Stargazing - by Eli Lutgens

Talent wins games; teamwork wins championships

This past Friday morning I made the 1.5-hour drive to the Xcel Energy Center for the annual Minnesota state high school wrestling tournament. Waseca County sent 13 wrestlers, all of whom I worked to keep track of for two days. In the end I had the privilege of photographing three medalists:...

People care enough to say something

Hanging on the wall in my office are numerous pictures, sayings and mementos. Among them is a copy of the first newspaper my dad published after he purchased the New Richland Star in 2005. I feel very lucky to have it, since the only copy I’ve ever found happened to be squirreled away in my dad’s...

Revelations at 3:30 a.m. on a Sunday

I couldn’t sleep Saturday evening into Sunday. Finally, I got up and wrote the following. I prayed a lot these last two months for the First Congregational Church in New Richland. I was deeply saddened when I learned my lifelong church was in the process of closing. I can kindly report those...

The lifeblood of small towns

It’s been a rather ‘newsy’ week at the paper. Friday afternoon Deb Bently walked into the office and informed me the mayor of New Richland was escorted out of the NRHEG School building, where he has worked for the past three years. Rumors were and are flying. Unfortunately not much can be...

Should you play Yu-Gi-Oh in church?

I’ve had the idea for a while to start sharing all of my newspaper stories beginning with the first. The problem is, or really, the thing is, the newspaper keeps printing and I get caught up in the day-to-day, the week-to-week life of telling the current stories. This week and last were prom:...

The opposite of déjà vu

Numerous times this week I thought of someone, and they either called me, texted me, or walked in my front door moments later. First, I was driving to work and thought of my friend Jake. I intended to give him an update on a life situation (positive) and hadn’t stopped to see him. As I was...

What do you ask a congressman?

I had the opportunity to attend a recent fundraiser in Waseca for Congressman Brad Finstad, our local representative in the United State House of Representatives. The most surprising part, for me, were the people I spoke with while in attendance. One attendee, a Pioneer reader, gave me a hug...

Dorky conversations are my favorite

I’ve been rewatching a series called “The Newsroom.” The show focuses on TV journalists, mainly a broadcast journalist and his team based in Atlanta, Georgia. In the pilot episode, the show begins with main character Will McAvoy giving a response to a question from a lecture hall in college....

I really had nothing to worry about

I’m sitting here working late at night on the paper, Monday evening. As I’m writing headlines, I pause at Al Batt’s. Choosing headlines, especially for opinion pieces like columns, is a balancing act. In a few words I have to attract attention to the piece while also reflecting the writer’s...

Writers can't please everyone

Each person has a distinct voice. When I read stories in the newspaper those voices are loud, clear and unique to each of the Pioneer’s writers. I sometimes wonder if others read in the same way I do. It’s quite enjoyable. I can always tell when Deb Bently has done significant work to a...