Darkness or Light?

Related Post “The Generals”, October 1, 2025.  (There are several comments.)

September 30 – October 1, 2025, seems to potentially be as historically as significant as January 6, 2021.  The ultimate outcome is going to depend on the American Citizen, collectively, you, I, everyone else.  I’d suggest that you at least take the time to read Robert Reich’s post, and the Wiki about Russell Vought, one of the chief architects of Project 2025.  I’m also including for your own information some photos and information about the East Wing of the White House, which is apparently under construction as an immense formal ball room.  Apparently it will not be a victim of the cuts.

You and I and our fellow citizens are the solution, period.  There are millions of ways to impact.  Sitting on the sidelines is not one of them.  It will not be easy, to complain is not enough.  You’re needed for the long haul.

Do Something.

It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

Robert Reich October 2, 2025

About Russell Vought, Office of Management and Budget, apparently a crucial architect of Project 2025.

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History: East Wing of the White House

White House Postcard view of East Terrace 1902.  “East Wing” added about here in 1905 by Teddy Roosevelt.  This postcard dates from 1904,

The U.S. presidents and the U.S. Capitol, 1905. All Presidents shown up to and including Theodore Roosevelt (standing second from right). Found in the basement of the North Dakota farmhouse of my grandparents, who came to North Dakota in 1905.

POSTNOTE October 3:

There’s no need to dig deep on this current disaster: Revenge against Democrats (which is people like me) is front and center in the Presidents rage; but paramount is favoring the filthy rich.  Best to have “friends” who  own the ship of state (whatever that happens to be) rather than help the masses who in the final analysis are always the ones who are the source of the riches in the first place: they do the work and spend their money to buy the goods which generate the profits for the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

Every Sunday I go to Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, and every Sunday we get a newsletter with an assortment of news related to the Parish.

Last Sunday, the Gospel was Luke 16:19-31 “The rich man and Lazarus”.  It is not an affirmation of those who pine for the gilded age, particularly those who have fought their way into the temporal heaven (Scrooge McDuck comes to this old man’s memory – cavorting in his money bin….)

Last Sunday Fr. Gillespie had a column on the front page of the newsletter, “Mind the Gap” which was spot on, and I’d like to share it with you: Fr. Gillespie on Lazarus… 9 28 25.  You don’t need to be Catholic, or Christian, or believer in any religion to relate to this story, which is even more timeless today than long ago when whoever authored Luke wrote the story.

None of us have any idea what happens with our spiritual essence when we die.  There are endless beliefs.

Fact of the matter is that the idiots who are the filthy rich won’t be taking it with them, and likely the ones who win the lottery when their benefactor dies may not be dedicated to continue their commitment.

I haven’t read the book Fr. Gillespie mentions, on the “Have-Yachts”.  But, anyway, take a look at his column, and maybe even read it.  He is a brilliant writer.

 

The Generals et al

We can’t know how September 30, 2025, will play in the history books years from now, but today is the first day.  Pay close attention and get, and stay. in action.

My first thoughts this day go back to Union staff days where, on infrequent occasions, we “Union Thugs” were asked to help a local union planning to strike.  (One time I was President of the Union staff for the state teachers Union that employed us.  Now, that did make the news.  That strike lasted only a few days.  It was 1979, if I remember correctly.)

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The Government Shutdown started at midnight Sep 30, 2025,

The shutdown has all the earmarks of a labor-management conflict.  Without going into the weeds, I have one observation (among many) unresolved disputes often have something in common:  at some point matters came to a head, and there is a walkout.  It’s always the other sides fault….

In my experience then, which was only from the labor side, walking out was the easy part.  Getting back in, and back to normal, was the hard part, and the prudent local and the opposing management considered this fact.

I only knew the Labor side over 50 years ago; but Management had exactly the same problem – just “the other side of the same coin”.  Regardless of the issues, ultimately there had to be an agreement to settle, which required compromise, whether the walk-out was one day or a month or even more….

I can’t remember any local going on strike more than once.  This is not to say that there were no frustrations, or threats in subsequent negotiations.  The prospect for both sides was too dismal to reprise.  Best to eat crow in essentially private arguments in bargaining, rather than enter into a public spectacle over which both sides had little control.

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Which brings me to “The Generals”, the title of this post.

Also on September 30 was street theatre day at Quantico Marine Base in Virginia.  Fox News personality Pete Hegseth and guest star of “The Apprentice” (aka “Management”) came to wow a gaggle of generals (aka Labor) from all over creation. The Big Show was obviously made for TV where management could be in the spotlight as “star”.

