Again we got the sacks full. But again we had the door slammed on us. It ended up quite the heartbreaking loss.
Luverne got its 3-0 lead against Tiger pitcher Kenna Kehoe. So sad to see Kenna falter on this day. Katelyn Wehking took over with her pitching arm. Luverne did not get to her, over her stint of 5 2/3 innings. Offensively Bailey Marty stood out for MACA with her two-for-three line and an RBI.
 
Tigers 10, JCC 3
A trait of the softball post-season is that it's double-elimination. The Tigers would have another chance. Double-elimination can make tournaments hard for fans or even media writers to understand. The Tigers found new life with a 10-3 triumph over the Huskies of Jackson County Central. This game also was played on Saturday.
We got going with a bang as we plated three runs with a two-out rally in the first. The second inning was ditto: three runs with two outs.
Liz Dietz had her pitching arm showcased this time. She pitched the whole way, allowing just one earned run of the three total that JCC scored. Her win was a three-hitter. Emma Bowman made noise with her bat: four-for-five with two runs scored. Jen Solvie homered for the fourth time this season. Her RBI total was four. Kenzie Hockel drove three runs in.
The win was our 20th in a most banner season. We pounded out 15 hits in the win vs. JCC. So, could we stay on a roll? Alas, no.
 
St. James Area 4, Tigers 2
So, the books are now closed on Tiger softball for 2019. Unfortunately there is no state tournament in the team's story, despite all the promise shown. The end came with a 4-2 loss at the hands of St. James Area.
It was disappointing because we had fielding lapses that proved costly. We committed four errors and these led to runs for the foe. Unearned runs by St. James took a toll.
Liz Dietz doubled in the third to score Riley Decker. This made the score 1-1. We then took the lead in the fourth thanks to a wild pitch, but the Saints of St. James knotted up the score in the fifth. The seventh inning began with the score 2-2. Alas, we succumbed to a Saints rally that had three hits. And oh my, there were three Tiger errors.
St. James pitcher Addie Bowers, just an eighth-grader, had what it took to retire MACA batters in our last chance. Sigh. Bowers pitched the whole way and was quite impressive, setting down ten Tiger batters on strikes. She also hit safely twice.
Dietz did our pitching and gave up just one earned run among the four total. She fanned five batters and allowed six hits. LaRae Kram showed quality at the plate with a two-for-three showing.
Our final won-lost record is 20-3, super of course, but still I sense a bittersweet or anticlimactic air at the end. The rain and cold of Monday added insult to injury, n'est-ce pas? Congrats to the Tigers on all their success. The orange and black were powerful.
 
What direction Morris?
The Chamber of Commerce gives a pretty good indication of a town's direction and vitality. It appears that our Morris Chamber has a new director, albeit a part-time job. Is part-time really the only way to go? Whatever, we wish the new person well, name of Kolby Gausman.
Yours truly is getting so cotton pickin' detached from the main currents in this community, I look through names of people with the Chamber board and I recognize fewer all the time. All these whipper-snappers are moving up in the world. I guess that is the nature of life's cycles.
Perhaps I am struggling to stay "with it," as I still cannot understand why it was necessary to cancel Prairie Pioneer Days as a summer event. Maybe the retreat of PPD reflects broader societal trends which are also evident in the closing of Shopko. Or even more shockingly, the near-death of shopping malls like the one in Alexandria. Who could have ever predicted this, 15 years ago?
We seem to be less inclined to go to public spaces now. Perhaps we're just content looking into our computers, laptops or iPhone screens all the time, just living life that way. Or, sitting in your car at the drive-up window at McDonald's instead of just going inside, eating your meal and enjoying the company of some people. Again, I'm just having a hard time understanding.
Fortunately I'm still close to some community leaders like Kevin Wohlers. I know Kevin was thrown off-guard by the cancellation of PPD as a summer event. Someone else out there is on the same page as me! Thank goodness.
Could we restore PPD as a summer event in the future? We already have the UMM welcome picnic for the first week of September. I was once high profile with the newspaper giving the summer PPD lots of attention. I found sheer joy in it. I'd tear out to the halfway point of the 10K run, on bike, to near the river to photograph the leader. I'll never forget moments like that.
Summer is now going to seem dead in Morris, frankly. Kevin fears that too.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Softball success vs. 'Waska comes w/ 19 hits

We may have booted the ball around a little - five errors - but it was no sweat for the MACA softball team to achieve victory on Tuesday, May 21. Minnewaska Area committed just one error. But my, the Tigers really pounded the ball, as the line score shows us with 19 hits. So we took charge and won the game 16-5.
'Waska had just two hits which might lead you to think we had a pitcher go the whole way. We actually had three pitchers share the work. There was Liz Dietz with 3 1/3 innings, Kenna Kehoe with 1 2/3 innings and Katelyn Wehking with one.
The strikeout totals were Dietz with three, Kehoe with one and Wehking with two. Dietz allowed two runs neither of which were earned. She battled control problems as she issued seven walks. Kehoe allowed three runs, earned, and issued no walks. Wehking allowed no hits and walked none.
Kyla Koob was the losing pitcher for the Lakers. Her pitching set the Tigers up for something that seemed like batting practice. We had 14 hits vs. her. She allowed nine runs, eight earned, while walking two and fanning none. Elizabeth Murken also pitched and wasn't able to neutralize the Tiger bats: five hits, six runs (all earned), three walks and one strikeout.
It was a day of dues-paying for the Lakers, although as a consolation they did field better.
Bailey Marty went three-for-five for the Tigers. One of her hits was a double. She drove in a run and scored two. Emma Bowman had a hit, an RBI and two runs scored. Liz Dietz socked a double and scored two runs. Jen Solvie had the impressive four-for-five boxscore line. She crossed home plate twice and scored two runs. Mackenzie Hockel had an RBI and a run scored to go along with her hit.
LaRae Kram had a reliable hitting eye as she went two-for-four with two runs and three ribbies. Then we have Katelyn Wehking whose line was three-for-four with one of her hits a double. She scored a pair of runs and drove in two. Carissa Oberg was still another Tiger with a multiple-hit game: two-for-four with a run scored and three RBIs. Riley Decker was a perfect two-for-two with a run scored.
The Minnewaska hits were by Olivia Richards and Alyssa Erickson. We led 3-1 after three innings before erupting for a big seven-run fifth. We surged to score six more runs in the sixth.
 
Baseball: Tigers 3, Benson 2
The sixth inning was the key as the MACA baseball Tigers scored two runs which proved to be the difference. We prevailed over Benson 3-2. It was a defense-oriented game as the Tigers won with but three hits while Benson had two. A key to the win was our errorless brand of ball in the field. Benson fielded pretty clean too and had just one error.
Jaret Johnson wielded an important bat as he went two-for-three with an RBI and a run scored. Zach Bruns tripled. Jack Riley and Chandler Wilts each scored a run. Benson's hitting standout was Matthew Goossen with a two-for-three performance and a run scored. Patrick Minchow drove in a run, and Matthew Lenarz had an RBI and a run scored.
Jaret Johnson turned in a solid performance on the mound for our winning Tigers. He allowed just two hits in his seven innings. He fanned five batters and walked three. Matthew Tolifson took the pitching loss for Benson. Will Enderson also pitched.
The score was 1-1 after four innings. Benson plated a run in the fifth, after which we enjoyed our decisive rally in the sixth. A nice win to get tucked away.
 
