Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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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...
Some of the best gifts received from family didn’t cost anything, except time. Memories of baking in both grandmothers’ kitchens still flood to mind every time I try a new recipe or attempt to roll pie crust to an acceptable thickness. P.S. Grandma Fields, I’m still trying to master that skill. Frozen pie crusts are so much easier but do not taste a quarter as good as yours. When I watch baseball, I’m back in Wausa, walking to the ballfield with Dad and Grandma, waiting for the town team to take...
What is your why? Nebraska volleyball coach John Cook posed the question to University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduates during Saturday’s virtual ceremony. His question got me thinking. Okay, actually his entire 11 and one-half minute address got me thinking and has been on my mind all day. Why? Mindset makes all the difference in life. Coach Cook is successful, so why not apply his lessons? First things first: What is my why? What’s my motivation? What inspires me - and you - to become our bes...
It’s been said that each fingerprint is unique. I contend a person’s handwriting tells a similar story. Dad’s handwriting - beginning to appear a bit shaky - is the quintessential teacher script: perfectly formed letters looped together in an orderly vertical cadence. Mom’s handwriting featured precise strokes, making it easy to read. Each capital letter, a flourish of serif elements and wide spacing. Even my children’s handwriting is distinct. Cassie’s resembles groupings of thinly-form...
All I really needed to know about gardening I learned from my grandparents. Gardening is hard, yet rewarding, work. Planting seeds, caring for tender plants, watering daily and harvesting require patience. You learn to adapt, sometimes you try new things. The end result, though, is worth the time. My Wausa grandparents grew rows of green beans, cucumbers, potatoes and a lot of sunflowers. I remember a few tomato plants, too, although I do not remember Grandma cooking a lot of tomato-based foods....
Henry David Thoreau wrote, “When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest of times, and to the latest.” The quote has been on my mind lately for a couple reasons. First, I like music. It powers me through the day, well, music and a strong glass of brewed iced tea. Our graphic designer, Jenna, has a beautiful voice and she sings almost every day. It never fails ... it will be Tuesday afternoon, deadline looming near, and she’ll break out in son...
The other morning, a Cheshire cat moon hung in the sky. Its typically upturned smile cast sideways - resembling a frown - brought thoughts of 9/11 to mind. A similar-looking moon floated in the sky as twilight neared on that September evening in 2001. The world turned upside down that day, chaos on Earth. The ancients believed celestial elements mirrored what was happening on firm ground. If they are correct, on Sept. 11, the heavens cried at the destruction occurring on U.S. soil. Are the heave...
A subscriber posed an interesting question this week. Amid COVID-19 concerns, how safe are everyday objects many of us take for granted? Can pieces of mail - more importantly- your copy of the Summerland Advocate-Messenger, transmit the virus? What about styrofoam boxes containing a carryout order from local restaurants? Take it one more step. What about foods we eat? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, data indicates it is highly unlikely any of these items carry the...
This is a love story, of sorts; a stream-of-consciousness gathering of thoughts and concerns, a song of praise for unsung heroes whose daily routines have been upended. Teaching isn’t an easy career to begin with. Sure, there are those people who think it’s an 8-to-4 job, with summer’s free and two weeks of Christmas vacation. What they don’t realize is, after staying in your classroom until 5 p.m., every day, you take work home - papers to grade, lessons to fine-tune, phone calls to parents...
As I neared age 40, a wave of depression washed over me, sweeping me into an abyss of self-pity. When I look back at that time, life was a jumbled mess and saying I was unhappy was an understatement. On my birthday, I took a long look in the mirror and knew I needed to focus on positive elements of life. Too much negativity already existed in the world. I didn’t need to add to it. My personal present - a bitchslap to the face - worked. I started by focusing on gratitude, listing the little t...
By now, you’ve more than likely seen photos on social media or in other media outlets showing bare shelves in grocery stores. Those photos give the appearance that America is running out of food (and toilet paper, but that’s another issue). Those photos lead to unnecessary panic and anxiety. While a picture is worth a thousand words, those photos don’t tell the whole story. Ask dairy farmers and meat producers. The food supply chain isn’t empty. In many cases, a large surplus of goods is stoc...
Sometimes, human nature amazes me ... and not in a good way. The entire coronavirus conversation makes me shake my head. While I understand worse-case scenarios are often used as a prompt to get people to think, a little common sense, a dollop of soap and a lot of hot water should clear up any misconceptions. Here’s what we know for sure: • As of March 9, 555 confirmed cases have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with individuals from 35 states and the District of...
When Billy Joel said, “Music is an explosive expression of humanity,” I hope he meant music shapes our lives and reflects current culture. I tend to associate music with certain events, an expression of mood and tone of a nation, a bookmark comprised of notes and rhythms denoting importance, a mix tape providing background accompaniment to daily life. Ask someone to name their favorite song. More than likely, they’ll pause momentarily, contemplate for a few seconds more and rattle off a curre...
If you believe the most annoying sound in the world is nails scraping across a chalkboard, you’ve obviously never slept with someone who snores. The sounds is ... well, in our house, a cross between a buzzing chainsaw and sputtering motorcycle. It never fails. Just as I drift into deep sleep, Scott rolls over and snores in my ear. I’ll whisper (okay, yell over the clamoring), “Stop it.” Or, I’ll attempt to roll him onto his other side, praying for a reprieve. Both are short-lived intervent...
You could always tell when I had attended a faculty meeting. The margin of my legal pad was outlined with daisies of all sizes and colors, a result of sitting through the bi-monthly after-school requirement. As soon as the principal uttered his last words, I’d slip across the hallway, toss the paper on my desk and start speech practice. Those doodles were the closest thing to art I could create. Don’t get me wrong. I can visualize how something should look, see how texture and color add dim...
American playwright Arthur Miller wrote, “A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself.” What happens when a newspaper quits talking? One community in Nebraska is discovering the effect of no longer having a local newspaper. When Coleridge residents received the Jan. 1 edition of the Coleridge Blade, a bold hammer headline stretched across the top of the page: Final edition. The paper, published for 131 years, was part of the Northeast Nebraska News Company, which owns new...
Author Eugene O'Neill, when writing his Dalmatian's last will and testament, wrote, "Dogs ... do not ruin their sleep worrying about how to keep the objects they have, and to obtain the objects they have not. There is nothing of value they have to bequeath except their love and their faith." For 12 years, our chocolate lab, Copper, freely gave her love and showed faithfulness, especially to the master of our house. Copper crossed the rainbow bridge over the weekend, entering doggy heaven, where...
I spent the summer of 1998 at Northwestern University, one of 10 speech instructors from across the United States selected as a fellow in the communications program, with an opportunity to work on a master’s degree. Despite living half a block from the El and easy access to Chicago and all it offered, despite the bustling city life surrounding me, I savored the silence and solitude of my dorm room, quiet walks around downtown Evanston, time to reflect on life and love and the future. I never f...
