Back in 1951 my mom’s older sister, then a young widow with two youngsters ages seven and three, packed up their clothes and a few belongings and boarded a train to California, to start over and build a new life for herself and her kids. They stayed with her brother and his family near Oakland, and she soon found a job working for the city there.
Most city council meetings don’t attract many citizens to attend, or much attention from anyone for that matter. That’s especially true during the chilly evenings of winter. But a little over a week ago, a sizeable delegation from the Granite Falls Area Community Foundation (GFACF) made sure that wasn’t the case when they showed up on January 18th at the Granite Falls City Hall.
So, January is many things, but I think the word most people use to describe it is “long”. Yes, technically it’s tied for the longest month of the year with others but I’d like to see any other month look hard and long into the cold, grey eyes of January and see who blinks first.
Last week, the new owner of the newspaper was gracious enough to send all of us who wished to go to the Minnesota Newspaper Association Convention. I jumped at this opportunity because working the way we do these days, remotely and with much smaller staff sizes, networking opportunities don't happen very often. I've always found networking opportunities like this to be a match-strike of inspiration. Being able to chat with those in the same industry and hear what others are doing, or the challenges they are recognizing, and how they are overcoming them helps me to mull over my own thoughts and ideas with more perspective.
Heading north 350 miles or more in the dead of winter in mid-January does not sound like a luxurious vacation to most folks, but it is something that plenty of others do each year whether it’s to Baudette, Warroad or the Northwest Angle, the lure of ice fishing on Lake of the Woods is hard to resist.
Soup’s On January is, on average, the coldest month of the year. And that means one thing.
After months of having to hear from my mother, my sister, my grandmother, and my husband how terrible my previous column photo was, I decided to change it. Not because I thought it was terrible, because honestly, who cares? My column picture isn't a beauty contest, and I'm 40. I hardly see why it makes a difference. However, I just got sick of hearing how "old" I looked from all of them - thus, here's a quick photo from my porch featuring my seventeen-year-old hat that I originally purchased at the Minnesota Newspaper Association. This hat was a purchase made the very first time I attended the convention. Back then I was just a young, perhaps overly ambitious newspaper owner who was asked to speak, as a part of a panel, to a group of journalism students about the nittygritty of what living a life of journalism is like.
Letter to the Editor: Have you ever thought about what your “why” is? Whether it’s in your career path, an organization you work or volunteer for or your personal life. What is your why? Why do you do the things you do in a day? Why do you volunteer? Why do you work where you work? It’s easy to forget our why.
When we think about someone grieving, we often associate that when a death has occurred. In talking to my caregivers, however, many express that they are already grieving even though their loved one is still alive. It makes sense, however, as we know with dementia, it can be a long journey watching the losses one’s loved one is experiencing.
Over the past year and a half, I have joined several mayors from around the state in an online noon meeting, often every two weeks and lately every month. Mayors from Metro area cities of St. Louis Park, Edina, Lakeville, Minnetonka, Egan, Burnsville, and Savage are usually there. Greater Minnesota Mayors are from Fergus Falls, Marshall, Becker, Willmar, Moorhead, Duluth, Northfield, Bemidji, Ely, and Rochester.