Distance runners excel again
I like to stay informed about the distance runners in the MACA track/field program. I see Tom Carrington often in the early morning hours at DeToy's Restaurant. He has lost his wife and I have lost my mother, so we are sort of kindred spirits. Many years ago I covered his children Matthew and Anna in Tiger sports, including at the state meet where Anna was a rival of Heather Van Norman. I remember Matt hitting a long home run to center in Legion ball one summer, I think at Willmar.
Maddie Carrington was the champion 1600-meter runner in the Sub-Section 21 meet held Thursday here. Her time: 5:36.36. Meredith Carrington was second with her time of 5:43.30. The longer 3200m challenge had Meredith taking third with her time of 12:37.91. Hailey Werk was fourth (12:54.20).
Noah Stewart was the boys 1600m champ with his time of 4:36.92. He also was No. 1 in the 3200m challenge, timed at 5:51.60.
Our girls team placed second behind 'Waska. There were eight teams total. The boys division had our Tigers at No. 1 among ten teams. 'Waska was runner-up.

Too much hissy-fit writing
I haven't gone out of my way to understand this whole matter with University of St. Thomas and the MIAC. It's not negligence on my part, it's just that football is best viewed from the perspective of encouraging parents to yank their sons out of it, please.
Some of the commentators on the St. Thomas matter are using overly strong and harsh language. Even if you disagree with what the MIAC did, why engage in what amounts to name-calling and insults? I have seen more than one exhibit of this.
My theory is that the emotions and anger spring from the old machismo-based culture of football. I was close to this for a good portion of my life. Now more than ever, it seems a perversion and a blight on our culture.
On page B4 of the weekend edition of the West Central Tribune of Willmar, you'll find an exhibit of the unsavory commentary. Who really cares what the MIAC decides to do in connection with football? The activity of varsity football yields nothing positive or constructive for the lives of the young men who have been herded into this sport by society's expectations. Other school activities have competition but those activities have inherent value. Football has no inherent value. It has inherent risks and dangers that can color the rest of a young man's life, as science is revealing more and more all the time.
The item on B4 of today's Willmar paper isn't even labeled "commentary." What an oversight by the paper's sports editor. I wonder if he's taking too many smoke breaks. The commentary piece is written by Chad Courrier of the Mankato Free Press. He has smoke coming out of his ears.
I won't bother quoting all the strongly opinionated things in Courrier's piece. You might want to check it out yourself. These writers throw around words like "cowards." The real cowards are people in the media, which is sort of the mother's milk of football, and these media people lack the backbone to use the continuing health revelations about football to simply assert that it's time we nix the game.
But wait, maybe sportswriters and commentators have too much of a nice gravy train going for themselves, as they fill newspaper pages with coverage. It may be fun for them. We need to pray for the players.
I am certain that the MIAC's leaders are wise and intelligent. They'd much prefer focusing on priorities outside of the cotton pickin' distraction of football, that over-hyped monster. The decline of newspapers can't happen fast enough.
The machismo-fueled element would cause insults to be hurled at yours truly also. I'm covering my ears.
 
Addendum: Maybe in a subtle, almost coded way, the issue of St. Thomas vs. the MIAC is a canary in the coal mine relative to football. And what I mean is, instead of showing "courage" (as those writers want) to try to upgrade the caliber of MIAC football programs to try to stay close to St. Thomas, maybe the league is in fact getting ready for the impending decline of football, the impending phasing-out. It's not outlandish to suggest. If my theory is correct, I commend the MIAC leaders. They have courage to face the headwinds of the continued (for the time being) popularity of football. It's a case of courage, not cowardice, to see what's coming, but in the short term it's tough, almost excruciating, to face the many-headed hydra of football's popularity.
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Tigers' excitement offsets gray weather

There's nothing like a 15-1 score to promote optimism for the post-season. The softball Tigers of MACA achieved that winning score on Friday, May 17.
The offense was more than enough to support the pitching of Liz Dietz. Dietz worked six innings in the pitching circle and fanned six batters while walking one. She achieved a one-hitter.
Montevideo had three pitchers sharing the work: Maddie Kilibarda (the loser), Megan Anderson and Kassey Pauling. Our 15 runs were scored on eight hits and we committed one error. Monte had breakdowns with five errors. After two innings the score was 6-0. Then we scored one in the fourth and erupted for eight in the sixth.
Bailey Marty scored two of the Tiger runs and she had a hit. Jaden Rose had an RBI and a run scored as part of going one-for-three. Dietz picked up three RBIs to go along with her hit. Jen Solvie crossed home plate twice. Kenna Kehoe had a one-for-three line and scored a run. Emma Bowman had an RBI and scored a run.
Abbie McNally had a hit, two RBIs and a run scored. Carissa Oberg crossed home plate. Macee Libbesmeier had a hit in her only at-bat, drove in two runs and scored two. Riley Decker went one-for-two with an RBI and two runs scored. Kylie Swanson crossed home plate.
The only Monte hit was off the bat of Alissa Eickhoff, who also drove in the only Monte run. The run was scored by Mackenzie Hoidal.
Our line score says we had eight hits but the individuals add up to seven: the information in the Willmar paper.

Baseball: Tigers 11, Minnewaska 6
The baseball fortunes were bright for the orange and black on Friday. What a late surge that lifted our Tigers over rival Minnewaska Area! We were down 6-4 late. The Lakers were tasting victory but it was not to be for them, as we rallied for seven runs in the seventh inning. We surged past the Lakers to prevail 11-6 in this WCC contest.
The seventh inning had its share of thrills as Zach Bruns connected for a home run, a three-run job, and Colten Scheldorf stole home. Chandler Wilts and Jack Riley were on base for the Bruns round-tripper. Wilts was on base thanks to his RBI single.
This game began on an upbeat note for our Tigers with three runs coming in the first inning. We scored one in the second, after which we had to wait for the decisive and dramatic rally in the seventh. Our fielding was sharper as we committed just one error compared to the Lakers' four. We outhit the Lakers 12-9.
Bruns had a double to go with his home run. He finished the day three-for-five with two runs scored and three ribbies. Jaret Johnson turned on the jets to steal two bases. He had a hit and scored two runs. Michael Halvorson went 2/4 with two runs scored, two RBIs and two stolen bases. Cade Fehr drove in a run and recorded a hit.
Scheldorf's steal of home was one of two stolen bases by this Tiger. He had a hit, scored a run and drove in a run. Kevin Asfeld swiped two bases and hit safely once. Chandler Wilts went one-for-four, scored a run, drove in a run and stole a base. Indeed, the Tigers were fleet of foot on the basepaths on this day.
Brandon Jergenson and Jack Riley each had a hit and a run scored. Lots of offense for Tigers fans to enjoy, to be sure.
Ryan Amundson tripled for the Lakers. Luke Barkeim went two-for-two. Darion Alexander stoked their cause with a home run. Other Lakers hitting safely were Grant Jensen, Jared Freese (with two hits), Isaiah Testa and Cade Fish.
One Tiger did the job on the pitching mound - this was Austin Berlinger. Berlinger fanned two Laker batters and walked two. He gave up nine hits and the six Laker runs, five of which were earned. Three Lakers shared their pitching: Barkeim, Testa (the loser) and Jensen.

