Blog Posts
By Jackson Harkness, Age 11 Trees were zipping past me a mile a minute. Everything was a blur. I was going really fast, too fast to stop. Where was the blue run my parents were talking about? I was really starting to worry. I started gaining speed. Now I was even having trouble turning. My…
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One of my most memorable childhood gifts came when I was five years old on Christmas Eve in 1961. Dressed in my “Sunday best” outfit at my grandparents’ farm house. This picture captures my memory. But irony and coincidence also lurk invisibly in the background of this image. We had just feasted on Grandma Esther’s…
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—Lois Storlie’s Reflections, curated and written by her daughter, Jean Storlie. I really liked growing up on the farm. It was a simple life, but my dad and grandpa were big teases. They stirred up mischeif and kept me on my toes! Working in the Field My dad taught me how to drive the team…
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Coming out of COVID lockdown last spring, we bought two kayaks as a new way to experience the many lakes and waters of Minnesota. All summer, family members took turns using the kayaks. Our favorite outings involved exploring local stretches of the Mississippi River north of Minneapolis. Capturing a final hint of summer in Minnesota,…
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The ticktock of the clock echoed in my ears with each passing second. I’d been silently reciting driving rules like a broken record. It was my sixteenth birthday. At 12:45, my dad picked me up from school and took me to the DMV to take my drivers test. Anxiety surged through my body like an…
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Our kids begged, “Dad, can you tell us ‘The Blueberry Story’?” Jay used to spin a bedtime tale about picking blueberries in the north woods of Wisconsin. It was loosely based on an episode that occurred when his uncle, as a young boy, had fallen asleep in the woods when his family was picking blueberries.…
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My story about writing Once Upon an Innovation is more like a chapter book than a simple narrative. Each leg of the journey involved creative challenges, obstacles to overcome, and lessons learned. There were many twists and turns along the way. Reflecting on this journey, I realize that at the same time I wrote Once Upon an Innovation…
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My morning routine was interrupted when my six-year-old daughter, Eleanor, screamed, “No!” I was in the midst of getting myself ready for work and cajoling our son to do the same. Her outburst drew me to the upstairs landing, where I looked down on a conversation she was having with my husband, Jay. He was preparing…
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Susan pulled her dress out of her suitcase and was horrified to discover a large stain down the front. “There’s no way I can wear this dress to my niece’s wedding. How did I miss that stain when I packed last night?” After six hours of traveling, she’d just arrived at a remote sea village…
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On a dreary, rainy day in May, we decided to visit an open house that had just come on the market. We were contemplating a downsizing move but had not started to search for new homes. The whole process of buying and selling seemed daunting. But the gloomy forecast gave us an incentive to check…
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