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Community Voices

First snow of the year creates anticipation for all ages

Early November is a time to look ahead; to the holidays, the upcoming new year and the first snowfall of the season. People were talking about the first snowfall a week ago. It looked like the Marshall area might get at least one or two inches. It wasn’t supposed to be a snowstorm, just a bit of snow as a start to winter. On Saturday morning the prediction appeared to be coming true. I woke up to snow flurries. The first thing I did after getting dressed was to have some coffee. I enjoyed just having coffee and watching the flurries. The snow accumulated on cars but not on the ...

Living with the paranoia of DEI

When I was young, diversity meant that I knew some Lutheran kids. Around here, we were mostly German descended with a scattered few Irish and British. Norwegians lived by Hanska. Native Americans lived on the reservation. The Sleepy Eye of my youth is gone. Hispanic families started coming for work forty years ago. Thank God, they did. Otherwise, the economy around here would be significantly less than it is. Hispanics are indispensable in every occupation now. We all grew up learning that America is a “melting pot.” It was a point of pride. As kids, we understood that America ...

A season for empathy: Standing with those without shelter

November is recognized as National Homelessness Awareness Month—As the weather turns colder and the season of giving begins, this month serves as an important reminder of the power of compassion, community, and advocacy. It’s an opportunity for all of us to learn more, challenge misconceptions, and support efforts that provide shelter, resources, and hope for those facing homelessness. Unfortunately, misconceptions about homelessness remain widespread, often clouding understanding and hindering progress. One of the most persistent myths is that homelessness is a personal choice or ...

A houseful of memories

I have found that it’s difficult to clean out an ancestral farmhouse when history keeps getting in the way. Especially when it’s my family’s history. After delaying the chore for far too long, I have thrown myself into clearing out the home where my seven siblings and I grew up. A house that was built by our homesteading ancestors and is freighted with more than a century’s worth of memories. Deciding what to toss and what to keep is taking longer than the actual act of cleaning. Here’s a black-and-white photo of my Norwegian immigrant great-great uncles, Jens and Ole ...

A message on Veterans Day

Editor’s Note: Because of the federal holiday and no mail delivery on Tuesday the Independent will not be publishing a printed paper on Tuesday. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s column is running in the weekend edition ahead of the Veterans Day holiday. On this and every Veterans Day, our nation honors those who served and the sacrifices they made to defend our nation. Since the founding of our democracy, each person who has worn the uniform has left their mark on our nation as they defended our freedom. As we pay tribute to all our veterans today, I am thinking about patriots like ...

Edmund Fitzgerald: a lasting legacy after 50 years

There’s something special about landmark anniversaries and the media coverage that they attract. We’ll have one such event on Monday. It’s the 50th anniversary of the wreck of the Great Lakes freighter Edmund Fitzgerald. It sank to the bottom of Lake Superior in a fierce storm that produced massive waves. I remember hearing talk of the shipwreck as a child. It put the Great Lakes in the spotlight. Even out on the prairie on the opposite side of Minnesota, people were very interested. It was the biggest shipwreck since the Titanic went down in 1912. History is filled with ...