Category Archives: Something About Nothing Column

Teachers Matter, Thank A Teacher Today.

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Column: Something about Nothing, by Julie Seedorf- Published September 1. 2014

Mrs. Lewis was my kindergarten teacher. Mrs. Weir was my fourth-grade teacher. Sister Mary Donald was my eighth-grade teacher in Catholic school. Mr. Schmidt was my history teacher my junior year in high school. Mr. Bailey was my speech teacher and drama adviser my senior year in high school. All of these people influenced my life in a positive way.

Long after I left kindergarten, Mrs. Lewis kept in touch. She was at my high school graduation party even though she lived in another community and had retired from teaching years earlier. Forty years after Mrs. Weir shared her knowledge with me and my classmates in fourth grade, I ran into this former teacher. She knew who I was and what I had been doing with my life. Sister Mary Donald, at a reunion of the Catholic school 35 years after my friend and I had spent our time in her eighth-grade class, shared with us that she prayed for us every day. Without telling her who we were, she remembered us.

Of course there are times when you wonder what they remember about you. Was it the fact you were a good student or the shenanigans your class might have played on the teacher? I didn’t ask, and they didn’t tell.

My son’s first-grade teacher on his graduation from high school presented him with a large piece of art he had made in her classroom. She had kept it to give to him 12 years later. She did this for other students, too. Teachers care.

Today is Labor Day. It is a day dedicated to the social and economic achievements of workers. As with many traditions that are passed on from one generation to the next, we honor those traditions, but in the space of time perhaps the reason for the tradition is lost.

In our times we think of Labor Day as the last hurrah before school or the end of summer and the beginning of fall. That is why today I would like to write this column in honor of teachers who came before, and who now dedicate their time to shaping the lives of our next generation.

There is no doubt in my mind that many of the teachers I had during my grade-school years and my high school years have had an influence on who I have become today. Ask around and find out if any of your friends have teachers that influenced their lives.

If you think about it, our kids spend more time during the school year with their teachers and coaches than they do with their parents. How can that not affect their lives? Teachers are the people who educate and see that our children know what they need to know academically to carve a good future for themselves.

I can read. I can write. I can do math, though it wasn’t my teachers’ fault that I am a little challenged in that department. They couldn’t do everything, such as making someone that is totally uninterested in math, a math whiz. But because of them I can do the basic things I need to do to succeed in the world and in business. I also learned right and wrong from my teachers. They taught values and morals.

Tomorrow is the start of a new school year. I have not heard one teacher bemoan the fact they are going back to school. I hear excitement in their voices. Teaching in 2014 is not an easy profession. Not only do teachers have to take care of seeing that their students are challenged academically, but they also have to contend with more social issues, more state issues and a changing society where respect for those teaching our children is not always shown by students and parents.

Where would we be without teachers? We have lost many good teachers to jobs that pay more for their skills. There has always been the argument that teachers only work nine months out of the year. I am not a teacher because I chose not to be a teacher. I chose to work 12 months out of the year. We all make choices and if we did not choose that profession then we have nothing to complain about. If you have a teacher or a friend who is a teacher, you know the many hours they put in off the clock, preparing lessons that will make your child better equipped in the world today.

If we didn’t have schools and good teachers where would we be in our society? We would be a pretty uneducated bunch. If you are a teacher and are reading this, you don’t have to be a saint, but remember, for many students you are the adult who they look up to. You are the adult they spend many hours with. You are one of the adults in their lives who will shape who they are, and your example counts.

So, today, on Labor Day, if you know a teacher, say thank you. If you have a child in school, support their teachers. It takes a working team to raise our children to be responsible, literate adults in today’s world. Thank you to all teachers for your dedication, and have a great year

 

Small Town Main Streets Are Coming Back!

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Wells Main StreetSomething About Nothing by Julie Seedorf, published in the Albert Lea Tribune August 4, 2014

The words “Small town main streets coming back” are making headlines on television, radio and newspapers across the United States.

I heard the news on the radio one day. Apparently we are getting tired of the urban sprawl and shopping malls and returning to our roots. Old main streets in small and large communities across America are being revitalized by mom and pop shops, arts and culture and unique niche shops that have locals and tourists coming back to the main street of America to shop.

I noticed the comeback recently as I have visited small and large communities in the area. I had the pleasure of visiting Lake Mills, Northfield, Shakopee, Bricelyn and Kiester. Even tiny Walters is a destination to eat with diners coming for the great food at R&R Roadhouse Bar & Grill.

