ERIC BERGESON
Creating contentment and tackling our discontent 
As bizarre as it sounds, research shows that the more affluent a society, the less content its people.
In tribal jungle societies, there simply is no depression. Their languages have no word for it.
By Eric Bergeson , December 16, 2011
We have to value those who stay
Those interested in the survival of small towns often cite one solution: We need to get our young people to stay.
However, according to the authors of the book “Hollowing Out the Middle,” which examines an actual small town in the Midwest, small-town schools prepare and encourage their best students to leave.
By Eric Bergeson , December 02, 2011
Driving when we shouldn’t
As I write this, there’s some ribs smoking on the grill. The mashed potatoes turned out just right. The squash needs a little more time in the oven.
It isn’t Thanksgiving yet, but it could be.
By Eric Bergeson , November 25, 2011
Cogs on the wheel
When President Woodrow Wilson outlined his goals for America’s fast-developing education system one hundred years ago, he said the following:
By Eric Bergeson , November 18, 2011
The first aunt Mildred
After reaching her 100th birthday last month, we wondered how long it would be before my great Aunt Olive found another reason to live.
It took one week.
By Eric Bergeson , November 11, 2011
No need to always crown a champion
The entire point of spectator sports is to crown a champion. What fun is it if we don’t find out who is the best?
But finding out who is the best is never simple. The St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series, but nobody in baseball will tell you the Cards are the best team.
By Eric Bergeson , November 04, 2011
It’s the comfort food time of year
As we head into the cozy days of late autumn, our bodies demand that we eat big platefuls of comfort food and then go back and dish up some more.
Comfort food, to me, is mashed potatoes, gravy and meat. And maybe some white bread with loads of real butter.
By Eric Bergeson , October 28, 2011
Blessed are the caretakers
For the past twenty years or more, an area church on a busy highway has been known for the spectacular flower bed out by its sign.
Members took pride in the flower bed. “I go to the church with the nice flowers by the sign,” they’d say, and everybody from a fifty-mile radius would know just which church they meant even though there are many other churches with flowers by their sign.
By Eric Bergeson , October 21, 2011
Steve Jobs was a secular saint
From the moment twenty years ago when I pulled my first Apple computer out of the box and flipped on the switch, I knew Steve Jobs was on my side.
By Eric Bergeson , October 14, 2011
Aunt Olive turns 100 years old
My great-aunt Olive turned 100 years-old last week.
It is difficult to imagine that she was born in 1911, before the start of World War I.
By Eric Bergeson , October 07, 2011
Memories of happy trails
After the first frost, the trails through the woods once again become accessible. No ticks. No mosquitoes. The poison ivy is bright red and easy to spot.
By Eric Bergeson , September 30, 2011
Living with nuclear holocaust
During the Cold War, the Pentagon armed the state of North Dakota with so many nuclear warheads that if the state had pulled out of the Union, it would have been the third largest nuclear power in the world.
Despite our proximity to North Dakota, northern Minnesota missed out on the nuclear boom. We’re just as close to Moscow, but the Pentagon built no missile silos east of the Red River.
September 23, 2011
Courageously, recklessly free
“The day we changed” ran the headline in a local daily paper on the ten-year anniversary of 9/11.
September 11, 2001 was a horrific day. Most of us know people who lost loved ones or people who narrowly escaped flying on one of the ill-fated planes.
By Eric Bergeson , September 16, 2011
The laborers — where would we be without them?
It isn’t in fashion to celebrate the virtues of those who work hard for a wage, but at one time it apparently was. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be celebrating Labor Day this week.
Let’s forget for a moment the present day tendency to emphasize the virtues of wealth and fame.
By Eric Bergeson , September 02, 2011
Milk the marrow of summer
It is time to suck the marrow out of all that remains of summer.
Get out there and barbecue!
Last weekend, I fired up the charcoal grill a couple of times, once for ribs, another for some sensational locally-raised lamb chops.
I am not sure which is better, dawdling on the porch as the meat reaches perfection, or actually eating the results.
August 26, 2011
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