Tigers 5, Benson 3
The baseball Tigers began the new week with a 5-3 win over Benson. Zach Bruns pitched the whole way and struck out three batters. He walked two and gave up seven hits and three runs (two earned). Jared Knutson took the loss for Benson with three innings of work. Matthew Lenarz also pitched.
The Tigers got a feeling of command through the early innings as we rallied for two runs each in the first and third. Run No. 5 came home in the sixth. Meanwhile the Braves put up goose eggs against Bruns through the first six innings. Their too little and too late rally of three runs occurred in the sixth.
We were able to overcome four errors while Benson committed one. The hit totals were six for MACA and seven for Benson.
Cade Fehr had a multiple-hit game for MACA and his two-for-three line was complemented by two RBIs. Jack Riley scored a run. Bruns rapped a hit and scored a run. Jaret Johnson went 1/4 with a run scored. Michael Halvorson had a 1/3 showing with a run. Colten Scheldorf drove in a run. Kevin Asfeld went 1/3 with an RBI.
Two Braves had a 2/4 boxscore line: Matthew Ebnet and Will Enderson. These Braves also hit safely: Patrick Minchow, Matthew Tolifson and Matthew Lenarz. Enderson and Lenarz hit doubles.

BOLD 7, Tigers 2
Whoa, the Tigers actually played two games on Monday. The contest vs. BOLD did not end so well. It was the Warriors with the 7-2 scoreboard advantage. BOLD took a big step, a bold step as it were, with a four-run first inning. From there they scored one run in the second and two in the fourth. The Tigers plated single runs in the first and fifth.
We got outhit 7-5. Each team had two errors.
Josh Rohloff had a rough outing on the mound for the orange and black. He took the loss and was joined in the pitching effort by Cade Fehr. BOLD's Braeden Tersteeg was the winning hurler, going the whole way and striking out five batters.
Zach Bruns tripled, drove in a run and scored a run. Jaret Johnson's bat produced a double. Michael Halvorson's bat produced a hit and an RBI. Joseph Kleinwolterink went one-for-three. Brandon Jergenson doubled and scored a run.
Andrew Sheehan doubled for BOLD. Tersteeg went two-for-four. Jordan Sagedahl, Riley Weis and Matt Moorse all contributed doubles to the mix. Blake Flann turned in a 1/3 performance.
 
Tipping point for Trump?
Are we getting closer to the finish line with Trump and the walls closing in, as we have sensed for some time? What a daily drumbeat of news it has been. It has felt like rather a weird "hobby" following it day to day.
5 p.m. comes and it's time for Ari Melber on MSNBC. He's the sharpest legal mind and always seems confident that our legal system is going to work in the end. This is despite the sand which Trump and his henchmen/allies seek to always throw in our face. When Clinton was under siege, his tactic was to try to show that the wheels of government were still turning. He'd come on the air and talk about how "American families" were going to benefit from some new thing.
American families are not going to benefit from any Republican ideas. They are so good at pushing pro-life as a principled thing, holier-than-thou stuff. But now they seem rather like the dog that caught the car. I'm no cheerleader for abortion. But if we allow the vise to close on it, we'll actually be joining the less-developed parts of the world. The more civilized parts have moved forward, just like we have since Roe vs. Wade. Women have the right to control their own bodies.
It appears that today, May 22, with Trump losing his temper, might be the day the logjam breaks and we'll steadily get toward true justice. We should pray that there's no national or international catastrophe as the result of what's going on.
Will we see Bill Barr in an orange jumpsuit?
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Tigers defeat 'Waska and Benson in softball

Tigers 4, Minnewaska 2
Bailey Marty and Emma  Bowman each had two hits as the MACA softball girls defeated Minnewaska Area Thursday. The two Tigers each went two-for-three with one of Bowman's hits a double. These other Tigers also hit safely: Liz Dietz, LaRae Kram, Macee Libbesmeier and Riley Decker. Victory came by a 4-2 score over the Lakers.
Three of our runs came home in the third. Our final tally was in the fifth. Our four runs were on eight hits and we had two errors. Minnewaska's line score was 2-6-1.
The Tigers can roar as West Central Conference champions!
Liz Dietz got the pitching win with her five innings of work. She bore down to strike out eight Laker batters. She walked three and allowed one hit and one unearned run. Kenna Kehoe pitched two innings and allowed the other run (earned). Minnewaska also had two players share the pitching work: Kyla Koob and Elizabeth Murken. Koob was the pitcher of record with her five innings.
Minnewaska scored one run each in the first and sixth. Sam Geiser had a multiple-hit game for 'Waska, two-for-three, while these Lakers also hit safely: Michele Stai, Sydney Metz, Hannah Orlowski and Murken.
 
Tigers 15, Benson 0
Morris Area Chokio Alberta really took care of business on Tuesday, 5/14, as they shut out the Braves of Benson. Liz Dietz did the pitching work with panache, recording the zero under runs allowed. We tucked this game away in the win column 15-0.
I'm told that Benson is surely alone today in softball and not paired any longer with Hancock. I guess that partnership was dissolved some time ago.
I covered the Brave-Owls of Benson-Hancock for a number of years in the Hancock Record newspaper. Not only have the Brave-Owls been dissolved, the Hancock Record exists no more! That's because the Morris and Hancock newspaper enterprises were bought out by the big chain newspaper company in Fargo, the Forum. The chain never hesitates to slash and cut so as to maximize profit. Local owners sometimes keep things going as a matter of principle. Eventually the whole newspaper business is going to feel a crunch even more than it already has. The only question is the timetable. I personally wish the Hancock paper was still in production.
Anyway, our Tigers of MACA under coach Mary Holmberg were sure dominant in the Tuesday affair. Our offense hesitated not a bit, putting three runs on the board in the first inning, two in the second and one in the third. But the big eruption of the bats was in the fourth: nine runs.
Our 15 total runs came on 12 hits. Our perfect line score wraps up with zero errors. Benson's line score? Well, they had zero hits, so let's turn our attention to the MACA pitching. Here the credit goes to Liz Dietz. Dietz only had to work four innings and she fanned four batters while walking none, and yes it was a no-hitter.
Cally Miller and Zoe Doscher shared the pitching work for Benson with Miller taking the loss. Three of the runs that Miller allowed were unearned. She fanned three batters but had trouble in the control department with nine walks. She gave up eight hits. Doscher failed to get an out recorded. She allowed four hits and three runs, earned.
Jen Solvie homered for the Tigers. She had two RBIs on the day. Carissa Oberg had a hit in her only at-bat and drove in a pair of runs. Bailey Marty went one-for-one. Emma Bowman doubled. Dietz had two hits including a double. Kenzie Hockel had a two-for-three afternoon. Macee Libbesmeier had a hit in her only at-bat. Riley Decker came through at two-for-two. Jordann Baier had a hit and two RBIs.
The success was enjoyed at our home diamond.
Yes, it would be fun to have my work appear in the Morris newspaper again, really, but I'm too old to handle all the stress and burden about covering so many teams, all the time, according to strict standards 52 weeks of the year, along with performing a hundred other tasks for the paper. I cannot.
 
