In my humble opinion - by Deb Bently

A story worth experiencing

I watched the new movie “Weight of the Crown” on YouTube earlier this week. Probably because I don’t spend time on Facebook, I was likely among the last people in the county to learn about it. Some surprises, however, can be wondrous. Of course I knew of Arik Matson. Of course I understood...

A privilege to report the news

As many of you know, I was an English teacher at NRHEG Secondary for more than 25 years. Any of you who are former students, you may be interested to learn “the shoe is on the other foot” now, since producing a weekly column is a little like being told “Write an essay on any topic.” Just like...

Ordinary or simply overlooked?

Each time I put gas in my car, or sometimes on long drives, I speculate that there are still molecules of gas in the tank from the very first time the vehicle–a 2011 Chevy–was driven. Given the age of the vehicle and the number of miles it’s traveled, that may seem far fetched, but it has more...

A real pair of dingalings

For last week’s paper, I wrote a news piece about how the Waseca police and fire departments and the Waseca county sheriff’s office are entering into a “bell-ringing contest.” That is, each will take a two-hour time slot ringing the bell for Salvation Army donations in front of Waseca’s Walmart...

No way to count all the blessings

It’s Thanksgiving week, and so I ask myself what I have to say about the topic of being thankful. I think back to a high school writing class I taught for a decade or more. It was titled “Extreme Nonfiction.” The idea behind the class was a response to student claims that “We could write a good...

Was the cardinal just coincidence?

The word “coincidence” is made up of two parts. “Co-” is a prefix that means “together,” as in “cooperate” (work together) or “coordinate” (plan together). Joined with “incidence” it means “happen together.” So when we say something is “coincidence” we’re saying they simply chance to have...

A deeper view of the matter of honor

I worked fairly closely this past week with a group of local veterans. My task was to write a story about the “honor guard,” a group of nearly 30 who commit their time to attend the funerals of fellow veterans and present military honors for the family. You will find the result of those efforts...

Truly a privilege to share their stories

For the sake of the New Richland Star Eagle and this edition of the Pioneer, I have interviewed two breast cancer survivors this week. I feel truly privileged to have been given an excuse to meet with Hartland’s Ronda Staloch and Waseca’s Bea O’Brien and have a rich conversation about their...

Conversing in the field

He had me at “sandhill cranes.” For the sake of this week’s paper, I interviewed a couple of Steele County sportsmen who took part in the governor’s pheasant hunting opener. One of them, Al Steinbauer, was in the field with Governor Walz and his companions. Al was impressed, by the way, with...

Moments in time, some faster than others

The other morning I had a ceramic “coffee” cup in my hands. I had just brewed some tea and was crossing the kitchen, filled with anticipation for the nice warm beverage on what was a rather chilly morning. I have no explanation why, but the cup slipped from my fingers: The next fraction of a...