To Believe, Or Not To Believe What You Read?

I stopped watching the news a long time ago. I determined the negativity and inaccuracies in reporting were too much for me to handle. In a prior career life, I was a County Agricultural Extension Agent. It was during my tenure with the Minnesota Extension Service that I learned about how media bias and mistakes impact the quality of a given story or article. I used to type a regular column for the local newspaper, and I was always assured of the content of that article. However, when I was quoted in another story or piece, it was almost routine that I found errors in numbers, words, or statements. It bothered me, because I started to question how many other stories were a victim of this same consequence.

I try to view the news headings on Yahoo each day while completing Internet searches for work, or checking e-mail. But as I start to read the stories, I find myself going back to the days as an Extension Agent, wondering how much is really true. During the floods in the Fargo area in March, we were inundated not only with water, but also regional and even national camera crews and reporters. After long days of sandbagging, I would go home and log-on to find out what they were writing about us. It was laughable to read some of the sensationalized and overly-dramatic tones to the stories. According to the media, "30,000 people were evacuated" from the Fargo-Moorhead area one day during the flooding. Completely false!

One afternoon I was sandbagging with a crew right along the Red River, behind a row of homes. A camera crew came along, and I overheard the reporter say, "this doesn't look bad enough...we need to find a different position to film from." It's apparently all about creating a story that is SO "over the top" that people will want to flock to a computer or newspaper to read about the devastation and loss. What a shame that reporting has come to this.

Enough negativity.

I have really enjoyed reading the comments that are posted at the end of many online articles. I find the truth to reside in these "comments" areas, rather than in the story itself. The comments seem to help "fill in the blanks" and provide legitimacy to each story, as they are from the perspective of people who are not in the business of selling newspapers or creating a following.

We are witnessing a time when many major newspapers are failing. The 146-year-old "Seattle Post-Intelligencer" recently shut down. And ironically enough, Nancy Pelosi's response was that, "the primary role of newspapers for the past 50 years or so has been to control the tree population." Wow. Probably not the endorsement the newspaper association was looking for! The other irony regarding this long-time newspaper shutting down was a concern among Nancy Pelosi that, "failing papers could spark catastrophic overpopulation among trees." This comment comes from the same individual who in 2008 received a National Leadership Award from the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation for being "a leader in environmental issues at home and abroad." Simply incredible.

Don't believe what you read people. Seek out the facts. Hold people accountable. Demand the truth. Don't buy into the media jargon and hype.

And by the way, don't believe what I typed here either. Check it out yourself. Here are my sources:

http://www.scrappleface.com/?p=3379

http://nmsfocean.org/chow2008/pr_pelosi_bio.pdf

The Open Space

I love open space. Growing up on a farm, it seemed as if there was no limit to the amount of space we had. Fields went on forever into the distance. The sky seemed huge. I could see approximately 6 or 7 grain elevators in neighboring towns from our home farm, which was located on a ridge. I will always value being able to watch a sunset, and see the sun fall all the way to the ground…out of sight.

I have had the privilege to work in the industry of agriculture my entire life. It’s all I have ever known or done. I have held a variety of jobs in the industry, dating back to my summer college internships. I sold feed for Cargill, worked as a county extension agent, conducted test-plot research for Rhone-Poulenc Ag Company, worked at a fertilizer and grain division of my local elevator, and worked for multiple state Farm Bureau organizations. This trail of jobs has taken me to places like Volga, South Dakota, Lakefield, Minnesota, and Fargo, North Dakota.

Even though my college and career path has allowed me to see much of the Upper Midwest, there are certain “constants” I continue to appreciate about living here. Some of my favorite commonalities of the Upper Midwest include: the people, the change of seasons, the friendliness, the sense of community, and the open space.

Whenever I travel to a big city, I tense-up. The sights, smells, and sounds are all a stress to me. I don’t like not seeing farmland. It doesn’t seem right. I remember a trip to New York City several years ago, where the locals all looked so pale-skinned to me. And I started to think about it…the only time of day many of the folks in Manhattan see the sun is…during the noon hour! The buildings block out the beauty.

