Monthly Archives: March 2010

A depressing read

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The day after I finished reading Michael Pollan’s book, "The Omnivore’s Dilemma," a package arrived for me at the Daily Globe. Another book … a rather thick book.

A week or so earlier, I’d received an e-mail from a publishing company touting David Kirby’s new book, "Animal Factory," and requested a review copy. I’m trying this new concept … reading to learn something rather than reading for enjoyment. I don’t think the concept is working real well for me … this latest book is downright depressing (as was Pollan’s). I really don’t care for depressing books, especially when the sun is shining outside!

As you can imagine, Animal Factory is not at all favorable to industrial agriculture. In just the first nine chapters (a little less than half-way through the book), I’ve read about more manure spills, breached lagoons, fish kills, algal blooms, unresponsive government officials and fighting between farmers than I think I have ever read in my life.

Kirby, a journalist from Brooklyn, N.Y. tells the story of CAFO’s in three distinct areas of the country – from Yakima Valley, Wash., to Elmwood, Ill., and New Bern, N.C. – mostly set in the 1990s, from what I’ve read thus far.

As can be expected with a book called, "Animal Factory," the story of agriculture is predominantly one-sided. Kirby spends chapter after chapter getting his reader to relate to the vineyard owners, the river keepers and the hobby farmers, but I have yet to read so much as a paragraph of an actual conversation he had with one of these "industrial" farmers. Maybe that will come later in the book. Then again, maybe not.

Personally, I can’t wait to finish reading the book. As soon as I do, I’m going to rent a stack of comedies on DVD to rid myself of this depressing feeling.

Collecting the consolation crown

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The Ellsworth Panthers were welcomed home in style Saturday night after claiming the consolation championship at the State Class A Basketball Tournament earlier in the day in St. Paul.

The small town’s rescue vehicle and several fire trucks tooted their horns and sounded their sirens to lead the yellow and black school bus into town shortly after 7 p.m., to an awaiting and adoring crowd of Panther fans inside the high school gymnasium.

That’s the great thing about a small town, where basketball rules and the boys who have put Ellsworth in the state basketball book for five consecutive years are seen as nothing less than heroes.

To make that point, Coach Kellen picked Cody Schilling and Adam Vander Stoep out of the crowd Saturday night, invited them to stand next to current Mr. Basketball contender and EHS senior Trevor Gruis, and then asked eighth grader John Kramer and fifth grader Jared Leuthold to join them.

Kellen asked Cody what it was he wanted to accomplish in his basketball career, and Cody answered, "A state championship." Down the line, each of them were asked the same question … Vander Stoep said "A state championship," Gruis said "A state championship," and then Kramer, a pint-sized kid compared to the guys next to him, said, "I want to be as tall as Trevor!"

Well, the response drew laughter, cheers and even a high-five from Trevor, but it wasn’t the answer Kellen was looking for, so he asked Kramer again … What is it you want to accomplish? "A state championship," the boy replied. The same answer came from the youngest in the group, Leuthold.

Every year, the basketball team creates a new set of not just basketball player wannabes, but basketball champion wannabes.

The Panther basketball team graduated star players every year in the last five years they made it to state. And every year, Panther fans wonder what the next year will bring.

Those same rumblings can be heard again this year, now that the season is over. Gruis, the 6-9 center, will be moving on to the University of South Dakota in the fall to play basketball. Tyler Chapa is also heading across the state line – I believe he’ll attend college in Mitchell. As for Matt Buntjer, my nephew, he’s been accepted to Alexandria Technical College, where he hopes to pursue a degree in law enforcement.

Those three seniors – three solid players – will leave three holes to fill on the Panther roster for next year. Obviously, there’s a lot of talent left … Casey Schilling, Dalton Huisman and Nick Nolte are only sophomores, yet they were starting players in 2009-2010. Next year’s team will be built around them … and who knows, those younger kids with their dreams set on a state championship, well, with hard work, dedication and talent, those dreams just may come true.

Oh-so-close

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They were supposed to be in a rebuilding year … they weren’t supposed to be this good. They weren’t favored to win the section championship, but they did.

They proved a lot of people wrong, and though they fell in the semifinal round at state today, the Ellsworth Panthers still have one game left. It may not have been the game they wanted to play, but they have nothing to hang their heads about.

I think it hurts worse to lose by one point than it does to lose by 20 or 30. One point … a missed free throw, a missed basket … a missed opportunity. It can eat at a person, you know. And it isn’t just the players it bothers, it’s the parents, the fans, the community. Somehow the words, "it’s just a game" are a little harder to swallow.

The Panthers dropped their semifinal game, 61-60, against Sebeka this afternoon. I’m sure our Daily Globe sports editor, Aaron Hagen, has put together some photos and a story for our Saturday edition, so you can read all about it in print or online at www.dglobe.com.

I didn’t get to see today’s game in person. Somehow, I thought sitting at home and watching it on TV would be a little less stressful. I was wrong. My heart still pounded and my hands still shook. Fortunately, I had the luxury of pacing my living room floor … you can’t do that in the stadium!

I missed the cheers, the whistles … the atmosphere of being there, and I also missed the tears.

I’m glad I missed the tears. I’m glad the last game I saw in person was a game our boys won. It was a game in which my nephew scored six points. It was a game that, when over, left smiles on the faces of our Panther players and our Panther fans.

The boys will play their final basketball game of the season at 10 a.m. Saturday in the consolation bracket. I hope they win, I wish them well, but most of all, I thank them for providing Panther fans with so much – perhaps a little too much – excitement!

Ellsworth Panthers: The story continues

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Early this morning (well, alright, it was only 8 a.m.) students, parents, grandparents, extended family and fans gathered inside the gym of Ellsworth High School to show our Panther pride. Our boys are off to state again.

