Posted October 18, 2021in Stray Thoughts
The requirements for becoming a teacher were always straightforward: Earn a college degree in education, take enough classes in your area of specialty, practice your teaching skills for a semester as a student teacher. Politicians have added a new skill this year in some states: Be a mind-reader. That’s what
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Posted October 12, 2021in Stray Thoughts
Richard Deming, the son of a grain elevator worker and grocery store clerk from small-town South Dakota, is a modest, soft-spoken man. He has spent the majority of his adult life with people when they are most vulnerable — when they or loved ones are fighting cancer. Ron Fournier came
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Posted September 27, 2021in Stray Thoughts
Do the folks in politics think we are asleep? Do they really believe no one is paying attention to what politicians are up to?It’s not surprising if you have acid indigestion these days. A few examples illustrate why I might need a tanker truck of Maalox.SENATE RACE — The comments
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Posted September 13, 2021in Stray Thoughts
When the anniversary of some tragedy rolls around, we are reminded of what was lost in those events. We reflect on the lives that were taken and the upheaval those deaths brought to their loved ones, their friends and their communities. What might have been — that’s often a topic
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Posted September 07, 2021in Stray Thoughts
Let’s set aside our views on abortion. Instead, let’s consider one aspect of the new Texas abortion law that took effect last week. All of us should be able to agree on this, whether we find abortions abominable or support a woman’s right to end her pregnancy: The enforcement mechanism
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Posted August 31, 2021in Stray Thoughts
The news out of Afghanistan last week about the terrorist bombing at the airport in Kabul brought fresh heartache — and old memories — to Iowa. A native of Red Oak, Marine Cpl. Daegan Page, 23, was among 13 members of the U.S. military who died in the blast. Page
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Posted August 23, 2021in Stray Thoughts
Iowa’s three state universities made a U-turn this summer, and they now are headed down the road toward secrecy with some hiring decisions. The about-face should trouble taxpayers of this state. It also should bother members of the Legislature, who have expressed concern in recent years that the universities are
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Posted August 18, 2021in Stray Thoughts
The man who answered the door at a farm house west of Bloomfield one afternoon in the early 1970s was an imposing figure, even without that thick beard on his chin. Gideon Yutzy was a member of the Old Order Amish religion. He was the patriarch of a family that
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Posted August 09, 2021in Stray Thoughts
Here is one of the persistent questions rattling around in my head: Why are some well-educated people seemingly so lacking in common sense and good judgment? I’m thinking about Andrew Cuomo, New York’s governor for the past 10 years. Cuomo is hanging on to his job by a thread. His
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Posted August 04, 2021in Stray Thoughts
U.S. Court of Appeals said University of Iowa administrators engaged in clear discrimination. In recent years, Republicans and Democrats in the Iowa Legislature often agree on little. But they were nearly unanimous this spring in supporting an important piece of legislation — a bill requiring faculty and administrators at the
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