Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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Greetings, SAM readers. For the past two weeks, I have shared a breakdown of the differences between news articles and editorial items, after SAM began a partnership with Trusting News, a project of the Reynolds Journalism Institute and American Press Institute. We worked to devise strategies that promote responsible and ethical journalism. One goal I established, through the project, is to provide a breakdown of what makes a news article, an editorial and a column. This week, I will address...
What is the difference between news and opinion? This, friends, is the question of the week. In last week's issue, I explained how SAM began a partnership with Trusting News, a project of the Reynolds Journalism Institute and American Press Institute. We worked to devise strategies that promote responsible and ethical journalism. One goal I established, through the project, is to provide a breakdown of what makes a news article, an editorial and a column. In the Advocate-Messenger, opinion and...
A common conversation at our house focuses on the difference between fact and opinion. I’m positive Scott knows the first words I’ll say when we discuss news or politics: Have you fact-checked it? Recently, during discussions with friends and other families, I’ve noticed similar trends. I know, I say fact check a lot. At a time when so many options exist for your news listening or reading habit, and considering how the fast-paced nature of news bombards consumers, fact versus opinion findi...
She was a spitfire. From the first moment she walked into my classroom at Lutheran High Northeast, I knew Janelle would be one of those students: the ones you forge a bond with and see the potential for infinite growth. It didn’t hurt that she was a younger sister to one of Courtney’s best friends and I knew the type of person she was and wanted to be. With Janelle, there was no illusion or pretense. She was simply Janelle, a confident young woman, comfortable in her own skin. She loved Jes...
“Do one thing every day that scares you.” When our 10-year-old grandson was relaying a story about reading aloud in class, Eleanor Roosevelt’s quote came to mind. It’s not that he dislikes reading outloud. He told us he wants to feel confident about speaking in front of a group of people, and to do that, he will need to step outside his comfort zone. It’s okay, Jorden. It doesn’t matter if you’re 10 or 60. We all have a comfort zone. How we approach that area filled with fear is what sets indivi...
Last week, I spent part of Thursday, Friday and Saturday meeting colleagues via Zoom, taking part in sessions of the National Newspaper Conference. The socially-distanced version offered multiple chances for sharpening skills and networking with newspaper publishers and reporters from across the United States. The event renewed nearly all of the ethics I believe are key to providing community journalism. And, several sessions left me re-evaluating some ideas newspapers use because “it’s the way...
We, at the Advocate-Messenger, are gearing up for National Newspaper Week, which is celebrated Oct. 4 through 10. This year’s theme - America Needs Journalists - has never been more timely. In a time when we hear “fake news” uttered on a daily basis, it’s time to clear the air and face the truth. Ethical journalists do not file fake news stories. We fact check (a term Scott has learned a lot about in the last year because I use it all the time), fact check again and fact check one final time be...
I’ve said it before. I’ll say it again. I have a love-hate relationship with social media. While I appreciate being able stay informed about family members, I don’t like the divisiveness I see brewing. Whatever happened to the “we can agree to disagree” mantra? That is the beauty of free speech. If you don’t agree, scroll by. If you are inclined to comment, great, but civility goes a long way. But the reality of social media, especially when it comes to social media seen as a means of “free ad...
Walt Disney once said, “There’s no magic in magic. It’s all in the details.” I have a feeling Walt’s magical wisdom applied to people, too. If you’re lucky enough to have an edge when it comes to reading people, you’ve more than likely mastered the art of the details - paying attention to tiny clues that provide huge amounts of data about others. Take a moment and think about your best friend. What about them stands out? What do they do that continues to build on your friendship? Now, think ab...
Since Breonna Taylor’s death in March and George Floyd’s death in May, I have heard people from all walks proclaim racism does not exist in our country, let alone in the great state in which we live. Yet, an incident Saturday, in Lincoln, shows that belief is alive in Nebraska. It’s unfortunate because I want to believe the underlying message displayed on the back window of a pickup does not represent the majority of residents of the state I love. I realize we don’t reside in a Pollyan...
Random thoughts ... a.k.a. I am multi-tasking and a million ideas are racing through my mind. I’ll number them to give this column some semblance of order. 1. Best quote I have read in a long time. “Left, right or center - facts have no party line.” Spot. On. Many times at our house, Scott and I get into heated political discussions. He tells me I am not paying attention to what is happening (uh no, I pay attention all day long). Then I explain he fails to fact check before sharing some talki...
Sometimes, intuition and curiosity take you down a rabbit hole. Last week, in this column, I wrote about my maternal great-great-grandmother and mentioned I didn’t know much about my paternal great-grandparents. First, though, a little backstory. I know my grandmother’s parents - Henry and Mary - owned the movie theater in Wausa. Great-grandpa was quite an entrepreneur. He built a miniature golf course there in the early 1900s, farmed and raised hogs at the family farm about two miles out of...
On the 100th anniversary of women earning the right to vote, I’ve been thinking about the long line of strong women in my family. I never had the opportunity to meet my paternal great-grandmothers. Great-grandma Larson died giving birth and Great-grandma Gropper died six years before I entered the world. I am a strong woman because a strong woman - Barbara Fields Larson - raised me. I imagine her strength came from role models - strong Oakdale women - she grew up watching: her mother, Neola; g...
