Opinion

Pain: It’s no joke

Published by admin on Thu, 04/11/2024 - 11:55am

There is an old joke where a man walks into his doctor’s office and says, “Doc, it hurts every time I do this. What should I do? To which the doctor replies, “Simple, don’t do that!” While the advice seems trite and maybe even insulting, like most jokes, there is some truth in it. Pain is one of the ways your body tries to protect you from even worse injury. Pain tries to keep you from walking on a sprained ankle or lifting things with a broken arm. In those cases, the advice from the doctor is accurate.

Use your imagination

Published by admin on Thu, 04/04/2024 - 12:31pm

The mind of a newspaper editor wanders as he learns more about the proposed dinosaur museum and contemplates the mysterious hole in the center of the centennial planter.
Let’s start with the latter, then do the former.
The town announced earlier this year that it would be trying something new in the centennial planter at the end of our main street. For years, it’s featured a beautiful display of flowers that project the image of a buffalo. It was a hit with tourists, who we’d often spot being photographed in front of it.  When done right, we loved it, too.
In recent years, though, it’s only been good for about a month or two. As the town has added properties and buildings for the public works crew to maintain, the planter didn’t get the attention it needed. By mid to late summer, the weeds had taken over.
We wholeheartedly agree: It’s time to try something new.

Letter to the Editor: About that Northwest College survey ...

Published by admin on Thu, 04/04/2024 - 12:30pm

Dear editor:
I got the postcard in the mail last week and went to the website to fill out the survey for Northwest College.  After answering the usual questions to figure out where I live, etc., I came to one that gave me the choice of: prospective student, current student, former student, business owner, and member of the community.  I chose the latter.  They said, “Sorry, you aren’t eligible to take this survey.”  Apparently, they aren’t interested in community input.
Then I saw your blurb in the paper promoting this survey this week.
Julie Owens
Greybull

 

Letter to the Editor: A nomination for the GHS starting five

Published by admin on Thu, 04/04/2024 - 12:29pm

Dear editor:
We have a pick for you for the Greybull High School starting five (reference to March 7, 2024 editorial).  
The Greybull Standard wrote the following about him:
- Most promising freshman
- The big instrument in keeping the Buffs in the game by coming through with 24 points
-  Capturing scoring honors with 16 points
The Buffs sharpshooter brought back throughout the game, tying the score 14 different times to lead Greybull with 24 points
Once again the high-point man for Buffs, this time counting seven field goals, an amazing 12-out-of-16 free throws for 27-points
Expected to be the Buffs answer who hit for 49 points during the Buffs’ stand in Billings
One of Greybull’s five standouts all season long from his forward position

Never too old to learn

Published by admin on Thu, 04/04/2024 - 12:27pm

You are never too old to learn. After nine decades, I’ve discovered that those 100% scores I got on tests, homework assignments and quizzes were not something to be celebrated. Instead, I should have felt shame. Little did I know I was a racist. One hundred percent did not mean I got everything right; it meant I was 100% white privileged.
After thinking about it, I’ve decided there are some people that have way too much time on their hands. They must go through every newspaper, publication, even dictionary to find words that have brand new meanings in today’s world. I say to them, “Get a job.” There are a whole lot of problems out there, and being 100% correct is not one of them.

Reflections: What now?

Published by admin on Thu, 04/04/2024 - 12:26pm

After Jesus was resurrected, Mary, the mother of James, Mary Magdalene and Salome went to anoint his body for burial but finding the stone rolled away, they entered the sepulchre and saw a young man sitting on the right side of the burial clothes.  Like any angelic meeting, the young man told them not to be scared.  You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified, but he isn’t here.  Look, here’s the place he was laid.  But go on, tell his disciples and Peter he’s gone ahead of them into Galilee.  He’ll meet you there as he told you.

Desert Island Dispatches: ‘Clouds’ by Joni Mitchell

Published by admin on Thu, 04/04/2024 - 12:24pm

I had a conversation a couple years ago with my mom about the idea of ‘bucket list concerts’ — those artists we wanted to see before it was too late. Stevie Nicks made the list, so did Shania Twain. One that didn’t make the shared list, but who I’ve often said I want to see live so badly is Joni Mitchell. I was something of a latecomer to Mitchell’s work — I knew Big Yellow Taxi because of a Counting Crows cover that was basically inescapable for the better part of the early 2000s, and I also knew Both Sides Now because my grandparents would play Judy Collins, but I didn’t know Joni’s actual work until I was basically grown up and exploring music from the 70s singer-songwriter period that I’d overlooked. I loved Carol King, so I started looking at her peers — Judee Sill, Joan Armatrading, Linda Rondstadt, Marianne Faithfull, and then there she was, Joni Mitchell.

Prairie Doc Perspective: Feeling winded?

Published by admin on Thu, 04/04/2024 - 12:04pm

“Well, doc,” the patient was telling me, “I get winded so easily now. I can hardly go to the mailbox without stopping to catch my breath. It did not used to be that way. Do you think something is wrong?”
Many of us have experienced shortness of breath. After a period of inactivity, such as winter or a busy month, when we decide to exercise again, it may be easier to feel winded. That experience can be due to deconditioning, feeling out of shape. A good remedy for that is a gradual increase in exercise, helping us to regain our strength and endurance.
Sometimes we get short of breath for other reasons. A recent infection can be a common cause, giving us a bad cough and leaving us winded for a while. There are several other lung causes like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis, which can leave us short of breath.

Story of Boelens’ escape fascinates

Published by admin on Thu, 03/28/2024 - 3:43pm

 Bette Rae Peterson Jones, in sharing her mother’s (Jeanie Boelens Peterson) memories of her beloved Uncle Leo, said she could only imagine her feelings.
 “What I imagine is a kind uncle to my partially orphaned mother. She held him in high  esteem. Reflecting on it now, I imagine it was a little like when my older brother shipped out to Butte, Mont., then on to Fort Lewis, Wash., on Sept. 8, 1970, when I was 12. The country was worried about boys getting stationed in Vietnam at that time so our whole family went to Lovell and said our goodbyes to my big brother Darrell as he boarded the bus. “

‘Great Expectations’

Published by admin on Thu, 03/28/2024 - 3:43pm

When I first started this column, I touched on the idea that sometimes the works of art we love change with time. Rather, it isn’t the work, but how we receive it having lived more life. I think this is one of the things I’ve always liked best about books — because we bring our own minds and experiences with us when we read, we never read a book the same way the person beside us does and, because of time, we never read the same book twice.
I read “Great Expectations” when I was 13 years old and loved it. I’m not sure Charles Dickens is what most teenage girls go for, but I did: I loved his characters and the moral lessons at the heart of his stories, and “Great Expectations” was my book. When I left home at 18, my copy went into a box, I went about living, and time did what it does.