Baseball: Montevideo 3, Tigers 2
The MACA boys certainly didn't disappoint in hitting, when facing the Montevideo Thunder Hawks Thursday. My, we out-hit the T-Hawks 12-4 so victory was certainly within reach. However, we ended up on the short end of the 3-2 score. Each team committed two errors.
Monte pitcher Colby Buseman hung in there as he allowed just the two runs while yielding eleven hits. He hung in there for 6 1/3 innings and got the win. He fanned five batters and walked one. Jackson Snell got his pitching arm called on for the save.
Zach Bruns pitched for the orange and black and allowed the three runs but only one of them was earned. He struck out five batters and walked just one, so all in all he was in pretty commanding form.
Bruns was most in the groove with the bat also, as he doubled and tripled. He drove in a run and scored a run. Kevin Asfeld went two-for-three including a double. Jack Riley doubled and scored a run. Jaret Johnson had a hit and an RBI. Cade Fehr had a two-for-four afternoon. Also hitting safely were Michael Halvorsen, Noah Sheldon, Jordan Leuthardt and Austin Berlinger.
Chase Korte of the T-Hawks had a hit, stole two bases and scored two runs. Buseman scored Monte's other run. Matthew Fragodt had a hit and two RBIs. James Golden had a hit and a stolen base. Tyler Blue also hit safely.
The Tigers led 1-0 through three innings. Monte scored two runs in the fourth and one in the sixth. Our rally bid in the seventh was stopped short. Snell bore down on the hill for Monte to get the last two outs.
 
UMM graduation 2019
How about this weather for UMM graduation? It's 6 a.m. as I write this. Weather is not just wet, it's nasty. Seems that UMM has been plagued by having uncooperative weather more often than not, unfortunately.
I remember when Mom and I went to the P.E. Center the year Senator Al Franken was here. Was so crowded we couldn't find a vantage point, but we enjoyed being there. Concourse directly behind Franken was cleared of people, probably for security reasons.
Last year we had a U.S. senator again, Amy Klobuchar, and I notice an awful lot of cops of various kinds on hand for when we have these visitors. I feel nervous with so many cops around. They can be armed and dangerous.
Well, it's graduation day 2019 and perhaps Eric Kaler is muttering an expletive or two about the nature of today's weather. Would be wonderful to see the whole assemblage on the campus mall, bathed in sunshine. Well, I'll offer an expletive, perhaps in my own head.
I remember turning off the thermostat on May 15 last year. No such good fortune this time around. Our summer is going to be way too short. In mid-August we start feeling a chill in the evening air, promising fall.
We are no longer blessed having Prairie Pioneer Days in midsummer in Morris. I cannot believe that has been allowed to happen. The creation of PPD back in the '80s was considered a big step forward for this community.
UMM has hosted Franken and Klobuchar in recent years which maybe supports a stereotype of our campus as politically liberal, not so much in my eyes because I could not care less. It seems appropriate at UMM. I just cannot see one of these zealous Trump-ite anti-abortion GOPers coming to our peaceful, beloved campus, can you?
Well, congrats to the grads regardless of the weather.
  
Addendum: I was disappointed to see Morris Mayor Sheldon Giese reveal his political biases in the recent Star Tribune/Twin Cities article. It blew my image of him as a gentle and caring person.
 
Politics, the macro picture: One has to wonder, with the Trump administration emboldened by realizing that laws cannot be enforced against it, are Republicans everywhere getting emboldened to think they can get away with anything, like with severe anti-abortion legislation? I think this could bring down the GOP nationally, and the party does not realize this. They are drunk on power. Regardless of the philosophical arguments about abortion, I think most women view this issue as one of being able to control their own bodies. Are there any comparable laws regulating how a man manages his body?
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

MACA girls beat Willmar, sweep Sauk Centre

Tigers 2, Willmar 1
It's a feather in the cap to defeat a "big school." Willmar would appear to be in that category. Well, our Tigers of MACA got the job done vs. Willmar in softball. The game was played on Friday at Willmar.
Willmar gained the 1-0 advantage in the second inning. But that's the only scoring they would enjoy on this day. The Tigers, after being blanked over the first three innings, plated one run each in the fourth and fifth. The offense was pretty limited in this game. We won the game 2-1 with five hits and we committed one error. The Willmar line score was 1-6-2.
Willmar's errors cost them like in the top of the fourth when the Tigers got the sacks full. Riley Decker hit a ground ball that was misplayed. Kenzie Hockel came across home plate. The fifth inning story had a passed ball with two outs doing damage for the host Cardinals. Bailey Marty crossed home plate and now MACA had an advantage that would stick.
Willmar scored its run in the second when pinch-runner Isabelle Kienholz was able to score on a fielder's choice.
Kenna Kehoe pitched for the win and Liz Dietz got the save. Kehoe's work covered six innings in which she struck out a batter, walked none and allowed five hits. Dietz set down two batters on strikes, walked none and allowed one hit. Willmar had sophomore Mackenzie Jones in the pitching circle. She could be quite impressive as shown by her 12 strikeouts. She walked three and allowed five hits in her route-going performance.
LaRae Kram had a multiple-hit game for the Tigers with her 2/3 boxscore line. She stole a base. Katelyn Wehking socked a triple. Bailey Marty scored a run and stole a base. Jen Solvie had one hit in three at-bats. Hockel went 1/3 with her run scored.
These Willmar Cardinals went one-for-three: Ashley Prahl, Jones, Edyn Saulsbury, Carlie Berskow and Bentley Sjoberg. Adelyda Perez went 1/2. Angela Espinoza drove in a run.

Monday: success continues
The new week began with two more nifty wins by the orange and black softball crew. The twin bill sweep was versus Sauk Centre. The action got going with a decisive 10-2 triumph over the Streeters. The Willmar paper reported that "Kenna Kienholz" was the winning pitcher. That may well be, but I know that one of the prime pitchers for MACA is Kenna Kehoe. Hmmm. Wonder if this is an error. So I go to the MACA roster page on Maxpreps and do not find a Kenna Kienholz.
So, I'll report that Kenna Kehoe posted these stats: 5 1/3 innings, five strikeouts, no walks, five hits and two runs (earned). I'm always delighted to report on the Kehoe/Hofland family. Maddie Nelson pitched all seven innings for Sauk Centre and had some control issues with six walks. She fanned a batter and allowed eight hits and the ten MACA runs of which seven were earned.
Coach Mary Holmberg was pleased to see her Tigers start out with three runs in the first inning. We enjoyed a big fourth inning with five runs coming in, and we polished things off with two in the seventh. Our line score was ten runs, eight hits and four errors, while Sauk Centre had 2-5-3 numbers.
Carissa Oberg was the only Tiger with a multiple-hit game and she went two-for-three. These other Tigers hit safely: Bailey Marty, Emma Bowman, Dietz, Kenzie Hockel, LaRae Kram and Katelyn Wehking.
The Willmar paper has two Streeters reported with one hit each, but the line score has five hits for them. Must have been a bad day for the West Central Tribune writer. The two Streeters are Megan Klaphake and Nelson.

