At last Saturday’s Riverwalk Market Fair, I took the photo on the left of Carlson SEEDS interns Chelsea Wagner and Natasha Hegmann (housemate Julia in the center) selling their wares, including the fantastic basil (center) that Robbie purchased from them. What’s SEEDS about?  The St. Olaf Center for Experiential Learning has a page on it:

The Carlson SEEDS (Social Entrepreneurship, Environmental Design, & Stewardship) internship program, founded by Greg and Nancy Carlson ’82, is designed to engage . . . → Read More: Carlson SEEDS interns Chelsea and Natasha: planting, growing, selling, blogging]]> It’s not often that someone beats me to a blog post after a community event. But it happened this week.

   
At last Saturday’s Riverwalk Market Fair, I took the photo on the left of Carlson SEEDS interns Chelsea Wagner and Natasha Hegmann (housemate Julia in the center) selling their wares, including the fantastic basil (center) that Robbie purchased from them. What’s SEEDS about?  The St. Olaf Center for Experiential Learning has a page on it:

The Carlson SEEDS (Social Entrepreneurship, Environmental Design, & Stewardship) internship program, founded by Greg and Nancy Carlson ’82, is designed to engage students in experiential learning and discovery that fosters a deeper understanding and appreciation for environmental stewardship and sustainable agriculture.

Natasha’s July 19 blog post, Produce for Sale, chronicles their Saturday, including the game of "How many farmers does it take to set up a tent?" and a visit from a “professional blogging consultant.” Heh.

Chelsea and Natasha are natural born bloggers, telling interesting stories with fun photos on their Carlson SEEDS blog.

So as A) we head into the 2010 election season; and B) begin looking for a new Northfield City Administrator, I thought it might be helpful to point out some very important reasons on WHY someone in a leadership . . . → Read More: Using blogs and Twitter to leverage your influence as a Northfield community leader]]>
Way back in 2004-05 when I was still at NCO/Northfield.org, we encouraged local civic leaders (including members of the city council, school board and county board) to start blogging. I taught a civic leader blogging class and even coached some local ministers.  It was all part of the civic blogosphere project with an emphasis on including leaders.

So as A) we head into the 2010 election season; and B) begin looking for a new Northfield City Administrator, I thought it might be helpful to point out some very important reasons on WHY someone in a leadership position should consider using social media tools like a blog and Twitter.

Michael Hyatt is CEO of the Christian publishing company Thomas Nelson Publishers and recently gave a speech titled “Social Media and Your Ministry.” A preview of that speech was captured in this video of an interview, blogged at How Can Christian Leaders Get Started with Social Media?

Hyatt says in the video that “Twitter may be greatest leadership tool ever invented” in part because it’s “a marvelous way to leverage your influence as a leader.”

(The title of the video makes one think it’s all about ‘how to get started’ but the most important pieces are related to why.)

The only other person I know of who’s written about blogs (and now Twitter which, after all, is a microblogging service) as tools for leveraging one’s influence as a leader is Seth Godin in his book, Small is the New Big: and 183 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas. (I blogged about this back in 2006, Leadership blogging and the leveraged effort curve.)

Godin originally wrote about this for his blog back in March of 2005: Godin’s Leveraged Effort Curve:

Knowledge workers get paid extra when they show insight or daring or do what others can’t. But packaging the knowledge is expensive, time consuming and not particularly enjoyable for most people. As you get better at what you do, it seems as though you spend more and more time on the packaging and less on the doing.

… The exception?

The intense conversations you can have with your customers and prospects, especially via a blog. Once you get the system and the structure set up, five minutes of effort can give you four minutes of high-leverage idea time in front of the people you’re trying to influence.

The book adds this to that last sentence: “This is pure, unadulterated leverage. The stuff you actually get paid for, with no overhead.”

Godin’s insight — “among highly-compensated workers, the percentage of the [knowledge] work you get paid to do goes down as you get paid more” and that “packaging the knowledge is expensive, time consuming and not particularly enjoyable” — was stunning to me and still is.

In the Why keep a blog? section of my 2005 Leadership Blogging Guide (currently under revision as a White Paper), my #1 reason to blog is to “Leverage your leadership interactions that otherwise disappear:”

In the course of any leader’s week, there are literally hundreds of interactions with colleagues, constituents, staff, media and other members of community. Whether these interactions are face-to-face, phone, electronic or paper-based, they comprise the bulk of how leaders exhibit their day-to-day influence. A phone call from a constituent, a conversation with a staff member at lunch, an email exchange with a colleague, an off-topic discussion at a team meeting – all likely evaporate into thin air, for all intents and purposes, as soon as they’re concluded. Even most paper documents such as memos and reports are quickly relegated to the trash, the shredder, or the filing cabinet, never to be seen again.

With a blog, leaders can select from among this never-ending parade of interactions the ones that they deem strategically significant, and give them a longer “shelf-life.” With a posting to their blog, the story of the interaction gains immediate wider audience while making it significantly easier for that audience to pass the story around to others who they think should know about it.

Prospective civic leader bloggers frequently ask, "How much time is blogging going to require?" It’s a fair question. Blogging feels like just another task when you first start out, and it does require some time commitment to work it into your week.

But once you experience feedback from your blogging, that not only are others reading your blog but that it’s starting to have influence, your attitude towards the task of blogging changes because it becomes strategic.

"I’m going to blog this because I know that she’ll read it and pass it on to…"

"When this group of people sees what I’ve blogged about this, then they’re more likely to…"

You start to realize that your blog leverages your leadership strategies in time-effective ways.

Among other reasons why a leader should blog/tweet is that the tools allow you to:

• Use a voice of authenticity to have a one-to-one conversation with an audience
• Extend your presence with a selective window into your day
• Provide another way for people to interact with you
• Convey your message directly to your audience instead depending on media institutions

More to come.

Let us know if there are others to add.

2 PM update: I mistakenly added Mike Piper’s blog, thinking that he was the Republican endorsed candidate for 25B.  Kelby Woodard is the endorsed candidate but he currently doesn’t have a blog or RSS feed. I’ve removed Mike Piper’s . . . → Read More: Candidate blogs aggregated]]> With the political season winding up, we’ve added 3 more local candidate blogs to our lower right sidebar aggregator: Mark Murphy, and Al DeKruif.  Other candidates there include incumbents Kevin Dahle and David Bly.

Let us know if there are others to add.

2 PM update: I mistakenly added Mike Piper’s blog, thinking that he was the Republican endorsed candidate for 25B.  Kelby Woodard is the endorsed candidate but he currently doesn’t have a blog or RSS feed. I’ve removed Mike Piper’s blog.

Earlier this week, Michele Merxbauer (AKA “Mitch”), Manager for the City of Northfield’s Housing & Redevelopment Division and Staff Liaison on the Housing & Redevelopment Authority, sent me an email alerting me to a Home Matters Greening Your Garden seminar on Saturday morning, May 15. That links to a blog post with more info but the . . . → Read More: Home Matters, so green your garden and follow their blog]]>
I was riding my bicycle through the southwest neighborhood back in March when I noticed two homes with Home Matters signs in the yards. I’d never heard of the project so I took photos but alas, totally forgot to blog them.

Earlier this week, Michele Merxbauer (AKA “Mitch”), Manager for the City of Northfield’s Housing & Redevelopment Division and Staff Liaison on the Housing & Redevelopment Authority, sent me an email alerting me to a Home Matters Greening Your Garden seminar on Saturday morning, May 15. That links to a blog post with more info but the short version is: “Three garden gurus get together to discuss the benefits of rain gardens, rain barrels, and planting native.”  The blogsite says:

The Home Matters Project is about stabilizing neighborhoods affected by foreclosure and creating healthy, affordable, and energy efficient housing opportunities.

And they’ve got a very well-done WordPress-based blog site, including photos of the rehabilitation process of a home at 311 Cherry Street.

We’re aggregating her blog’s RSS feed to our lower right sidebar.

Of course, no one approach fits all. Social media tools should be deployed in specific ways in order to achieve a specific outcome. But that generalization aside, I’m trying to determine what the issues are to consider for those who are wondering how Twitter and Facebook . . . → Read More: On using Twitter and Facebook with a blog: It’s Complicated]]> This sandwich board in the front of the Goodbye Blue Monday caught my eye, not only because it’s clever (“Look for us on Facebook & Twitter – but you won’t find us”) but because I’ve been trying to get smarter about how Twitter and Facebook can complement a blog.

Of course, no one approach fits all. Social media tools should be deployed in specific ways in order to achieve a specific outcome. But that generalization aside, I’m trying to determine what the issues are to consider for those who are wondering how Twitter and Facebook can be complementary to their blogs.

I started thinking about this in earnest a week ago when I read blog developer and WordPress consultant Kim Woodbridge’s post from June 2009 titled Twitter and Facebook Integration: Stop Making Every Tweet Your Facebook Status. Kim argues that “posting automatically takes some of the social out of social media” but concedes that time is a big consideration for some people. The commenters on that blog post seem split on the issue.

I’m always coaching leaders on the importance of using an ‘authentic voice’ with their blogs.  In the past, however, I’ve rarely used an authentic voice on my own Twitter account, and likewise for the Locally Grown Twitter account. It’s mostly been a manual Tweeting of blog post headlines. And on our Locally Grown Facebook fan page, the blog post headlines with excerpts are posted automatically to both the Wall and a special RSS tab.

