Christ’s triumph over death holds special meaning for Christians. But all of us, no matter how or whether we believe, can identify with elements of His story. The triumph of hope over despair. Of faith over doubt. The notion that there is something out there that is bigger than ourselves.
These beliefs help unite Americans of all faiths and backgrounds. They shape our values and guide our work. They put our lives in perspective.
So to all Christians celebrating the Resurrection with us, Michelle and I want to wish you a blessed and Happy Easter. And to all Americans, I hope you have a weekend filled with joy and reflection, focused on the things that matter most. God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.
So to to all LoGro readers, I hope your day is filled with joy and reflection, focused on the things that matter most.
The first gathering is tonight, Thursday, March 29, 7:30 pm.
Here’s the press release, with my images and links added.
March 17, 2012 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Compassion sounds like a good idea, but it’s such a lot of work! How can a person cultivate and expand the capacity for compassion? Do some practices of compassion cross all religious, ideological, and national traditions from Jainists to Atheists and from Tibet to Timbuktu?
The Northfield Buddhists are hosting a conversation sparked by a provocative thinker on the role of religion in the modern world, the former Catholic nun, author, and “free-lance monotheist”, Karen Armstrong.
Armstrong’s book Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life will anchor a conversation about the practices of compassion common to all religious and cultural traditions. The series begins on Thursday, March 29, 7:30, at the Northfield Buddhist Mediation Center, and continues on the last Thursday of each month at least through August.
In Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, Armstrong provides an impassioned and practical guide to putting the ideals of compassion into practice. She suggests tools to improve the way we treat each other, the way we treat ourselves, and offers concrete examples and exercises for cultivating daily compassion.
Starting with “learning about compassion” and continuing through “love your enemies”, Armstrong leads readers through a discussion of self-love, mindfulness, suffering, sympathetic joy, the limits of our knowledge of others, and concern for everybody.
As the winner of the 2008 TED prize, Karen Armstrong wished for help in creating, launching and propagating the Charter for Compassion. The TED Prize is designed to leverage the TED Community’s exceptional array of talent and resources. It is awarded annually to one exceptional individual who receives $100,000 and, much more important, the granting of “One Wish to Change the World.” The Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life and the Charter for Compassion are the result of Armstrong’s wish.
“The Northfield Buddhists are thrilled to be part of this international movement to change the conversation so that compassion becomes a key word in public and private discourse. Any ideology that breeds hatred or contempt has failed the test of our time. Together we are summoned to creative, practical and sustained action to meet the political, moral, religious, social and cultural problems of our time,” says Sam Demas, one of the book study organizers.
The Northfield Buddhist Meditation Center is located at 313 ½ Division St., (second floor, above Jenkins Jewelers) Northfield, MN. In the spirit of compassion, all who seek to practice compassion are sincerely invited to join the conversation.
St. Olaf Professor Todd Nichol is another one of the early morning regulars at GBM. A couple weeks ago, he barged into my corner office to inform me about the 2nd Annual Grand Old Time Spring Dance coming up this Friday night in the Lion’s Pause at Buntrock Commons. He’s one of the faculty advisors for the The Runestones accordion club that will be performing at the dance and last week, I attended one of their practice sessions.
The Runestones is a come-when-you-can, just for fun student group of accordion players. We play mostly Nordic tunes, but you never know what we’ll do next. Think fusion. If you’ve never heard Cajun Norwegian or Country Western Danish, you are missing something.
A dance for everybody! A time to dance the polka, the waltz, and the schottische. Brief lessons will be given throughout the evening. Free. Open to the public. Families with children welcome. Refreshments and parking available.
The guy taking my photo in the left photo above with Todd? Evan Thomas-Richards, an Ole working with the AmCon group that I blogged about back in Nov. Dang paparazzi.
Here’s a 38-second video clip of The Runestones practicing:
When I met with mama- and sex blogger Anne Sabo back in January, I asked her if she knew much about the sex education programs at Northfield area schools, and more specifically, whether educators were allowed to talk to kids about masturbation. She didn’t know but promised to find out.