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This is not to make light out of what are two hugely significant events which not coincidentally happened on the very same day.

We will be well advised to not only follow this carefully, but also become active participants.  The stakes are immense.

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As for the Generals, I think one of the problems the Public has is that relatively few adults have actually been in the military and make their judgements based on TV/Radio, movies, social media and print news: chaos and blood.  As the old saying goes “if it bleeds its leads”.   The President wanted a big show; he got it, with no applause….  In the theater it was a big dud.

I am not naive about the military, both from personal and family experience.

I was in the U.S. Army voluntarily for a tour as an enlisted man in 1962-63,  I didn’t realize it at the time, but the “Vietnam era” had begun about a year earlier, and we were being trained for future service in Southeast Asia.  I declined the opportunity to go for officer training; and ended up as Company Clerk in an Infantry Company which, a few years later, saw heavy action and lots of losses in Vietnam.  I and my colleagues were the lucky ones.  But we safely experienced in training what our later colleagues had experience in person.

Dog Tags. U.S. Army 1962-63

Never have I regretted my experience in the military.  Those Generals who have risen to the top of their respective pyramids are generally very strong and effective leaders, as are their subordinates, down to the most basic level.

I have absolutely no idea what those Generals were thinking yesterday, as they sat obediently in a theatre where doubtless legions of Marines have sat in the past for one lecture or another (one of my grandsons approaching his 7th year as an active duty Marine, though not at Quantico.)

As for the Generals, the stark fact is that we, all of us, every one of us, have to be the “Generals” in the days ahead.  We are the one who decide who or how we’ll be governed, and we do this by our actions (or lack of same).

POSTNOTE: For historian Heather Cox Richardson’s view of September 30, 2025: here. Also,  Robert Reich, today short video.

250 Days

By my count, today is the 250th day since the inauguration of the 47th president Jan. 20, 2025.

Months ago, I had a fantasy that maybe it was true he would be dictator for only one day; or that it might be true he really had no idea that there was such a thing as Project 2025.  But I decided on Day One to begin keeping the A section of the Minnesota Star Tribune for his first 100 days (photo below).  If someone ever looks they’ll find all but a tiny few of the A sections there.  The missing ones were inadvertent.  The box has near 250 of those A sections.  September 30, 2025, will be the final addition.

I will continue to be informed and in action, but if somebody else wants to start the next 250 days collection, be my guest.  Here’s my collection (and what your box would look like 250 days from now):

There is an immense amount of readily available and credible information available of what is happening on a daily basis.  We, together, are an immense resource for good but only if we get into action in the millions of ways available to every one of us wherever we live, on whatever issues are important to you.

We know the reality, now is time to get into, and stay in, action.

I plan to keep writing and staying informed and in action, but my emphasis here will be other topics.  The most recent are these:

September 11 was the gun death at Utah Valley University.  There has been immense attention to this since, culminating with a Memorial service in Glendale Arizona September 21.  I decided to do an alternative post entitled “A Gun” on September 18.  It speaks for itself, and I think it’s worth your time.

A long-time passion of mine is family history, and a recent book about over 100 French-Canadian immigrants to the small community of Dayton MN caught my attention since my Dad was 100% French-Canadian, and more than one reference in the book was to some of our ancestors.  Take a look: A French-Canadian Enclave in Twin Cities Minnesota.

September 23 I added a postnote to an earlier post from April, 2024, entitled “Consequences”.  It refers to the conviction of my former State Senator in a heavily publicized case that began in April 28, 2024.  I suggest you scroll to the end to the Postnote for September 23, 2025, and I further suggest you read the link there which was my personal letter to the Judge in the matter.

Back on July 12 and 28 I recommended and saw the new film “Superman”.  It took a while, but Tim Snyder recommended it in his post on September 23.  (I only wonder why he didn’t mention The Rift)….  If you’ve got the time, check the film out.  It speaks in one way or another to today.

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FYI:  Among those I personally depend on for fact-based news, most on Substack (alpha listing):  Ruth Ben-Ghiat,David French,  David Frum, Garrison Keillor, Paul Krugman, Minnesota Star Tribune, Doug Muder (The Weekly Sift), Robert Reich, Jennifer Rubin, Heather Cox Richardson, Timothy Snyder, Mary Trump, Joyce Vance.  There are many more whose writings I see on occasion, forwarded by someone I know. There is absolutely no lack of credible information if one wishes to be informed.