They are the quintessential team, the latest in a basketball dynasty at Ellsworth to return to the big stage … they’ve done it in five consecutive seasons. Hard work and dedication brought them here, and it will take the same to get them through the next few days.

I’ve been to this send-off before … with the band playing the rousing school spirit song, the cheerleaders getting everyone on their feet, and the players sitting modestly on chairs to face their fans.

I don’t know that the excitement ever wanes. Certainly it hasn’t for the Ellsworth Panther fans, or for this little town in the far southwestern corner of Nobles County.

As I drove toward town this morning, I smiled at the signs posted along Minnesota 91. "Go, Fight, Win," "Go Panthers," and my personal favorite and a repeat of previous years: "Fed the cows, checked the gate, our boys won, we’re back to state."

Inside the school, the remnants of egg bake were in pans in the home ec room … prepared by the Panther player moms and served to the team before the send-off. They’ve done this five years in a row … they’ve had plenty of experience!

With the moms feeding their tummies, the dads fed their spirit. They combined with the cheerleaders to send their boys off in style. Clad in EHS letterman’s jackets (Leighton Gruis and Clayton Schilling had the versions from their own high school careers), they ripped them open to reveal, "G-O P-A-N-T-H-E-R-S-!"

2009 EHS grad Adam VanderStoep returned to the gym this morning to wish the boys well. He said he’d had a dream three times this winter in which he was sitting on the sidelines, telling Tyler Morris to "put me in coach." Morris kept saying "no, I can’t … you graduated."

VanderStoep gave some words of wisdom for this year’s team: "Don’t weather the storm at State … be the storm."

Students … nearly all of them … were clad in the school colors of maroon and gold. So were many of the teachers, the families and the fans. Those that didn’t come in the proper colors could purchase the latest in maroon and gold T-shirt apparel. The back of my new shirt reads: "We play for those who came before; We set the standards for those who will follow; We are the Panthers."

Of course, the back of the shirt includes a team roster … and there, at No. 43, is my nephew Matt … the reason for which I am a Panther fan. (He’s pictured above with teammate, fellow senior, friend and basketball standout Trevor Gruis.)

Now, I’m not going to get all sentimental here about my nephew … mostly because I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like it. It’s not fair to him that he has an aunt who works for a newspaper, and it’s not fair to the entire team … they have all worked super hard to get to where they are (both on and off the court – Superintendent George Berndt said every one of them is on the A or B Honor Roll.)

The Ellsworth Panthers wouldn’t have made it this far without teamwork, and every single member on that team has contributed. We have our star players in Trevor Gruis and Casey Schilling, they score the most points game after game, and we have our wonderful three-point shooters in Dalton Huisman and Nick Nolte.

Then we have my nephew Matt, the fifth starter. Since I don’t know basketball lingo very well, I call him the great defender … defense is his thing, but I must say it gets very exciting when he scores some points! Matt and fellow senior (there’s just three on this year’s team), Tyler Chapa, trade off playing time. A while back, I read somewhere that between Matt and Tyler, they need to score 15 to 20 points per game to help the team. I didn’t know that, but then I don’t have a sports reporter’s mind to follow stats and plays and all that other stuff that goes into playing basketball.

I’m just a fan … a proud auntie of a nephew with a dream. Funny how, over time, their dreams become our dreams.

So, best of luck at State to our Ellsworth Panthers. I’d say, "Do us proud!" but I know you already have!

Between the covers

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Over the course of the past four weeks, I’ve been reading a book called, “Omnivore’s Dilemma: The Secrets Behind What You Eat.”

Ordinarily, it doesn’t take me that long to read any book, but this one was different. At times it angered me so much I had to put it down and walk away, at times it put me to sleep (probably not the fault of the author, Michael Pollan, but because I was too tired to read), and at times it also made me smile and appreciate the life I experienced on a small, family farm.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma was first published in 2006, and was on the New York Times “10 Best Books” that year. The book is about one man’s experience in exploring the food chain – industrialized agriculture, industrial organic, local and sustainable agriculture, and the hunter-gatherer method.

Several months ago, via Facebook, I had been encouraged to read the book by a couple of my friends. The only insight they offered with their recommendation was that the book was “interesting.”

The book came into conversation again while attending the International Poultry Expo with the Minnesota Soybean Growers See For Yourself participants in late January. One of the speakers at the Expo encouraged everyone to read the book to “see what American agriculture is up against.” A well-informed farmer is one that is ready to respond when his or her industry is under attack.

Well, I finally went to our local library in February to read it for myself. It wasn’t available there, but a copy came within a week or so on an inter-library loan. I had to giggle to myself when it came, only because it was the “Young Reader’s Edition.”

Oh well, it was free for me to read and the librarian even let me renew the book for an extra couple of weeks, which I greatly appreciated. (I haven’t purchased a brand new book in years – I prefer recycling from the library book sale, rummage sales or the library loan program.)

Perhaps the reason it took me so long to get through the book was because the first 100 pages or so presents Pollan’s viewpoints on the problems with industrialized agriculture. (This was the section that made me put the book down and vent more than any other section in the book.) It was certainly eye-opening for me to read his broad generalizations, and I felt like the agriculture industry I work to defend was being ripped to shreds.

Though I felt like taking the book back to the library’s book drop after the first few chapters, I had this nagging feeling that I needed to read on.

And I did. In fact, by the time you are reading this blog, I will have finished the book and returned it to the library.

I won’t give you a book report on it though … you’re going to have to read it for yourself if you’re interested. All I will say here is that it was “interesting.”

If you’ve read the book and care to comment, please post one here – I would like to hear what others have to say about “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.”