Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/category/prairie-lights/page/15/)
Years ago, in an essay I wrote to explain how I had become an amateur collector of old books, I talked about discovering the pleasures of a good hardback. “The very weight of a book,” I wrote, “the sturdy feel of its pages, the soft thump of a book falling closed: all these conspired to persuade me that mere paperbacks were no longer enough.” (more…) Continue Reading →
If I had to choose my favorite story out of the 600-some pieces that have been posted on Last Best News in the 17 months of its existence, I think I’d go with our story on the Brockway Dairy Day Rodeo. (more…) Continue Reading →
I regret to inform you that there will be no Prairie Lights column today. When I launched this basically one-man operation, I was warned to be on the alert for signs of burnout, things like neglecting to shave for several weeks, sacrificing small animals on the altar of Google Analytics and finding myself, unaccountably, in a closed casket. (more…) Continue Reading →
Maybe Billings School District 2 should adopt the naming system used in some cities and simply assign numbers to new schools. The soon-to-be-named building on the West End would thus be known as Public Middle School No. 6. God forbid it should be named after anyone whose life might serve as a shining example to generations of young students. (more…) Continue Reading →
I suppose it’s still possible that Billings Gazette editor Darrell Ehrlick, in his Sunday column, will formally salute Chuck Johnson and Mike Dennison, the two experienced reporters whose last day as employees of Lee Enterprises was Friday. With more than 70 years of reporting experience between them, Lee’s Capitol bureau team certainly deserved a proper send-off. But because Lee treated them so shabbily, and because it seems to believe that closing the bureau is merely a cosmetic change in the way it covers the news, a proper tribute seems most unlikely. (more…) Continue Reading →
Five hundred trips later, I may have seen the light at the end of the tunnel. The number could be an exaggeration. Maybe I’ve only driven between Montana and the Twin Cites 70, 80 or 90 times. However many it’s been, we will be making the drive a lot less often. Our daughter and her husband and their daughter will be moving to California this summer. Continue Reading →
Graduates, first let me apologize for not actually appearing at your graduation ceremony. But surely you will understand, even if your parents do not, that flesh-and-blood commencement speakers are relics of the past. Indeed, some of those speakers were themselves relics, tired old politicians and so-called self-made men who dispensed fool’s-gold wisdom about “the real world.” (more…) Continue Reading →
I have a new hero. His name is Bryan Henderson and he is a 51-year-old software engineer from San Jose, California. On Wikipedia, where he is one of thousands of volunteer editors, he is known by the pseudonym “Giraffedata.” (more…) Continue Reading →
Now that the 2015 Montana Legislature has adjourned, lots of regular Montanans are confused about what actually happened in Helena, which coincidentally is the condition a good many legislators found themselves in when it was finally over. The 64th session, or Legislature LXIV as fans of state government affectionately call it, featured a raft of complicated legislation, parliamentary maneuvering worthy of Machiavelli and the usual ration of ding-dong bills meant to deal with life-or-death issues like yoga pants. (more…) Continue Reading →
Turn me loose, set me free, somewhere in the middle of Montana. —Merle Haggard
When I lived in Missoula in the 1970s, it sometimes seemed that a week couldn’t go by without my being invited to a slide show. (more…) Continue Reading →