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Brief Reflection Sep 26, 2025: After I had completed the above post, I opened Mary Trumps post for September 26.  Mary is Donald J’s niece, and she knows her uncle very well.  Take a moment to read the first five paragraphs (if you’re a subscriber, you can hear her tell the same story.)

Mary’s five paragraphs are a bullying story, from a TV show she saw as a youngster.  She describes the show and its main character, a youngster who terrorizes everyone else, adults and all.  She relates the character to her Uncle Donald, both then and now.

At a point in time in my teacher representation career, there was a strong push to rein in bullying in public schools.  Anyone who’s had a normal life knows bullying from real life, maybe as a victim, possibly as a perpetrator.  I don’t need to cite examples.  Where there’s people, there are bullies.  Each of us can identify our own.

In the instant situation, today, we as a country for some reason have elected a bully, twice, to be President of the United States.  For some reason the United States Supreme Court has further empowered this bully.  We are living through the implementation of a bully-run society, and in recent days it perhaps reached its current zenith in a speech at the United Nations, and it is possibly connected in some way to the upcoming and surprise short-notice meeting of all of the major U. S. military officers in Virginia, called by the Secretary of Defense.  At this writing, no one knows for sure what this meeting is even about, but it comes soon.

The principles and consequences of bullying are simple and well known to all of us from life experience.  A bully has allies who enable his (or her) behavior.  So it is today in our national conversation.

But so do the victims of bullies, and if and when they make the decision to strike back, there are also peaceful strategies to neutralize and defeat the offenders.

During the time when tamping down bullying became an important public school initiative in my state there were lots of positive results.  I’ve been retired 25 years, so I don’t know the current reality.  But I do know that bullies can be handled by their victims, but it takes courage to say and mean “enough!”.

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A few weeks ago – a postnote to the Sep 7 post “The Hangman” – I offered a musical memory: “POSTNOTE September 8, 2025:  For some reason, the old standard of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes is running through my head: “If you don’t know me by now“.  If we don’t know the issues that face us now in the United States, we will never….  When will we wake up and get into action as individuals – the only real solution ia each and every one of us.

 

 

A French-Canadian Enclave in the Twin Cities Minnesota

September 4 2025 at this space, I published a post about a new book about over 100 French-Canadian families who settled in what is now Dayton MN, about 25 miles upriver from St. Anthony Falls, bordered on one side by the Mississippi River.

Ruins 14620 Dayton River Road Dayton MN September 2025.  This ruin of some building is about a mile east of the Blondeau farm, also along the Mississippi River.

The book particularly interested me because a branch of my family tree, the Collette’s, arrived there about 1875, via Old St. Anthony, where they settled 1864 to 1875.  They came from  St. Lambert de Luzon QC, on the Chaudiere River about 20 miles south of Quebec City.

(Franco-American history is truly ancient, beginning in the 1500s, more or less marked as officially starting with the founding of Quebec City in 1608, and thence existing as a autonomous entity until the British defeated the French at the Plains of Abraham in 1759 – 28 years before the newly minted United States of America arrived on the scene.  The phrase, ‘lots of water under that old bridge’ comes to mind.  There is lots and lots of not always comfortable history between English, French, French-Canadian and “Americans” over the last 400 years – and that’s just in North America.)

The book, expertly compiled by Caroline Meilleur over a three year period, includes morsels of the histories of likely well over 1,000 French-Canadian families.  It is a feast for those interested in genealogy, particularly if part of that genealogy is French-Canadian, and involves some connection with the Dayton community.  You’ll want it part of your family history resource.

Below is part of a single page from the book, (in pdf pp 83-84 Blondeau page 83-84 Dayton French) and jpeg form (below).  Simon and Adelaide were my great-great grandparents.

Portion of p. 83 from Dayton With a French Accent

TO ORDER the book: here.  (For the moment, my review is this writing.  I didn’t purchase the book through Amazon, and apparently this disqualifies me from posting a review there.)

A BONUS: Another family in the book, Daniel Louis LaVallee and Basilisse Elizabeth Beaudreau site Graveline had a Catholic Nun and Historian descendant Sr. Ann Thomasine Sampson, who wrote about her own venture into her own family history.  Her writing, from the publication Sep-Oct 1997 Chez Nous can be read here: Sampson Sr Ann Thomasine Fam Hist.  Chez Nous in its entirety can be accessed at https://fahfminn.org, click Library, click chez nous.  This newsletter is indexed and near 1000 pages.

