I made it all the way to age 65 without having to deal with pandemics such as what hovers now. It is still hovering, isn't it? I just stopped by the library to review the limitations for access that I knew were drastic. Oh, they are still drastic. They are so involved, no way could I record here the details from memory. There is special library time set aside for people judged most delicate or vulnerable. Must use hand sanitizer before entering.
No fun using the library if your time is limited to 15 minutes. A big part of the benefit of the library is to linger, to browse, to perhaps socialize. There's the delightful "story time" for kids. Special events are common. Under normal circumstances I'd be one of the biggest promoters of our library. I contributed $ to the Library Foundation during Melissa Yauk's tenure as director. (I'm tempted to say "librarian," the term from a past time.)
I have to ask, now with the pandemic having persisted so long - perhaps to return with a vengeance in fact - when will we hear public discussion about whether various institutions deserve the normal extent of financial support, of taxpayer support? I'm asking this question even though I am not the type to be "grouchy" re. taxes I pay. I'm rather out of the opposite mold. But an array of public institutions are so constricted now.
We might put schools of all kinds at the top of the list. And while colleges have been champing at the bit to re-open in the most "normal" way possible, they have had to contend with a pesky force: the campus newspapers! I am referring to the healthiest and most traditional form of campus media, not the oddball right wing papers we have seen at UMM. I told Jacqueline Johnson that maybe my failure to understand the weird right wing papers was just a "generational" problem. Heaven knows that happens. But Johnson quickly retorted: "I don't think it's generational."
College papers, for as long as they have the proper freedoms, can keep these places in check from becoming virus hotspots. You would think the leaders of academia wouldn't have to be held in check (compelled). But I'm afraid the money pressures are overbearing. Colleges might be said to be feeling significant pressures anyway. I mean, in the new world of unlimited information online.
We want our colleges to keep fulfilling a valuable function. Maybe they have to evolve using the proper judgment instead of succumbing to the "arms race" of acquiring ever more fancy amenities. There's work being done on UMM's softball fields.
No need to lecture me on money, because a Williams family fund exists for music at UMM. I'm told that UMM music is striving to overcome its special challenges now, special because music involves singing and playing instruments naturally. With face masks? That's funny. I'm told UMM choir is gamely plunging ahead with twice-weekly outdoor sessions at - drum roll please - East Side Park! What a development, to have the stage and bleachers there actually amount to something! Brad Miller should get a key to the city!
If word gets around, maybe some onlookers can come and look on - rimshot - I mean maybe an audience could assemble. I will stop by myself. I have lots of memories at the park from when I covered the big and robust Prairie Pioneer Days for the Morris newspaper. Believe me, PPD was a truly big deal for a number of years at its zenith. Even without the pandemic, it was wiped from the summer slate. Unbelievable.
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| Dennis Johnson (kmrs-kkok) |
Oh, I know the sentiment is just overwhelming for Dennis and this is entirely justified, just as it was in the wake of Joe Lembcke's recent passing. The word on the street is that people just piled into Assumption Church for Joe's funeral, a gesture that might make one misty, just as it would for Dennis. But then on the other side of the coin, apparently the virus is real, has not gone away, could return and is especially lethal with older people. Older people are the type who would dominate the turnout for Dennis, I'm sure. I mean, people like yours truly.
I'd love to be there. Dennis' death is leaving a void in our church and the Morris community as a whole. He always had such a calm, reassuring and disarming presence. He was a TV star too with wife Carole!
When I think back, I'm struck by how the couple always participated with genuine interest whenever there was a group discussion of some kind. Not just church either. Dennis' enthusiasm was genuine. He had a sense of humor too. I was not aware that he had severe health complications starting about three weeks before his death. I was totally shocked to learn of his passing.
I first met Dennis when I photographed him giving blood at the old P.E. Annex in 1979. I wish I had known him longer. When in school I didn't make enough effort to get to know adults of the Morris community, not even the parents of my fellow MHS Class of '73 members. Ironically, I got to know so many of these people so much better years later when I made the rounds for the Morris newspaper. I will remember many of these people best from when they were senior citizens. And that's a shame - I should have crossed that bridge earlier.
Dennis Johnson, RIP.
Visit my podcast
"We remember Dennis" is the heading for my "Morris Mojo" podcast episode for today. They say funerals are a "celebration of life" but let's be honest, eh? It's somber. I invite you to click:
https://anchor.fm/brian-williams596/episodes/We-remember-Dennis-eiolv5
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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