Tigers 6, Sauk Centre 4
Game 2 was a little closer but it certainly went into the win column for our surging Tigers, score of 6-4. We scored two runs in the first inning, one in the third, two in the fourth and one in the fifth. Our six runs were scored on a robust 13 hits and we committed one error. Sauk Centre's line score was 4-5-0.
The "Keinholz" name appears again in the game summary. She's down as getting the save with 2/3 of an inning. She struck out a batter and walked a batter. Congratulations to Kenna Kehoe. Kehoe allowed no hits. The winning pitcher was Liz Dietz who pitched 6 1/3 innings and fanned four batters and walked five. She allowed five hits and allowed the four Sauk Centre runs, earned.
The story with the bats had five Tigers recording multiple hits, a nice display of hitting prowess. Bailey Marty rapped two hits in four at-bats. Emma Bowman doubled as part of going two-for-three. Dietz came through with two doubles and she drove in a run. Kenzie Hockel drove in a pair of runs while going 2/4. Jen Solvie's bat resonated with three hits in four at-bats, including a home run and double. LaRae Kram and Carissa Oberg also had hits with Oberg's a double.
The West Central Tribune writer tells us that two Streeters each had one hit, despite the fact the line score tells us Sauk Centre had five hits. Oh my. Anyway, Maddie Nelson and Alyssa Denk each hit safely.
Well, Kienholz and Kehoe both begin with the letter "K". If I had slipped up like this in my newspaper career, people would be questioning the size of my brainpan.
What does the Stevens County Times website report on the Kienholz/Kehoe thing? It's mixed as we see Kehoe's name reported for game 1, an apparent correction, but in game 2 it's "Kenna Kienholz."
I'll remind you that occasionally my Tiger sports updates are on my companion site which is called "Morris of Course." Here are two links to very recent posts there. I'm delighted to continue writing about MACA Tiger sports.
Link #1:
http://morrisofcourse.blogspot.com/2019/05/kehoe-wehking-pitch-in-9-2-maca.html
 
Link #2:
http://morrisofcourse.blogspot.com/2019/05/considerable-highlights-in-maca.html
 
Mother's Day 2019
A friend tells me there were many cars parked around Stone's Throw Cafe in Morris Sunday. It was Mother's Day and the Cafe had a brunch it was promoting. All it cost you was $25.
I'm not sure how to generalize about the kind of crowd that likely turned out. I have described the place as a "hippie restaurant" and that's probably not on the mark except remotely. A friend advised me that "hipster" would be a more precise term. Let's keep our thinking cap on a little longer. How about "the NPR crowd?"
Seems like fair speculation, but I might suggest some hypocrisy on the part of these people. They are politically progressive by instinct. I am too, but not exactly by the same stripe. I find the cost of $25 for the meal unacceptable because it's out of reach as a practical matter for a lot of people. Political progressives are supposed to be more sensitive on these issues.
I have deep concern that a big turnout for a $25 meal might have the effect of "normalizing" this kind of price.
The NPR crowd is probably complemented by those wonderful older people who circulate in the community at church suppers and the like: retirees who are probably treated generously by Social Security. Who no longer have bills to pay raising kids. It's nice they can live so comfortably, but maybe they shouldn't flaunt it. In other words, don't get people thinking that maybe Social Security is too generous.
It's fascinating because in the days before Social Security, older people were an oppressed segment of society, living in fear much of the time. We want the best for them, but I'd like to suggest they go to DeToy's for Mother's Day in the future, where for about half the price, maybe less than half, they can enjoy meatballs, chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, salad and pudding. It's all you can eat and I got most filled up. I napped the rest of the afternoon.
The sad part is that my mother is gone now. She has been gone a little over a year. My late parents would faint at the cost of $25 each for a special occasion meal, I'm sure.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

An end run around propriety?

A deceptive mailing, IMHO
OK I won't give the name of the company but it's in the water quality business. Got a card in the mail this past week that took about 30 seconds to assess. I'm holding it in front of me now: "Softener notice" it says in large type at the top. Hmmm.
My first thought: it's a notice pertaining to the upcoming transition in water treatment. Aren't we all expecting some special communications on this? So, I'd better call the number on the card, right? Wait a minute. Hmmm. I see there's the name of a company, not an arm of government. Government I trust, private business not so much.
Might this card be in the same category as scam phone calls? That could be a stretch but maybe not. Senior citizens can be prone to misunderstanding things. Wait a minute, I'm 64 years old. If the shoe fits. . .
Oh, but I think I was able to see through this card. It's a card from the company encouraging us to do business with them, which is what private companies do. I thought there might be an alert in the current Morris paper, maybe from the city office, warning us to be aware of such promos. But no, I don't see one. The card says "limited time offer." Oh, we'd better hurry up! Oh, I think not. We need to wait until the city informs us how to proceed with our softeners, whether we'll even need them any more! Hold on to your money.
 
Speaking of holding on to your money
Just saw the ad in the Morris fishwrap about Mother's Day brunch at Stone's Throw Cafe. I do admire the spirit of that restaurant. I disapprove of the prices when one considers that food price inflation is in fact going on, so let's try to temper it a little, instead of pouring lighter fluid on the flames, eh?
Twenty-five bucks for the brunch? Where does it stop? Don's Cafe has raised the price of breakfasts by 50 cents. Up and up and up. And if President Trump gets his way packing the Federal Reserve board, interest rates will be pushed down to zero which will accelerate all types of inflation. Plus, the new tariffs in the growing trade war will accelerate inflation.
I was around in the 1970s and I know how scary inflation can be, Kemosabe. Michael Kinsley once wrote that inflation comes along once every generation. We forget how ominous it can be, so we get lax regarding it, then it takes off which scares us s--tless. Something drastic then happens like Paul Volcker putting on his cape to take over the Federal Reserve. He warned us we'd have to take a bad recession. We swallowed that pill and eventually got past it all. It's not something we should ever seek.
I wonder how young families are dealing with all the inflation issues. I just don't know how they do it. So, $25 for the Mother's Day brunch at Stone's Throw. I'm sorry, that's unreasonable even for "farm to table." This restaurant has tapped into GoFundMe.
 
On a related matter:
Please check your receipts at Willie's to make sure you're being charged the posted price. I had to go back and get a 20-cent refund last week. Occasionally I'll get a Red Baron classic crust pizza and Sunkist soft drink which comes to $5.90. I'll have this as an early supper occasionally and it's a good value, but maybe not quite as good anymore.
We can feel like pulling our hair out sometimes. We'll think that prices settle into a nice predictable groove for a time, like my $5.90 for the pizza and pop. Not only is/was it a good value, the four $1 bills I get as change were handy for tipping restaurant servers over the next few days. (I initially typed "waitresses" but we ought to use the gender-neutral term.)
So, I go through checkout at Willie's one day last week and it's over six bucks. So I get three $1 bills, not the usual four. Not that this devastates me but it's a matter of principle. So I go back to double-check items. The Sunkist pop was supposed to cost $1.79 - the clearly-marked price. On my receipt on this day, I could see I was charged $1.99. The 20 cents difference isn't the issue - the issue is the trend of food/drink price inflation and keeping an eye on it. If the trend builds much more, we will start to hear more about it in the media.
I found a responsible store employee and showed her the receipt. She took me over where the pop was displayed. She then directed a checkout person to refund me 20 cents.
We need to try to get the brakes applied on food price inflation. This has been evident at our McDonald's restaurant. For the first time, I have seen the price of a standard burger/fries meal go over $10, to $10.04. That's the double quarter pounder meal. Yes, I know we can have the regular quarter pounder meal. This is what food inflation can force us to do. But it's no fun to live that way.
Will people start rising up to express concern? Maybe we could elect a president who keeps the normal hands-off with the Federal Reserve. There's some old wisdom: "Don't fight the Fed." Zero interest rates would also kill the interest I get on my savings, so it would be a double-whammy for me. Is this what we elect a president for, to make our lives more difficult?
The tariffs will help the steel industry in Pennsylvania, apparently. But what about the farmers of North Dakota? North Dakota people seem locked in with voting Republican like it's now in their DNA. Can that change? You'd be surprised how things can change in politics.