So today I checked out some of the other Web 2.0-savvy people who I follow to see how they’re using these tools.

Chris Brogan has a blog, an all-purpose Twitter feed, and a more focused Twitter feed. He doesn’t publicize his personal Facebook account. He also has a company, New Marketing Labs, with a blog, Twitter feed and a Facebook fan page. The company blog auto-updates to its Facebook Wall.

Brian Clark has a blog, a Twitter feed, and a several other websites (eg, Teaching Sells) but no Facebook fan page. He doesn’t publicize his personal Facebook account.

Chris Garrett has a blog, a Twitter feed, and several other websites (eg, Authority Blogger) but apparently no Facebook fan page. He urges people to follow (friend) him on Facebook.

 
Seth Godin has a blog, a Twitter feed, and a Facebook fan page. His blog posts are automatically posted both to his Twitter feed (“This is a retweet of my blog”) and his Facebook fan page (“This is repost of Seth’s blog”). He follows no one on Twitter.

Kim Woodbridge has a blog, a Twitter feed, a company (Anti Social Development) Facebook fan page, and urges people to friend her on Facebook. She manually updates her company’s Facebook Wall with her blog posts but also has her blog auto-update to a separate RSS feed tab.

All these people, with the exception of Seth Godin, are very engaged with their Twitter followers, creating somewhat of an online-community feel to the feeds.  They’re master curators, as they nearly always add value (and in a personal way) to whatever they decide to retweet.  They use Twitter as an extension of their brands which they’ve already built elsewhere (blogs, books, speaking gigs, etc.). To me, this is somewhat similar to using content platforms like WordPress, Blogger, or Typepad to build a space for your online ‘presence.’  Twitter, however, is in a class by itself because its viral value rises as more people use it.

Facebook is less a content platform like WordPress and more a social platform, where conversations and interactions occur in a complex viral stew. But it’s not your ‘property’ like your blog or your Twitter feed. (I can’t imagine a scenario in which I’d advise someone to first start with a Facebook fan page before creating a blogsite or a Twitter feed.)

But because Facebook is so big, creating a presence there (beyond your personal account) has to be considered as 1) a way to drive traffic to your own properties (your blog, your Twitter feed); and 2) as a place to engage your audience, even if you’re creating content elsewhere.

So for me, my inclination is to:

• Continue my practice of not doing any automated posting of blog headlines to Twitter
• Use an authentic voice when manually posting blog headlines to Twitter and to our LG Facebook fan page’s Wall.
• Use my Twitter account for my consulting/contracting use (Wigley and Associates) and look for ways to engage more with my followers and those I follow
• Create a Facebook fan page for Wigley and Associates
• Look for ways to engage more with our Locally Grown Twitter followers
• Look for ways to engage more with our Locally Grown Facebook fan page followers
• Restrict my personal Facebook account to family and friend-related activities

I’m hoping that the smarter that I get in my own use of Twitter and Facebook, the more helpful I’ll be to my clients and maybe even to the greater blogosphere of Northfield.

Click play to listen. 30 minutes. I’ve turned off comments for this post. Continue the discussion here.

You can also download the MP3 or subscribe to the podcast feed, or subscribe directly with iTunes. Our radio show/podcast, Locally Grown, usually airs Mondays at 6:00 PM and Sundays at 10 AM on KYMN 1080 . . . → Read More: Podcast: Guest Tim Freeland on retailers using social media]]> Our radio show/podcast guest yesterday: KYMN Radio’s operations and sales guy, Tim Freeland, talking with us about how Northfield area retailers can make use of social media for marketing.

Click play to listen. 30 minutes. I’ve turned off comments for this post. Continue the discussion here.

You can also download the MP3 or subscribe to the podcast feed, or subscribe directly with iTunes. Our radio show/podcast, Locally Grown, usually airs Mondays at 6:00 PM and Sundays at 10 AM on KYMN 1080 AM.

He describes the blog as “… a tool for expressing opinions, sharing thoughts and reflecting on matters of the spirit.” I consider it an atheist-friendly blog, though he likely has to deny that.

Clay’s now living in exile in Cannon Falls but occasionally sneaks into Northfield on Saturday mornings for inspiration and mood-altering chemicals at the GBM. See our other Clay-related blog posts for . . . → Read More: Back to blogging: Clay Oglesbee]]> Clay Oglesbee, District Superintendent of the MN Methodist southeast MN region and former lead pastor at the Northfield United Methodist Church, has a new blog called Just One More Thing.

He describes the blog as “… a tool for expressing opinions, sharing thoughts and reflecting on matters of the spirit.” I consider it an atheist-friendly blog, though he likely has to deny that.

Clay’s now living in exile in Cannon Falls but occasionally sneaks into Northfield on Saturday mornings for inspiration and mood-altering chemicals at the GBM. See our other Clay-related blog posts for more.

The classroom is operating as a newsroom with 22 students covering stories of interest in Northfield and Rice County, as well as Carleton stories that resonate beyond the campus into local, state, national and global communities. We are publishing daily through the term so please come back often or add Pressville.org to your bookmarks and RSS feeds.

We’re now aggregating Pressville’s RSS feed on our lower . . . → Read More: Carleton’s Pressville blog launches]]>  
Doug McGill, visiting instructor in English at Carleton, is teaching a "Journey in Journalism" class in the English department this term, similar to last year with its focus on Northfield-related stories.

The classroom is operating as a newsroom with 22 students covering stories of interest in Northfield and Rice County, as well as Carleton stories that resonate beyond the campus into local, state, national and global communities. We are publishing daily through the term so please come back often or add Pressville.org to your bookmarks and RSS feeds.

We’re now aggregating Pressville’s RSS feed on our lower left sidebar.

See Doug McGill’s About page as well as Carleton’s English Dept. faculty page.

  . . . → Read More: Four of Northfield Rotary’s Youth Exchange students join the blogosphere]]> The Northfield Rotary Club has ten outbound Youth Exchange students for 2009-10 and thus far, four of them have blogs:

• Sam Estenson: One year in Japan
• Lauren Reed: To Finland!
• Rachael Stets: My blog
• Samantha Weaver: Espana

The latest is the NAG 50th Blog, "Celebrating 50 Years of the Northfield Arts Guild." Of course, they’ve also joined the twittersphere (twitter.com/nag50).

Sean Hayford O’Leary is the primary blogger thus far, with Neil Lutsky and Bill Ostrem chiming in with comments. ]]> The City of Northfield’s Nonmotorized Transportation Task Force sunsets this month. Some of the members started a new blog about a month ago titled Northfield Nonmotorized, with the tagline: “Northfield and Dundas Trails and Bikeways | Safe Routes to School | Mill Towns Trail.”

Sean Hayford O’Leary is the primary blogger thus far, with Neil Lutsky and Bill Ostrem chiming in with comments.

Northfield-based blogger Mary Schier has made some ‘signs of spring’ posts lately to her My Northern Garden blog, eg, Snow Blooms and . . . → Read More: Desperation city: more signs of spring needed]]>
Yesterday’s cold north wind despite the sunny skies sent me looking for signs of green and I found some in the Upper Arb, just off the paved path below the hill at Second St. and Oak. where Spring Creek flows under the bridge. The Arb has a web page devoted to spring but alas, the text/photos there are brochure-like, true for all springs, not current for this spring. (Hey Doug, the Arb needs a blog!)

Northfield-based blogger Mary Schier has made some ‘signs of spring’ posts lately to her My Northern Garden blog, eg, Snow Blooms and An Early Spring? (BTW, kudos to Mary for winning a Garden Writers Association award for a recent blog post.)

Got some signs of spring to report? Photos? Let’s have ‘em.’

Update 8 PM: I’ve changed the sentence about ‘canned text/photos.’ See the comments below.

• Rob Hardy alerted me to his blog post Pasqueflowers for Holy Week: “Here you go, Griff!  The pasqueflowers are blooming, right on schedule.  (This photo was taken at approximately 2:45 pm today, Wednesday, April 8, 2009, at an undisclosed location owned by Carleton College.)” More about pasquelflowers here.
• Bright Spencer alerted me to the sugar maples that are popping buds in our Hidden Valley Park neighborhood.

This is the title of an article at the Mankato Free Press article about the March 13th Regional Competitiveness Economic Development Summit. The Rural Enterprise Center’s agripreneurs development model was voted the second most important priority for the development of the Agriculture and Food Sector as it pertains to the incorporation and full utilization . . . → Read More: Blogosphere roundup for March 23, 2009]]>

The Northfield Blogosphere Roundup is a good way to see the latest information on many of the area’s blogs. The updates included here show blog posts added approximately within the previous 48 hours. See Northfield.org’s blogosphere aggregator page for an automated, comprehensive listing.

This is the title of an article at the Mankato Free Press article about the March 13th Regional Competitiveness Economic Development Summit. The Rural Enterprise Center’s agripreneurs development model was voted the second most important priority for the development of the Agriculture and Food Sector as it pertains to the incorporation and full utilization of skills, assets and visioning coming out from the Latino/Hispanic communities of the region.

We are currently developing the strategic plan for the large scale regional deployment of this model in the coming decade with a launch strategy focused in no more than 8 SE MN counties, but including strategic outreach to other highly promising targeted Hispanic/Latino entrepreneur in other areas of the region.

Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, Rural Enterprise Center

The Minnesota State Court website answers common questions about real estate (house, farm land, etc.) in divorce. Click here to go to the Minnesota State Court website. The site addresses questions like “Who gets the house?” “What about property purchased before the marriage?” and other topics.

Always Family Center

TUCSON, Ariz. – Pacific University (Ore.) held St. Olaf without a hit and defeated the Oles 21-0 on Sunday afternoon. The Boxers had 21 hits, including four homers, in the win.Saint Olaf College Athletics

We are delighted to share with you that some ARTech students are participating in a Pennies for Peace campaign from March 16th to May 15th. Pennies for Peace is a service-learning program designed to broaden our students’ cultural horizons while teaching them about their capacities as philanthropists – one penny at a time.

Pennies for Peace is a program of Central Asia Institute (CAI) founded by Greg Mortenson – author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Three Cups of Tea. CAI is a registered 501©3 nonprofit organization that promotes and provides community-based education and literacy programs, especially for girls, in remote mountain regions of central Asia. Founded in 1996, CAI has built, to date, nearly 100 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which serve more than 28,00 students – over 14,000 of whom are girls.

Simon Tyler, ARTech

The young Norwegian skier Marthe Kristoffersen had a decent first year on the World Cup circuit, where she is mostly known for a very bad anchor leg in the relay at the World Championships and her penchant for skiing with her sleeves pushed up. Like Marthe, Genevieve has quite a bit of Norwegian blood flowing in her veins, has never won a medal at the Nordic World Ski Championships, and likes to have her sleeves rolled up. Olympics 2028?

Christopher Tassava, Blowing & Drifting

Professor of psychology and cognitive sciences Kathleen M. Galotti, senior lecturer in psychology Steven Kozberg, and visiting assistant professor of educational studies Mary Gustafson have published an article entitled “Goal Setting and Decision Making by At-Risk Youth”in the journal The Prevention Researcher, vol. 16, April 2009, pp. 17-20. The article reports on the results of a research project conducted at the Wisconsin Challenge Academy, investigating changes in at-risk older adolescents’ decision making as they experienced a 22-week intervention program designed to enhance life skills.

Carleton College News

The Chamber’s theory: When under siege without a valid argument, start tossing around labels!

Project No Project: The Story of NIMBY

It’s weird, they’re missing a lot, missing a lot of states, a lot of projects, and it’s odd the ones they’re picking.

Minnesota Projects: Wisconsin Projects, Delaware Projects – NONE, Maryland Projects – NONE, New Jersey Projects – NONE

When the Chamber stick their ham-handed hocks in, that tells me they’re worried they’re represented interests aren’t going to get their way!

The US Chamber sure has changed a lot since Bob Jacobsen worked for them…

Carol Overland, Legalectric

The new 2009 Froggy Times features the story of Northfield’s West Side business district, which was decimated in 1958 by a highway relocation. Maggie Lee, Dan Freeman and Dick Heibel share their memories of the way it used to be. Famed architect Harry Wild Jones is also featured. And, of course, check out our new menu!

Susan Hvistendal, Froggy Bottoms Pub

V.S. Naipaul, The Enigma of Arrival (1987). Purchased used for $6.00 at Monkey See, Monkey Read in Northfield.

In the summer of 2007, we visited Stonehenge, then drove down to Salisbury to visit the great cathedral, which among other things is home to the world’s oldest mechanical clock (1386). Time was on my mind when we visited Salisbury. We had less than a month left of our year in England, and this was our last English holiday before returning home to Minnesota. In a short drive, from Stonehenge to Salisbury, we had traversed a distance of nearly four millennia, connected by modern highways and confusing roundabouts. On the lookout, as always, for literary associations, I found in Salisbury Cathedral a bust of the late nineteenth-century nature writer Richard Jefferies, whose native haunts were the Wiltshire downs.

Rob Hardy, Rough Draft

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — During Spring Break, five members of the Carleton men’s track and field team participated in the Walt Disney World Invitational. Tom Ballinger (Sr./Wenatchee, Wash.) recorded a NCAA provisional qualifier in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 53.83, which currently ranks second-fastest in Division III.

On Thursday, the Minnesota Senate set targets to resolve the budget deficit. Last week we received the final budget forecast which gives us the most accurate picture of the kind of revenue Minnesota can expect over the next several years. It may not come as a surprise to know that the news is not pretty. We are in one of the worst economic downturns in recent memory.

This was the week of highs and lows. I had a great bill up in the Commerce Committee on Tuesday that would have brought some badly needed oversight to the Payday Lending industry. So many good people worked on this bill since the last session, only to see it go down in flames on Tuesday. The bill would have allowed consumers to get three payday (short term) loans within a 6 month period. Inquiry into a fourth loan would have triggered a conventional loan allowing the consumer to pay off any debt in installments at much more reasonable interest rates. Payday loans are a booming industry where consumers find themselves caught in a debt trap that tends to spiral out of control.

Kevin Dahle for Senate District 25

Ronald James Griffith passed away on Thursday, March 12, 2009 from pancreatic cancer. Ron’s brilliant and inquiring intellect, commitment to family and community, outstanding professional leadership, and generous heart will be missed by the many people he touched in Northfield and around the world.

Shirley Ann Johnson Nelson was born May 21, 1923, in Red Wing, Minnesota, to Victor L. and Glee (Dibble) Johnson. She was raised in the Red Wing and Cannon Falls area and graduated from Red Wing High School in 1941. She took Nurses training at St. John’s Hospital in Red Wing and in 1944 became a Registered Nurse. On November 11, 1944, she married sailor Phillip Marvin Nelson at the Episcopal Church in Cannon Falls, becoming a Navy wife for the next 16 years. They traveled to Florida, Maryland, California, and Tennessee, with frequent stays in Red Wing while Phil was “out at sea.”

Northfield.org obituaries

Spring Skating Camp wrapped up a great season for NSS! Camp took place Saturday March 14th and Tuesday March 17 and involved skaters with a wide variety of abilities, background, and even geographic areas – skaters from Owatonna participated!

According to our campers, the biggest hits were the private lessons, exhibition, and synchronized skating workshop with guest coach Roni Maas. We finished camp with treats and a slideshow to celebrate a job well done.

Thanks to the extended Northfield ice season, we can look forward to more camps like this one in the future.

Northfield Skating Schoo

St. Olaf President David R. Anderson ’74 has announced that Congressman Erik Paulsen ’87 will speak to the Class of 2009 during the St. Olaf Commencement ceremony May 24. Paulsen represents Minnesota’s 3rd District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

MARCH 23, 2009 — Twin Cities NBC affiliate KARE 11 visited campus recently to find out how many steps it takes a unique team of St. Olaf students to change a light bulb. CNN also aired the story. Link to the KARE story, below, and view CNN’s version here. Watch an earlier story about the group at stolaf.edu.

Saint Olaf College News

Carleton Students Attend Midwest Real Food Challenge Summit March 23, 2009 at 10:17 am By Katie Blanchard

Two weekends ago 125 students (including 3 from Carleton) gathered at Maharishi University in Fairfield, Iowa for the Midwest Real Food Challenge Summit. We built coalitions and strengthened our voice as students working for bold changes to our food system, most specifically within our college and university dining services. When asked whether our campuses were at most 10 miles from an industrial agribusiness cornfield, if not within one, almost every student raised a hand. From a wide array of specific interests and backgrounds, we came together around a common goal: real food.

Carleton College sustainability blog

After a few schedule changes Cooking Class finally met again at Emmaus Church. On Thursday March 19th about 10 youth learned how to make crepes from youth chef extraordinaire Danny Dobrow. I wasn’t able to stay and make the food but the kids who went spoke very highly of Danny and the food.

Union of Youth

Gospel, John 3:14-21 During the Exodus the people complained about the food. So God led them into an area infested with a type of venomous snake whose bite caused a severe burning sensation and even death for some. The people realized there were worse things than bad food and asked God’s forgiveness for their complaining.

Father Denny Dempsey

Seldom do we have a chance to hear from one of our members who is both a musician and minister. But today we heard from Richard Collman, who gave us his classification talk, and left no doubt in our minds that he has been passionate about both careers, and from an early age.

Northfield Rotary Club

Most people go to the doctor because they think they have something they shouldn’t have and want to get rid of. But over the years, we chiropractors have come to understand that the problem when you aren’t feeling well is NOT that you have something you shouldn’t have and need to get rid of; the problem is really that you have LOST something you need to be healthy and happy. You see HEALTH (also called “EASE”) is your natural state! If you are experiencing anything other than ease, it is usually because you have simply LOST something that is necessary for you to maintain ease/health. Understanding this very simple truth will not only help you get the most out of your chiropractic care, it will also help you and your family to keep growing stronger and healthier for the rest of your lives!

CNC Chiropractic

The Annual Meeting was on Saturday and what a night it was! I have to first say a big THANK YOU to our sponsors’s, The First National Bank of Northfield and Carleton College, we would not have been able to put on this event without their support! The meeting went well and many people stayed to dance the night away! If any of you would like a copy of the Annual Report you can download it here or you can call us at 507-645-9268 to get your copy.

Northfield Historical Society

Seems like only a few days ago that I was announcing details about River City Books’ month-long going-out-of-business sale. That’s what happens when you want something to last — it goes by just so fast.