New national minimum standards for sex education curriculum are not going to remedy the situation. These non-binding recommendations were recently released to states and school districts in an effort to encourage age-appropriate discussions about sex, bullying and healthy relationships. Though this may seem a positive measure, the recommendations reflect the disappointingly low level of quality sex education we have arrived at today after decades of funding and promoting abstinence-only programs, though abstinence-only programs have proven highly ineffective. The standards really do capture a bare minimum.
Anne didn’t include Northfield-specific sex ed info in her blog post since that blog has a wider audience. But she’s agreed to attach a comment here on what she’s found out.
For those of you wondering about Joycelyn Elders, she was appointed Surgeon General in 1993 by President Bill Clinton. The Wikipedia entry says:
In 1994, she was invited to speak at a United Nations conference on AIDS. She was asked whether it would be appropriate to promote masturbation as a means of preventing young people from engaging in riskier forms of sexual activity, and she replied, "I think that it is part of human sexuality, and perhaps it should be taught."
Anne’s blog post includes this YouTube video, a hilarious scene in an episode from the TV series Weeds in which "uncle Andy gives a lesson in how to masturbate well to one of his nephews." For those of you reluctant to watch/listen/click, I’ve included the transcript below the video, courtesy of IMDB:
Alright, listen closely. I’m not going to beat around the bush. Ha ha ha. Your little body’s changing – it’s all good, believe me. Problem now is… every time we jerk the gerkin, we get a lot of unwanted sticky white stuff everywhere, right? Right. So… First order of business – no more socks. They’re expensive, gumming up the works plumming-wise. Now you might be thinking to yourself, "But, Uncle Andy, what do I do with all that pearl jam if I can’t spew it into Mr. Sock?" Glad you asked… You can have a lovely time tugging the tiger in the shower each morning – that eliminates the need for a goo glove. But, the day is long, masturbation’s fun, so unless we want to take 4 or 5 showers every day, we’re gonna need some other options.
So let’s start with the basics. Tissues. Perfectly acceptable backstop for all that Creamy Italian. They can be rough and dry on such soft, sensitive skin and it can stick to your dick head like a fuckin’ band-aid – ouch. From there we move on to more lubricated flack-catchers – specificially, bananas. Step one: Peel the banana. Step two: Slip the peel over your Randy Johnson and start pitching. Now for extra credit, warm up the peel in the microwave. Not too hot! Serious yowza. Also, olive oil, moisturizer, honey, spit, butter, hair conditioner, and Vaseline can all be used for lube. In my opinion, the best lube… is lube. So save your allowance and invest in some soon. Alright, moving on – when you tug your Thomas on the toilet – ffft – shoot right into the bowl. In bed – soft t-shirt, perhaps a downy hand towel of your very own that you don’t mind tossing after tossing. There’s no such thing as polishing the raised scepter of love too much. It reduces stress, it enhances immune function. Also, practice makes perfect. So work on your control now, while you’re a solo artist – you’ll be playing some long, happy duets in the future. Ok – class dismissed.
Three weeks ago, I stopped by the Angry Catfish Bicycle and Coffee Bar in south Mpls on my way to the Cuyuna Lakes Whiteout. I wanted to take some photos so that I could promote this week’s Big Ring: 2nd Gear Art Auction that’s hosted there. The event, a benefit for SAVE (Suicide Awareness Voices of Education), features many Northfield-area artists among the 17 and is being organized by Northfielder Bill Metz.
I met the owner, Joshua Klauck, and the general manager, Ben Rogowski, who graciously posed for a photo with the poster for the event.
You can see some of the artwork that’s been donated by the artists on the event’s Facebook page where Bill has been busy posting updates and photos.
I’d like to give the print to the one of the families whose kids appear in the photo.
I took the photos of these kids (two more above) at the model railroad train display at the Northfield Library during the 2009 Winter Walk (album here).
Yesterday’s St. Patrick’s Day parade began on downtown’s west side and wound its way over the pedestrian foot bridge, along Riverwalk to Bridge Square, and then back to the Contented Cow‘s outdoor stage area.
