First, this past weekend was the reopening of the famed Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. There is lots of media about this event. Here’s two snapshots of Notre Dame by my brother-in-law Mike in 1972 (RIP 2006). COLLET My father was 100% French-Canadian. His mother was Josephine Collette, born 1881, Dakota Territory, her parents […]
Happy Thanksgiving, wherever you are and however it is for you, this day. For me, it will start as usual at my coffee place, Caribou Coffee, city centre in Woodbury MN. Later a family gathering here in town. I have lots of Thanksgiving Days under my belt, so I know they are no ‘cookie cutter’, […]
Today is the Visitation for Lyle Root, age 91, a friend I’ve known since the 1960s. I’ll be there. Lyle has a very long history in his church and community – but I’ll probably see few folks who I know, It’s part of aging. How I knew Lyle isn’t even in the obit; most of […]
My Dad was 100% French-Canadian. He never called himself that, but that’s what he was: his entire ancestry came from over 300 years in what he used to call “lower Canada”, which is today’s Quebec. Recently a Canadian cousin, originally from Saskatchewan and most of his adult life in Montreal, and I, had a back […]
Since 1980, the U.S. Department of Education has been a Cabinet level position. On November 16, Heather Cox Richardson in her Letters from an American presented an outstanding overview of the Department and its history. I would highly recommend everyone read it, particularly those with any past, present or future relationship to education. Best I […]
I’ve lived at this address for 24 years, so the name and boundaries of my state legislative district have changed several times. The district in 2000 changed in 2002, again in 2012, again in 2022. We’re suburban so the general boundaries include most of our city, now 83,000. Total eligible voters this year in the […]
Three of us were conversing on-line about politics and it led to our sharing some of our background. We came from differing backgrounds from several states with some facts in common, some not. It occurred to me that what we talked about might be useful to others who might have similar curiosity about their own […]
Today is Armistice Day. The U.S. media report it as Veterans Day; in England it is Remembrance Day. All are the same, At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, hostilities officially ceased, ending WWI. There were hopes and dreams that we would move beyond war, but as we […]
UPDATE Nov. 16 2024: Please read this paragraph, and the last comment from me on this page as well. This post originally was published on Nov. 9. Subsequent there have been many comments. I would encourage you to read the comments, including the links included. I’ve read them all. In addition are these posts from […]
First commentaries: Letters from an American 11:18 p.m; Civil Discourse, 11:19 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. The contents of this post were written before polls opened on Nov. 5. A post on the results will follow within a couple of weeks, likely before Thanksgiving. I’d invite anyone to include their own observations in the followup. […]