Now we’re down to the wire, the final week in the store’s history, and they’re pricing books, CDs, DVDs, gifts, clothing, yada, yada, so low because, well, they want to use as few moving boxes as possible. Which is the silver lining to this cloudy week — a savings rundown that’s otherwise hard to believe.

River City Books

“They all get the idea that if we’re transparent about what we’re bad at as well as what we’re good at, we’ll get better.” That’s a quote by Paul Levy, President and CEO ofBeth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, speaking about his staff. Levy maintains a leadership blog called Running a hospital where he regularly shares “thoughts about hospitals, medicine, and health care issues.” You can also follow Levy on Twitter.

I’ve been thinking about Northfield (my hometown) area public leadership, transparency, and social media tools this week for four reasons.

Wigley and Associates

Watchmen is a graphic novel about the real lives and struggles of super-heros. The story is about masked crusaders from the sixties that start to show up dead. The few that are still alive have to find and take down the killer while dealing with there own issues. I personally loved the end of the book, but I’m not going to ruin it. The book is not for kids because it deals with some tough moral issues, and there are many violent and bloody scenes. Watchmen has been recently made into a major motion picture. I haven’t seen it yet, but it looks pretty good. Of course, the movie is never as good as the book. If you want a sneak peek, here it is.

Monkey See, Monkey Read

We are often uncomfortable talking about sin, but if we don’t acknowledge all the ways we are not the people we want to be, we separate ourselves from God’s mercy and loving care. So, here’s a sermon about sin …

Healing in the Wilderness

Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22; Ephesians 2:1-10

This is a sermon about sin. If I am going to preach honestly about these texts, it has to be a sermon about sin, but that raises several problems.

First United Church of Christ

St. Olaf Sponsors National Day of Service in Northfield Saturday, April 18, 2009, 9 am to 1 pm

Participate locally in the National Day of Service! This year marks the first time St. Olaf has sponsored a volunteer project for Northfield. Join other Northfield-area Oles and friends to help clean up the parkway area from 5th Street Bridge and Bridge Square south to Riverside Park. Feel free to participate as singles, couples, families or groups. ID Insight of Northfield is using this opportunity as a company-wide service project. Thanks, ID! We encourage other local organizations to follow this community-spirited example.

5th Bridge

We’ve discussed this issue on LG (here, here, and here) so it’s time to craft something concrete for the Council and staff to react to. Here’s a first draft of what I plan to present to them tonight. Reactions welcomed. (continued)

Northfield City Council Blog . . . → Read More: Proposed: a Northfield City Council blog]]> I’ve been invited to speak briefly tonight with the Northfield City Council at their work session. The agenda item says: “Discuss technical recommendations on citizen input.” It’s all part of the “background information as the Council begins to discuss ways of achieving and working on the goal of improving citizen communication.”

We’ve discussed this issue on LG (here, here, and here) so it’s time to craft something concrete for the Council and staff to react to. Here’s a first draft of what I plan to present to them tonight. Reactions welcomed. (continued)

Northfield City Council Blog (for example, at northfieldcitycouncil.org)

A. Online Open Mic

Councilor Erica Zwiefel has wondered what an ‘online open mic’ might look like as another tool for citizens to inform Councilors about their ideas and concerns. I drafted something back in late Jan.

What follows is a refinement of that, based on subsequent discussion there as well as my observations of one example currently in practice: the Open City Hall of Palo Alto, California, which uses the Open City Hall web service (“for governments”) offered by a company named Peak Democracy. I propose that:

• As the Mayor and City Administrator prepare the agenda for an upcoming Council meeting or work session, they decide the most important items that should be brought to the public’s attention via posting to the Council blog, one blog post for each item.
• A City staff person blogs these items and provides background information, including  links to documents on the City web site. (See the Palo Alto high speed rail discussion item as an example.)
• Citizens may then submit one comment per item/blog posts. These comments are written and may include links to other sources, including an audio or video comment that a citizen may have opted to create instead of a written comment.
• Citizens must identify themselves via first and last name, an email address, and a home address. Comments are reviewed by an independent, non-partisan contractor prior to posting. (Submission and privacy guidelines would be created.)
• Citizens are encouraged to read the comments of others before they comment, as they may want to respond with a simple “I agree/disagree with what John Doe wrote,” similar to what can happen at open mic. But no back and forth discussion is allowed.
• If the item lends itself to a straw poll (for example “yes, no, undecided” or “strongly support, somewhat support…” etc) staff can embed a straw poll in the blog post so that citizens who may not want to or have the time to craft a response can still weigh in.
• The Mayor and City Administrator can decide the deadline for comments on each issue. For example, some items might warrant a deadline of 2 hours prior to the start of a Council meeting, whereas others might extend for a month or more.
• Councilors and staff can read the online commentary at their leisure. Some items might be ‘packaged’ into a PDF and made available to Councilors. (All Councilors and staff should know how to use RSS feeds to make it easy to sort and read the comments without having them added to their email inboxes.)
• All comments are part of the public record. While online open mic comments would not be read at the face-to-face (F2F) open mic at a Council meeting, a staff person could summarize the input received, for example, “Thus far we’ve received 13 online comments on this agenda item, with 35 responses to the straw poll: 22 in favor, 10 opposed, and 3 undecided.”
• Each comment will have its own permalink (web address) so that media organizations and area bloggers can link to the comments, thereby spurring further discussion.

B. Blog posts by individual councilors

Councilor Erica Zwiefel has also wondered about “the other side of the issue,” i.e., what other tools might be available to Councilors for them to inform citizens about their ideas and concerns. I’ll only address the online tools.

While there are many advantages for a Councilor to have their own blog like Councilor Betsey Buckheit, others may prefer an option that doesn’t require that level of commitment.

The same blog used for ‘online open mic’ above can be used as a Group Blog in which individual councilors can post on any issue or concern. This would be analogous to the current process which allows an individual councilor to include a written statement in the Council packet which then becomes part of the public record that citizens can read.

Councilors posting to the blog could opt to allow comments from citizens to be attached to their blog post, much like the online open mic process above. Or they could opt to turn off comments and just have the blog post stand on its own.

The above-mentioned company, Peak Democracy, also has an Open Town Hall web service (“for elected officials”) that accomplishes something similar. See the two councilors participating from Trinidad, California as an example.

The Open Town Hall format is very restrictive (councilors apparently can only ask straw poll type questions) and that appears to be one reason why it’s not being used much. I’d advise Northfield Councilors to be more flexible and informal in their blog posts. The Council may want to craft some guidelines for the use of the group blog in order to prevent it from being overused by an individual councilor or for purposes not related to Council business.

C. Blog posts distributed via Twitter

Twitter is a micro-blogging service that’s increasingly being used by federal, state, and local governments to communicate with citizens. For example, Minnetonka City Manager John Gunyou has a sidebar link to the city’s Twitter account.

One of the advantages of using Twitter in conjunction with a City Council blog is that citizens can opt to receive updates via their cell phones. While many citizens don’t use email, especially the under-35 crowd, a large majority of citizens of every age has a cell phone. And with the use of smartphones (iPhone, Google phone, etc.) expected to explode over the next decade, citizens will increasingly expect engage with city hall via their mobile devices.

City Council blog post headlines can be automatically distributed via Twitter, no staff time needed at all.

5th Bridge salutes the hundreds of people who have made this production possible… directors, choreographers, set designers, set builders, hair dressers, costume sewers, costume helpers, program designers, local business sponsors, concession volunteers, ushers, ticket agents, sound and lighting crew members, band members, cast members, refreshment volunteers, parent and community volunteers, and many, many more! Amazing things happen when people share their gifts and talents. Visit . . . → Read More: Rock ‘N Roll Revival volunteers honored; a blogger discovered]]> 5th Bridge Executive Director Candy Taylor and her husband Cliff created this volunteer thank-you display in the lobby of the Northfield Middle School, honoring this year’s Rock ‘N Roll Revival volunteers. It reads:

5th Bridge salutes the hundreds of people who have made this production possible… directors, choreographers, set designers, set builders, hair dressers, costume sewers, costume helpers, program designers, local business sponsors, concession volunteers, ushers, ticket agents, sound and lighting crew members, band members, cast members, refreshment volunteers, parent and community volunteers, and many, many more! Amazing things happen when people share their gifts and talents. Visit www.5thbridge.org to learn about local service opportunities.

I met two of the volunteers last night: Margaret Colangelo and John Colangelo, who were staffing the concessions table. Margaret works at Carleton and in her copious amount of free time, maintains two blogs: 1) Happy to be from Iowa even though I live in Minnesota; and 2) Endurance Diva – thrive while you survive. John has his own construction services company, Foggia Incorporated.

I’ve been thinking about Northfield area public leadership, transparency, and social media tools this week for four reasons. (continued)

City Adminstrator Joel Walinski . . . → Read More: Public leadership, transparency and the world of social media]]> “They all get the idea that if we’re transparent about what we’re bad at as well as what we’re good at, we’ll get better.”  That’s a quote by Paul Levy, President and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, speaking about his staff. Levy maintains a leadership blog called Running a hospital where he regularly shares “thoughts about hospitals, medicine, and health care issues.” You can also follow Levy on Twitter.