A Gun

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 is probably over 50 years old.  It can be read in its complete context in Part Three of Lyrics of the Prairie by Dr. Kolstoe.  It is within a post about him that I wrote and published July 21, 2013.  t seems especially appropriate at this highly charged time.

from Lyrics of the Prairie by Soren O. Kolstoe ca 1960s with permission of the family.

Gun by Soren Kolstoe ca 1960s

Disclosure, I qualified as expert with the M-1 in my Army time in the early 1960s.  Subsequent I have never owned, kept or use a firearm.  My general position, shared with my legislators, is at the end of the post I did after the Annunciation shooting some weeks ago.  Scroll to the end of my August 25, 2025 post.  Following are five brief points made there.  There will be success with much persistence, but it will never be complete success.  Winning to me would be a return to the Soren Kolstoe philosophy.  While I never knew him personally, my guess is that the reason for hunting game was to serve a primordial instinct to harness for for personal use….

POSTNOTE September 6, 2025:  There have been subsequent photos and stories in the local paper, but I decided to call a halt at September 1.  I hope lots of people take up the issue with their legislators – that is where the solution has to begin.  It will continue to be a very tough sell.  People love their guns….

“Guns” have been part of over 100 posts at this space over the last 16 years.

If you looked back at them, you’d see a consistent set of talking points.

  1. I qualified as an expert marksman with the M-1 in Army days, 1962-63.  But I have never owned or had a gun or in fact used a gun in all the years since.
  2. Getting rid of guns in this gun-ridden society is impossible.  It is as difficult as it was to get rid of booze during prohibition days.
  3. It is easily possible to regulate guns through registration and other means, and stiffer penalties for violations.  A minority of the citizenry owns a large percentage of the guns, especially the most lethal ones.  Best I know from the Annunciation case, there was a single assailant who fired over 100 rounds in a very brief time period.  There is absolutely no reason in a civil society for that kind of armament being allowed on the street.
  4. Having and using a gun to facilitate a crime is no guarantee of success.  In the Annunciation case, the perpetrator apparently committed suicide.  Those who survive their felony have almost zero chance of evading accountability.
  5. In my state, state legislators are probably the most crucial focus of lobbying, followed by other elected officials, local, state, national, who depend on being elected to hold office.

Utah Valley University

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.  I will add my own observations at the end of his post a little later.

12:14 p.m. Sep 12: A History of Violence from the Bulwark

RELATED: 9 minute video from Ukraine by Tim Snyder.  Worth your time.  I hope you can access it,

Thursday, September 11, 2025, 10:07 a.m.:   Google map link of the site of the killing yesterday is at the end of this post, after comments.  You can scroll in or out or move image around.

I do not jump to conclusions, except that the ramifications of this incident are incredibly serious.

As soon as I think there is something reportable, I’ll make an addition at this space.  Because google maps seem to be destination documents, any revisions to this document will include the map link at the end of the post.  [Sep 13 9:30 a.m.  I simply added to the map link at the end of the post, the location of the apparent home town of the alleged assailant in the Charlie Kirk killing.  I have many thoughts, as possibly you do as well, but I will defer on sharing these till later.  I will say that out of this there is an opportunity to learn for all of us.]

Signed personal opinions are welcome.  I’ll time-stamp them, as I am here.

Today of course is the 24th anniversary of 9-11-01.  Here’s what I wrote on Sep 17 and 24, 2001: Post 9-11-01001.

COMMENTS (more at end of post):

from Amy 9:42 a.m.: The silence on the assassination of [Melissa] Hortman is deafening.

from SAK 1:15 p.m.:  As you wrote this incident has serious ramifications.

The first and important thing to say is may Charlie Kirk rest in eternal peace. It is also a given, to me at least, that violence ought to be condemned.

Of course we must all wait until more information is available but already politicians & journalists have been giving their views. I have looked at various sources and clearly the killing will increase the polarisation and some politicians, instead of calling for unity and urging restraint, have already tried to rally their own side. Sad.

Since Amy has already commented on the assassination of Melissa Hortman, here’s another article that focuses on that event:

I am reasonably sure one can open the link in the US but just in case here it is:

Charlie Kirk shooting

Utah Republican senator faces backlash over post condemning Kirk’s killing

Only months ago, Mike Lee had posted disparaging tweets after Democrat Melissa Hortman and her husband were fatally shot

The official X account of Mike Lee, a Republican US senator, drew backlash after quickly condemning Wednesday’s killing of the influential conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah – less than three months from when the politician initially responded to the shootings of two Minnesota Democratic lawmakers by boosting misinformation about that case.

