Opinion
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Supreme Court: State actors may not lead school prayer
In 1962, in Engel v. Vitale, the U.S. Supreme Court, in one of the most controversial decisions of the Warren Court era, held school-led prayer unconstitutional for violating the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. Engel was the first school...
Biden's hyperbole is getting ridiculous
President Biden and those around him have a fondness for using historical disasters as points of comparisons to raise the level of outrage over outbreaks of violence and unrest that have plagued the...
What I've learned from Enes' freedom
“A few weeks ago, I was blessed to spend time with Turkish NBA star turned American human rights advocate Enes Kanter Freedom in the Peace Garden State. “His message is bold, yet simple. His message is brave, yet shared. It’s something we take...
Let's unleash the entrepreneur
I started my first business in the fifth grade when I convinced a neighbor to allow me to cut her grass with her electric lawn mower. That project ended in immediate failure. The mower was powered by...
Make your communication handwritten and heartfelt
One can make the argument that communication may be the single most important aspect of human existence. I couldn't agree more. As a professional communicator, I strive daily to communicate as effecti...
The Supreme Court and religion: Entering the maze
The U.S. Supreme Court’s first major ruling on the meaning of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause was in Everson v. Board of Education, in 1947, when it upheld a state law that provided busing of students to parochial schools. The...
We the People: Brown and racial equality in public education
In his unanimous opinion for the Supreme Court in the watershed case of Brown v. Board of Education (1954), Chief Justice Earl Warren asked the foundational question: “Does segregation of children in public schools based solely on race, deprive...
America the Beautiful or America the Feudal?
On his first day of his Presidency, President Biden signed many executive orders, including #14008, also known as "The America the Beautiful Initiative." In this simple moniker is a strong reminder of...
Earth Day is not just a day... It's a way
A way to be, a way to think and a way to live everyday, unless you plan to move to another planet. It is acknowledged and celebrated Friday, April 22 each year and like the song from around the first...
Think of this as your sanctuary
It all started 10 years ago with a gray, cable knit sweater, a beautiful hand-knit piece a friend culled from her husband’s closet. “It doesn’t fit him anymore,” she insisted, holding out the neatly folded sweater smelling faintly of...
We the People: The Brown decision and America's commitment to equality
“If it was not the most important decision in the history of the court,” Justice Stanley Reed observed of Brown v. Board of Education, “it was very close.” The Supreme Court’s opinion in Brown, delivered on May 17, 1954, held segregation...
Earl Warren: Finding "The Notion of Equality"
President Dwight D. Eisenhower's recess appointment of Earl Warren to the chief justiceship of Supreme Court on September 30, 1953, constituted a watershed mark in the history of the court. His...
Learning to appreciate the regular flu
I recommend the seasonal flu — but please allow me to explain. About a week ago, I felt suddenly rundown and weak. I just wanted to lie down. I thought nothing of it at the time. My family is facing...
Mourning the loss of a loved one is not a disease
My wife of 45 years died six months ago this week. I have been processing her loss ever since. But the American Psychiatric Association now says that I have only six more months to heal myself, and that if I blow the deadline, I should be clinically...
The Brown decision: Twists and turns shape the Constitution
The Supreme Court's landmark ruling in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, the most-celebrated civil rights decision in our nation's history, is a reminder of the unpredictable twists and turns...
Word games are my daily therapy
I’m a word nerd. Words are fun and games to me, a lifelong writer. I enjoy searching for the right synonym or phrase to spice up an otherwise ordinary article. At the newspaper office, crafting...
Letter to the Editor: North Dakota and its people are outstanding
Just a note - do the people up here understand they are so different from most of those around the big cities?? I moved here from South Carolina three years ago after my wife died - it's my Norwegian grandparents home from 1905. I put a house on...
Letter to the Editor: April is Fair Housing Month
Every April, we celebrate Fair Housing Month in honor of the Fair Housing Act that was passed on April 11, 1968. The Fair Housing Act prohibits housing discrimination based on race, color, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation),...
We the People: Justice Harlan's imperishable dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson
Justice John Marshall Harlan was the only dissenter from the U.S. Supreme Court's infamous ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson, in 1896, in which the majority invoked the "separate but equal" test to uphold...
What is a woman?
I’m glad there’s widespread confusion about what a woman is. I’ve been confused my entire life. In the most basic sense, the difference between a male and a female is that a female has two X...
Street Trees: The roots of a strong town
As a kid, I remember going on a mission with the block kids to discover which neighbor had the tallest tree. Given that the village’s population was only 100 people, it didn’t take us long: In less than five minutes, we were able to run from one...
Opinion: Ready to say goodbye to the time changes
If I could, I think I'd wake up with the sun. There's nothing better than rising with the sun as it streams through the west window of my bedroom. This time of year, I'm usually still in a stupor from...
Will this be your best spring yet?
A tiny portion of my "day job" at a farm-and-home cooperative involves writing radio commercials and on-hold phone messages. More often than I like to admit, I get stuck for a closing zinger and...
Plessy v. Ferguson: An infamous landmark ruling
Not all landmark Supreme Court decisions are admirable. Some are frankly infamous, including Plessy v. Ferguson. In 1896, in Plessy, the court constitutionalized racial segregation in the South. The court’s opinion plundered Black Americans...
The tombstone market becomes personal
Just when I was planning to get one, the tombstone market turned to dust and everyone has to wait for memorial stones because the supply line died before we did. All we can say to bereaved friends,...
