Minneapolis Star Tribune, Oct. 13
The ’Bard of Hibbing’ is a deserving winner of the Nobel Prize
The times, they are surely a-changin’ when the august Nobel Prize committee bestows its annual prize for literature on an American folk-rock singer-songwriter, Bob Dylan. Changing for the better, we’d add. The author of lyrics so poignant that they are seared in the memories of millions richly deserves Nobel recognition as a poet as well as a popular music star.
Minnesotans take particular pride in seeing the “Bard of Hibbing” receive a prize that has been given such luminaries of literature as Saul Bellow (1976), John Steinbeck (1962), Ernest Hemingway (1954) and William Faulkner (1949). Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth in 1941 and spent his formative years in Hibbing and, briefly, Dinkytown. Lyrics to songs including “North Country Blues” and “Highway 61 Revisited” reveal the inspiration Dylan drew from his home state.
But appreciation for Dylan reaches far beyond Minnesota. He built an international following as a balladeer of the social and anti-war movements of the 1960s. His “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are a-Changin’?” became the soundtracks of the civil rights and anti-Vietnam war movements. His influence on other popular performers has been substantial through a half-century of near-continuous creativity.
Nevertheless, the Swedish Academy’s choice was unexpected. In recent years, its literature award has tended to go to writers less familiar to popular audiences. Until Thursday, no American had won the literature prize since Toni Morrison took it in 1993. Seldom, if ever, has a writer known primarily for popular song lyrics been the honoree.
It may be that choosing Dylan was the Swedish Academy’s tacit acknowledgment that popular art and high art are not mutually exclusive and that artists who speak to a mass audience are worthy of encouragement. One might say that the waters around the Nobel Prize have grown. That’s a welcome, democratizing change.
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St. Cloud Times, Oct. 15
FBI, police transparency is welcome
The FBI, St. Cloud police and Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall did exactly what they said they were going to do in updating the community on the progress of the investigation into the Crossroads Center stabbing tragedy.
The officials were about as transparent as possible considering it is still on ongoing investigation.
Let’s be clear on a few points made during the Oct. 6 briefing delivered by the officials, including St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis.
Kendall made the right call in not pursuing any charges against the off-duty Avon police officer who shot and killed Dahir Adan, ending a stabbing spree in which 10 people were injured.
The officer is a hero. Without his timely and courageous actions, additional people could have been injured or killed by Adan.
If there were any doubts about Kendall’s decision, the video released by law enforcement showing Adan stabbing a store clerk and the confrontation with the officer provided complete and irrefutable answers. It was a justified shooting.
We live in an age where people expect to see concrete proof, including video, to believe what people tell them.
That is why the decision to release the video from the stabbing attack was so critical. Keep in mind, the sooner the video is released, the better. Delays only fuel rumors and distrust.
The briefing by St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson and FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard Thornton provided the community details not only on what Adan is believed to have done but what his motivation may have been for the attack.
We urge the FBI and other law enforcement officers to continue to dig as deep as needed to find out whether there were any outside influences or contacts that may have radicalized the 20-year-old Muslim man.
The FBI agent’s explanation of behavior changes Adan exhibited in the months leading up to the attack should serve as warning signs for anyone with a family member or friend who may become radicalized.
Mayor Kleis also brought up a very important effort to help the victims who were injured and/or traumatized. Community members should consider making a donation to a fund set up to help those victims. To donate or get more information, call the mayor’s office at 320-255-7201.
Those victims and others who may have been traumatized by the mall stabbings need all the help and support we can muster.
Another group of people who need to have support and conversations are our children. We hope that parents have taken time to explain to children what happened on that tragic day at the mall. We hope they also either kept their young children from viewing the video or gave them plenty of explanation and reassurance that they are safe.
Don’t take anything for granted as far as helping children understand what happened with the tragedy at the mall.
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The Journal of New Ulm, Oct. 14
Dayton faces reality
Gov. Mark Dayton has injected a note of reality into the Affordable Care Act debate. Ever since it was passed the act, also known as “Obamacare,” has been the rope in a political tug-of-war. Republicans have cast it as an abject failure and have tried dozens of times to repeal it, to no avail. Democrats have praised it for the good it does, providing health insurance for millions who couldn’t afford it before, and people with pre-existing medical conditions who were ineligible.
On Wednesday, in addressing the problems in the state’s private plan health insurance market, Dayton became the first Democratic governor to admit the reality. The Affordable Care Act is “no longer affordable.”
With the largest health insurance companies dropping out of the market and the smaller ones demanding 50 percent to 67 percent premium increases, on top of higher and higher deductibles, people who can’t get insurance through their employer or other group are risking bankruptcy if they get sick, even if they have coverage.
Dayton’s realistic assessment of the private plan healthy insurance market will be helpful as legislators and the governor work to figure out a solution to the situation. It takes some of the partisanship out of it. The sooner all agree on what the problem is, the sooner they will find a solution.
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