~a column by Colleen O’Brien I was introduced to two informative pieces of journalism recently, both from current publications of the 161-year-old New York Times. This newspaper is the much maligned, much vaunted and must-read daily voice by those who feel a need to be in the know around the world. It claims to print “All the news that’s fit…
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A life lesson long in arriving
~a column by Colleen O’Brien Months ago – years ago, now – I began a rapid slide into a low-grade fever that I called “This can’t be happening in my country.” After two years and nine months after an official election on top of months of what for any other candidate would have been really bad press, I’ve finally found…
Read MoreWarren speaks to full house in Jefferson
~by Janice Harbaugh for GreeneCountyNewsOnline It was standing room only for the Elizabeth Warren town hall meeting hosted by the Greene County Democrats at History Boy Theater on Aug. 8 in Jefferson. Chris Henning, Greene County Democratic party chair, introduced Warren. Warren, senior senator from Massachusetts, is competing for the Democratic nomination for president in the 2020 election. Warren spoke…
Read MoreDelaney promotes ‘common sense stuff, not huge change’
Democratic presidential candidate John Delaney over the past two years has listened to hundreds of voters at comparatively small campaign events, and he has his own version of what they’re looking for. “They’re looking for a steady set of hands on the economy. They’re not looking for someone who’s going to cause upheaval in the economic policy with some of…
Read MoreScholten’s campaign launch includes stop in Jefferson
Greene County Democrats got a preview of J.D. Scholten’s campaign for the Fourth Congressional District seat Tuesday at Greene Bean Coffee. Scholten on Monday announced his candidacy, with the New York Times and the Sioux City Journal breaking the story prior to a planned launch in Sioux City. Scholten ran against Rep. Steve King in 2018 and came closer to…
Read MoreSimpatico
[Editor’s note – This week, Colleen O’Brien offers a story in lieu of her regular column.] ~by Colleen O’Brien We walk leisurely down the mountain, Buster lagging behind, worn out. I too am lazy, but it’s an easy walk. I’m in the lead, and I listen to Ned talk about Indians. I respond to him now and then, lose his…
Read MoreGrandmother’s House – revisited
[Editor’s note – The following story by Valerie Ogren was awarded a purple ribbon and Best Overall exhibit in the genealogy class at the Greene County Fair. Valerie shares it here with GreeneCountyNewsOnline readers.] (This is from an April 2015 Tree Tracings column. Some of you may have seen it before, but not all of our members have computers or…
Read MoreThe eras we live through
~a column by Colleen O’Brien The word postmodern bugged me for years. No one I asked could give me a definition I could understand. The dictionaries I searched through were not much help. Postmodernism was defined as “…reacting against the theory and practice of modern.” I looked up modern: “breaking with the past….” So, it seemed to me they meant…
Read MoreOh, un-sweet mysteries of life
~a column by Colleen O’Brien Wanting to make America great again sounded like a complaint to me at first, and then I looked up a few stats and found that the U.S. could use some work. Historically, we have tried to make our country always better; it has been a running theme from decade to decade, a bravado and brag…
Read MoreLetter to the editor – Dick Finch
To the editor, I love living in Jefferson but we’re not a Carroll or Boone and residents and city management and council should start to realize this and quit trying to spend us into the next century. All these walking trails, beautifying our businessless county square and signs all over directing people to ??? Lest we all forget about our…
Read MoreThe trouble with borders
~a column by Colleen O’Brien Friday, July 12, 2019 was designated by a national group of activists to protest the incarceration of “unaccompanied minors” crossing our southern border. In 700 cities across the country, activists and children’s advocates, ordinary citizens with no affiliations, kids, people young, middle aged and old, female and male, black, brown and white gathered at children’s…
Read MoreA prairie writer
~a column by Colleen O’Brien When I was 10 or so, I discovered a row of books in the Jefferson library that I’d never seen, or I’d skipped by them. Or maybe I’d wandered into the adult section. For some time, I’d been waylaid by the “Silhouette Series,” biographies of the heroes of America – Betsy Ross, Daniel Boone, Kit…
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