Columns

Happy New Year!  We are all so excited for 2023 and the wonderful updates and changes it will bring to our building with our renovation project. We hope you are excited as well. We will continue our music in the library series after our renovation is complete. We have several programs scheduled for January so you’ll want to be sure to check them out. In partnership with AARP, the library is hosting another Smart Driver Course on Thursday, Jan. 12 at 1 p.m. Call or visit the library to register. There is a materials fee due the day of the class. Angela is hosting a final coloring program on Jan. 17 at 1 p.m. If you have ever attended a library coloring program or always wanted ...

Who am I supposed to hate, again? For years I taught a graduate class, Identity Conflict, and I would begin the term by noting that trying to list the composite identity elements of any one individual would show that, indeed, we are unique. No two humans share an exact measure of identities. Even twins bi...

I’ve always loved gardening. No, I’m going to take that a step further: I’ve always loved growing things.  Growing things - as in flowers, vegetables, friendships, babies and kids, this column, faith, my marriage, knowledge, compassion, kindness and most importantly love. And more, ...

As Montanans, we care for each other. Across the rural-urban divide, generational divide, and Brawl of the Wild divide. Of all our constituents across Montana, the most deserving are our elderly neighbors who are on Medicaid benefits. They have served Montana well, and at this final stage in their lives seek...

Two a.m. Boink! My eyes pop open. It’s Christmas Eve, but it’s not that I just heard Santa wandering through the house. It’s far more banal: gotta use the bathroom. I crawl out of bed, step bare-assed into . . . oh my God . . . a learning experience. Another one! The heat was off. The...

Lately I’ve been interested in happiness - scientifically speaking, of course. That sounds counterintuitive, oxymoronic even. How can the cut and dried factual-based world of science have anything to do with something as instinctive and emotional as happiness? Turns out they have more in common than...

A new year brings with it new hope for a new beginning.  As the ancient saying goes, the old has died that the new may be tried. And so we celebrate the happy holiday time in the spirit that the year to come will bring more peace, good will, and good faith. The outbreak of modern war in Europe will o...

Eight of us lounged around the table, candlelight flickering on crumpled napkins and cracker crumbs. It was the tail end of our yearly holiday party for our neighbors, and our guests – ranging from 30-somethings to 60-somethings – seemed reluctant to leave. Nor did we want them to. Swapping stori...

They sat indiscriminately on the clearance rack marked down like a thousand percent from their initial price. Hand towels. Not your everyday, ordinary, run-of-the-mill hand towels. These happened to be emblazoned with the letter “P” as in the first letter of my last name. I contemplated my good f...

I’m not a pro-marijuana guy. I voted against Montana’s adult-use cannabis initiative (I-190) in the 2020 election. However, since Montanans approved the initiative and recreational marijuana has taken effect in our state, I’ve been committed to following the will of the voters and making su...