Addendum: I communicated with a friend just now on the Stone's Throw thing. He responded:

Yeah, I saw that M’Day brunch price as well. Holy Moley – I can’t imagine paying $50 (for a couple) for something like that. Maybe they’re trying to make up their debt in one day.
  
This friend and I had reason to muse also about a particular "cute" girl we'd known in high school here in Morris. I broadened this topic to wonder what it's like being parents in a family with multiple "cute" girls. I had a particular family in mind. They didn't choose to wear this mantle, it just happened. How to define "cute?" Can't do that. My friend opined:

I really don’t have any idea what it’s like growing up as a sexy girl. Or, for that matter, growing up at all. 
 
Addendum #2: A charge of $10.04 is annoying when you're paying with cash. Paying with plastic renders all payments easy at least in terms of the process. I like the discipline and acuity that comes with paying cash on a regular basis. It makes us more conscious of what we're spending. Just watch, this attribute will become more important.
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Where would John Lennon's genius take us?

What would John Lennon be like today? Isn't this among the most fascinating "what if" questions? And theories would most likely be all over the map. The young generation would need a little primer.
Maybe today's youth just wouldn't care much. Can you blame them? Lennon was inspired to create music by what was happening in the world around him. Hey, this is the universal for songwriters and creative people in general, isn't it? The issues of Lennon's time wouldn't apply a whole lot to today, except in the sense that basic human nature never changes.
Lennon presented himself as sort of an inscrutable oddball. This was in a time when society decided that nonconformity could be a valuable trait. We were shedding conventions all over the place. Today by comparison we are quite strict in guiding our youth into accepted pathways. We stress the need to accept authority.
There were aspects of Lennon's nature that would make us cringe today. Was it really that he wanted to be off the beaten path, as a matter of pure principle? I would suggest not. Lennon was merely an astute artist. He was a genius whose gift could not be explained in a straightforward way. He himself said his songs seemed to "come from another place," outside himself. This doesn't mean he was stealing anything! It means he had a talent that was just part of his makeup, not lending itself to empirical explanation.
Thus we ought to be fascinated by the craft of songwriting. What makes one melody more appealing than another? In an age in which we think science can explain everything, this one stumps us. Why do well-known musical performers go through so much prospective material, rejecting a lot of it, even though it's all prepared by people with the best credentials? In other words, why this hit-and-miss quality? You would think that at the highest levels of the profession, where money helps get things done, there would be a more orderly or predictable process. But oh no, it's highly subjective. The best experts can be wrong.
The music industry is full of stories reflecting this. I wonder if Lennon was worried about his own well running dry. The idea in those days was to write a song of about three minutes that had a "catchy melody." You'll hit upon one, and then be gripped by anxiety about whether it is highly similar to a pre-existing one. Melodies are not random patterns of notes. Certain progressions of notes are appealing. How many songs have been written over time? Each year brings a massive addition and obviously we can realize that it's practically impossible to write a new, appealing melody that is totally original.
We see news items regularly about aggrieved parties who will pressure an artist somewhere into sharing the royalties for a particular work. I have heard that this issue is a disincentive for even getting into the craft of songwriting. That's really a shame.
The digital world has changed music as it has changed everything. A boomer like me can hardly believe how the doors have swung open, how we have access to seemingly unlimited free music. I have always admired Paul McCartney, but back in the '70s in his "Wings" phase, I wasn't going to plunk down money for his albums, perhaps none of them, for the simple reason of cost. His "hits" could be heard on the radio.
Today thanks to the online world, I can listen to most if not all of the selections on each of those "Wings" albums. For example, the album "Venus and Mars." McCartney's "Band on the Run" is presented as his masterpiece from that phase of his career. I would suggest that the Venus and Mars album is nearly if not totally as good.
I really put the live album "Wings Over America" as No. 1.
"Sir Paul" still does recordings today. His newest offering seems good enough but there's nothing there that stays in my head. What would stay in my head? Again, science cannot answer this question! A song like "Take It Away" from McCartney's past stays in my head. We'd like our old heroes to just keep turning out stuff like that. It would assure us that our world isn't changing, that there are certain things we can always count on.
But our world does most certainly change and profoundly.

John Lennon

I think John Lennon was aware of the pressures involved with staying on top. He probably felt he needed to do outrageous things, pushing the envelope until it became annoying to many, because of the simple need to - excuse the bluntness - get attention. It's not that he was vain, it's just that he was being astute/realistic.
He was one of those very rare geniuses. He should have paid more attention to his personal security. I think he got more bothered by fame than McCartney did.
George Harrison? I find him fascinating because his best songs are the type that Lennon and McCartney would not write. Those songs have a quality that I just cannot explain. Take "Old Brown Shoe" which I find fascinating because in the original release, I don't think the listener can make out a single word of the lyrics! And yet the lyrics reflect the best songwriting craftsmanship.
Quite an irony from the glory days of radio-based Top 40 music: The lyrics had to be artistically sound, to pass muster with top artistic people, and yet much of the time our most beloved hits had words that were hard to make out. We might have a hard time even explaining the basic story of a particular song.
Songwriting helps keep my life interesting in my post-newspaper phase. I find it an essential outlet. Just two nights ago I finished a song entitled "There Must Be Snow in Heaven." My, I wrote the chorus of this song back in the '90s! The whole idea was to just try to be clever. Maybe you'd describe it as a novelty song because surely there is no serious message. It's an exception to the rule in my songwriting, as normally my songs are "topical." My new song is in the personal relationship category but it's totally light and rather irreverent.
It's also unusual for me because it's written from the perspective of a woman. She looks at her significant other and wonders why he couldn't accept total contentment with her rather than being tempted by others. She says to him, in effect, that if you think I'll stand idly by while you imagine these trysts, "there must be snow in heaven."

