Membership Sideblog
- The Marcus Welby of law, by Lance Heisler | Lampe Law Group
July 31, 2010 | 7:45 pmGrowing up in North Dakota during the 50s and 60s, I was privileged to experience something that's all too rare now - the old-fashioned family doctor. "Doc" delivered babies, set broken bones, treated pneumonia, and helped Grandpa with his newfangled hearing aid. Doc knew the community, the families, and the individuals whose basic medical needs he treated from birth through the end of life. Some of you who grew up in that time, and perhaps in smaller communities, may remember a Doc of your own. . . . → Read More: The Marcus Welby of law, by Lance Heisler | Lampe Law Group
- Kitty Mania at the Prairie’s Edge Humane Society, by Sandy Vesledahl
July 28, 2010 | 10:51 pm
Let’s talk about cats, cats and more cats! Why?? Because Prairie’s Edge Humane Society is full of cats and we have many more arriving daily. As of today, there are 44 cats on the adoption floor with more awaiting their surgeries so they are ready for adoption. There are cats in every corner of the shelter who need homes! We are in desperate need of homes for these cats. We cannot emphasize this enough. So we are having a cat sale and we are calling it Kitty Mania ! Kitty Mania is this weekend, beginning Thursday, July . . . → Read More: Kitty Mania at the Prairie’s Edge Humane Society, by Sandy Vesledahl
- On Watermelons and Widgets, by Tom Swift
July 12, 2010 | 11:50 am
The free market does many things well, but we know it does not do everything. Even market fundamentalists concede that the public must build roads, put out fires, police streets, and provide national defense. Most people, at least those to the left of the Tea Party edge of political spectrum, accept that the government must also be involved in education, disaster relief, and health care. That is, certain services must be rendered — necessary services, universal services — whether or not those services are financially profitable. If your house is on fire, you do not have time to . . . → Read More: On Watermelons and Widgets, by Tom Swift
- Vintage Band Festival Contra Dance, by Dan Bergeson
July 12, 2010 | 10:56 am
Okay, so most of the news about the Vintage Band Festival so far has been about the bands. But there’s a number of other events during the weekend. Like the VBF Contra Dance, for instance. The Vintage Band Festival Contra Dance will feature music by The Dodworth Saxhorn Band of Ann Arbor, Michigan and will be led by dance instructor/caller Robin Nelson. Dancing will begin at 8:30 p.m. with a “Grand March” led by 60 costumed members of the 1st Wisconsin Infantry Brigade, followed by a variety of period dances including polkas, contra dances, schottisches, reels and waltzes. . . . → Read More: Vintage Band Festival Contra Dance, by Dan Bergeson
- The Animal-Cruelty Syndrome, by Tom Swift
June 27, 2010 | 8:00 am
Even before I read the first word of this article I had a visceral reaction to it. The accompanying photographs — my eyes tend to skip over photographs in magazines — affected me in a manner that is difficult to articulate. I knew, immediately I knew, I was not going to like what I was about to read. In fact, for that reason I put the piece aside. Not now, I thought. Maybe tomorrow, I said to myself. But, then, I couldn’t not read it, either. If you have not done so already, I hope you will read . . . → Read More: The Animal-Cruelty Syndrome, by Tom Swift
- Puppies! Puppies! Puppies! by Kathy Jasnoch
June 27, 2010 | 7:54 am
June may be Adopt A Cat month here at Prairie’s Edge Humane Society and we have lots of wonderful cats, but we also have PUPPIES! We have a male Newfoundland mix named Chong who is 6 months old, he was a stray so we don’t know a lot about him. He loves to play! We also have three Australian Cattle Dog mixes who are two months old. Marcia, Bobby and Cindy were born at the shelter and spent some time in one of our fabulous foster homes. They are now back at the shelter and ready to find . . . → Read More: Puppies! Puppies! Puppies! by Kathy Jasnoch
- Relay for Life of Rice County, August 6th, Rice County Fairgrounds. By Sandy Vesledahl
June 23, 2010 | 9:35 pm