The holy trinity of Kevin O’Connell, Jim Bohnhoff, and Jim Pokorney, after many weeks minutes of planning, once again pulled off this great contribution to Northfield’s legacy of community events.
By keeping the parade entirely on pedestrian walkways instead of having it on Division St. as in years past, no street barricades or police were needed. Therefore, organizers were evidently able to avoid having to file an application 45 days ahead of time and pay the $20 fee required by Northfield’s Community Event Policy.
I thought it was better, actually, as the parade participants and the observing crowd were in closer proximity to one another. People also lingered much longer afterwards on the Riverwalk and around the Cow’s outdoor stage where live music made the gathering all the more festive. Of course, 80-degree weather helped, too.
Robbie and I both took photos. See our large slideshow of 55 photos (recommended) or SLOW CLICK this small slideshow:
Gary said that the League’s first initiative is to form a high school mountain bike racing league in here in MN. Other cycling sports might be supported at a later date but that the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) believes that mountain biking is the ‘T-Ball’ of cycling. The League’s events will be open to individual student riders but organizers also believe that forming high school teams is the best way for students to learn the skills and how to ride safely.
Organizers helped the attendees meet each other in geographic groups to facilitate planning. I got together with some guys from Cannon Falls and Red Wing at the meeting and we’re exploring the possibility of forming a Cannon River Valley regional team, to include those towns plus Faribault and Northfield.
This event is for parents who want to become head coaches, assistant coaches, or ride leaders for the new league. It’s a two-day school on how to work with high school-aged youth, how to teach young riders the skills necessary to become racers, information on Wilderness Training and CPR (both required to be a Head Coach), and is part of a required curriculum to become a licensed MN league coach. We’ll also do a little skills work outside, so come with bikes, helmets, ready to ride.
Interested? Got questions? Attach a comment here or contact me.
I took this blurry photo (I had too much wine, evidently) of proprietor Norman Butler on the deck of the Contented Cow last night, holding my smartphone with the poster for tomorrow’s St. Patrick’s Day parade that Jim Bohnhoff sent me.
Take a close look at the poster, as the parade route is different this year.
Norman said they have post-parade festivities planned at the Cow but I don’t see any info about it on the Cow’s website. Anyone have details?
I had lunch earlier this week with Kevin Keane, race team director for the 1 year-old Cannon Valley Velo Club (CVVC). (That’s Kevin on the right in left photo above – photo by Shane Kitzman, Northfield News.) We discussed all things mountain biking and I’ve signed on to be the club’s new mountain biking ride coordinator—hence, the staged photo in my front yard yesterday. (I’m on a borrowed fat bike, as I’m on my way to the Cuyuna Lakes Whiteout up in Crosby-Ironton for my first-ever race this weekend. More on that here on my Mountain Bike Geezer blog.)
I’ll only be coordinating the CVVC mountain bike rides, primarily on singletrack. Others will be coordinating the mountain bike racing and the gravel rides.
March 1 is the official start of the club’s annual membership term and Scott Klein, CVVC Secretary, posted this announcement this morning to the CVVC Google Group email list (open to anyone, not just members):
The club is officially one year old and we’re excited to keep growing the club and offering more rides and activities for all riders. For this year, we are planning to offer more ride options with better organization (ie maps and short cuts for those of us with time constraints) and expand the awareness of off-road routes for gravel rides and mountain bikers.
Additionally, we will be working with the Mill Towns Trail organization to promote the completion of this bike trail from Red Wing to Mankato. If you have any other ideas to help promote safe bicycling in our community, we’d love to hear about it. To keep offering these activities and to maintain our insurance policy for group rides in 2012, it’s time to update our list of active members and collect membership dues.
The membership dues are the same amount as last year, so please take a look at the attached document for exact pricing. For existing members, please sign the insurance waiver and release form (even if you filled one out last year) and include it with your payment. Both of these items can either be mailed to our club treasurer, David Foster, or dropped off in person at Tom’s shop, Fit to be Tri’d in Northfield.