A post from Lee, who joined the Senate in 2011, denounced Kirk’s murder as “a cowardly act of violence” while hailing the Turning Point USA executive director as an “American patriot” and “inspiration to countless young people”. His post also solicited prayers for the 31-year-old Kirk’s widow, Erika, and their children.

“The terrorists will not win,” Lee said shortly after Kirk’s death while speaking at an outdoors gathering on the campus of Utah Valley University had been confirmed. “Charlie will.”

While some of the platform’s users replied positively to the post, many others immediately alluded to how Lee focused on advancing conspiracy theories in the aftermath of the 14 June shootings that killed Minnesota’s former house speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, while wounding state senator John Hoffman – her fellow Democrat – as well as his wife, Yvette.

“This is what happens,” Lee wrote in an X post, “When Marxists don’t get their way.” Attached to the post was a picture of the suspect charged in the shooting, Vance Boelter, evidently wearing a latex face mask.

There was no evidence Boelter is a Marxist. Friends have told local media he was right-leaning. And while Minnesota voters don’t list party affiliation, Boelter was registered as a Republican in Oklahoma in 2004.

Separately, under another picture of Boelter, Lee wrote, “Nightmare on Waltz Street”, which appeared to be a reference to Tim Walz, Minnesota’s Democratic governor, who was Kamala Harris’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election won by Donald Trump.

Lee’s allusion to Walz came as conservative influencers misleadingly suggested an alliance between the governor and Boelter. Walz’s Democratic predecessor, Mark Dayton, appointed Boelter in 2016 to a 60-member voluntary advisory board. Boelter’s appointment was renewed in 2019 by Walz, who did not know him.

Tina Smith, a US Democratic senator from Minnesota, confronted Lee two days after the shootings in her state to tell him his posts were “brutal and cruel”, as CNN reported. “He should think about the implications of what he’s saying and doing.”

Lee didn’t say much to Smith and seemed surprised she had confronted him, as she put it. However, he subsequently deleted the posts in question.

After Wednesday’s killing, Lee told reporters that Kirk had recently texted him about being excited to visit Utah. Lee also exalted Kirk’s “boundless energy and great love for his country”.

Lee’s lament prompted one X user to rhetorically ask the senator “what has changed” because he had “expressed no sympathy” after the Minnesota lawmaker shootings.

“It seems you do know how to respond appropriately to tragedy,” another user replied to Lee. “I wish you would have … shown that same respect to Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark.”

Yet another reply added: “I pray for Charlie Kirk’s family. They should not have to go through this. Nor did Melissa or Mark Hortman right??”

Smith posted about Kirk on Wednesday nearly an hour before Lee published his tribute to the staunch Trump ally.

“Horrific,” Smith wrote. “We all need to condemn these acts of political violence that are becoming far too commonplace in this country. We can’t continue like this.”

from Flo: 1:30 p.m.: I continue to firmly support controlling the sale and purchase of any kind of gun. They’re only getting to be worse!   Still, I enjoy eating the meat Carter and Eric both hunt for in the cabin area every November. They occasionally get one. Last year Carter got a big Buck he saw only about 12 feet from it.

GOOGLE MAP OF OREM UTAH AND Utah Valley University: For reference, here is the google map of the site of the killing yesterday.  You can scroll in or out or move image around.  Apparently the home of the suspect in the killing of Charlie Kirk is Washington Utah, in far southwest Utah near St. George.

Deceased

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 first six years of his 15 year career there.

Lew (his first name) was respected in my district.  The nature of our jobs tended to be competitive, but there was no animosity.  I left the district nine years before he did, we shared common ground for about six years, dealing with issues as our respective jobs required.

I don’t think he was run out of town on a rail!  Leastways I’ve never heard that from others I know who were there the entire time period that he was Superintendent.

I looked at Lew’s obituary, which was essentially the standard verbiage except for one missing piece of information: there was not a single word about his 15 years as Superintendent in my school district, which was then and remains among the largest in Minnesota.

Some months earlier I’d been to another memorial for another former colleague, Patrick, who was in his 90s and had even longer service with his employer.  He had been my boss.  Similarly, nothing was said about his work in our organization, from which he’d been retired for over 30 years.  A couple of us had some open-mike time to at least acquaint the others about the Pat that we knew.

I can think of many other similar examples I’ve seen over the years.  Unfortunately the blank spaces make sense, in a sense, at least.

