Story and Photos by Mark Shaffer

Woody: "Hey Mr. Peterson, Jack Frost nipping at your nose?"

Norm: "Yep, now let's get Joe Beer nipping at my liver, huh?"

            – From “Cheers”

There’s a scene in Lawrence Kasdan’s classic 1985 western Silverado that’s stuck with me over the years. It’s the first meeting of Kevin Kline’s Paden and Linda Hunt’s diminutive saloonkeeper, Stella. Paden sips a whiskey and eyeballs the place, obviously impressed. She pours a drink and sizes him up.

I Don’t Know What I Am

I’ve never done this… committed my feelings to writing on anything and shared with anyone. But, the politics of today and my frustrations with same compel me to. I marvel at the patently false invective so regularly shared on Social Media under the guise of reasoned, fact-based thought. Does anyone fact-check before they “Share”?

South Dakotan Tom Brokaw, 75, is typically credited with coining the term “The Greatest Generation.” These are the selfless men and women who were raised in the Great Depression, came of age then and during WWII where they fought and supported the Allied war effort mightily. They went on to build the juggernaut that was post-war industrial America during perhaps tremendous years of growth. “The Best We Ever Had,” I called them in a 2013 column: in round numbers some 30 million Americans born between 1910 and 1930.

School gardens make sense in many ways. In addition to learning ABC’s children and adults can learn much more than where food comes from by engaging in one of the most popular American hobbies, gardening.