Jean Wakely and Marybeth Coyle-Frederick stopped by my corner office at the GBM yesterday to let me know that Aleka Pitsavas is performing Saturday, March 17, 7:00 PM at the NAG Theater, 411 W. 3rd Street. Tix at the door, $15.
A monastic composer / song writer for over a decade, Aleka has spent the majority of the past eleven months creating and completing forty-five original works. A selected twelve of which she is ready to reveal; first to a chosen few and now to the public in her debut CD White Darkness.
This month, Northfielder Aleka Pitsavas has been spending countless hours recording her first studio album. Short fingers and a lack of self-confidence made Pitsavas keep her music to herself for years, but her brother John Pitsavas, before his death, gave her a kick start.
The Boys of the Goodbye Blue Monday, 6 AM Edition, fattened up on scrumptious coffeecake last Sunday to help Patsy Ophaug celebrate her 60th birthday. Then earlier today I noticed the Grand Event Center‘s marquee proclaiming, "Believe it! Patsy is 60 today." Same Patsy? I’ve no idea, but let’s assume so unless someone whines.
It turns out, he’s not half bad. Good sense of humor (does a good Darth Vader imitation). Up-to-date on all the latest technology. Adept with sharp and noisy tools. Not really all that sadistic.
At my first appointment, I noticed that he wasn’t listed on the PDDG doctors web page so I told him I considered him an imposter. I kept nagging the office staff at my follow up appointments until finally last week, his page got put up by their web design firm. It was like pulling teeth. Now if they would only add him to the Doctors page. They should know the drill.
The 39th annual American Birkebeiner cross-country ski marathon was held over the weekend. The Birkie (50K for Skaters, 54K for Classic Skiers) and Kortelopet (23K) attracted 9,000 racers.
Northfielder Charlotte Smith has a new book out titled Tell Me One Thing: A Story of Two Mothers. From the publisher:
This is the true story of two mothers, one in the United States, the other in Korea, and of the little boy who left the world he knew to make a home with a new family.
This powerful account of international adoption and ultimate reunion is told by the adoptive mother, who held her son’s birth mother in her mind and heart, never imagining that they would meet.
The Last Known Whereabouts held a reunion show at the Contented Cow last Saturday. The former Northfielders (2 Carls, 2 Oles) went their separate ways in 2009 after forming the bluegrass band in 2003.
I happened to sit next to Stewart and Marylyn Stroup, the parents of Jake Stroup (Vocals & Mandolin) who came from Madison WI to watch the show. I twisted Jacob’s arm during a break to pose for a photo with his parents.
Here’s a 3-min video clip from their riveting show:
I noticed yesterday that the Gateway Ministry Center has opened next to Cost Cutters in Heritage Square along S. Hwy 3. Back in 2007, I blogged that they had opened Northfield Healing Rooms in Heritage Square, also selling books, art, health products, coffee, and art. Steve Roberts and Rebecca Roberts were the pastors, according to a listing in the Northfield News. Their focus at that time:
Our mission is to help unite, equip and empower the body of Christ to promote healing as a vital part of ministry. Our focus is on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to work through us to heal the sick and infirmed.
Now they seem to have a different focus, though it’s not clear to me what it is. Steve Roberts is still listed as the pastor but there’s no mention of Rebecca Roberts. Their site also has a Gateway Youth Ignited page though this may be a discontinued program as their website doesn’t have a navigation option to it.
Rob has a brother named Gaylord Schanilec (Midnight Paper Sales) who’s equally famous in the town of Stockholm, Wisconsin and to some extent, the rest of the Western Hemisphere. Gaylord’s work as a wood-engraver was profiled last week in a StarTribune article titled A bookmaker, unbound.
"He’s one of the two or three finest color wood-engravers ever. He’s really that good," said Robert Rulon-Miller, a rare book dealer in St. Paul who has followed Schanilec’s career for more than 30 years. "He’s a man of many parts: engraver, printer, bookbinder, editor, writer, natural philosopher, and he brings all this stuff together into his books."
