Stargazing - by Eli Lutgens

A year full of memories in one evening

My father, Deb and I all attended the Minnesota Newspaper Association’s banquet last week to accept awards we had won after entering the statewide Better Newspaper Writing Contest. This was the second time I have ever entered myself for an award. The first time was two years ago with the...

Lost and looking for answers

We’ve lost a lot of good people this year. That’s not something one expects to say in the first days of February. This week it was Brent Possin. Two weeks ago it was Brian Sommers. Brent farmed just up the road from my mom’s house. I went to school with his oldest daughter. I sat...

'Big doors swing on little hinges'

Last week, I was too immersed in the loss of Jane Wagner to write about much else. Our community lost another legend last week, Winston Evenson. For Veteran's Day in 2021, I really wanted to write about Winston. Each year my staff and I go in search of recommendations regarding which veteran...

She breathed live and love into the world

You know the feeling like someone’s standing right behind you? That feeling came over me Sunday evening as I worked on the newspaper. Slowly at first, then more strongly. I spent the day working on the Jane Wagner story, reading stories, talking to people, and finally, putting ink to paper...

60,000 words of reflection

This year I wrote and published more than 60,000 words in my weekly columns. If you’ve read them all, you can add one more to the number of books you’ve finished, since that’s a typical word count for a full-length publication. I found out this week the Minnesota Newspaper Association will be...

What makes a great coach?

Friday morning Mr. Tim Loonan called me. I missed his call so I stopped in to see him. He appeared pleasantly surprised as he informed me that Waseca’s Youth Football Association would be holding an event on Monday he thought I might like to attend. He was right, and I’m glad I attended...

Kind words make beautiful mountains

Many things run through my mind each week as I put the paper together. More accurately, after and before the paper is put together. As I perform the electronic task of piecing the pages together, I think entirely about where things will go; I also worry whether any stories, pictures, and cutlines...

Weekend brings full"fill"ing holiday

I successfully enjoyed my third Thanksgiving dinner Sunday afternoon. Finally, Thanksgiving can be put to bed. (“Put to bed” is a newspaper term for when the newspaper is sent to the printer.) I was enjoying some time with friends this weekend when someone present made a comment about...

Three different celebrations

I successfully turned 26 years old on Friday. To celebrate I had lunch with my mother and spent the evening with my friends. One of my new friends learned it was my birthday Friday evening and insisted on baking me a cake. So on Sunday when I came to visit, she surprised me with a...

I was certain Thanksgiving was yesterday

As I look back on this past week, I can’t help expressing my appreciation. First, I appreciate the people of our Waseca County community. If good, hard-working, positive-minded people are “gems,” I spend my time surrounded by diamonds. Examples from this week are the two activity directors I...