Outside Looking In
As I thought of a name for my column, I figured it needed to be something to show that I do not live in Minneota, yet have continued to meet new and interesting people and put their stories in print each week in The Mascot.
This journey began seven years ago when I was invited by Librarian Mary Buysse to speak at the Senior Center about the book I had written ("Out of the Blue") on the F-5 tornado that struck my hometown of Tracy in 1968.
The presentation was held at the Senior Center because the library, then located in the current Hometown Kitchen and Bath building, was too small to hold a large group of people.
The Mascot at the time was in need of a writer, and Senior Center coordinator Joanne Myrvik had suggested to Byron Higgin that I help out until a permanent scribe could be hired.
We didn't figure it would work to have me be the writer on a permanent basis since I lived 70 miles away. That was seven years ago, and I'm still here.
My very first assignment for the Mascot was to write a story about hog farming. Because I was a sports editor for many years at the West Central Tribune, a daily paper that covered 25 school districts in Willmar, writing about any type of a farm animal was, to say the least, a little out of my comfort zone. The next story I was assigned also included a Hennen. And a few weeks after that was another story that involved a Hennen.
That's when I discovered the Minneota area had an abundance of the same surnames. Hennens, and Buysses and Fiers, oh my!
I had to learn to keep the Vlamincks and DeVlaemincks straight, or the pronunciations of Myhre (my-REE) and Myhre (mihr-REE), even though they were spelled the same way. I thought the community was playing a prank on the new kid on the block. But it's all been worth it.
The people of Minneota and the surrounding communities have been an absolute pleasure to work with over these years.
They have cooperated every step of the way, through telephone interviews, answering questions via email or Facebook, or sitting down and talking when I make my way down there.
I owe everyone a debt of gratitude for your kindness and hospitality. Since small town news travels faster than a buttered bullet, most of the locals quickly found out that the Mascot is undergoing many changes.
Initially, it will be a little bit of a struggle until we smooth out the wrinkles, but we hope to continue putting out a quality paper each week and, along the way, continue to make positive improvements.
The newspaper industry is currently battling the digital age. But we're not about to concede anytime soon.
Fun in a storm
While most people in the state hunkered down and waited out the recent storm, two boys came up with a better way to pass the time in Willmar.
As I looked out my front window to see if the storm was letting up on Saturday, it was difficult to see across the street because the high winds were causing near "whiteout" conditions. Just as I was about to close the curtain, I noticed a big white object coming down the middle of the street.
It looked like a huge sheet of tagboard. As it got nearer, it came into focus. Two young boys seated on a plastic sled had made a sail out of what looked like a partial bed sheet, and the wind was blowing them down the ice-covered street.
As soon as I had grabbed my camera, they were gone. I waited for them to come back, but never saw them again. Perhaps they just kept going and eventually arrived in the Twin Cities.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Kindness is like snow; it beautifies everything it covers.