"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.

Friday, September 25, 2020

Informal music at park: a fall treat

Yesterday (Thursday) was truly like summer. It was a pleasure once again to visit East Side Park in the early evening for the (limited) UMM choir rehearsal. We get to appreciate their warm-ups. I say "we" but I was the only person there to observe until toward the end, when Simon Tillier pulled in on his trusty bicycle with the thin tires.
These practices are the closest we can come to music "concerts" right now. Could the restrictions ease up? It might not be wise but look at what is happening with sports. Word is, football and volleyball are being jump-started. It's hard for me to get all the info. I have not seen the Morris paper since late March. Normally I see it at the library, the senior center or at church. Those options have been no-go. 
A friend might chide me: "Buy it." I attempted to purchase a subscription at the time I left the newspaper staff, really truly, but was told I'd receive issues complimentary. Based on my years of service of course. So this was set up for a couple years and then I was unceremoniously cut off. At the same time as Ed Morrison, I was told by his son Jim, and you can't be in better company than that. 
Ed has left us. Helen Jane is in advanced years and reportedly doing fine - a real blessing - and her biggest issue might be eyesight. Well, I told the clan that's small potatoes. My own eyesight has become challenged, and I actually think I got a little coaching to get through my eye test at the DMV. You know, I think the DMV standard might be too demanding - due to pressure from the state's optometry industry? Heh heh. 
I swear my eyesight is perfect for driving - it would certainly be better, by a country mile, over the South Dakota attorney general. And, why is he allowed to continue working? You no doubt have heard what happened. "We don't know all the facts?" Well to be sure, the facts that we do already know make the fellow look just awful. He is the only witness, as the victim is dead. Considering how the passenger side of the windshield got smashed in - we can view the photo - I almost have to wonder if poor Mr. Boever actually ended up in the car partway. 
What kind of dastardly thing might a person do, to try to escape culpability? Had the body been immediately discovered by law enforcement, there probably would have been several emergency or law enforcement vehicles converging on the site with lights flashing all over the place, with Attorney General Ravnsborg still there, and the mere visual of this might have done him in. A person with his mind would know this. 
Dastardly things? Isn't it terrible to even think of this? Well, I think legal and law enforcement professionals would readily acknowledge that any human being has the capacity for doing something dastardly. We all know that a Republican "machine" has pretty tight control of South Dakota politics.
A friend of mine refers to the South Dakota governor as "good-looking." I'll quote him but certainly I would make no such assertion. In addition to embracing gay rights - a blessing - our society has gone through a rapid change in turning thumbs-down on objectification of women. I guess that's a blessing too. Men my age must be cut some slack for adjusting, please. 
The South Dakota governor is Kristi Noem. She made a statement yesterday about why Ravnsborg is allowed to continue working as AG. I wanted to read the Argus Leader article about this but there's one of those paywalls. Why would I want to pay for online access to the Argus Leader from way out in South Dakota when I'm only interested in one subject? What else could any of us be interested in from that windswept, boring state? We had a governor in Minnesota, Rudy Perpich, who gained attention for saying South Dakota was "50th in everything," remember? The guy fighting back on that was Bill Janklow, South Dakota governor. Well, Janklow gained infamy for an incident exactly like what Ravnsborg is in the midst of. 
Mr. Ravnsborg, come forward and say you did something terrible and appeal for understanding and forgiveness. It is the only way your conscience can be cleansed. You may have to pay a price but after that, you can move on, really. 
  
A little normality
So we are readying for resumption of fairly normal fall football and volleyball, right? That's the word out there. Tiger football on Monday? That's the day announced in a Minnpost article. In front of fans? A limited number of fans? So some people might be turned away? Masks for all (except players on the field)? Not sure of all the details but I'm perplexed by one thing: the facts about the virus are not different from before, perhaps even worse, and yet there's a reversal on high school fall sports? 
And I suppose this paves the way for full winter basketball etc. in front of gym-fulls of people who would have a hard time surviving the winter if they did not have this opiate. But if the virus starts going on a rampage? As well might be the case? Well, perhaps society has slowly slid into a resigned sort of conclusion that it's mostly old people dying from the virus, and since these people have pretty much experienced the most of what life has to offer (?), they are expendable? 
And so, we must allow all the cute and vibrant young families to have their usual fun with stuff like high school sports, because absolutely nothing should stand in the way of high school sports? Well, what about music?
  
Addendum: Did you know some states have dropped the parallel parking part of the driver's license tests? That's because so many people were failing it and having to come back for a re-take. They found the right solution. 
 
My podcast for a nice Friday
I continue with thoughts on the new city water, not a happy story, for my September 25 entry on "Morris Mojo." You may click on permalink:
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

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