This is the first time Schanilec is exhibiting his prints independently from his books. Schanilec explains:
“These engravings were made for books that I’ve printed in the past 25 years. They were made to be seen within reading distance, about a foot from the reader’s face. They were sewn into bindings and destined to darkness on a bookshelf, along with their texts, until the book is opened and a reader, in due course, finds them. Now, here they are, framed on the vast white plains of these walls – like icebergs in an ocean – but emitting, I hope, the warmth of the world from which they came.”
We spent a lot of time in bars and restaurants while vacationing on the island Vieques off the coast of Puerto Rico last week. Al’s Mar Azul was one of our favorite pubs. It’s got a great deck overlooking the ocean in the heart of Isabel Segunda, the town where we rented a house. And it was one of two pubs that had a power generator the night the power went out on the entire island.
One of our fellow patrons at Mar Azul‘s the night the power went out was Ed Conlon (Wikipedia entry), pictured on the left with former Northfielder Collin Wigley (my eldest son) and his wife Amanda. We met Ed a few nights earlier while on a tour of the Bioluminescent Bay, the best bio bay in the world. He graciously bought a few rounds of rum punches to help us through the power outage trauma.
February 1, 2012 – Northfield music favorites Meredith Fierke, Steve McKinstry and Dylan McKinstry will play a concert in tandem with Twin Cities legend-in-the-making Chris Koza for a night of intimate, acoustic, atmospheric pop-folk music at the Northfield Arts Guild on Friday, February 10 at 8pm.
Fierke and the McKinstrys will be previewing material from their highly anticipated new album which will be released this spring. “This is by far the best music I’ve ever made,” says Fierke. “Steve and Dylan each bring something unique to the table, and together we’re creating something that I’m very excited about. I can’t wait for people to hear these songs.”
Fierke’s previous album, 2008’s The Procession, garnered so much attention that Minneapolis radio station Cities 97 placed her song Train’s Song on the prestigious Cities Sampler. Later that year, she was named Northfield’s best performing musician by the Northfield Entertainment Guide. The extra amount of time she and the McKinstrys have taken in recording their new album has created a lot of conversation amongst the Northfield music scene. “People have been wondering what they’re up to,” said local music promoter Rich Larson. “I’ve had a chance to hear most of the new album. The extra time and work really shows. Every song is a knock out. It’s going to be a real treat to hear this music in a great room like the one at the NAG.”
The show at the NAG is the second of a month-long tour of small coffee houses and arts venues that Koza is making throughout Minnesota. This comes fast on the heels of a two month West Coast tour with his band Rogue Valley. “I love seeing road warrior performers like Chris,” said Larson. “The best time to catch a singer/songwriter is in the middle of a long touring cycle like the one he’s in right now. He’s had some opportunity to flesh out his music in front of a lot of different audiences, which is really the best way to develop a song. This is going to be a very good night of music.”
“The thing that really strikes me is the $10 ticket price,” said Jessica Paxton of KYMN Radio. “You’d pay $25-$30 for this exact show at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis or the Fitzgerald in St. Paul. And, frankly, the NAG is a far more intimate setting. For fans of good music, this isn’t bargain. It’s a steal.”
The Northfield Arts Guild is located at 304 Division Street South. Doors will open at 7:30, and the music will start at 8:00. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased in advance at www.left-handedentertainment.com or at the door the night of the show. For more information, contact the Northfield Arts Guild at (507) 645-8877 or Rich Larson at (612)756-0490.
Carleton professor Jeff Ondich is a GBM regular and this morning he stopped by my corner office to alert me to the ice circles forming below the Ames Mill dam. I blogged about ice circles back in 2009 but haven’t seen them since.
Jeff’s photos (left and center) of the ice circles with his smartphone turned out a lot better than those from my smartphone. However, he really does have zombie eyes from spending too much time in front of a computer. In addition to being a computer science professor, he owns a language software/app company in Dinkytown called Ultralingua; they also have word game app called Accio. Now if we could only convince him and his Twin Cities-based employees to relocated to Northfield. Hmmm.
I tried to keep blogging while away the past 8 days but alas, my motivation gradually eroded due to the constant availability of sandy beaches, rum punches, and stunning sunsets.