When Scott and I were newlyweds, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen, concocting recipes, using him as a guinea pig for my culinary creations. Most mornings, he’d swing the tractor into the driveway and stop for breakfast around 8:30. Usually, I’d dish up eggs over easy on perfectly toasted wheat bread, or if I felt ambitious, pancakes from scratch, topped with sweet butter and homemade strawberry syrup. Stuffed, he’d head out to feed cattle and I’d clean up and start lunch prep. Some days, t...
Who is your favorite sitcom dad? Think about it before committing to a final answer. Several come to mind - strong role models who believe in family, the hate-to-love protagonist who struggles with inner demons but has a heart of gold, the love-to-hate man who protects family at all costs. What I discovered, after reading the article titled, “Why are sitcom dads still so inept?” is this: I must watch a lot of older TV shows. Or, at least, I gravitate toward characters who exhibit the afo...
It’s either black or white. No gray area exists. A former student - we’ll call him B - once told me the above-mentioned statement. From his perspective, things either happened a particular way or they didn’t. No mishmash of emotion was involved. Things simply were or weren’t. B spent a lot of time in my classroom. He was enrolled in two courses I taught, and for one period a day, he worked as a student aide. And then there were the other hours of the day, the times when fellow educators sent him...
How many lifequakes have you experienced? After listening to Bruce Feiler on a podcast, and watching a segment with him on the Today show, I have to answer, “Quite a few.” A lifequake is exactly what it sounds like: a crisis situation that shakes and rattles your life, causing a disruption. Many times, the lifequake leads to a transition point in one’s life. Feiler experienced three crises in his 40s. He was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer, experienced financial trouble during the reces...
We made it. Happy first anniversary to the Advocate-Messenger family. One year ago, Jenna, Cassidy, Sandy and I were using my dining room table as a desk and took over the Schindler hacienda, creating and putting the pieces together for the inaugural issue. Quite a bit has changed in 12 months: we purchased The Office building in Clearwater, waded through the pandemic, applied for our periodicals postal permit (what an experience!) and have hired a veteran community journalist to join our staff...
Some weeks, I know exactly what I want to say when it comes to this column. The idea takes root and over the weekend, I write and rewrite in my mind before committing word to paper. Other weeks, it seems like a million ideas swirl and nothing catches my complete attention. That’s sort of how I feel this week: a lot of words could be written on multiple topics, but I’m not sure there’s anything new to say about politics, the state of the nation, defunding police and the virus that disru...
This is my favorite time of year. Sweet summer is in full swing, sun lights the sky until late evening, we fire up the grill nightly and outdoor activities occupy spare time. Summertime means my favorite holiday is only a few days away. I have always preferred the Fourth of July to other holidays. It reminds me of family time, baseball games, picnic lunches, swimming and fireworks. What’s more perfect than that? My all-time favorite Fourth story includes a family softball game at my g...
I first met Vinne about 10 years ago, when he ventured from Boulder, Colorado, to Norfolk, to participate in the amateur division of the Great American Comedy Festival. He had a presence on stage that was hard to forget. He paced back and forth, wearing a path, like a tennis ball ricocheting side-to-side. And, there was something about his voice. He commanded attention. His timing was impeccable, delivering the twist of a joke. He made an impression. We chatted after the competition and...
“Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy board games, and that’s good enough.” It is unclear who initiated this statement, but it’s true. Money spent on board games is money well spent. Board games offer valuable life lessons: luck, strategy and teamwork. Don’t we all need a little luck now and then? Our family plays board games at every get-together. A stack of game boxes sat on the top shelf of the entryway closet at our grandparents’ house. Aunts and uncles would bring other games, and at...
We all have one, an area where our view is obstructed. A blind spot corresponds to a specific area in one’s eye that is insenstive to light, where the optic nerve connects with the retina. At that junction, an interruption distorts the normal pattern of light-sensitive rods and cones. We also have a blind spot while driving, even though some of us do not want to admit it. It’s that tricky area to the side and slightly behind our field of vision that is not reflected in the rearview mirror. Many...
One of the most fitting quotes I have read concerning protests for the death of George Floyd is the simple truth. “Speaking out against white supremacy and race-based violence does not make you anti-white, anti-police, right or left. It makes you pro justice, pro all lives, pro accountability and pro racial equality. Caring about the life of another isn’t political. It’s human.” Somewhere, in the midst of seven days of chaos since Derek Chauvin spent eight minutes and 46 seconds pressin...
A cottony billow of dandelion seeds caught my attention Saturday, while I placed flowers along the row of family members’ graves in the Oakdale cemetery. The flower seemed out of place among the carpet of velvety green grass, its wispy, circular head swaying in rhythm with the gentle breeze. By the time I’d placed bouquets near each headstone, most of the seeds had scattered. The moment reminded me of family and Memorial Days past, times we would gather at our grandparents’ farm and celeb...