When you get old, memorials seem to be the primary social gatherings – reunions as it were….  It has occurred to me especially in the more recent years that the deceased is not much able to plan his or her own funeral, much less write the remarks somebody will make about the dear departed who is no longer available.

Unless the person takes the time, before it’s too late, to write something as simple as a timeline of significant events in his or her life, the survivors left to plan the celebration of life will be left to their own devices, and will have to rely on their own memories.

So…before it’s too late, give some thought to how you’d like to be remembered; write it down and give it to someone who’ll likely have to deal with your last public appearance.

The Hangman

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 diverse country of ours.

Other recent posts: update of thoughts on Annunciation shooting (scroll down to August 27); a Family History post specifically towards those with French-Canadian ancestry in the midwest.  And a new post, Deceased, you may also find of interest.

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THE HANGMAN

“Summer” as it seems to be defined in this area essentially begins on Memorial Day weekend, and ends on Labor Day.  By my count, this was 161 days during which vacations were taken, and change of pace in life.  Labor Day, September 1, was 223 days from the inauguration of the 47th President.  I have kept the front section of every Minnesota Star Tribune since then, neatly stored in a box to be dealt with by someone when I’m no longer around.  They’re just a reminder of those 223 days.

I have followed the news before and during those 223 days, and I will continue to follow it as before, but likely spend less time passing along information.  By now, everyone who cares knows the issues and has to decide not only where they stand, but what they commit to personally doing something – anything – to make a positive difference.

Basically, I’d like to summarize past, present and future with part of an e-mail I wrote on August 24 to three friends, which was followed by a response from one of three from a relative of hers who teaches in a former soviet bloc country.  Basically I think the point and the response are where I stand as the season of Fall rapidly approaches.  Don’t get caught in the deluge.

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Portion of e-mail from Dick, August 24, 2025: This morning I compared the current situation to the Guadalupe River flood some weeks ago.  You know there’s stormy weather but you ignore it for whatever reasons you have.  All of a sudden its out of control and people start to die, but you’re on higher ground, till you find out that some cousin died in the flood, or the daughter of a good friend….   All of a sudden it becomes very real.  But then it’s too late.

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from a friend: Oh, so well put, Dick.  My cousin in [Central Europe] sent me this:

By Maurice Ogden 
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Into our town the Hangman came
Smelling of gold and blood and flame—
And he paced our bricks with a diffident air
And built his frame on the courthouse square.
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The scaffold stood by the courthouse side,
Only as wide as the door was wide;
A frame as tall, or little more,
Than the capping sill of the courthouse door.
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And we wondered, whenever we had the time,
Who the criminal, what the crime,
The Hangman judged with the yellow twist
Of knotted hemp in his busy fist.
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And innocent though we were, with dread
We passed those eyes of buckshot lead;
Till one cried: “Hangman, who is he
For whom you raise the gallows-tree?”
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Then a twinkle grew in the buckshot eye,
And he gave us a riddle instead of reply:
“He who serves me best,” said he,
“Shall earn the rope on the gallows-tree.”
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And he stepped down, and laid his hand
On a man who came from another land.
And we breathed again, for another’s grief
At the Hangman’s hand was our relief.
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And the gallows-frame on the courthouse lawn
By tomorrow’s sun would be struck and gone.
So we gave him way, and no one spoke,
Out of respect for his hangman’s cloak.
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The next day’s sun looked mildly down
On roof and street in our quiet town
And, stark and black in the morning air,
The gallows-tree on the courthouse square.
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And the Hangman stood at his usual stand
With the yellow hemp in his busy hand;
With his buckshot eye and his jaw like a pike
And his air so knowing and businesslike.
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And we cried: “Hangman, have you not done,
Yesterday, with the alien one?”
Then we fell silent, and stood amazed:
“Oh, not for him was the gallows raised . . .”
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He laughed a laugh as he looked at us:
“ . . . Did you think I’d gone to all this fuss
To hang one man? That’s a thing I do
To stretch the rope when the rope is new.”
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Then one cried “Murderer!” One cried “Shame!”
And into our midst the Hangman came
To that man’s place. “Do you hold,” said he,
With him that’s meant for the gallows-tree?”
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And he laid his hand on that one’s arm,
And we shrank back in quick alarm,
And we gave him way, and no one spoke
Out of fear of his hangman’s cloak.
*
That night we saw with dread surprise
The Hangman’s scaffold had grown in size.
Fed by the blood beneath the chute
The gallows-tree had taken root.
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Now as wide, or a little more,
Than the steps that led to the courthouse door,
As tall as the writing, or nearly as tall,
Halfway up on the courthouse wall.
*
The third he took—and we had all heard tell—
Was a usurer and infidel. And:
“What,” said the Hangman, “have you to do
With the gallows-bound, and he a Jew?”
*
And we cried out: “Is this one he
Who has served you well and faithfully?”
The Hangman smiled: “It’s a clever scheme
To try the strength of the gallows-beam.” …
*
The fifth. The sixth. And we cried again:
“Hangman, Hangman, is this the man?”
“It’s a trick,” he said, “that we hangmen know
For easing the trap when the trap springs slow.”
*
And so we ceased and asked no more,
As the Hangman tallied his bloody score;
And sun by sun, and night by night,
The gallows grew to monstrous height.
*
The wings of the scaffold opened wide
Till they covered the square from side to side;
And the monster cross-beam, looking down,
Cast its shadow across the town.
*
Then through the town the Hangman came
And called in the empty streets my name,
And I looked at the gallows soaring tall
And thought: “There is no one left at all
*
For hanging, and so he calls to me
To help him pull down the gallows-tree.”
And I went out with right good hope
To the Hangman’s tree and the Hangman’s rope.
*
He smiled at me as I came down
To the courthouse square through the silent town,
And supple and stretched in his busy hand
Was the yellow twist of the hempen strand.
*
And he whistled his tune as he tried the trap
And it sprang down with a ready snap—
And then with a smile of awful command
He laid his hand upon my hand.
*
“You tricked me, Hangman!” I shouted then,
“That your scaffold was built for other men . . .
And I no henchman of yours,” I cried.
“You lied to me, Hangman, foully lied!”
*
Then a twinkle grew in the buckshot eye:
“Lied to you? Tricked you?” he said, “Not I.
For I answered straight and I told you true:
The scaffold was raised for none but you.”
*
“For who has served me more faithfully
Than you with your coward’s hope?” said he,
“And where are the others that might have stood
Side by your side in the common good?”
*
“Dead,” I whispered: and amiably,
“Murdered,” the Hangman corrected me;
“First the alien, then the Jew . . .
I did no more than you let me do.”
*
Beneath the beam that blocked the sky,
None had stood so alone as I—
And the Hangman strapped me, and no voice there
Cried “Stay!” for me in the empty square.

