Kristine Holmgren - Your Favorite Minnesota Writer
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The President, the children and your liberties

9/13/2009

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Pied Piper? 
I don't think so

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Pied Piper? Hardly. . .
When President Obama addressed the school children of America this month, few of us expected the outrage, furor and fear engineered to stop him.

In a small town in southern Minnesota, an elementary school teacher I know was forbidden to bring the address into his classroom.  His principal told him that if he did so, he would lose his job.

A middle school teacher in St. Paul was threatened with the same tactic.  Her principal told her that the address would be taped, previewed, discussed by faculty - and if found acceptable, presented to the students.  She too, was told that if she brought  the content into the classroom, she would lose her job.

"We need to protect our families," one of the principals said, "from this pied piper of health care."

You remember the legend of the Pied Piper.

The Pied Piper came to Hamelin to drive out the village rats.  All he needed, he said, was his pipe, his personality and a chance.


The year was 1284, and the little town of Hamelin, Germany was suffering from a rat infestation. When they thought all hope was lost, a marvelous man arrived, dressed in pied clothing.  He brought hope to the little town,

He played a musical pipe and promised the village elders he could lure the rats with a song.  He told them he could drive all the Hamelin rats into the  Weser River.  Once in the river, he promised they would drown and free Hamelin of the infestation.

The village elders agreed to pay him a handsome amount of gold if he would do as he promised,  And so the piper piped, the rats were eradicated from the land.  And if everyone had behaved as they promised, the story would have ended there.

But the elders refused to pay. The piper asked for what was promised him and the elders, knowing full well their problem was solved and they need not follow through on their agreement, refused. The piper was furious - and left Hamelin filled with rage.  Little did the elders know that the rage would turn against them.

It happened on the feast day of Saint John and Paul,  while the town elders were busy in church.  The children were playing in the town square when the piper returned. 

This time when he played his pipe, he called all the children of Hamelin to his side.

One hundred and thirty boys and girls followed him out of the town, where they were lured into a cave and never seen again. The village elders, devastated at their losses, tried to make sense of the disappearance of all the children.  The answer to their questions came from one little lame boy who, because he used a crutch,  was left behind as the others danced to the piper tune and disappeared in the mountain.  He alone survived to tell the tale.

Great story - but Obama is not a piper of Hamelin or anywhere else.  He is the president of the United States - the brightest and the best we have had in decades.

Even so - his desire to speak directly to our children about education, perseverance, courage and commitment threatened many people in this nation.  Not because the nation is afraid of the charisma of our dynamic leader.  No - they are afraid of him because he is the President of the United States, a Democrat and a strong, happy black man.

Parts of this country are frozen in racism.  Let's be frank about this - if Obama were tall, dark, handsome and white, no one would think twice about him speaking to American children.

But our president isn't white.  He's black.  He's aggressive with an agenda to change America.  His name is odd - and simple folks are frightened by him.

So much so that they don't want their children watching, hearing or talking about him.

Not a word of the speech has was published prior to its release.  Nonetheless, the speech became immediately controversial  because the White House issued a set of lesson plans for teachers.  These lesson plans included suggested ways for educators to encourage discussion of the speech.

The plans suggested that pupils write letters to themselves on what inspired them about the President and how they could help to achieve his goals.

Apparently that was too much for certain Americans.

I watched the speech.  He wasn't too much for me.  If I had school age children, I would have done whatever I needed to make certain their classroom was plugged in on the day he spoke.

But then - I'm a citizen of a nation who made a promise to us - to uphold the constitution of the United States of America.  I'm on his side.

And I've never been too fond of the village elders.





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Pouting will get you everywhere. . .

9/5/2009

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Sometimes it’s hard to be a gentleman– giving all your love to just one nation. 

        Sleep deprived, over caffeinated and intellectually bankrupt , Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) put away all pretense to Southern hospitality and went on the attack.

       The Senator’s target? President Obama, his stimulus package and creative fight to right the wrongs of the failing American economy. 

        “Scaring people is not leadership,” Graham said, referencing the President’s attempts to communicate with the American people. “ Writing an editorial that if you don’t pass this bad bill we’re going to have disaster — we’ve had enough presidents trying to scare people to make bad decisions.”        

          Graham’s comments over-viewed his contempt for the Obama’s administrative approach to open communication and reliance upon the feedback and input from the American people.

          Although exhausted from working more than any white man from South Carolina should have to, Graham yesterday found the energy to flail himself into a petulant rage on the Senate floor, protesting the President’s  efforts to save the American economy.

       Coming to the conclusion that the stimulus bill is an “orgy of spending,” for the poor, Graham openly yearned for the good old days when government supported stimulus served only the rich.

        “The process that’s led to this bill stinks,” he said. “There is no negotiating going on here.  Nobody is negotiating. We’re making this up as we go.   This is not the way you spend a trillion dollars.”

The Right Way to Spend a Trillion

        To be fair, it is important to acknowledge that as a long-time supporter of  failed Republican economic decision making, Graham knows a great deal about the correct way to spend a trillion dollars.  His comments signal his intention to hold-out for some old-time thinking to solve these new-age problems.

       “Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill set  (sic) down,”  he said, “and found a way to go forward with Social Security.”

        Of course, Graham seems to have forgotten that the Social Security administration is weaker today than ever before.  His comments signal an ignorance of the fact that the American  infrastructure is crumbling.  Federal financial systems are inept and bankrupt.

       But perhaps the Senator  is not exhausted afterall.  Puffed, privileged and petulant, perhaps the rages we hear from the Senator are the last gasps of an old era, yielding the the fresh winds of change. 


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Christ is risen; what abou the rest of us??

9/5/2009

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No one in my family believes in Easter anymore.

My grown daughters are both self-confessed atheists. My former husband would rather be in the woods, slogging around listening to the toads mate than in church. My brothers and sisters all died knowing this, this life, this is it.

And sometimes it’s hard to hold up this faith all by myself.

Church people don’t make it any easier. The churches I attend are over-populated with self-congratulating couples, trotting about in matching Sunday outfits, chatting nonstop about their fabulous getaways to the latest bed and breakfast, or their wonderful dinner party last night with Garrison Keillor and his darling wife. What was her name again?

I kid you not. This is what Presbyterians do for fun.

So, here I am, facing the Big One. The Resurrection Sunday. The holiday for which all other Sundays were born.

Christ is Risen – (as the signs say, he is risen “indeed.” I always giggle when I see that word…) and those of us who still believe in the power of the faith and the strength of the eternal metaphor – those of us who have taken vows and who hold them fast in every bargain — we want to be in the front row.

I’ll be there again this year. Alone.

Wearing, as always the obligatory Easter bonnet with all the frills and a big smile for all the kiddies in their cute little pastel frocks and over sized baby-sport coats.

And I’m glad he is risen. Indeed, I am.

My wish is for the church to rise as well. When it does, I’ll have a leg to stand on when I, once again, try to lure my wayward people back to worship.


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    My blog and welcome to it!

     Straight up, no-nonsense opinion.  Enjoy!

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Writing for the theatre requires imagination, enthusiasm and stamina.  Working in the gardens of the Cozy Cottage provides all three.  If you're ever in St. Paul, Minnesota, stop by to see me.  I'll be certain to pick a bouquet for you to take on the road, and pour you a cup of the coffee that makes Como Park famous. 
                    - Kristine 

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Some folks think that color detracts from language.  I feel the opposite.  Throwing the delight of nature into the center of a story deepens the appeal of the plot.  Listen for the way in which the environment explodes in my work - you'll appreciate the power of the peony and the quiet trust of the new tulip. 

                                  -Kristine 

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