Busy, busy, busy...

Remember when I told you that less here means more happening in my real life? 'Tis true...

The boss let me go at the little weekly newspaper in mid-February soon after complaining I brought him "two pages of anti-mining comments" and nothing positive from the County Board of Adjustments hearings setting conditions on the 24-hour frac sand mining wet plant set to operate in a township previously zoned rural and surreptitiously rezoned (with the county board, but not the township's blessing) to permit the plant, estimated to draw down thousands of gallons of water per minute to achieve their needs...

"But Jim..." said I.* "Everyone speaking at that meeting was against the plant locating there."

I forgot. In a small town, a publisher without a college degree who inherited his papers from papa, and a son who is the sports editor ("publisher" in name only) with a business, not a journalism, degree care more about scoring points with advertisers than accurate reporting...

Soon after I left, dontchaknow? They simply stopped covering the township meetings, and began publishing full-page color ads reassuring folks that frac sand mining is beneficial to all, despite the water drawdowns and expected truck traffic clogging two-lane rural roads... "Think of the jobs" becomes the misleading mantra; just ignore the towhship comprehensive growth plans that spell out residents' desire to remain rural and essentially a "bedroom" township. Plenty built out in the country relying on the rural zoning, never expecting an industrial plant as a new neighbor, with their outsized needs.)

Naturally, a lawsuit was filed (my county sure gets sued a lot; nevermind soliciting good legal advice in the first place -- the taxpayers will pick up the tab, win or lose...) The paper will give that cursory coverage though, because the corporation counsel just happens to be the son of the biggest butcher in the county...

Relationships matter most, dontchaknow? In small towns especially, you don't want to do too good a job rooting out honest facts, or have too much legal/document-reading knowledge to strongly question county administrators and staff... They're not used to a reporter not simply printing their puff, it seems, instead wondering why things are happening the way they are. (Especially when the questioner comes in the person of an intelligent, financially secure, single woman -- trust me, in a small town, some alleged "leader" men don't like to be topped by young[er] women in the smarts department...)

Accountability doesn't count so much as bringing in those ad dollars, and if scoring the full-pager in color means calling off the aggressive reporting dog, well -- some people have to make their money that way, sadly. God bless 'em...

Moving on, though -- naturally, I qualified for the unemployment as my firing was due to "communication style differences" (his words) and not a lack of ability to perform on my part, nor any neglect of my duties...

My new gig is working in the Cities, at a full-time temporary job grading the standardized tests the schoolkids these days have to take. What an eye opener. Many of my colleagues are retired teachers, a fun group, and like I said, the work is enjoyable in the short-term anyway. I'll get done at the end of May, which opens up the summer work opportunities up here...

I'm commuting over the famous Stillwater, Minn. lift bridge. (Do a Google search for the recent political ... coming together this decades-long project has inspired. One of the few Kumbaya political moments in recent days, it seems...) Start at 7:30 a.m. so my mornings are brisk...

What else? The flowering trees have finally come into their own up here. The sights, scents and their delicacy are beautiful, until the first wind/rain storm comes to humble them... perhaps tonight.

Our community garden in Rice Lake is tilled and ready. We're expecting a dry summer since we're so down on snow/rainfall this past season. Still, hope blooms eternal, and if you see gardening as a shared cooperative effort -- instead of just another way of competing with your neighbor -- it's something so inherently enjoyable to me... Let's see how I feel after Sunday's workday, fencing, spot tilling and plotting out who gets what where. Just kidding, I'm relatively young/flexible and don't expect so much soreness to set in after Sunday's efforts.

Well, that's about it here... How are things with you? (I'll blog more when I'm able.)

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* I recently read True Grit (what a treat), and seem to have picked up a bit on Portis' style... If only.