Jo Dee Messina

As I wrote the chorus, I was thinking of country music performer Jo Dee Messina. She had a persona that seemed consistent with the kind of expression I project in the song. She's tomboyish and energetic. I went to the county fair in Aberdeen SD to hear her perform during her late '90s "run." It was the Brown County Fair where I was fascinated by the Wild West replica main street complete with a guy who gives talks on gunfighting technique! It's a superb fair, not too big and not too small. It would be fun to go back but it's a rather long drive.
I discarded the original verses I wrote for the song, not so much because of lyrical content but because I experienced an old bugaboo for me: writing for a vocal range that was maybe one note too wide to be sung easily. I once explained to one of my studio contacts, Frank Michels, that my problem most likely was that I had played the trumpet. Playing the trumpet, you can easily cover two full octaves. The human voice isn't like that unless you're George Jones.
I joked with Mr. Michels that I could get by if writing for Frankie Valli! But seriously, I have had to work on this and now have the issue under control.
So after many years went by, I re-visited my "Heaven" song and now I have new verses composed, probably better from a lyrical standpoint. Remember this is a totally light song with no substance meant to be reflected upon. The point is to just enjoy listening to it, to be amused by the lyrics which merely reflect impulsive, shallow thoughts. Yes, much of our life is spent with such thoughts.
Could this song be a "hit?" If that's your motive in songwriting, you'll find it a pointless pastime. Just like if you go into anthropology, don't be motivated by wanting to be the one who finds the "missing link." Forget it. You just have to be fascinated by anthropology. Just like you should feel a fascination with songwriting.
And you know what? In our world of today, if you are a songwriter who seeks to make money by having someone else record your song, your odds of success are zero! So, just enjoy the craft. Here are the lyrics for my up-tempo song called "There Must be Snow in Heaven." All I need is for Jo Dee Messina to sing it.
 
"There Must be Snow in Heaven"
by Brian Williams
 
It should have been a breeze
As easy as saying please
As easy as breathing air in the morning
On a midsummer day
 
We had it all our way
Without any shades of gray
But you found a new flame, got in a new game
How can it be OK?
 
So if you are glib
About what you did
 
CHORUS:
There must be snow in heaven
And not just on the mountain peaks
When you're having a fling but say everything
Is rosy as a newborn's cheeks
If that's the way you reckon
That we can find a love that's real
There must be snow in heaven
I better bring a snowmobile
 
 
We didn't need a map
To know where our love was at
'Cause we were a sure thing, not just a quick fling
So I thought at the time
  
We loved the same ball teams
The same type of movie themes
But then like a villain, you went a-driftin'
I should have drawn a line
 
You must see the truth
Or I'll give the boot
 
(repeat chorus)
 
You wouldn't know true love
If it bit you in the butt
If it was on Fox News you would have no clue
Still I just kept the faith
 
I let the embers glow
When I could have let you go
So I was a soldier, there in your corner
Was it all just a waste?
 
I'll grab you and say
If you go astray
 
(repeat chorus)
 
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

On the ways change pulls us along

I was late getting in the habit of pumping my own gas. Perhaps it's a personal trait: sticking to old habits. So I'm old enough to remember the standard old procedure of having a gas station attendant come out and fill 'er up. My dad always used to say "fill 'er up Ethyl." Ron Lindquist at the Morris newspaper once got a hoot out of two side-by-side billboards in Morris. One touted the "priesthood." The one next to it read "Kiss Ethyl goodbye." Get it? I believe Ron shared a photo of that.
I'm not as inclined to laugh at Catholic-inspired humor these days. These are dark times for the Catholics. Really we're in challenging times for the Christian denominations in general. It's all about change, understanding it and adapting to it.
I finally got dragged into the "new" habit of pumping my own gas. I went to Nashville TN and back doing it without a hitch. Ah, the contentment of being up to date. A complication emerged as years went by. I began noticing that the pump would not immediately dispense gas, even though I seemed to be doing everything properly. I had to get assistance from inside - they appeared happy to accommodate. I asked one day if other motorists were having this issue and she responded "yes."
"Really?" I repeated, to try to make sure she wasn't just making me feel better. "Yes."
I concluded I had to "play around" with the nozzle some, pulling it in and out, re-hooking it, putting the lever back down and then up again. So I found this worked, but it was very aggravating. On the morning when I picked up my late mother to bring her home from the Barrett nursing home, I had to give up at one place trying to get gas, and went to another. Then I hit a snag at the other place which was Cenex South. I was almost crying. A customer who was inside came out to take a look. She was perturbed with me. Somehow she summoned the proper magic incantations or whatever.
Since then I minimize my driving so to get my gas station visits minimal.
And now that I'm living alone, it's reasonable to think I don't need to drive a car. I have already discarded my late father's prize Lincoln Town Car which was a 1991. Getting old, yes. Heartland Motors got me a grand total of $200 for it. If I had to do it over again, I'd donate it to Kars for Kids. That's what I'll probably do with my 2004 Chevy Malibu. We always considered that our "new car." It's now in the old category.
I have a theory this is maybe why I had trouble with the gas pumps: having an older car. My theory is that the pumps are maybe made a little different now, maybe due to government regulations or whatever.
Living without a car? Well I'll keep my license. There are rare occasions where I might really want one and I can get a loaner. I'm told I'd still need a car insurance policy of my own, some sort of liability policy, hopefully for a low cost. But is anything low-cost these days? Charges that were once nominal have shot up. Have you noticed that? My gas gauge acted up in the Malibu a couple weeks ago and (expletive), I don't even want to tell you what that cost to fix.
Maybe that was the last straw. I assume I'm not the only one getting concerned about rising prices of things that used to seem so much more reasonable or nominal. How about going to the dentist? Or to the vet? Are these factors figured into official inflation numbers?
 
A new challenge
Re. change: Where will it end? Now I am making the forced adjustment to having to use a plastic card for a share of my purchases. The realization hit me when I was at Riverwood Bank recently and had trouble getting cash. Then I went to Bank of the West and the teller - are they still called tellers? - had to call over a supervisor just because I wanted $300 in cash. Really? What do families do that have lots of daily expenses? I guess they must use plastic a lot.
I'm a holdover as I so often am. So, on Saturday morning I went to a particular restaurant in Morris and decided to use the card. There is a $10 minimum purchase required there. My bill came to $10.62 because I had hash browns. So I go to the cash register and the employee sort of queried me in a way that made me realize he was alluding to the tip. I got a little testy and explained I just wanted to pay the bill. My plan was to tip the waitress with two $1 bills if that's OK.
My preferred procedure is to hand the tip to the server so I can be sure she knows I made this gesture, so I don't get lousy service next time. As for the employee at the cash register, I do not think any hint about the tip is called for because I believe that should be the customer's decision, totally.
Of course I tip. Everyone should, for as long as the custom remains, but there's more and more talk about how it should get phased out. Maybe it's because of the prevalence of plastic payment. It seems awkward, like a throwback. If everyone is expected to tip, and if there's no connection between tipping and quality of service, isn't it just a pointless procedure? Isn't it a hassle?
Restaurants can just raise their prices a little and then it's fine. It makes no difference, n'est-ce pas?
Oh, gas station attendants used to not just fill your tank, they'd clean the windshield and check the oil. This was parodied in the movie "Airplane" by Jimmie Walker, remember? There were two Simonson's gas stations in St. Cloud that kept this practice going after it was gone nearly everywhere else. The attendants wore white coveralls there.
 
