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Getting history straight during trip to Europe

Columns

When I write one of these, it’s like sewing a rug. I take a bunch of ideas and stitch them together till I have a column that I can shake outside and put on the floor. Today, I have a lot of loose ends. These are remnants from our trip to Europe in June. Instead of rug, it might come out looking like a bunch of rags. We spent a week in the Czech Republic and a week in Poland with two daughters, a son-in-law, and a 10-year-old grandson. Part of that was seeking ancestral places. Part of it was touristing. Both those countries were behind the Iron Curtain 50 years ago when I ...

Fritz showed passion as a reporter

Letters

I worked in the Journal newsroom for 24 years, about 20 of which beside Fritz Busch. During that time, I met many writers from whom I learned many, many different tricks of the trade. Some wrote with enviable flair, others with concise clarity. Longtime Journal editor Kevin Sweeney, with both. But almost never, or perhaps simply never, did I meet a reporter with a more brightly burning passion for news. Fritz is a news hound. No news is uninteresting to him. He simply sniffs out the quirky, the clever, the silly, the sublime... Or perhaps news finds him. Fritz would tread through a ...

In the ‘70s, musicals found Jesus

Columns

NEW ULM – By the late 1960s, the musical film genre was at a low point and looked to religion for salvation. The New Ulm Film Society will explore this musical revival with a screening of 1973’s “Jesus Christ Superstar.”  The screening will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8 at the New Ulm Library. In the early 1970s, musicals weird place. For decades, the musical genre was among the most successful genres. That trend continued into the 1960s, but by the end of the decades studios were starting to see diminishing returns. Audiences were turning away from the big lavish ...

Thumbs up/down

Editorials

THUMBS DOWN Sleepy Eye school year starts with a lockdown The soft lockdown at Sleepy Eye Public and Catholic Schools on Sept. 1 is a frustrating start to the school year. The reason for the lockdown was a social media post involving images of Sleepy Eye Public and St. Mary’s combined with threatening language. Sleepy Eye Police investigated and took an adult male student into custody, but based on information obtained in the investigation, there never was a threat to the public or the school. The whole thing was part of a nationwide social media prank trend that can be adapted to ...

Thanks to Fritz for dedicated service

Letters

I want to congratulate our good friend Fritz Busch on his retirement from full-time reporting at The Journal, and to thank him for his tireless service in New Ulm, Sleepy Eye, Brown County, and the surrounding communities. If you were like me, you raced to the end of the article and, thankfully, together we learned Fritz plans to continue being a part-time correspondent. His experience, institutional knowledge, fairness, and steady presence will remain available to the communities he covers. Thank you, Fritz, for your dedication to local journalism and for helping ensure that the ...

Answering common questions about elections and voting

Columns

These are brief answers to commonly asked questions about elections and voting in Minnesota. For more information see www.Vote411 or www.sos.mn.gov/elections-voting. What are the qualifications for voting in MN? To vote in Minnesota, you must be: • A U.S. citizen • At least 18 years old on Election Day (16- & 17-year-olds can pre-register) • A resident of Minnesota for 20 days • Not currently incarcerated for a felony conviction • Not under a court order that revokes your right to vote When is identification required for voting in MN? Identification and ...