POSTNOTE Oct 5 2025: longer article by Mark Labine dated Sep 30 here: dayton with a French accent. Also, Oct 5 article about Dayton in Minnesota Star Tribune: dayton STrib 10 5 25 September 4 2025 at this space, I published a post about a new book about over 100 French-Canadian families who settled in […]
In the wake of yet another killing-by-gun at Orem Utah on September 10, 2023, I offer a tribute to a gun by its lover, Dr. Soren Kolstoe. I offer it specifically to encourage conversation among those with different opinions about guns, especially in these violent days. It is brief, and food for thought. The poem […]
10:24 a.m. September 12, 2025: The news conference is over and the apparent killer is in custody. I just read a pretty compelling commentary by Thom Hartmann about the “Both Sides” argument which has already begun to rage. I think it is important was a primer on the issue of rhetoric. Here is the link. […]
Yesterday I got a note that someone I knew had died in mid-July in a neighboring state. He was 87, and apparently had been in failing health for some years. He was a Superintendent of Schools in large school districts in three states, including the one where I was the teacher’s union rep during the […]
I debated whether to title this “The Hangman” or “The Flood”. I reference both below. The ball is in your, and my, court. What happens going forward in our nation is up to each of us, not some “them”. But we have to put into action our concerns wherever we are in this huge and […]
The new 473 page book, Dayton With a French Accent, is very recent, and high quality. Disclosure, I’m one of the volunteer founders of the organization which published the book, though I had retired from active involvement before the project was envisioned and began three years ago. I have no financial interest in the publication. […]
The phrase “hand me downs” comes to mind as I post this. Today is Labor Day. My life, literally, has been Labor. I am a child of two career public school teachers whose career began in the 1920s. For nine years I was a public school teacher myself; then, for 27 years, I represented public […]
Heather Cox Richardson gives a good summary of the issue of rewriting history through control of the record. It’s her post for August 20, here. There is much, much more to say. Stay tuned, if you are an occasional visitor. I’ll likely not publicize this till Labor Day or after, and I’ll be hoping for […]
People don’t like to hear bad news. The phrase “See no evil; speak no evil; hear no evil,” comes to mind. Unfortunately, bad news comes to us regardless, and it is important to pay attention. And we have seen months and now years of evidence of dangers to our democracy. In the end, we, […]
Our country is lurching towards the hoped for 250th anniversary of the American experiment in representative democracy. For all of these years. till now, in our own imperfect way, we’ve exercised the right of “we, the people” to select our representatives and abide by a rule of law which acknowledges and accommodates differences of opinion. […]