Vietnam War: “No recounting of the Vietnam War, or rather the American War in Vietnam, will satisfy everyone. The subject is too vast, too complex, and too divisive.” – Jim Laurie, correspondent for ABC and NBC. Nowadays, Memorial Day parades include a color...
Robo call: A form of ignorant marketing in which an organization, often a political campaign, uses a machine to dial your phone number and leave a prerecorded message, deliberately wasting your time and subjecting you to a dehumanizing experience in order to save the...
One language: Bilingualism for the individual is fine, but not for a country. – S.I. Hayakawa Finding qualified employees often is a challenge for South Dakota businesses. Retail has struggled for years to attract workers, partly because of lower wages. Now, some in...
Good Samaritan: A person who gratuitously gives help or sympathy to those in distress. Luke 10:30-37. – Dictionary.com As quick as mosquito bite, the heat thermometer in our car shot up to the top of the gauge. In the outskirts of Minneapolis in heavy traffic, a...
State Fair: An annual competitive and recreational gathering of a state’s population, usually held in late summer or early fall. It is a larger version of a county fair, often including only exhibits or competitors that have won in their categories in the more local...
History: You don’t change the course of history by turning the faces of portraits to the wall. – Jawaharlal Nehru When I looked up at the carving of the three Confederate leaders at Stone Mountain, Ga., in the late 1950s, I was impressed with the size and detail in...
Hall of Famer: A hall of fame is a list of individuals usually chosen by a group of electors to mark their fame in their field. – Wikipedia With legs like oversized iron pistons, and a neck and shoulders that resembled a marble bust of an ancient Greek Olympian, Dale...
Craftsman: A person who practices or is highly skilled in a craft. – Dictionary.com It wasn’t splitting an atom or removing a brain tumor. But as I watched Don Wetzel and his crew lift our old farmhouse off its footings, I marveled at the smoothness of the operation....
Family: A basic social unit consisting of parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not: the traditional family. — Dictionary.com Lyle Jeffs isn’t exactly a household name, but his arrest last month placed the...
Public service: “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” — Nelson Mandela At a recent wedding reception a woman I know...