Driving through other small communities I have noticed the change in their main streets. No longer are the dilapidated historical buildings an eyesore. Many now stand proud having been restored to their earlier glory, or to a state of beauty that fits in with the historic nature of the buildings.

Well-taken-care-of buildings on main street America reflect the pride of the community, the heritage and the people that now have a vested interest in the community, and that is, its residents.

As I drive through the main street of Albert Lea I stand in awe at some of the old architecture and beauty of the buildings and dream of the past. I notice the change in the buildings as they are being brought back to their former beauty and treasured and cherished as a part of history.

We live in a throwaway society. Those who lived through the Great Depression were savers. They threw nothing away because there was no money to replace things, and that attitude lived long past the time that the Depression was over. People my mother’s age had stuff, but much of the stuff were not things of value.

Families today have stuff. They have their electronics, their toys, their clothes and the list can go on. They don’t keep it unless there is a little hoarding itch in their bodies. Things are dumped in trash, sold on a garage sale, and interests move on to the next best thing.

Homes are built alike and buildings and stores look alike in the strip malls of America. I recently visited a restaurant in a strip mall and was pleasantly surprised to find it was a fine dining restaurant, but it didn’t have the ambiance that a restaurant in an old restored building such as Jonnie Beans, Club 57 and the Starfire Restaurant located in the refurbished Miller-Armstrong building in Waseca has.

The strip mall restaurant won’t be remembered after it is gone. The strip mall will be another building on the landscape, probably torn down for something new to replace it. We are no longer valuing our new architecture. We are building throw away buildings.

I have to tell you that there is a different feeling walking down a main street in a small town that has valued their buildings and promoted their buildings as much as they have their businesses. Perhaps it is because I remember small town America that I feel this way, yet, I have to believe even those younger like the feeling of the atmosphere of the old buildings.

Exploring the main streets with my granddaughters is something we like to do. They admire the brick buildings and ooh and ah at the stores we visit that have been restored back to the original decor with the tin ceilings and the brick walls. These children learn to value the history of America every time we frequent a place that has taken a look at its roots, and tried to get back a little of the history.

What sparked this column about the main streets of America? As I listened to the broadcast on the radio of the re-emergence of Main Street, I happened to be driving down the main street of New Richland after a visit to Northfield.

I lived in New Richland for 10 years and I was checking out the community and reliving old memories. New Richland, small as it is, takes pride in its main street. The trees that line the streets lend a welcoming shadow to the buildings that were painted and updated and restored. It screams the small-town cozy feeling of the warmth of the past, welcoming and comforting to those who might walk the street.  I noticed the revitalized New Richland Library in a building that I previously remember being in pretty bad shape, but the beauty was restored. As I was listening to the radio I was admiring small town Main Street. Good job, New Richland.

We can’t save all of the architecture on Main Street, but those that are saved are bringing back Main Street USA. That’s what the program said. People are coming back to the main streets with the restored buildings and businesses that have relocated in these buildings.

There’s one other thing I noticed while visiting Main Street in many small communities, and the revitalized mom and pop businesses in larger cities, that is, the greeting you receive. You won’t find the friendliness, the helpfulness and the customer service that you get from mom and pop in the big-box stores. There are no generic greetings from Mom and Pop or their employees whether you are a regular customer or a stranger. Mom and Pop on main street make you feel like you have come home.

Visiting with Diana Sullivan at Lady Di’s Antiques and the owners of the new Vintage, Shabby, Restored, Recycle store in downtown Shakopee, I felt as if I were talking with old friends and in a much smaller community such as my hometown instead of a metropolitan area. Eating the rolls from the bakery in downtown Shakopee that had been there for 35 some years, reminded me of the bakeries such as the former Fran’s Bakery and the Wells Bakeshop in my hometown of Wells. Visiting the small shops in Northfield gave me the same satisfying experience. It was worth wandering off of the chain store train to come back to the value of the past when customers were your friends and family, and were important.

Who wouldn’t want to visit a community that shows pride in the history of their buildings, shows pride in their businesses that fill those buildings, and lends history and friendliness to your visit? Welcome back, small-town main street. You were missed.

