Among the many magnificent gifts the U.S. Founding Fathers gave us when framing the Constitution and Bill of Rights of the United States ca 1787 was the right to select our representatives. To be sure, the framers initial draft was imperfect: only certain kinds of people could vote, then, and so on…but over time near […]
It is appropriate that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in the United States on the very day that Harold Camping has determined is Judgment Day: May 21, 2011, at 6 p.m. (As I write at 8 a.m. CDT, it is already 6 p.m. in Kabul, Afghanistan, and later still in Japan and Australia, and […]
A week ago today I was walking in to a place called Tar Paper Annie’s, a recently collapsed shack in the woods overlooking Bear Island Lake just north of Northern Lights Lodge near Babbitt MN. The occasion was the farewell to my cousin, Vincent Busch, who passed away in January of this year. The shore […]
A friend of mine just returned from a trip to Washington DC. He and his wife had last been there in 1978. There was much new to see. They enjoyed the trip. He mentioned that their tour group visited the World War II Memorial (completed 2004). A younger member of the tour group, a college […]
Today, May 10 in suburban St. Paul MN, the leaves on the trees have burst out, and the leafy green of woods in spring has returned once again. Exactly one month ago, in suburban Albuquerque NM, I was taking a solitary walk along the Rio Grande River, and noticed a simple tree which intrigued me […]
UPDATE: Note response at end of this post. Mary Ellen Weller is a retired teacher whose career was spent in Minnesota schools, and who presently lives in Madison WI. She responds to Dick Bernards National Teacher Day Reflection. I read the text of your letter concerning teaching and the current attacks on teachers in general […]
UPDATE June 7, 2011. Here’s the flower we bought at the Work House a month ago, May 7, 2011. UPDATE August 5, 2011. Here’s the same plant, now dubbed a ‘monster plant’ by our neighbors, on August 5. It’s the best plant we’ve ever had! To all Mom’s out there, a great day. I know […]
Between the May 3 post on National Teacher Day and May 7 came the latest issue of Newsweek which included a non-affirming message for wealthy folks seeking to impose change on public schools. Their experiment seems to have been less than a noble success, but don’t expect this to be widely reported. I am one […]
May 4, largely on the recommendation of our friend, Annelee, we went to the documentary, “I Am”, at the Lagoon Theatre in Minneapolis. Wherever you are, I would highly recommend you see this extraordinary and thought provoking film. Then seriously consider the implications of what you just saw. The official website is here. Doubtless, there […]
Wisconsin, like many other states, is faced with attacks by some of its citizens on public employees, public education, and local community services. These attacks are a direct outgrowth of how all of the parties have developed, used, and abused their power relationships with each other over a period of many years. While these attacks […]