Articles

Column - College students eat lots of Ramen noodles

I call them the "Ramen Shoppers." They never fail to fill me with sympathy and sadness. You can see them in the grocery stores of all college towns. They are typically between the ages of 19 and 24. Pushing their grocery carts down the aisles, they take time intently pondering the price of this or that item. Sometimes they linger in front of some shelf items with dreamy, hungry looks on their faces.

Column - Hillary continues to be a trailblazer

It's about time Hillary Clinton is receiving the widespread admiration she always deserved. She is, once again, on the top of the list as the world's most admired woman. It's a wonder she was able to endure all that baiting, hounding, heel-nipping and blind hatred aimed at her all through the 1990s when her husband was president. She not only endured it but bounced back to become an acclaimed U.S. senator and, currently, a brilliant secretary of state.

Column - Shirla deserves endless rose bouquets

Life is no bed of roses, that’s for sure, but I think Shirla Hanson might disagree. Shirla just retired after working for 37 years at the Douglas County Library.

Column - Dick Clark had no right to die

How dare Dick Clark die? He wasn’t supposed to die. He had no right to die. When we baby boomers were young, that’s what we’d say, “Dick Clark will never die. He never ages. He’ll stay young forever.”

Column - Titanic keeps sinking in my mind

Why am I still riveted by anything to do with the sinking of the H.M.S. Titanic, as if that disaster happened just yesterday? I’ve been pondering that question for the past week, prompted by the centennial of that ship’s sinking on April 15, 1912.

Column - Voters should nix proposed amendments

It is – unfortunately – official. The Minnesota Legislature’s Republican majority voted to place yet another issue on the ballot in next November’s election.

Column - Compassion burnout is modern malady

Did you ever feel as if you are suffocating from compassion burnout? There is too much suffering in the world, and there is nothing – or not much of anything – that any individual, including me, can do about it.

Column - Death raises questions in gun-crazed culture

The murder of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, has rightfully raised howls of outrage far and wide. His senseless death, hopefully, will not be forgotten. Maybe, just maybe, we can all learn something from it and start facing head-on the problems caused by this gun-crazed culture.

Column - Health care solutions abound elsewhere

Why is the United States so afraid of learning good things from other countries? Take health care, for example. Many Americans have been bamboozled into thinking the United States has the best health-care system in the world while the rest of the countries have horrible socialistic systems where people – if they're not waiting in line – are dying in droves because of vicious death panels. Meantime, millions and millions are wishing to come to America for the finest treatments.

Column - Planning a trip to Mayo? Please be careful

Please beware of the intersection of Highway 52 and County Road 9, which is 30 miles north of Rochester and nine miles south of Cannon Falls. "Why?" you may ask. "Why worry about an intersection in faraway Goodhue County?"

Columns

Column - Don't write off Palin, yet

Just about all the political pundits claim Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has just committed political suicide.

Column - We should learn from Jackson's sad story

Childhood cannot be “skipped.” When it is, complications gather like hungry wolves. Poor Michael Jackson. It’s no wonder he founded “Neverland,” an amusement park, an artificial paradise, where he could act out with other children what he never had, what was denied to him with such cruelty.

Column - Same old myths muddy debate over healthcare

Does anybody remember “Harry and Louise?” Let me refresh your minds. Harry, the old man, and Louise, his middle-aged daughter (actors both), were the ones who creased their worried brows in oft-repeated commercials in 1993-94.

Column - Learning - a lifelong lesson

Years ago – too many years ago! – I used to sit in college classrooms and think to myself, “Gee, this lecture is so interesting. What a shame we have to be tested on it.”

Column - When we begin to act, sound like our parents

Our parents warned us, but we didn’t listen. “Someday,” they’d say, wagging a finger, “You’re going to be just like us.” We’d laugh at such a preposterous notion.

Column - Harmless actions can have deadly results

Inattention is killing us. The major cause of roadway deaths and injuries is now various forms of inattention.

Column - List of characters should be required in novels

There ought to be a law – well, at least a “literary” law – that all novels must be published with a “List of Characters” at the very front of the book.

Column - Flu warnings worth it

Ever hear about the boy who cried, “Wolf!”? Well, what about the boy who cried, “Virus!”? Is the kid a fool? Will we listen? Should we care? We won’t know.

Column – Interrogation or torture?

How would you feel if, while being forcibly drowned, the people doing it kept telling you they are using only “enhanced interrogation techniques?” That phrase is the innocuous “substitute” for torture, as used by members of the Bush Administration.

Column – Singing into our hearts

It took a Scottish woman to teach the world never to judge a book – or a singer – by its cover.