Opinions

Grants support early literacy, community beautification

This year at Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF), we will reach a milestone of investing more than $50 million in our communities through grantmaking since our start in 1986. While these grants support a wide range of projects — from providing books to young children to supporting small...

Winter isn’t done with us yet

Minnesotans have a tendency to get a little complacent this time of year if the weather takes a moderate turn. After the (relatively) warm weather we had been experiencing in February last week sent us back to reality. Forecasts were saying we could get a foot or more of snow on Wednesday and...

I Was Thinking... White

Sometime in my educational process, either a science or art teacher discussed the color white. They told me white light is a combination of all colors in the color spectrum. It has all the colors of the rainbow. In this model of color theory, the combination of all colors creates the perception of...

Dust and ashes

“By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” — Genesis 3:19, NRSV Bible This year, the dust of Ash Wednesday got buried in snow. Many churches cancelled the worship service marking the...

Mantorville Township: Give non-tillable landowners rights too

To the Editor: Quarter-section housing density numbers in Mantorville Township need to change. Allow non-tillable land owners the option to divide their land for housing. SOME landowners may choose to divide/develop their property, SOME may not. Give them a choice. Mantorville Township is located...

I Was Thinking... Where to Be?

Despite my plea to “embrace winter” a couple of weeks ago, winters can seem long in Minnesota. That is especially true since we have some friends that are wintering in Hawaii, another in Gulf Shores and yet another couple in Arizona. Whenever I hear of someone escaping for a while to warmer areas,...

Lent: A time to reflect

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday which means that the season of Lent has officially started. Lent is a time of reflection. I think about the words the prophet Joel proclaimed, “Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts...

It’s time to expand insulin cost cap to all

Insulin is an essential, life-saving drug that has been around for more than a century. Despite that, leading manufacturers have drastically increased prices by more than 600 percent over the past two decades. I will always remember hearing about a 65-year-old retiree in Minnesota with diabetes who...

I Was Thinking... Aunt Rosie

Last fall, I accompanied a friend of mine to visit his Aunt Rosie in an assisted living facility in Mason City. I had met this extraordinary woman once before and was taken in by her positive attitude and zest for life. What is even more amazing, is that Rosie suffers from a form of dementia where...

Finding God in the midst of community

I had a fun conversation with person who was fairly new to faith and new to being a regular part of any church. It started out with, “Pastor John, this church thing really surprised me!” That led to a funny conversation from my point of view. It was funny because this person was realizing for the...