The American Cancer Society Relay for Life is a life-changing event that gives everyone in communities across the globe a chance to celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against the disease. At Relay for Life, teams of people camp out at local parks or fairgrounds and take turns walking or running around a track or path. Each team is asked to have a representative on the track at all times during the event. Because cancer never sleeps, Relays are overnight events. Relay for Life of Rice . . . → Read More: Relay for Life of Rice County, August 6th, Rice County Fairgrounds. By Sandy Vesledahl
- Critter Cam live from Prairie’s Edge Humane Society, by Sandy Vesledahl
June 16, 2010 | 9:04 amNow Showing! Live Kittens playing! You can now watch our adoptable animals at Prairie’s Edge Humane Society (PEHS) live 24/7 on the new Critter Cam installed in conjunction with KYMN Radio. Thanks to the fine folks at KYMN radio we now have a live feed of our adoptable animals showing on our website and KYMN’s website, Tim and Jeff are AWESOME! Currently the Critter Cam is featuring kittens available for adoption. Watch them play, sleep, eat, and everything else they do 24 hours a day 7 days a week! It’s better than anything you can see on TV! . . . → Read More: Critter Cam live from Prairie’s Edge Humane Society, by Sandy Vesledahl
- Save the Northfield Depot: fundraising help needed. By Lynn Vincent
June 11, 2010 | 11:34 am
A BIG Thanks to all of you who came to last Monday’s Volunteer Organization Meeting, and to those who contacted us saying you wanted to help but could not make the meeting. We have pretty full support for Communications and Design and Build sub-committees, and we got a web graphic designer to help with the site. Alice Thomas is facilitating the Communications group, and Steve Edwins is facilitating the Design and Build group. What we are missing and really need are Fund Raising people. We have two grant writiers, but we need folks who are committed to the . . . → Read More: Save the Northfield Depot: fundraising help needed. By Lynn Vincent
- Photo albums: 2010 Prairie’s Edge Humane Society Walk for the Animals, by Bridgette Hallcock Photography
June 11, 2010 | 8:09 am
Thank you to all of those who came to Alexander Park on a beautiful Saturday morning in May to help support Prairie’s Edge Humane Society! I have placed all of the fun photographs on my Bridgette Hallcock Photography Facebook page so that everyone can see how much fun we had! See the two 2010 Walk for the Animals albums here and here. If you would like a print, please contact me, as the proceeds will benefit the animals at PEHS.
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Tom Swift’s book (Chief Bender’s Burden) a local bestseller
By Griff Wigley, on April 11, 2008, 7:43 am
   
 Northfielder Tom Swift has a book out titled Chief Bender’s Burden: The Silent Struggle of a Baseball Star. He did a reading last night at Monkey See Monkey Read where he works part-time. Owner Jerry Bilek posted a review to his blog a couple weeks ago. Jerry said last night that the book is his best-selling ever, with the exception of the recent Harry Potter book.
Tom also works part-time at River City Books (see the Tom’s top-ten page there) where the book is the store’s current #1 bestseller. Tom did a book reading at the store last week, too, blogged by The Raven on the River City Books blog. (Full disclosure: I did some contract work for RCB to help launch the blog.) The Raven also blogged about the book on Northfield.org.
Northfield News managing editor Jaci Smith wrote an article a month ago about Tom’s book titled, Swift tells story of oft-forgotten pitcher. (Tom was editor of the Northfield News for a few years earlier this decade.)
You can follow Tom’s adventures on his blog, Tom Swift Writer’s Notebook. (His classy website was designed by LoGroNo’s designer, Sean Hayford O’Leary, who also does contract work for me.)
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but I’d have a hard time during the sabbatical not paying attention to see if that was actually the case. I think the more places in Northfield...
Griff,
thanks for blogging about Tom’s reading. I uploaded the audio file to my blog if anyone wants to hear the reading:
http://monkeyread.wordpress.com/
We’re hoping to pass Harry Potter sales this month.
Many thanks, Griff. You always take such good photographs even when, as in this case, the subject is not photogenic.
Thanks, too, to Jerry and The Monkey for hosting the event — it was a terrific opportunity for me. I am grateful to those who were able and interested to attend, especially on a night made for the living room sofa.
