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Facebook friends can be real friends

The social media phenomenon known as Facebook turns 20 years old this year! It was a year or so after Facebook became a reality that I began hearing talk promoting the application and younger friends and acquaintances began urging me to get involved. Early on, I was reluctant to sign up for Facebook but by 2010 (or so) I became a member. In the 15 (or so) years that have followed, I have developed a love-hate relationship with it. For years I have I read complaints about Facebook and its policies, security issues, advertising, screening and on and on. Yes, I have been frustrated too, ...

Conversing with Chicago cab drivers

Forty years ago my job at the Sioux City Journal involved, among a host of other duties, regular travel to call on major advertisers headquartered in other Midwestern cities. Some of those sales calls necessitated air travel. The Sioux City Airport was only a 10 to 15 minute-drive from our home which made getting to and from the airport quick and easy. On most air trips, I rented a car at the destination airport and drove to appointments. Chicago presented a bigger challenge. I usually rented a car to make sales calls in the suburbs, dropped off the rental car at a downtown drop-off ...

Of tea and newspapers

Breakfast has always been my favorite meal. It has several origins: My Scottish and English forebears, for whom a substantial first-meal-of-the-day was an article of faith; my maternal grandmother preparing a bounteous spread for farm hands at 5.30 a.m. in her farm kitchen; and a lifetime of travel and, with it, hotel breakfasts eaten all over the world. Now, in retirement, I see the wisdom of John Gunther, the American journalist and writer, who famously said: “All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.” Once you get in the habit, it has a way of drawing you in. The prospect ...

Eb shops for his Valentine

I could spot him halfway across the big box store. The trademark bib overalls and plaid flannel shirt — it had to be Ebeneezer Griper, my irascible old friend. Eb was surveying the candy inventory as I approached and stuck out my hand. “Howdy, Eb!” I said with a smile. “You and that stupid grin,” Eb scowled. “Do you know how stupid you look?” Eb has never won the Mr. Congeniality Award. “I like you too, Eb,” I teased, shaking his hand. “Picking out a Valentine present for Hilda?” “No, I’m shopping for a new truss,” he grumbled. “I take it you’re ...

An expression of gratitude

Hi! I am Alex H. Pruismann, your newly-elected Hamilton County sheriff. Thank you for taking a few moments to read a brief message from myself. The month of January for myself was one packed with change, learning, budgets, quick responses, press releases, and so much more. But none of that compares to how much I have learned to lean on my employees that I am blessed and tasked to lead — everyone from the deputies, office staff, dispatchers and the jail personnel. I knew the title of “sheriff” would be one that I would have no idea what truly went into it until I was in the ...

It all started with kindergarten

Having heard it was about to be demolished, one Sunday afternoon in the late 1950s my father drove by his old one-room country school. While his young sons watched from the car, Dad parked along the gravel road, climbed a fence and walked into the dilapidated structure. He spent several minutes in the rural building, apparently remembering the eight years he had spent there. I now understand his visit. After all these years I still have memories of my old school buildings. My family moved frequently when I was a youngster so I attended several schools over the years, the first ...