A reader took umbrage at something I said in yesterday’s post on the Wisconsin stand-off at the State Capitol. The comment was succinct: “Enough of the…bashing [of the power group to which the writer belongs]. Please remove me from your email listing and future emails.” The writer is a prominent actor in the political arena […]
Thursday afternoon, February 17, we went across the Mississippi River to see a music program at a local suburban St. Paul elementary school. The performers were about a hundred fifth graders, one of whom was our grandson. The audience was classmates from other grades, and the usual assortment of parents, grandparents and others. It was […]
Last Sunday, a visiting Pastor, Fr.Michael O’Connell, a man we greatly respect and admire, gave the homily, based, he said, on one of the readings for the day, Isaiah 58:7-10. He had just returned from a three week January vacation in San Diego, a place a bit warmer than the Twin Cities, and he had […]
To easily find this page in the future, simply enter the letters OTW in the search box for thoughtstowardsabetterworld.org. UPDATE July 13, 2012 These are thoughts gathered over time which may help generate additional thoughts and ideas for readers. 1. Thoughts on Organizing: A. An assortment of thoughts on The Future for Public Sector Unions […]
Shortly after the Super Bowl, even with the events continuing in Egypt, the nightly news paid a lot of attention to the rollout of Donald Rumsfeld’s new book, “Known and Unknown“. There is no need to waste words or even internet links about Donald Rumsfeld – anything one wants to know, positive or negative, about […]
In November, 1998, I was very actively contemplating retirement, and I attended a conference of the National Education Association (NEA) in the Houston area. We were at a nice resort hotel, but the weather was – to put it mildly – awful. By the time we left we were shuttled around in large trucks due […]
One of the recent Presidents of the U.S., who was born 100 years ago on February 6, is having his memory celebrated…by people who were his mentors and advisors. In their words, they are elevating the man to far larger than life status. Perhaps they can enshrine the idea that he was more awesome than […]
Saturday we went over to watch our 6th grade grandson play basketball in the local athletic league. The league is like leagues in most towns of any size: if you show up, you play. There are eight five minute segments, and if there are ten boys on a side, five of them play every other […]
UPDATE February 5, 2011: Twin City Daily Planet review of the Ballet here; Minneapolis Star Tribune review here. I was a very reluctant stand-in Thursday night, when we went to see the Ballet at the Northrop Auditorium at the University of Minnesota. My wife had purchased tickets to the Voronezh State Ballet Theatre performance of […]
Sometimes events intersect and their very intersection adds to their individual meaning. Such happened in my own life during the last two weeks. It began with a phone call on Jan. 20. I heard Cathy gasp, and say “oh no.” The call was about her niece’s 8-month old daughter, Brooke, hospitalized in critical condition with […]