And, the church
Today is Sunday so I was in the pews at our ELCA church. It's now the "progressive" church compared to some others. But I can't help but think this is odd now, because gay rights has become such yesterday's news. If the Christian faith wishes to jettison the whole young generation, just keep up with this stigmatizing of gay people.
It was in 2009 that the ELCA took its "bold" step of accommodation. Many were alienated. We have felt it right here in Stevens County. Not only do I reject the homophobic stance, I almost think the ELCA didn't go far enough. Why even refer to sexual orientation in church policy? Why not just judge clergy on the basis of performance and conduct? The other stuff is none of your business.
The ELCA decides its stamp of approval is on "gays in committed relationships." Yes, a stipulation. Is any such requirement imposed on heterosexual clergy? The pastor at my church of First Lutheran has been going through a divorce. That's sad in a way. It seems contradictory to a committed relationship. If a gay person has a meaningful relationship and simply decides to move on from it, finding another significant other, is he/she drummed out of the corps? Seems silly to even focus on these matters. Maybe just focus on the Gospel?
The Duluth Diocese of the Catholics was in the news last week. Guess why.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Pastor Lauren Hauger set to leave Federated

The community will be saying goodbye to the Federated Church pastor. Pastors can of course be very mobile in their careers. They must be flexible people. My church of First Lutheran had four straight short-term pastors. In a sense it's not a big deal to me. I don't need a pastor to be some sort of fearless leader or source of wisdom.
Pastors at the so-called evangelical churches across the U.S. have guided their flocks to vote overwhelmingly for Republicans and for Donald Trump. I wish churches would focus on what their real priorities should be. I should back away from the more harsh commentary I'd like to share about the right wing churches, the ones nodding their heads when Franklin Graham speaks.
Federated Church in Morris is not in that category. Nor are First Lutheran or Faith Lutheran (ELCA). Federated is affiliated with the Methodists who are still fighting on the proper attitude to have toward gay people. The ELCA is past that.
The Federated Church pastor has been Lauren Hauger. Her last name was Snell when she came here. She is married to a man who was willing to take the Williams family as patients when we had problems with the other dental practice in town. I am deeply grateful to Dr. Jeffrey Hauger. Had we not been able to make this move, I might have been forced to leave my job at the Morris paper and we might have had to go out of town for our dentistry.
The problem with the other practice in town grew out of long-simmering issues in our public school system. Anyone close to the system through the '80s knew there were concerning issues. I would describe those issues as having to do with a fundamental prevailing culture. It's the type of culture which I would theorize can grow out of a monopoly system. Our public schools had that trait at that time, far more than appears to be the case today.
The situation seems pretty placid and well-managed today. Any conflicts seem to be kept internal, or that's the impression I have, albeit from a far more distanced position than I had in the '80s. So I'm thankful for the current calm, the way it should be.
It took until the end of the '80s for members of the public to start rising up. Rise up they did. The situation became highly uncomfortable. I have no qualms about my own behavior because all I ever tried to do at the Morris newspaper was report the truth. The alternative would have been to gloss over, ignore warts and present some sort of cleansed party line to protect the monopoly.
If warts were so obvious, why was any conflict even called for? It was called for because of a core of school insiders and (just as important) a network of personal friends, all of whom greased their agenda through cocktail party behavior, and these people became like snarling, rabid dogs. They pushed for boycotts of certain businesses. Some of the school critics I'm sure had held back for fear of this type of thing happening.
Finally a whole lot of people felt the underlying culture of the school, or should I say school staff under the imprimatur of a detached administration, had to be addressed in some concrete ways. It was a textbook example of how a small community controversy can flare up and cause discomfort among a whole lot of people, with scars in the aftermath.
The most visible issue was extracurricular. It was like the visible part of an iceberg. There was a lot underneath.
It would not have been unreasonable to address extracurricular all by itself. It was so disappointing to see the defenders of the status quo. The problem is that many of us just don't like seeing the boat rocked. It has been said that nothing scares government employees more than change. Well, get used to change because our digital world is forcing this all over the place, whether we like it or not. Our public school people have less of a monopolistic sense than they used to have. But, they might not have seen the half of it yet.
The tools of our new age are increasingly making us wonder if kids need to be rounded up to be sent to a big bricks and mortar place each day. It's a place that can almost seem like a prison when you think of all the rules and guidelines. Again, I don't think it's as bad as it used to be. But, drive through any small community in Minnesota, take a look at the big school building on the outskirts like in Kerkhoven, and tell me that it doesn't strike you as prison-like.
We hear a lot about home schooling and even "unschooling." The latter intrigues me especially. Let Huck Finn go out fishing. I was forced to read so much weird literature in high school. Why was this required? Why not just read a good story? Well, my teachers would say the mere "good stories" gloss over or ignore all the social injustice in America! So we're supposed to be fed oddball literature that has a political agenda. Not that I wouldn't agree with certain political points that might be made. Fair enough. But I don't appreciate being manipulated and then being browbeaten if I express any skepticism.
 
Issues not completely gone
We are living today with some of the consequences of the compromises that were made to tamp down our community unrest from back around 1988. I would argue that Mark Torgerson was a compromise choice to be head boys basketball coach. I guess I know this based on conversations I had with insiders at the time.
There are people in Morris today who think that Torgerson has underachieved with the program through his very long tenure. It is odd but there has always been a social prohibition on expressing this view in an outward way. That's probably because Torgy is an outstanding person and teacher. Is he teaching now?
I'll state here that our MACA boys basketball team should have made the state tournament in this past season and the season before. "Oh, you can never know these things." Oh of course you can't. But isn't it harmless to speculate on sports issues? Isn't it a great American pastime to speculate on whether a certain coach should stay or go? Did Tubby Smith really have to be fired at the U of M? We don't have to use the word "fired." These institutions just choose to move people around sometimes. It's pretty innocuous in the scheme of things. And heavens, if you're real sensitive about being removed from a position, don't go into coaching! Find something else to do.
Forces for the status quo lined up behind Darcy Winkelman as head girls basketball coach. She's the most wonderful person you'd ever want to meet. But things weren't working out in the girls basketball program. Why was this such an earthshaking issue? Well, I think I know why and it gets back to the behavior and thinking of people in monopolistic public institutions, their entitled feeling.
I can remember at least three married couples on the Morris faculty, and I think that fed into the ossified nature some. Married couples develop a synergy with their sense of power, and I think this is one reason why schools have policies against hiring spouses of teachers. Maybe married couples on teaching staffs have a harder time maintaining their sense of idealism. Perhaps they develop defensiveness faster. They take things personally faster.
Paul Court, an outstanding young teacher/coach here once, was upset that his wife couldn't even get an interview for a school position. My inclination would be to trust the Courts completely. But the board had a firm policy by that time, a policy that was probably well grounded and based on experience.
 
Grateful for dental services
Fortunately there is a dental office where I can go today, a dentist office pleased to receive checks signed by "Williams." The most important part of going to the dentist is writing out the check - at least that's how they view it. The other dental practice in town now has different people from the one where we had an issue. I'm sure the new people there are wonderful. I wouldn't even mind going back there but I'm indebted to the Hauger place.
It was emotionally difficult for my family to deal with the issue of where to go for dentistry because it's something we all need.
Good luck to Pastor Lauren Hauger in Park Rapids where I guess she'll begin in the fall. She and her husband are classy people.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com