POSTNOTE September 8, 2025:  For some reason, the old standard of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes is running through my head: “If you don’t know me by now“.  If we don’t know the issues that face us now in the United States, we will never….  When will we wake up and get into action as individuals – the only real solution ia each and every one of us.

The deluge continues: There is lots of credible information easily available, most on Substack.  Some of my reliable sources: Minnesota Star Tribune, Heather Cox Richardson, Joyce Vance, Tim Snyder, Robert Reich, Paul Krugman, Ruth ben Ghiat, Doug Muder’s Weekly Sift, Garrison Keillor and many more.  Prof. Richardson is always on point and almost daily.

Dayton With A French Accent

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.  I purchased eight copies a few weeks ago, which I recently gave to all of my siblings (we’re all 50% French-Canadian) and my own four kids (who are one-fourth French-Canadian).  I’ve spent a lot of time with the book, which is a legacy document which will live on long after we are gone.  It is a treasure.

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Dayton With a French Accent”,  hi-lites over 100 families with roots in French Canada  who, beginning in the 1850s, ultimately settled in Dayton MN area.  Today, Dayton & surrounding are northwest Minneapolis suburbs.

I highly recommend the book for anyone, particularly those with French-Canadian ancestry and/or roots in  town and township of Dayton MN and vicinity.  One of those persons is myself.  Ordering information is here.  (For the moment, my review is this writing.  I didn’t purchase the book through Amazon, and apparently this disqualifies me from writing a review there.)

CONTEXT:  Since the 1990s, I’ve known that the family of Simon and Adelaide Blondeau had come to what is now Dayton MN in the first half of the 1850s, and that they were my ancestors – the parents of my great grandmother Clotilde Collette, in turn the mother of my grandmother Josephine (Collette) Bernard.  I also knew that the younger brother of my great grandfather Octave Collette, Ephrem (Alfred) Collette had married at Dayton, and after a few years in North Dakota moved back to Dayton for the rest of his life.

I learned about the Blondeau link from John Garney, a man I’d never met, whose ancestor was the younger sister of my ancestor, Clotilde.  John somehow found out about me.  This is how this family history fraternity works.

