columns

I recently returned from two months in Sarasota, where I spent most of my time at the swimming pool, chatting with other oldtimers, most of whom know that I'm a retired journalist. To hear them tell it journalism as we know it is heading for a final crisis and within a week or so...

I was catching up on some household chores and thinking about a topic for the next column. A song came on the radio, U2's "Beautiful Day." I knew in a fraction of a second what the topic would be and could see the sentences developing in my mind with each chord change; like putting...

I've been told multiple times that I should write a book about my life. Some of my friends have equated some of it to a talk show episode. I'm inclined to agree.

It's almost spring (hope it quits snowing before this reaches you!) and it's almost GALA time—April 21 at the River Falls Golf Club. Out of the past comes CABSTOCK and ALL your great memories of those days. If you are, like me, old enough to remember or sentimental enough to...

Half a century ago, I worked as a bartender in the elegant old Hotel Eau Claire. Business was slow late at night and so I looked forward to having John, the assistant night manager, drop by to talk about life. He was elderly, stooped and had worked for the Boss Chain, an Iowa corporation,...

Sue Goblirsch walked up to Chris Blasius' city work desk 17 years ago and asked her if she'd like to enter a team in River Falls' Relay For Life (raising research money for the American Cancer Society). "Being I'm a 'don't know how to say no' person," said Blasius, "that's where...

One of Wellhaven Senior Living's goals is to keep everyone in our building safe. There are rules and regulations our community must abide by to ensure the safety of the people within our grounds and buildings. Our community is equipped with an alarm system and personal pendants that...

Public policy needs to be based on fact, not emotion. For years Florida authorities able to channel a disturbed and dangerous teen into constant psychiatric care instead transferred their responsibility elsewhere. Inaction led to the Parkland massacre. But does complete system failure...

"It was the worst of times; it was the best of times" to paraphrase Charles Dickens. The last story I'll write this year about Sarasota began when my Beautiful Wife, the well-dressed Doyen of Walnut Street, decided she needed a few golf lessons, so she could impress her brother when...