I’ve been thinking about Northfield area public leadership, transparency, and social media tools this week for four reasons. (continued)

1. City Adminstrator Joel Walinski has invited me to speak about civic engagement technologies for 10 minutes to the Northfield City Council next Monday at their work session.  See previous blog posts about civic engagement here, here, and here.
2. Tonight I’m going to the School District’s Key Communicator Network meeting (I blogged about this here). The District has received some criticism lately for its handling of the proposed calendar changes and the SNL cancellation.
3. Tuesday, I blogged about (on my work blog) a new book titled The School Administrator’s Guide to Blogging by Mark Stock.  Yesterday, I loaned the book to Northfielder Charlie Kyte, and a blogger and podcaster (audio and video) in his role as Executive Director of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators (MASA). Kyte’s blog is titled The VOICE of Minnesota Education.
4. Last Monday’s council meeting at which the lack of trust and respect were evidently issues. See the Northfield News article, City, townships don’t see eye-to-eye on annexation.

Lots can be learned by watching how Levy uses his blog and Twitter as a public leader. For example:

• Last summer, Levy blogged about how a surgical procedure was performed on the wrong body part. Notice 1) his detailed reflection in the post after he republished the email that was sent out to all employees and the local media about the incident; and 2) the positive reaction to the handling of the incident among many of the 54 comments attached to the blog post.
• A week or so ago, he blogged about a series of staff town meetings regarding the hospital’s financial problems and the unbelievable response he’s gotten to a radical suggestion. The media picked up on the story, too. On Tuesday, he used Twitter to alert people to his blog post update on the situation.
• Yesterday, he blogged about a single employee whose actions reflect one of their strategic initiatives.

There’s a continuing stream of both good and bad news stories like these at all our Northfield area institutions that serve the public in some capacity: the city, the townships, the county, the schools, the colleges, the hospital.  And yet we rarely hear about them.  The ‘bad news’ stories too often never see the light of day. And the ‘good news’ stories are too often spun in such a way that they’re either not believable or they’re ignored. Not always, just too often IMHO.

The increasing pervasiveness of social media tools means, in part, that local leaders have less ability to keep a lid on issues of public concern. (Employee ‘leaks’ travel far and fast. Citizens with blogs pry more effectively.) So ratcheting up the transparency (along with judicious amounts of authenticity and engagement) is a smart strategy. The end result, as Levy says, is the institutions get better at what they do. And that’s what we, the public, want to see. And when we do, we’ll applaud it, thereby encouraging the virtuous cycle to continue and spread.

Food and energy is something we cannot go without, and the farther these two come from where we use them, the less sustainable they are, this is a matter of logic and economic fact not a matter of opinion, or political leaning, or weather we agree or disagree on global trade.

The fact . . . → Read More: Blogosphere roundup for Monday, March 16, 2009]]>

The Northfield Blogosphere Roundup is a good way to see the latest information on many of the area’s blogs. The updates included here show blog posts added approximately within the previous 48 hours. See Northfield.org’s blogosphere aggregator page for an automated, comprehensive listing.

Food and energy is something we cannot go without, and the farther these two come from where we use them, the less sustainable they are, this is a matter of logic and economic fact not a matter of opinion, or political leaning, or weather we agree or disagree on global trade.

The fact is that we don’t account for the full cost of our foods and have been living under the illusion that a banana is really only $0.75 cents a pound. It isn’t, what happens is that we are only paying for a small part of the full cost of producing it, bringing it from Brazil or Central America and delivering it to our stores and picking it up. The carbon emitted, the water, soil and air pollution in the production cycle, and many other costs are just being passed on for others to pay, either down the rivers and oceans, or down to the next generation.

Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, Rural Enterprise Center

Kate Wall, Grocery Manager at Just Food Co-op, has received the first grant to be awarded by the Ron Griffith Young Leaders Fund. The grant will enable Kate to attend the three-day Rising Stars Seminar, an interactive management training opportunity in natural foods retails. In anticipating this workshop, Kate says she looks forward “to gaining skills focused on enhancing my management responsibilities, strengthening the department and the store, becoming a better leader in my work place and community, and deepening my understanding of the importance of how we choose to be leaders.”

Just Food Co-operative grocery store

Here’s the problem with going to garden events, such as those I attended this weekend: You get so many ideas that you have to think about adding more space. Maybe I’ll expand my front gardens and add one of the hardy shrub roses Kathy Zuzek recommended, such as ‘Lillian Gibson’ or ‘Harrison Yellow‘. No, wait, how about ‘Candy Oh! Vivid Red,’ a variety hybridized by David Zlesak, a young U of M educator who has written for Northern Gardener.

Mary Schier, My Northern Garden

The NDDC-led initiative on In-fill and Redevelopment moved to the next phase as the Four Economic Development Partners agreed to present the work plan to their boards for formal adoption.

Board and staff members of the NDDC, EDA, and Chamber of Commerce, along with a staff member of the NEC, joined by a number of commercial property owners and the Mayor of Northfield, reviewed the work plan resulting from the series of summits on in-fill and redevelopment held over the past few months on Saturday morning and gave it an initial “thumbs-up”.

Ross Currier, Northfield Downtown Development Corporation

Although the Common Loon is the state bird of Minnesota, here in southern Minnesota we generally see loons only in migration; a pair was spotted on a Northfield pond last spring. However, several species of loons winter along the Pacific coast, among other places. On our recent birdwatching trip in northern California, we saw loons (Common, Pacific, or Red-Throated) most days, in protected salt-water harbors and at Clear Lake.

Penelope Hillemann, Penelopedia

Children: The Challenge, by Dr. Rudolf Dreikurs, delivers to parents multiple techniques and guidance on childrearing. In each chapter, the author fully describes a common childrearing problem and then offers his advice and strategy in handling the problem. For example, he provides guidance to parents on matters such as punishment and reward, maintaining a routine, respect for the child or others, the power struggle, tone of voice, and overprotection. Each chapter is very short and covers only one issue at at time thereby making it a very easy and quick read. It can be read in its entirety, or it can be used as a reference guide.

Always Family Center

OWATONNA, Minn. – The St. Olaf women’s tennis team defeated St. Thomas 6-3 last Saturday at the Owatonna Tennis Center.

In the singles competition, Abigail Ho, Christine Muller, Claire Carlson, and Sarah Carlson were all victorious. At the number one spot Ho and Muller earned a win in the doubles competition along with teammates Sarah Carlson and Ellen Goerss in the number three spot.

Saint Olaf College Athletics

That was one the questions posed by Tim Blodgett from ERM (Energy Resource Management) on his walk through our building last Thursday. To our embarrassment, none of us really knew! Tim had been invited by Todd and a group of students who are investigating the size of our school’s carbon footprint and ways to reduce it.

Simon Tyler, ARTech

As grueling and unpleasant as was last weekend, so this weekend was wonderful and satisfying. Many things contributed: warm and sunny weather, my getting out of the house for a stress-eradicating run, multiple trips to the park, my getting out of the house for a night of rock ‘n’ roll and beer, the provisional (three nights running) success of Operation Get Genevieve to Sleep Without Crying (see here and here), and above all the girls’ general good cheer. We logged, over three trips to the park, about four hours of playtime, crowned with 90 minutes on Sunday afternoon at Northfield’s excellent Spring Creek Park, where the girls found at least a half-dozen friends and acquaintances and had a ridiculous amount of joined-at-the-hip fun. They were an adorable, adventurous pair.

Christopher Tassava, Blowing & Drifting

Kathleen Ryor, Associate Professor of Art History, has published an essay entitled, “Wen and Wu in Elite Cultural Practices During the Late Ming,” in Military Culture in Imperial China, ed. Nicola DiCosmo (Harvard University Press, 2008).

Carleton College News

I first met Bill Holm in spring of 1976 when I drove 60 miles from the Molden Farm near Milan to Minneota with my friend Alan Kittelson to attend a class in Modern Scandinavian Literature.

We were a little early and Bill’s cousin Daren answered the door, and a little bashful as we entered the little white house and sat in the living room. Bill filled the room and sat on the piano bench. It wasn’t long before the other students arrived and we quickly began a discussion of Icelandic novelist Halldor Laxness.

David Bly, MN State Representative, 25B

Delaware’s “Governors Energy Advisory Council” of Toadies and Lobbyists has published what’s called an “Energy Plan.” It’s pretty awful, a hodgepodge of random thoughts that has no budget allocated. It sounds like it was written by Delmarva Power and NRG. So what will happen? Not much, given its stream of unconsciousness ramblings — the justifications below each recommendation are sometimes utterly nonsensical … BUT… that’s what they put out.

Carol Overland, Legalectric

J.B. Dudley, of Northfield Physical Therapy, is anointed Grand Marshal of Northfield’s 2009 St. Patrick’s Day parade at Froggy Bottoms on March 14, before the annual parade down Division Street. J.B is Irish on both sides of his family tree and his sister, Shawn (right), served as Grand Marshal in 2006.

Susan Hvistendal, Froggy Bottoms Pub

While I was living in England, my red (“ginger”) beard was a source of predictable amusement to the more puerile inhabitants of the kingdom. Teenagers especially liked to point and laughingly call out “ginger!” Or, sometimes, “ginger pubes!” I was reminded of this last night as I watched George Stevens’ superb 1942 comedy, The Talk of the Town.” The film stars Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, and Ronald Colman. Grant plays Leopold Dilg, who for years has been speaking out about poor conditions at the local woolen mill. When someone torches the mill, causing the death of the foreman, Dilg is immediately suspected and sent to jail.