George Kinney: As someone who has cracked a helmet when pushed off the street by a driver with issues (in Green Bay, not here) I do think wearing a helmet is a very good idea. So — get your bike club to be the coolest thing going, and helmet...
Patrick Enders: Griff, I grew up well before bike helmets became the norm, and still, when I went to high school, almost no one rode a bike, because driving a car was already seen as “the only socially acceptable form of local...
Gabe Meerts: By the way, Griff. I think you do a great job promoting biking (even if I disagree with this particular post).
Gabe Meerts: You must have added the wrong link because the PRI story quotes: “There’s no question that wearing a helmet is a good idea.” There’s a big leap from promoting bike helmets to mandatory helmet laws. I...
Barry Cipra: Hayes, thanks (I think). Just to be clear, I penned (actually keyboarded) those lines in all due affection, not to mention affectation.
Hayes Scriven: Where is the like button! Griff you know I love ya!!
Barry Cipra: With apologies to poetic sensibilities everywhere (and partial blame ascribed to Paul Zorn for his scholarly consultations): A blockheaded blogger named Griff With cement twixt his ears caused a tiff. He showed himself shallow By...
john george: Rob- I guess it doesn’t take much to get Griff agregated.
john george: Griff- Are you sure you don’t have me mixed up with someone else?
Peter Seebach (Seebs): WOO! Go Betsey! As the Ward 2 rep, she has indeed worked for exactly these sorts of things, and was extremely helpful when I was trying to get a bit of paperwork untangled. So, yeah, looks like my vote is clear.
Griff Wigley: Councilor Betsey Buckheit just filed to run for mayor. She sent out this email: Good morning, media folks! I just returned from City Hall where I filed to run for Mayor. Here’s a little information, but there’s much more...
Tom Kotula: Despite rumors you may have heard to the contrary, I have not thrown my hat into the ring.
Sean Hayford Oleary: I was glad to hear Erica Zweifel is running again. She’s done an excellent job and has advocated well for her ward. I’m eager to see some filings for mayor.
Griff Wigley: Today’s Strib: A sobering era for municipal booze The forces that create winner and loser cities in the metro are complex, and they involve clashes with other “muni” cities as well as private operators. Farmington,...
kiffi summa: Curt: obviously I thought there was more in the article that was less than fully informative: see above… But as far as the city paying overtime etc, i.e., all the issues you mention above.. the question is why the city was doing...
Curt Benson: Kiffi, I agree that the $75/hour ambulance time section was incomplete and confusing. However, I wouldn’t negate the whole article because of one weak section. What do you think about the city paying overtime for rescue squad...
kiffi summa: Griff: here’s why I used the word “vendetta”: there has been discord between the firefighters since the Dept of Public Safety was created with one Dept Head, i.e. Police Chief Taylor. That’s close to two years...
kiffi summa: Curt: Once again the NFNews article has left a confusion instead of a clarification, because it says that Elko paid $75 dollars an hour to have a rescue squad presence (and that seems very low to me), and then it says the city was...
Curt Benson: Griff and Kiffi–is this a reasonable recap? The city was paying city employees overtime to be on site at Elko’s events, using the Rescue Squad’s truck. Elko didn’t reimburse the city for it’s overtime...
Kathie Galotti: I’m glad the kids will have this for this summer. I recognize it’s not ideal. Unfortunately, there seems to be NO ideal place.
rob hardy: The PRAB met on Thursday, and the subcommittee on siting a permanent skatepark was on the agenda. Does anyone know what was discussed, and whether the process is moving forward in a timely manner?
Brenton Balvin: Wish I could attend this and listen to the tunes Blowing in the Wind. Unfortunately I’ll be dealing with a Hurricane of issues at work.
john george: Peter- I’ll be glad to do that, if I can figure out how. I’m technologically challenged, to say the least.
Peter Seebach (Seebs): John, that sounds lovely. I will try to remember to call. If I don’t, ping me (email is usually good for reaching me) to remind me, because I have a really bad memory for things I was going to do.
john george: Peter- I was just thinking that I would enjoy a cup of coffee with you sometime. You can ask Grifff- I don’t bite! My days off are Monday & Tuesday. I’ve bee a little tied up recently with new grandchildren being born...