I don’t think we know how great we have it, living in a place where we can appreciate the sun and sky. I love doing business with people I know. I admire the generosity of the people here. Agriculture is at the heart of this place, and it’s a part of me. I don’t know what I would do without this industry. I will always love a place that offers that peaceful and comforting familiarity of the place I grew up, right here in the Upper Midwest, where I’m within 5 minutes of fields, and open space.

More from the sandbagging effort

I sandbagged along the river last night with a crew...until we ran out of bags (at least where we were). When they took us back to the Fargodome by bus, my camera finally started working again for a few pictures. I think it was frozen out at the sandbagging site, so I couldn't get pictures out there. They are arresting people for standing on dikes and taking pictures now too. Pretty dramatic stuff. The river was within about 6 feet of this guy's back door. Another guy had built a retaining wall several years back, but it didn't pass engineer inspection, so we stacked about 2 semi-loads of bags in behind it.

I think I may head back out shortly as they are calling for more sandbaggers.

The Fargodome is one of the sandbag filling sites. The bags are either placed on pallets for semi hauling or put in the back of dumpster trailers. Then, they are trucked out to sites along the river where our volunteer crews pull them off pallets or the ground, pass them through yards (or garages) to the river bank for placement. I grabbed a piece of pizza when I got back to the dome last night, and sat for a few minutes to watch the action. I think I counted 14 Bobcat Skid Steer loaders moving pallets.

Last night, the attention shifted a bit to a set of secondary barriers the National Guard was putting in place if the dike fails.

Proud to be a farm boy

Wow. Do we have weather issues across this state, or what!?!?

We have an absolute mess in many parts of the state, with snow, ice, bad roads, and flooding.

I was out sandbagging yesterday for 8-9 hours, and I cannot describe the range of emotions. I saw the absolute best in people, and a little of the other side as well. Mostly great though! I cannot convey how PROUD I am of a few different things: (1) to be from a place where people would give the shirt off their back to help each other, (2) to be a farm kid, and (3) to have been raised in a part of the country where they taught us the value of work.

I started yesterday morning with a crew that was sent out from the Fargodome. We were building a dike behind several houses directly east of NDSU...on the river. Our line started fairly slowly, but another farm boy showed up, and he and I started realizing we were going to need to make some changes if we wanted to get anything measurable done. So we went to the tail end and started placing the bags on the dike to pick up the pace. Pretty soon, another 4 farm boys showed up, and we really started moving. Then, we figured it would go faster yet if the 6 of us started pulling directly off the pile. Then, 2 more farm kids walked up and joined our line. We really started flinging the bags at that point. The city officials were making fun of us at first, thinking we couldn't keep up our pace. The one guy next to me said, "you've never seen farm boys work before, have you?" The beauty of it was, he said it with as convincing and sober a look on his face as you could have ever imagined. We had a great day, and moved 5 bags to every other line's 1 (the city guy was counting for awhile). :) It confirmed in me the reason I love working for this industry, and for an organization that stands for things that are right...personal responsibility, work ethic, and controlling our own destiny.

One of our staff members has been volunteering her time at the calling center as well, and another is heading out to help her brother right now...as his home is in jeopardy in north Moorhead. I have also heard of several Nodak Mutual employees who have ventured out to help as well. I grabbed some food last night, and sat down next to a guy who drove up from Minneapolis to sandbag, just because. Incredible!

I'm heading back out to join the ranks of volunteers again right now, as they want to raise the sandbags another foot now...to 43 feet. The National Weather Service is estimating the crest to hit on Saturday at 41 feet. We built to 42 feet yesterday where I was working, and surveyors had stakes out so we could see how high we were. You would not believe the masses of volunteers that are part of this effort. There are a million great stories to tell.

I'll leave you with this thought: Why is it that even bologna sandwiches taste SO GOOD...when you eat them outside, in inclement weather, with dirty hands? I have always wondered about that. I think some of the BEST meals I have ever eaten have been outside, in a field, off the tailgate of a pickup.