 

Lookin For Malts In All The Wrong Places

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Something About Nothing by Julie Seedorf published July 14, 2014 in the Albert Lea Tribunechocolate malt photo: Ruby's Diner Fries Basket and Malt tumblr_lgk9xpsDvf1qzgqhio1_500.jpg I was looking for malts in all the wrong spaces. Looking for malts in too many places. Searchin’ the menu looking for flavors, of what I’m craving for, Hopin’ to find a chocolate or vanilla, I’ll rejoice when they say, “We have one today.”  I found myself singing those words one morning to the tune of the song “Looking For Love” sung by Johnny Lee in the ’80s. I am on a campaign to bring back malted milk ice cream to places everywhere. I hadn’t realized the malted milk was lost until I tried to find one. It took my granddaughter to open my eyes to the fact that another tradition was lost to the young people of America today. At the ripe old age of 11, she didn’t know what a malt was. One afternoon my granddaughter and I were checking out some stores in a big city. I had a craving for a chocolate malt. I decided to take her to an ice cream store that has real ice cream. Surely, they would have a chocolate malt. I scanned the menu on the wall. The store had smoothies, ice cream and shakes. Nowhere was the word malt. I settled for a chocolate shake, and although it was good, it was not a chocolate malt. On our way out of the store I mentioned my disappointment. My granddaughter replied that I had just had a malt. I explained that I had a shake, not a malt. She didn’t understand. I had to explain to her that chocolate malts had a distinct yummy flavor from malt that was mixed with the ice cream, and they were creamier than a shake. Since that day I have been checking out the usual haunts where people go for ice cream or yogurt. Smoothies, Blizzards and shakes are always on the menu. Malts are rare. For those of you, like my granddaughter, who do not know the difference between a malt and a shake the Wise Geek from Wisegeek.org explains it this way: “A milkshake consists of milk and ice cream blended to a dense, creamy consistency. Malted milk powder is added to the ice cream when blended. Malted milk powder is made by combining malted barley with whole milk and wheat flour, which is then dried. Flavored syrup such as chocolate can be added to the ice cream mixture before blending.” A milk shake is milk and ice cream blended to a creamy consistency and flavorings are added to it. I do know of one restaurant in the area that has yummy malts. Once a year a church in my community also has a ’50s night and it also serves the real malts. The drugstore in my community still has the soda fountain where you can get the malts and sodas. I do feel malted milks are becoming harder to find at the popular advertised places we frequent with our kids and grandkids when we want a treat as we are out and about for the day. During the 1950s and ’60s, malts along with ice cream sodas were easy to find. In my youth I also loved chocolate sodas. I was lucky because my dad’s shoe store was next to a drugstore that had a soda fountain. Malts and sodas were the treat of the day. At that time my community had two drugstores and two soda fountains. Not only could we get a malt at the drugstores, we could get a malt at the restaurants and the drive-ins in any community. It was the norm to have a burger and malt. I think Trumbles in Albert Lea may still offer the burger and malt on their menu. Ask anyone 60 or older, and I am sure they have stories about malt shops. I actually worked in Hanson Drug Store that had been next to my father’s store in my early 20s. Yes, I was a soda jerk, heavy on the word soda and not jerk. I learned how to make those creamy malts the right way. There was also this contraption called the whirliwhip machine that made an ice cream cone that resembled the twist cones that you can still get at fast food places. The whirliwhips were made out of two scoops of real ice cream that you put in the top of the machine. Chocolate syrup was drizzled over the scoops of ice cream. The handle was pulled down and the machine mixed and dispensed the mixture into a cone. As the creamy mixture was coming out of the machine we had to hold the cone with our hand and hand twist the concoction into the cone as it came out of the machine. You had to have the right touch on the handle to dispense the ice cream at the right speed. There was a difference in taste from the fast food places. All of us who worked at that soda fountain moaned and groaned when someone ordered a whirliwhip. We prayed for the machine to break down. It was an art to get the consistency right so it wasn’t soupy and would twist. It was messy and a job to clean up the machine but customers loved the whirliwhip. I may be wrong about the demise of the malt. However, I did some Googling and other people are having the same problem finding malts in shops. I now have made it my mission to make sure my grandchildren know what a malt tastes like. Of course, if they have to know what a malt tastes like, I am going to have to have a malt in each place that I take them to. I have to make sure the malt is up to snuff. It is a hard job to be a malt taster, but someone must make the sacrifice so that the tradition of the chocolate malt lives on.