Rob Hardy, Rough Draft

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — First-year Simone Childs-Walker (Seattle, Wash./Lakeside) earned All-America honors with her third-place finish in the 5,000-meter run at the 2009 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships. Her performance came one day after fellow rookie Clare Franco (Brunswick, Maine) placed 12th in the 400 meter dash at the meet hosted by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

Carleton College Athletics

St Patty Day parade 2009 – shortest parade ever

Tim Freeland

Photo gallery of St Patty parade 2009

KYMN Radio

Cannon River STEM School held its first annual enrollment lottery on Saturday, March 14, 2009, at the Just Food Co-op event space in Northfield. We’re happy to announce that we reached our goal of admitting 100 students through the lottery. Parents will now be notified about the results of the lottery. The CRSS board wishes to thank all of the parents and children who turned out for the lottery and our special PI DAY celebration.

Cannon River STEM School

On Thursday, the Minnesota Senate set targets to resolve the budget deficit. Last week we received the final budget forecast which gives us the most accurate picture of the kind of revenue Minnesota can expect over the next several years. It may not come as a surprise to know that the news is not pretty. We are in one of the worst economic downturns in recent memory.

I would like to respond to my constituents who have criticized the legislature for not presenting its own budget in a timely manner. Every Senator and every Representative has been working on this issue from the start. There is a complex array of factors involved when making budget decisions that affect so many Minnesotans. Difficult and gut wrenching cuts will be made that affect our elderly, the disabled, our children, and the poor. Budgets impacting cities and towns, police and fire protection, libraries and homeless shelters are being considered.

Kevin Dahle for Senate District 25

Ronald James Griffith passed away on Thursday, March 12, 2009 from pancreatic cancer. Ron’s brilliant and inquiring intellect, commitment to family and community, outstanding professional leadership, and generous heart will be missed by the many people he touched in Northfield and around the world.

Ron was born Sunday, April 4, 1943 in Harlan, Iowa. Growing up in Cherokee, Iowa, Ron recalled his idyllic childhood with devoted parents, stimulation to learn and support for his interests. He was engaged in Cub Scouts, 4-H, Methodist Youth Fellowship, varsity athletics and numerous school-related clubs and activities. Ron worked continually from age 14 doing either store or farm work until he completed high school. Before graduating from high school in 1960, Ron married Linda Joy Sagness in 1959, welcoming their children Dana and Brian in 1960 and 1961.

Northfield.org obituaries

This year we have seven graduating seniors on our staff! This is a particularly special group since it is the final group of instructors who have been with NSS since I founded the program in 2005.

In their time with NSS, all of these coaches have grown tremendously and impacted the lives of hundreds of skaters. They have made huge contributions to our program as leaders, team members, and role models for our athletes. Congrats, seniors, we wish you luck and will miss you dearly!

Northfield Skating School

My wife and I attended the 21st Annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum at St. Olaf College last Friday and Saturday, March 13 and 14. In an arrangement with the Norwegian body that grants the prize, the forums are held at a group of Minnesota and Iowa colleges founded by Norwegian settlers. Since the 2007 Peace Prize was given to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the topic was, of course, climate change. Fortunately for me, the location for this year was St. Olaf.

Bill Ostrem, Northern Letter

St. Olaf President David R. Anderson ’74 has announced that Congressman Erik Paulsen ’87 will speak to the Class of 2009 during the St. Olaf Commencement ceremony May 24. Paulsen represents Minnesota’s 3rd District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Prior to his election to Congress in 2008, where he represents a number of Minneapolis suburbs, Paulsen served in the Minnesota House of Representatives 1995-2008, where he was majority leader 2003-07. While in office he earned Legislator of the Year awards from the Association of Metropolitan School Districts and the Suburban Transit Association. He also was named Outstanding Legislator by the Minnesota School Boards Association and received the Nature Conservancy’s Government Relations Award for environmental leadership.

Saint Olaf College News

Energy conservation continues to find its way into the headlines, recently it appeared on the cover of the March edition of National Geographic magazine. The image on the cover is an infrared image of the outside of a two-story residential home. With heat showing up as bright oranges, reds, and yellows in infrared it is easy to see this house is losing a great deal of energy through its roof and a few spots in the walls. In the article, titled “Saving Energy: It Starts at Home,” writer Peter Miller records his and his family’s attempt to reduce their carbon emissions by 80% for one month.

Carleton College sustainability blog

The owner of the home we are building in rural Northfield has done the stone work around the fireplace himself. He first set a number of stones that he collected from around the United States. He then infilled around the stones with cultured stones. It creates a very nice fireplace. For the mantle he used a section of oak log that was milled from the site where the home is located.

Northfield Construction Company

This past weekend of the 6th and 7th was the Key’s giant Hip Hop Fest. On Friday, Kanser and their backing band (More than Lights) performed an awesome show with some local yokels like Timmy “Two Tone” Hollinger and his band DEAF (Desiring Every Aspect of Freedom) opening. Saturday saw the amazing Kristoffe Krane play. Krane has been making some major press, including some major play (and acknowledgment) on the Current. Local (as in Twin Cities) legend Eyedea also made a guest appearance.

Union of Youth

Gospel, John 2:13-25 The first temple of Jerusalem was built by Solomon on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the highest part of the hill of Ophel, where David had constructed an altar. That temple had been despoiled by the Egyptians shortly after Solomon’s death, later plundered by Joash of Israel around 800 BC, and again in 597 BC by Nebuchadnezzar who had the temple burned and torn down prior to leading the Jewish people into captivity in 587 BC. That temple was rebuilt under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah in the post-exilic period. It was a slow process which met a lot of opposition from the Samaritans.

Father Denny Dempsey

St. Patty’s Day is coming soon, and I could not wait. Other holidays, I am happy to wait for, but this one, this time, no, I wasn’t gonna do it. I wasn’t going to miss my chance to get me some Irish soda bread. It is something I did not grow up with, and I rarely got, but when I did, I knew that I had partaken in the Rolls Royce of not too serious breads. And I loved it. I am a not too serious kind of girl, so you see what I mean…we are a perfect match.

Bright’s Northfield Restaurant Blog

Charlie Cogan introduced us to a Rotary project that is rebuilding storm-ravaged school buildings in central Togo.

Both buildings on the Central Primary School of Bassar’s campus were badly damaged by high winds and rain. One has already been rebuilt with the help of several Rotary clubs, including Northfield Rotary, which served as the fiscal agent for the project. Four thousand dollars has been raised for the second building, about half the needed funds.

Northfield Rotary Club

Your spine and nervous system are so intimately connected that if you lose normal alignment or function in your spine, you will also partially lose the connection between your brain and your body (subluxation). This loss of a clear nerve connection leads to the loss of your ability to function normally which then leads to a loss of your natural state of health. Adjustments help you by correcting normal alignment and function of the spine which then restores proper nerve supply and your ability to function normally. Keep in mind, when you are “sick,” it’s not that you have something you shouldn’t have (cold, flu, cancer, pain, diabetes, etc.) it’s that you have lost the ability to function normally. Getting adjusted helps restore your body’s ability to function and heal naturally through a clear neurological connection.

CNC Chiropractic

In today’s Star Tribune there is an article about the Ghost Town of Lewiston. It is a manuscript that was jointly published by the Dakota County Historical Society and NHS. The manuscript was written by long time rural Northfield Mail Carrier Alvin Houston. We have to thank Susan Hvistendahl for editing the manuscript, Orrin DeLong for moving the project along and the Dakota County Historical Society for publishing the manuscript. Finally, we have to thank the Houston Trust for helping fund the project.

Northfield Historical Society

People with a hankering for cheap stuff are still teeming into River City Books! As my handy photographying clearly shows—for the four people who don’t know, pictured is lifetime Northfield resident and RCB bookseller Beth Vivant—often a sturdy bag is required to hold all of the trade books, bargain books, gifts, clothing, CDs, DVDs and warm memories that are being carrying out the front door. Just to be clear, in case I haven’t yet been, inventory is not being replaced. Get what you want while you still can!

River City Books

I’ve been working with (L to R) Bill Carlson, Ray Eng, and Ed Lufkin to convert the Cannon Valley Elder Collegium website (CVEC) to a WordPress-based blog site. It went live last week, with the CVEC blog on a separate page.

Wigley and Associates

When I last walked out of an office where I was employed in a full-time permanent job, Hilary Clinton had just been appointed to a high-level Administration position–heading husband Bill’s health care reform initiative in 1993. Since then, I’ve done a lot of interesting things: I was a full-time, stay-at-home dad with my two young kids for several years; worked part-time at the Northfield Public Library, ran a sideline beekeeping business; became a volunteer community energy activist, helping form and run RENew Northfield while schlepping mail for the US Postal Service as a casual employee, then working at St. Olaf College’s Rolvaag Library; and enjoyed several years of working as an energy and sustainability consultant through my business, Sustainable Community Solutions.

Sustainable Community Solutions

So my son Peter and I were noodling back and forth by e-mail, as we do now and again when some vagrant idea catches our fancy, and along the way it occurred to me that there were some points that might be of interest to onlookers. So, with his permission (and mine if he wants to post it on his blog) is a slightly edited version [with comments in brackets].

For background, Peter, now in his mid-30s, is autistic, but formally diagnosed only a year or so ago. And his spouse Jesse Hajicek has published (with a print-on-demand house called Lulu) a novel titled The God Eaters, which has sold passably well on Amazon.