Excuse the egregious self-promotion, but the book received mention in Sunday’s edition of the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/10/AR2008041003375.html
I never expected to be able to write such a sentence. Excuse me for writing it here. Just wanted to share the news with Northfielders who have shown support for this little book. My appreciation can’t be captured in a sentence.
Wow, that’s cool, Tom. Don’t hold back on the coment updates here. We want to follow you all the way to your (presumed) appearances on Oprah and The Daily Show!
That’s awesome, Tom! I am enjoying reading the book and as a researcher/writer myself, I know how much time you must have put into gathering all the data and putting it into a cohesive, very readable form. There are many people who toil on books for years and can’t find a publisher, so congratulations on that! And now you can reap some rewards of all that effort.
I was also pleased that the title of the Washington Post article is “The Boys of Spring,” which references Roger Kahn’s “The Boys of Summer” as a generic name for ballplayers. When I worked as Roger’s research assistant in New York, we used to collect such media references to that nomenclature and Roger always said he wished he could have patented the title of his 1972 best-seller.
Cheers to you, Tom!
Thanks, Griff and Susan. You won’t see my face on the tube anytime soon, but your encouragement is kind.
I don’t have either of my two copies handy, Susan, but did Mr. Kahn come up with that title reading Dylan Thomas?
Yes, it comes from the Dylan Thomas lines, “I see the boys of summer in their ruin/Lay the gold tithings barren,/Setting no store by harvest, freeze the soils.” I believe Roger saw Dylan Thomas recite these lines many years ago in NY and they made quite an impression on him.
Chicago Sun Times review: ‘Chief’ Bender biography a gem. Cool beans, Tom.
OK, I’m going to have to break down and buy a copy of this at your store, Jerry. I’ve been a fool for baseball history since I was a kid. I’m such a skinflint (a trait inherited from my Depression-baby parents) that I’m a library junkie and relatively rarely buy books, though no day is complete without bed-time reading. What could be better than reading about one of my guilty pleasures (baseball), passing the book on to my wife and son (who share my guilty pleasure), and supporting a fine local establishment and a fine local writer???
The book is great, no joke, from the Sun Times:
“Swift writes in his wonderful and impressively thorough new biography”
I’ve still got a stack of signed copies.
Thank you, Griff, for sharing the link. Never expected even to be mentioned in a newspaper such as the Chicago Sun-Times.
Thank you, Bruce, for buying a copy. I hope it’s worth the investment.
Thank you, Jerry, for your expert endorsement.
Hi Tom, I’m Sherry Lewis(Bender). I’ve been waiting for this book on Charles Albert Bender when I saw that it was in the making about a year ago. Doing a little internet search tonight I was very glad to see that it’s finished.
My father, Charles Roosevelt Bender, used to tell me that this famous baseball player was our relative and spoke very proudly. I thought he was kidding but several times in his life he told me about our ‘relative’ and said that he wasn’t kidding and I should pay attention.
About 18 years ago I saw a picture of Charles Albert Bender. I just stared- same face, build, nose, ears, everything like my father. Could have been a twin. At that moment I knew that he wasn’t kidding but I never got a chance to tell him since he’d died a few years prior. He would have loved the pictures that are now so available on the web. Seems that C.A. Bender was quiet, slow to anger and thoughtfully spoke as well, like my father.
So your book is going to be a treasure to our family. I’m getting 3 copies tomorrow, two which will go to my grown-up kids. Thanks for having the talent and taking the time to write this book. Sherry
Terrific to hear from you, Sherry. While writing the book I contacted as many relatives as I could find. Funny, but you’re the second one to contact ME in the last week. Another member of the extended Bender family also wrote a gracious message that I posted (with his permission) to my blog:
http://tom-swift.com/weblog/post/215/
If you have a minute, I would welcome an e-mail from you, as I would love to learn where you sit on the family tree. I can be reached directly via my Web site (http://tom-swift.com/contact/).
Either way, thanks for your kind note.
OH, did you get my message? I think it failed. Anyway, yes, thank you Tom- I’ll get back with some ancestors tomorrow since I had a 102 year old Aunt, a Bender, who was interviewed and so I have some relatives’ names going pretty far back.
I’ll get back by Sunday as I’m a musician and swamped till Sunday. Thanks for asking! Sherry PS I have our books on their way now and am excited to read mine!