I cast my ballot today in the special election Nov. 4 for 4 school board members of South Washington County SD #833, and new Senator for SD47.  I voted at the new Washington County Center which is essentially behind Kohls Department store, just off Woodlane Drive.

I have lived the same address for the last 25 years, and my entire life has either been in or very close to public education, including 27 years representing public school teachers.

My ballot today was for three school board incumbents, and one new representative.   Those who got my vote are incumbents Louise Hinz, Katie Schwartz and Sharon Van Leer, and candidate for newly open position, Elizabeth Bockman Eckberg.  The four are recommended by the local teachers union.

Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger is my choice for Senator in SD47.  She has been my state representative and I have been very pleased with her approach to the job of representing not only ourselves, but all citizens.  She is endorsed by a large group of organizations.

The campaign fliers for all are here, for the School Board candidates, and for Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger: 1). School Board ISD 833 Nov 4 2025; 2). School Board ISD 833 Bockman Eckberg Nov 4 2025;  3)  Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger SD47 Nov 4 2025

Here are a few personal comments: 1. I strongly support Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger for Senate for SD47.  She is my local state Representative (47A) and she has been an outstanding representative.  There are endless issues for any legislator, and I have a sense that she has the ability to listen to and represent differing points of view, crucial in a government official, particularly now.

2. I endorse the slate of school board candidates supported by the District 833 teachers union.  Three of the candidates are incumbents; the fourth is a new candidate.  My entire life has been in public education in one way or another.  I do not actively engage in the affairs of the local school district, and my assessment is, just from local news over the years.  In a large and diverse system (nearing 19,000 students), there are infinite possibilities for conflict about this or that.  The school district is well governed even in these difficult times.  The three incumbents are positive leaders.

I had the opportunity to hear the 4th candidate present her points of view in person last week.  She is a strong candidate.  Check out her website.

Please note “ADDITIONS” at the end of this post.  If it’s been your inclination to sit this one out, get off the couch.  Our future as a democracy is at stake, and we’re the only solution.

INFLUENCING

Every now and then a new word crops up and has its day in the headlines.  A current one is “Influencer“.  If you search the internet you will find numerous definitions.  Here’s one I selected, from the Oxford English Dictionary.

Today, it seems, you have to go viral to consider something successful.  Or have a very large boatload of “followers”. whatever that means.

I want to propose a new definition of “influencer”: first each person has to convince him or herself that he or she can make a difference as an active individual wherever he or she lives….

Since November 2024, when my ‘side’ ‘lost’ the election, I have said that 75,000,000 of us agreed on an alternative outcome, but we were a tiny bit short of a plurality.  There was no “landslide” “victory” or “loss” last November.  Every one of us were “influencers”.

Of course this also means that 77 million influencers voted for the opposing candidate, as were the 90 million or so who didn’t vote at all, or the free who voted for minor party candidates with no chance of being elected.

In short, every single one of us who were qualified to vote, whether voting or not, is the only ‘influencer’ who makes any difference.

If each person takes on the task of helping one other person make up their mind, change can happen pretty dramatically…there is no ‘yah but’.

As we’re all learning the hard way, elections are no spectator sport.  All of us are the “team”, period.

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Re the Team, I’m really no different than anyone else.  First, I have to talk myself into taking some unfamiliar action – in other words, to change customary behaviors.

The viral bunch is always an annoying noise in the background, like those fine-tuned ads for the perfect pet food for the perfect dog or cat.

For all of us, perfection is a dream, and we clomp along trying to do our best.

My challenge, become an influencer, just by doing a little bit more every day, getting a little out of your comfort zone.

You read this this far.  You are an exceptional person.  Keep on keeping on.

POSTNOTE: As I was drafting this I thought back to a workshop I’d attended in Grand Rapids MN in the late 1980’s.  The speaker, Don Keck, was an organizer for the National Education Association, and his talk was about Power,  In my memory, his talk had five bullet points about Power and who has it.  The first four were obvious: Knowledge, Position, Money, Information.  There were other sources of power, but these were primary examples.

It was the final power that caught my attention, and that he spent the most time with: Referent Power, the power of relationships, which he called “Referent Power”..

In my blog archives, there are nine that include the word “Referent” in one way or another, At the end of my post for February 10, 2011, I expanded a bit on the word, as follows:

Message to the Proles March 10 2010: ** – Power defined. I once heard an excellent talk about some of the many kinds of “Power” in plays in all of our lives. As I remember them: there is the power that comes with authority (“I can fire you”, or variations usually involving money); there is the power that comes with the capability of defining the rules of society (“I can make laws”). Power comes with family connections – a family marries into a family with power. The list goes on.
But there was one power I paid most attention to, and the speaker called it “referent power” or “the likeability factor”. For people immersed in the other kinds of power, this is the scary one: this is the problem of relationships, and builds outside, and independent of, the others.

ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS: 

Some things you can do:

Facilitate helping with registering to vote: Joyce Vance October 7, 2025

Check out and participate in No Kings Day on October 18 (we’re signed up).  In the lower left corner of the home page is a box.  Enter your zip code and find the nearest group in your area.  Additionally, take time to watch this 10 minute Tim Snyder video Who was who in Weimar Germany; and a three minute one, No Kings – Freedom

Check out “No data day” here.  This is very interesting.

Lori Sturdevant, long time highly respected commentator on politics in this area, had a must read column in the October 8 Minnesota Star Tribune: Lori Sturdevant STrib 10 8 25

I have added several references after “Do something” in the Darkness or Light post.

POSTNOTE:  I think back to my most recent visit to Niagara Falls three years ago, this time of year.  I visualize the people in a barrel, an occasional stupidity there, where someone thinks they can capitalize on surviving a trip over the falls.  It is one thing to read about it; it is another thing entirely to stand there, at the lip of the falls, and imagine what it would be like.

At the moment, America – all of us – are in a barrel, about to go over the edge.  If you’re excited about that, be very careful what you pray for.  Odds are against victory.

Dad at Niagara Falls 1972

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.)

*

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.

*

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”.

*

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.

*

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.

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 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.

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.”