Linda Seebach, The Eclectic Linda

The lightest and most aero seatbag on the market.
Pedro’s new Ethik Seat Bag is the first product of its type with sustainability designed into the bag. Great features too: Dry-bag closure Compression strap to reduce sway; Narrow profile tucks below the sleekest saddles; Used inner-tube strap keeper; Recycle it when you’re done!

Monkey See, Monkey Read

This Thursday evening (March 12) , Beef O’ Brady’s is hosting a special fundraiser to benefit the Skateboard Coalition.

Stop by the restaurant from 4:00-8:00 p.m. After you have enjoyed a delicious meal, drop your receipt in the bucket by the door and the Skateboard Coalition will receive 20% of what you spent!

Northfield Healthy Community Initiative

God’s covenant with Abraham and Sarah was really a set of extravagant promises — promises that we have inherited. Today I reflect about those covenants, and what they mean for us ..

Promises in the Wilderness

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 Psalm 22:23-31

In the United Church of Christ we often speak about covenants. In fact, our church is knit together by a whole series of covenants:

covenants among individuals as members of local churches, covenants among congregations that make up Associations and Conferences, and covenants among Conferences that make up our wider church, including our ministries in the national setting. All of these covenants are comprises of faithful and mutual promises made by the various individuals and institutions that are part of the UCC.

First United Church of Christ

Late fall, and in these unsettled economic times a camping trip reminds us that seasonal cycles are larger than stock market fluctuations. Southeast Minnesota is the driftless area, where non-glaciated areas were scoured by the melting glaciers long before the first shares of stock were traded. The resulting bluffs tower above valley floors and the mixed hardwoods now shine gold, bronze and yellow in the pale autumn sun.

Duck Fat and Politics

Are you sick of winter? Does the economy have you down? Would you like to donate to your favorite charity, but cash is tight? Would you like to unclutter your home and have an excuse to get your garage cleaned out? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then we have a great service opportunity for you: Get involved in 5th Bridge’s 2nd Annual “Goods for Good”, Great Northfield Rummage Raid for Charity.

5th Bridge

I think the best kept secret in Northfield in definitely a Youth Membership at Y. Most our new members are Family or Adult Members and I think that’s because we are still working hard to get the word out – so every one knows what we have to offer.

Northfield YMCA

Friends of Way Park was the pioneer Northfield neighborhood blog starting in 2005 but has been dormant since last summer. . . . → Read More: Northfield neighborhoods join the blogosphere]]> Two new neighborhood blogs have joined Northfield’s blogosphere in recent months. The Northfield Eastside Neighborhood Association (NESNA) launched its blogsite in December under the stewardship of Ed Lufkin. See the Dec. 23 Northfield News article titled New site aims to connect eastside residents. And last month, the Valley Pond Townhome Association (VPTA) launched its blogsite in the Hidden Valley Park neighborhood. Robbie Wigley is the chief blogger there, with some marginal support from her main squeeze.

Friends of Way Park was the pioneer Northfield neighborhood blog starting in 2005 but has been dormant since last summer. Are there other neighborhood blogs out there that I don’t know about?

Click play to listen. 30 minutes. You can also download the MP3 or subscribe to the podcast feed, or subscribe directly with iTunes.

Our radio show/podcast, Locally Grown, usually airs Wednesdays at 5:30 . . . → Read More: Podcast: The Triumvirate on Main Street 2.0]]> It was just us co-hosts yesterday, primarily doing a post-mortem on Ross’ trip to Chicago for the National Mainstreets Conference with its 2009 technology-related theme, Becoming Main Street 2.0. (And what is Web 2.0? ) See the live-blogging organizers did during the conference. Ross has posted to his NDDC blog about the conference here, here, and here and on LG here and here.

Click play to listen. 30 minutes. You can also download the MP3 or subscribe to the podcast feed, or subscribe directly with iTunes.

Our radio show/podcast, Locally Grown, usually airs Wednesdays at 5:30 PM and Sundays at 10 AM on KYMN 1080 AM.

Courtesy of justfood.coop

Friday (March 6) from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Just Food is hosting “Feeding Minnesota in Winter: A Local Farmer Panel Discussion (more).”

Courtesy . . . → Read More: Blogosphere roundup for Monday, March 2, 2009]]>

The Northfield Blogosphere Roundup is a good way to see the latest information on many of the area’s blogs. The updates included here show blog posts added approximately within the previous 48 hours. See Northfield.org’s blogosphere aggregator page for an automated, comprehensive listing.

Business

• Just Food cooperative grocery store on Water Street: Local Farmer Panel Discussion Friday- PLEASE PREREGISTER

Courtesy of justfood.coop

Friday (March 6) from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Just Food is hosting “Feeding Minnesota in Winter: A Local Farmer Panel Discussion (more).”

• Monkey See, Monkey Read (Jerry Bilek): Bike Stuff at the Monkey

Courtesy of monkeyread.wordpress.com

The Monkey is gearing up for spring, literally. The bike gear has arrived. We’ve picked up some bike gear commuters should love. Lights, locks, bags, and few other handy items are now available at Monkey See, Monkey Read. Planet Bike, based in Madison, WI(original home of the monkeys), makes some of the best lights we’ve seen. This monkey loves his superflash/blaze combo so much, it’s mounted on the Africabike. We also have knog frog lights, a few knog bags, and some Pedros Ethik seat bags.

My favorite item has to be the Knog Hot Dog bag. This versatile bag can be used as a messenger bag or pannier. It has a laptop sleeve and it’s own rain jacket (more).

• Froggy Bottoms River Pub (Susan Hvistendahl): Froggy bottoms website is down

Yes, it’s having “technical difficulties” but the Frogblog is still alive and kicking!

Arts & Entertainment

• Northfield Arts Guild: Spotlight

An Evening with James Thurber: James Thurber was best known for his work with the New Yorker magazine, but he was an author, cartoonist and humorist. This performance, titled Men, Women, and Thurber will be a reader’s theater presentation (more).

• Northfield Downtown Development Corporation (Ross Currier): Back to Roots, Back to Basics
  

  Courtesy of nddc.org

  It’s the annual National Trust for Historic Preservation Main Street Conference. This year, it’s in not-so-far away Chicago (more).

• Rough Draft Rob Hardy: Project 1929: “The True Heart”
  The True Heart, as Sylvia Townsend Warner reveals in her very brief introduction to the Virago reprint, is based on the story of Eros and Psyche as told in Apuleius’s The Golden Ass (more).

Special Interest

• My Northern Garden (Mary Schier): Early Crop Beans?

  A few weeks ago, I was coming into the house through the garage when I noticed on the garage floor a few seeds from the Cherokee Trail of Tears beans I planted last summer (more).

  

  Courtesy of mynortherngarden.wordpress.com

• Blowing & Drifting (Christopher Tassava): Early Makes for Better Late than Never?
  

  Right about now, I should be checking into my hotel in Washington, D.C. Instead, I’m sitting at my desk in Northfield. This afternoon, I had literally just zipped up my suitcase when I decided to check my email one last time, and there discovered a message from Northwest informing me that my Sunday-evening flight to D.C. had been canceled due to bad weather out east. Crap (more).

• Legalectric (Carol A. Overland): Eastern Wind Integration Transmission Study

  Look what turned up in the Green Power Express FERC pleadings, a reference to a presentation Matt Schuerger did for NREL. How is it that Matt Schuerger, a MECHANICAL engineer, they guy who, with Beth Soholt, asked me and six or seven others “what would it take for you to approve” the SW Minnesota 345kV “It’s for Wind NOT” line, a guy who is now working for the State of Minnesota as “Technical Advisor to the Department of Commerce,” is now also, IN ADDITION TO AND AT THE SAME TIME, laying the groundwork for transmission across the Eastern Interconnect for NREL (more)?

• Always Family Center (Carl Arnold): The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, by John M. Gottman, Ph.D., and Nan Silver
  

  A practical guide to understanding what makes marriage, or long term commitment, work and what can cause its destruction, this book offers something helpful for every couple (more).

On the Radio

• KYMN Radio: Court dismisses SaveWCAL petition, rules in favor of St. Olaf and MPR
  

  Courtesy of kymnradio.net

  NORTHFIELD – Last September the organization SaveWCAL filed a petition in Rice County to “redress a breach of charitable trust” by St. Olaf College concerning its sale of radio station WCAL to Minnesota Public Radio four years earlier. The petition asked that the sale be voided (more).

Politics & Government

• Northern Letter (William Ostrem): Capitol Climate Action today

Today is the Capitol Climate Action, a rally that will feature mass civil disobedience and protest at the Capitol Power Plant, the coal-fired power plant that provides electricity to the U.S. Capitol. One thousand college students are expected to participate (more).

• David Bly, State Representative for District 25B: Balancing the Budget

In the months ahead, our state will have to resolve one of the largest budget deficits of the last 30 years. Our current economic climate is poor and according to forecasters will grow worse before improving (more).

• Kevin Dahle, State Senator for District 25: Payday Loans

Courtesy of www.kevindahle.net

This week I will be presenting a bill in the Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee that would curb payday lending abuse in Minnesota. A payday loan is an expensive product that tends to trap borrowers into an endless cycle and a downward spiral of debt.

Education

• Director of ARTech (Simon Tyler): Renewing the contract

Courtesy of directorsimon.wordpress.com

ARTech, like all charter schools, has a sponsor. Charter schools must have a contract with a sponsoring organization that can be a school district, an institution of higher learning, a nonprofit organization, or a foundation. ARTech and Prairie Creek are both sponsored by the Northfield School District. As part of our contract, we report to the district each year, sharing the school’s annual report (more).