Before meeting John, I knew very little about Blondeau’s.  That changed over time, including learning the present day address of what was once their land claim, 15521 Dayton River Road,  Dayton MN. (See note at end of this post)

Portion of Dayton MN 1873 Plat, from p. 24 of book, Dayton With A French Accent.

Clotilde Blondeau and Octave Collette wedding St Anthony MN 1868.  Clotilde was about 6, second youngest in a large family, when her family arrived in Minnesota about 1854.  Octave was about 16, also one of a large family, when he and his family arrived in Minnesota about 1864.  Clotilde was born in Pierrefonds, Quebec, Octave in St. Henri Quebec.  Both families arrived before the railroad reached Minnesota (ca 1867).  St. Anthony Catholic Church, near St. Anthony Falls, quite likely was the common ground which led to their families becoming acquainted.

I have worked on family history for over 45 years, more than half my life.  Family history is rarely easy, particularly when the subjects are ordinary people, and in a society which is male-centric (the woman at marriage takes the man’s surname, becomes “Mrs”,  and societal rules favor males).

In a real sense, this book levels the playing field.  There are about 100 families identified, including their children.

To the extent possible, the lineage of both husband and wife are identified through the great-grandparents of each, including things like date and place of birth and marriage and death.

In my Blondeau branch, for example, my great grandmother’s parents, grandparents and great grandparents are identified – numerous family lines for husband and wife.  Not listed is my own grandmother, their daughter.  My father and, of course, myself, and my own kids – thus eight generations in all. Multiply this by 2 and then by 100 and you get some idea of the richness of the lineage identified within the book (all the families are neatly identified in Chapter 3).

In my review of the book, I found that the neighbor of Simon Blondeau, Jules LaCroix, was actually Adelaide Blondeau’s younger brother. I learned that another pioneer, Alexis Cloutier, witness when Blondeau took his land claim, was married to a sister of Adelaide!  The three siblings were all born in Pierrefonds Quebec, part of greater Montreal today.  I didn’t know any of this before exploring the book.

In the book there are well over one hundred photos provided by the 100 families and many others which give context; plus text which further helps to give life to the ordinary people of the community, and to the community itself.

How did the book benefit me?  In strictly my own example, I started with two family units in the community, about whom I had relatively little knowledge.  So far, the book has fleshed out four additional families I had little information about.  And I’ve only begun my search.

And I’m only one in a very large pool of potential readers, some of whom will be very glad they found this resource.  Help them become aware of this.

Cover of the new book.  The organizations website is here.

NOTE: Within the last few days I accessed the google map of the Blondeau claim, 15521 River Road, at the Mississippi River, two miles from today’s  St. John the Baptist Catholic Church whose address is 18380 Columbus Street Dayton MN. Here is the link.)  There is a bonus here: zero in on the Mississippi River and note the jet plane and its contrails, as captured by the satellite in space.  Amazing.  The plane. was probably beginning its approach to Twin Cities International Airport about 30 miles ahead when the satellite took its photo.  The photo is undated.  I hope the image with the plane is still there when you look.

 

 

On Labor Day 2025

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 school teachers in a teachers union.  After all of this  has come 25 years of retirement as an activist.  This blog is part of my activism.

There has never been a Labor Day more important than today, September 1, 2025.  If you’re still wondering what you can do, start today by doing something constructive reaching out, and each day that follows, repeat, repeat, repeat….  You know the issues.  Your issues likely will be different than mine, but you know them and you can act, one action at a time.

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If you wish, here’s a place to start: zll of my posts over the past 16 years are archived, and this day I recall one from Nov. 17, 2011, on Referent Power – by far the greatest power ordinary people like you and I  have, and the power we seem to actually use the least.

Put the words “Referent Power” in the search box and there are 8 entries….

Today my favorite historian, Heather Cox Richardson, gives context to Labor Day.  Here is her post dated August 31, 2025..

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In addition:

On August 25, I published two posts which you may wish to scroll through: Smithsonian and History, and The Days Ahead.  The Days Ahead includes starter thoughts on the latest school shooting, Annunciation, August 27, in my own metropolitan area….

Together, we in the 99% can succeed.   It makes no difference whatsoever that we live in different places, or even if we have different issues.  The common element is effort beyond ourself, positive action in all of its infinite varieties.

COMMENTS:

from SAK:  Thanks Mr Bernard,

Your activism over the years is sincerely highly appreciated!

By the way someone sent me a YouTube link to Heather Cox Richardson whom you have alerted me to much earlier.

Some might like listening/watching her expound her reflections, for example:

A Brittle Administration Inventing a Crime Crisis