This quote from the Bible caught my eye for what it says about winter – a season that is fast approaching. It concerns what makes a “capable wife.” Let’s de-gender that and consider the “She” below to be any “capable person”:

She is not afraid for her household when it snows,
for all her household are clothed in crimson.

Proverbs 31: 21

Here’s something I’ve pondered occasionally: We all know the long-term demographic shifts that have occurred in the United States as the warmer parts of the country – the South and Southwest – grow at a faster rate than the rest of the country. As these regions grow, that means a corresponding decrease in relative power in northern regions, with the possible exception of the Pacific Northwest. I can understand how that shift of power will work in political terms as those southern regions gain a greater share of seats in Congress.

But what will be the more subtle changes associated with that demographic shift? I suspect that with more centers of power in the south, the perceived disadvantages of the northern climate will hinder northern regions. For example, why establish a corporate headquarters in the North if a majority of people in the country are accustomed to warmer climates? For the same reason, if you’re a southerner, why schedule any meeting in the North between October and April? Why go to school or take a job in the north if you’ve never lived in a cold climate?

It’s difficult to say how much these considerations will hinder the North, but I expect they’ll be real, and the Upper Midwest will probably suffer more since it is colder and more isolated than other northern regions.

Last weekend we made what may be the last trip of the year to the family cabin in northwestern Wisconsin. It was cool and rainy on Saturday, with lows in the forties. Sunday, however, was sunny, and we enjoyed a beautiful drive home. I appreciated the landscape of this part of the state – the rolling hills, the farms, the forests – and it looked beautiful with the first touch of fall color.

Here’s a driving route that is underappreciated, I think: State Highway 65 from Interstate 94 north to U.S. Highway 8. It’s a twisty, up-and-down, quirky road that’s popular with motorcyclists. It’s especially curvy and up-and-down (can’t think of a better word) from Star Prairie to Highway 8; that section is a bit rough right now as well. Also nice is U.S. Route 10 from Prescott to  Ellsworth. I love seeing the isolated, forested hills there, looming like great ships over the flat farmland.

About a year ago, Minnesota Public Radio began asking listeners to help contribute ideas to a new show that they planned called The Loop. I answered the call, posted some ideas on the Loop web site, and went to a couple of meetings in St. Paul. I enjoyed meeting MPR reporter and Loop host Jeff Horwich, whom I believe is now focusing on The Loop, and producer/web master Andrew Haeg.

The show is now on monthly on Friday nights at nine and is recorded in front of a live audience. The last show (which I was not involved in) focused on crime and it contained humor (including satire of local news), personal commentary, interviews, and songs. It reminded me a bit of “This American Life” because of the way it allows people to tell their stories. At the same time, its variety show quality makes it a little bit like “A Prairie Home Companion.” It will be nice to see how the show evolves. Regardless of its outcome, host Jeff Horwich appears to have a bright future in radio and perhaps beyond.

This has sat on my desk for a while, but it’s too important not to post. In August Paul Krugman published a column in the New York Times about growing inequality in this country. He described the period from 1980 to the present as “The New Gilded Age.” He wrote that between 1980 and 2004, “real wages in manufacturing fell 1 percent, while the real income of the richest 1 percent – people with incomes of more than $277,000 in 2004 – rose 135 percent.”

Here’s more: Read the rest of this entry »

This site’s Selected Entries page has been updated over the last few months. See especially my interview with Bruce Anderson of RENew Northfield, an energy visionary. That interview got me started doing advocacy for nonmotorized transportation.

I’ve also added a page for links, which has a modest two so far (!), including The Glebe Cow Drooled, a new blog by my friend Richard Cretan, who is a wonderful writer. The title is from a sentence in Thomas Hardy’s anti-war poem, “Channel Firing.”

This being the fifth anniversary of September 11, I thought I would add my words to the many already written or voiced. Of course I do remember vividly what I was doing when I heard about the attacks on that day.

I was living in the Princeton, New Jersey, area on September 11, 2001, and was at work. I had just come back from a meeting when people started to talk about planes hitting the two World Trade Center towers – the Twin Towers, the landmarks that first marked Manhattan on the horizon when taking the northeast corridor train in from New Jersey. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been working hard to organize and promote the upcoming visit of Steve Clark to Northfield, discussed in my July 26 entry (see that entry for more on Steve also). Steve’s visit will be October 5, a week later than previously planned. He graciously agreed to change the date when a local conflict emerged. He’ll be giving a public talk at 7 pm at the Northfield High School Auditorium entitled “How Biking and Walking Will Renew the Northfield Area.” See the upcoming.org listing for more info. Read the rest of this entry »