• Carleton College: Julie Neiworth and Alumni Published in Journal of Comparative Psychology

Julie Neiworth, Professor of Psychology and Director or Neuroscience, published an article in the Journal of Comparative Psychology, February issue, 2009, together with Carleton alumni Elizabeth Johnson, Katie Whillock, Julia Greenberg, and Vanessa Brown (more).

• Carleton College’s Shrinking Footprints Blog: The Case for Trayless

“Food for Thought” is a student-run initiative at Carleton to reduce food waste in the Burton and LDC dining halls. According to Food for Thought, the Carleton dining halls produce about 2,700 pounds of food waste per day (more).

Spirituality

• First United Church of Christ: What’s Happening: March 2009 Chronicle

Please click on the March 2009 Chronicle for church news and interesting events happening at First UCC this month!

College Sports

• Carleton College Athletics: Franco Wins Pole Vault at Pre-MIAC Meet
  

  ST. PAUL, Minn. – Evan Franco (Jr./Austin, Texas/James Bowie) won the pole vault at the Pre-MIAC Meet with a personal-best height of 4.30 meters (14’ 1.25”). That was Carleton’s lone event victory, but a total of 20 personal records were set by the Knights in their final tuneup for the MIAC Indoor Championships.

• Saint Olaf Men’s Hockey: Saturday’s semifinal game sold out

NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Saturday’s MIAC men’s hockey playoffs semifinal game between St. Olaf and Hamline at Northfield Ice Arena has sold out.

Youth

• Northfield Healthy Community Initiative: Skateboard Coalition raises over $450 at pancake breakfast

Many thanks to everyone who came to the Skateboard Coalition’s pancake breakfast Sunday morning at Applebee’s. The event raised more than $450 to support a skateboard plaza in Northfield (more).

CVEC is in the middle of registration for their Spring 2009 courses.  See the 3 PDFs on their home page for course descriptions, registration, and the schedule/enrollment update. There’s no online registration nor online payment yet. That capability will be available for the next round of . . . → Read More: CVEC joins the blogosphere; spring course registration now open]]> I’ve been working with (L to R) Bill Carlson, Ray Eng, and Ed Lufkin to convert the Cannon Valley Elder Collegium (CVEC) website to a WordPress-based blog site. It went live last week.

CVEC is in the middle of registration for their Spring 2009 courses.  See the 3 PDFs on their home page for course descriptions, registration, and the schedule/enrollment update. There’s no online registration nor online payment yet. That capability will be available for the next round of courses.

Courtesy of www.ruralec.com

At a meeting at Plaza Morena Restaurant in Owatonna on February 17 2009, a diverse group of restaurant and food business owners from Red Wing, Waseca, Albert Lee, Owatonna and Faribault meet to discuss . . . → Read More: Blogosphere roundup for Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009]]>

The Northfield Blogosphere Roundup is a good way to see the latest information on many of the area’s blogs. The updates included here show blog posts added approximately within the previous 24 hours. See Northfield.org’s blogosphere aggregator page for an automated, comprehensive listing.

Business

• Rural Enterprise Center (Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin): Latino Business Organizing Takes a Step Forward in Southern MN

Courtesy of www.ruralec.com

At a meeting at Plaza Morena Restaurant in Owatonna on February 17 2009, a diverse group of restaurant and food business owners from Red Wing, Waseca, Albert Lee, Owatonna and Faribault meet to discuss an organizing process to secure higher level of cooperation and organization in the food business owners sector of the Southern Minnesota region (more).

• RCBlog (River City Books on Division Street): The Last Sale

Courtesy of rivercitybooks.wordpress.com

Ever since the shocking news broke that River City Books is going out of business (March 29 is D-day, by the way) people have been asking me-and, more importantly, pressing RCB booksellers-about the possibility of going-out-of-business sale. I can now say for certain there will be such a sale and, what’s more, I can provide the fine print (more).

Health

• CNC Chiropractic ((Paul Siemers): Mark Your Calender!

Today, Wednesday the 25th of February 2009, while out for an afternoon walk I heard and saw the first robin of the year. As a resident of this part of the world for the better part of 28 years, I had to scratch my head; I don’t recall ever seeing robins returning for spring so early. Granted, I’m no ornithologist but I know what a robin looks and sounds like so that leaves one question; what does any of this have to do with Chiropractic? (more)

Entertainment

• Northfield Downtown Development Corporation (Ross Currier): Tonight Downtown

Courtesy of nddc.org

Friday, February 27th, Kevin Steinman is at Hogan Brothers (415 Division Street), 7 p.m., there an Exhibit Opening Reception for “My Arctic” at the Flaten Art Museum, 7 to 9 p.m., on the St. Olaf College campus, The Vagina Monologues, Buntrock Commons, 7:30 p.m., on the St. Olaf College campus, The House of Seven Gables, Arena Theater, 8 p.m., Carleton College Campus, Karaoke at the Rueb-N-Stein, 9 p.m., Jeff Thompson at The Tavern Lounge, and Last Known Whereabouts, at the Contented Cow (more).

Local Organizations

• Northfield Rotary Cogwheel (Scott Richardson): Bulletin
  

Today’s Program: Matheus Mattos presents (Dilley)

Birthdays: James Schlichting (2/25) and Tom Stringer (3/1)

Next Time: Charlie Cogan and the Togo School Roof Project

Last Week: Maybe they’re right. Maybe economics is the dismal science. We weren’t exactly skipping out of Rotary two weeks ago when Bill Carlson explained how our economy jumped the tracks. By the time we were done, I was looking forward to my afternoon root canal (more).

Special Interest

• My Northern Garden (Mary Schier): Update on the Critter Situation

Courtesy of mynortherngarden.wordpress.com

Well, there I was, feeling all zen about having a mole in my backyard, recognizing the great things about moles and feeling very accepting of critters in general. Then, I went outside yesterday to set out some winter sowing containers and what should I discover in the melting snow but the distinctive tracks of not moles, but voles (more).

• Blowing & Drifting (Christopher Tassava): Experiment Results

Courtesy of www.tassava.com

After one field test, the investigator can definitively report that the unconventional handlebar configuration depicted in Figure I is wholly unsatisfactory with respect to the operation of a bicycle (more).

On the Radio

• Just Food cooperative grocery store on Water Street: Eat Local Challenge on KYMN Friday, Feb 27 at 9 a.m. February 26th, 2009

We hope you will tune in to KYMN Radio (1080 AM) or streaming at
http://kymnradio.net during Paula Granquist’s cool program “Art Zany: Radio for the Imagination.” We will be on tomorrow (Friday, Feb 27) at 9 a.m. to talk about local food and the upcoming Winter Eat Local Challenge (more).

Politics

• What’s On (Contended Cow pub on Division Street): Politics and a Pint: Environmental justice, myth or fiction?
  

At the last meeting [of Politics and a Pint] we decided to talk on a social justice issue. One of the regulars has suggested we talk about the social and economic justice issues raised by an article found on line. The primary reference he offered is an online article found at the Property and Environment Research Center website. From the website we see the flyleaf and a comment (more).

Schools

• Director of ARTech (Simon Tyler): Visiting old friends

Ostensibly, my reason for tagging along with the middle school dance and drama group that visited Prairie Creek on Tuesday was to pass on enrollment information to fifth graders who might be interested in the ARTech program next year. Really though, I just like any excuse to visit old friends at our neighboring charter school, where I spent six happy years as a teacher (more).

Spirituality

• Father Denny Dempsey: First Sunday of Lent
  

Courtesy of northfieldmba.typepad.com

Gospel, Mark 1:12-15 When I was a kid, professional boxing from Madison Square Garden dominated Friday night viewing on the “Gillette Cavalcade of Sports”. Managers and trainers would escort their man down the aisle and into the ring. The boxer typically wore a flashy robe with his name emblazoned across the back. He had trained for this fight and was there to face his opponent in battle (more).

College Sports

• Carleton College Athletics: Knights Receive Scholar Athlete Award

Simone Childs-Walker

Karen Campbel

Karen Campbell (Sr./Rochester, N.Y./Brighton) and Simone Childs-Walker (Fy./Seattle, Wash./Lakeside) were both honored by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) for their outstanding work on the cross country course and in the classroom. They were named to the 2008 USTFCCCA Cross Country All-Academic Team, along with 217 other female student-athletes (more).

• Saint Olaf Men’s Hockey: Final 150 tickets on sale Thursday night in Buntrock Commons

NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The 150 tickets that remain for Saturday’s MIAC men’s hockey semifinal playoff game between St. Olaf and Hamline or Augsburg will be available on the third level of the college’s Buntrock Commons on Thursday from 4-8 p.m (more).

Youth

• Union of Youth: Hope Mural Posted by Joshua Jude

Courtesy of www.unionofyouth.org

Here is the Hope Mural that the Northfield Union of Youth and Kevin Krein, our AmeriCorps Promise Fellow, worked on in September of 2008. This mural was sent to the Search Institute and displayed at a national conference hosted by the organization. The Union of Youth and Mayor’s Youth Council helped lead a presentation on ways to foster community involvement among youth and to increase youth voice in civic affairs. Here is the author’s statement that went with the mural (more).