Peter Seebach (Seebs): I think we are probably pretty close to agreement on that one. One of my hobbies is nudging things along to get people out of some of the various poverty loops. It is amazing how little money it takes to move someone from...
Peter Seebach (Seebs): A clarifying note: Consequences of Gay Marriage. No one is proposing making homosexuality a civil right. Marriage is already a civil right, and gays are already a protected class for discrimination purposes in most cases....
Curt Benson: Hvistendahl’s strange request for omerta from the Rescue Squad’s auditors doesn’t seem so strange today, after Suzy Rook’s NFN article: http://www.southernminn.com/no rthfield_news/news/article_...
Griff Wigley: Props to the newspaper and Suzy Rook for mentioning LoGro twice in the story: Fire Department officials, including Fire Chief Gerry Franek, did not respond to several requests from the News for association financial records or...
Griff Wigley: Posted to Northfield News at 1pm: Ethical questions arise over Northfield Fire Relief Association expenses Donations made to Northfield Fire Relief Association aren’t public dollars, but that hasn’t extinguished city...
Griff Wigley: Curt/Robert, There’s a summary of the Rescue Squad on Page 21 of the 2009 NFD report to the City. It doesn’t mention that there’s a Rescue Squad Association. The last paragraph states: The Northfield Rescue Squad is...
Robert Palmquist: If Hvistendahl’s motivation was to keep the financials from getting known, his submitting a memo like that just really backfired. I agree, why would these financials be such a secret??? And why did the NRSA hire a lawyer to...
Griff Wigley: Good turnout last night for the Cannon Valley Mountain Bike Team meeting at the high school. I’ve blogged a summary with the ppt presentations.
Griff Wigley: Jordan Osterman, the new Sports Editor for the Northfield News, scooped me on Saturday. I’m glad! Northfield high school mountain bike team forming As a club sport, mountain biking would have no official affiliation with either...
Griff Wigley: Good suggestion, Curt. I’ll do that for next week’s blurb. I have been verbally emphasizing the importance of having girls on the team, especially since their points on race days count more than boys’ points. Other...
john george: Living where we do, it is only a few blocks walk to North Street and a grand view of the sunsets. Also, with our neighbors’ mature white pines & spruce, our covered deck affords outdoor enjoyment with a fair amount of...
Jim Haas: Happens to me a lot. So much that my lovely wife had to coin a term for it: she says I have datelexia.
norman butler: Since coming to my adopted country 16 years ago I have observed, amongst other things, that not putting the day with the date is both common and peculiar to Northfield (MN? USA?).
John Thomas: Just a reminder, advance tickets for Girls Night Out 2012 can be purchased on The Grand’s website at http://www.thegrandnorthfield. com/public-events. Your tickets will then be available at a special “Will Call” at...
Liz Reppe: This is a great place to buy plants! Jeni is very knowledgeable and they are both really helpful. You get great service and plant expertise, but the prices are not higher than other places in town.
bill metz: While most of how Jake is being remembered revolves around, and rightly so, his great and wonderful talent as an artist and teacher and the works of sculpture he has left for our and the next generations enjoyment, I have had the...
kiffi summa: Come on, Griff… you say you’re “more than a little clueless about about investments” but you “just happened to notice”… and from what you said, were reading analytically, etc etc… Once...
Griff Wigley: I’m more than a little clueless about investments but I noticed on page 14 in the April 24 Council packet that the Fire Relief Association has 85% of its pension portfolio in stocks. Isn’t that a bit risky/aggressive for...
Griff Wigley: Has there been any media reporting on the intergovernmental meeting in Bridgewater Township that was held on April 25 re: the Rural Fire Protection District and the City of Northfield?
Christ’s triumph over death holds special meaning for Christians. But all of us, no matter how or whether we believe, can identify with elements of His story. The triumph of hope over despair. Of faith over doubt. The notion that there is something out there that is bigger than ourselves.
Current Discussion Threads