Columns

The media has us fired up about lots of things. And that’s good. We should be fired up. Fired up equals interested and engaged. We should all be interested and engaged. An observation: our culture is ever changing (hallelujah to that). We often need culture changes. They bring about good things and improvements to the lives of many. But I don’t think you can take the culture of now and apply it to the culture of then. I realize this is a controversial statement. But I want you to stay with me for a while.  As culture changes over time, we change with it. We are not stagnant human beings. We are ever changing. In the best of circumstances, ever growing. Ever learnin...

With the advent of texting and instant messaging there has emerged a huge set of online abbreviations to make messaging faster. For those of us who aren’t immersed in messaging lingo, getting a message with a bizarre term or shorthand can be annoying and confusing.  First off, how did this come...

I love my family. We all do. Or most of us at least – on most days, at least. Loving your family is a given. You anticipate loving your spouse even before you meet him or her. This is exponentiated with your children. You love them fully and completely well before they are born. There is nothing that c...

Shaken up. Rattled. Unnerved. While lives weren’t lost in the two large quakes and more than 4,000 aftershocks that recently hit Ridgecrest, California, what was lost was an emotional sense of security. The ground is supposed to be firm. Terra firma. Standing on solid ground. And when that won&rsquo...

The English language is fraught with conundrums. That’s probably why I love it so much. It’s never boring and continually keeps me learning (or guessing – or both). One of these complexities has to do with words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings – our good fr...

Many Americans are passionate fans of coffee. A study conducted by the National Coffee Association in 2018 found that 64 percent of Americans drink at least one or more cups of coffee daily, the highest percentage since 2012. Suppose I told you there is a better option than your daily cup of Joe? Green te...

Happy July everyone.  Our annual summer reading program is off to a great start. If you haven’t registered yet, just stop by the library or register online through our website. We have great coupons for local businesses, fun prizes, and amazing programs.  Don’t miss our annual Bug Ra...

As the long days of summer get into full swing, Montanans and visitors alike have begun to reconnect with our state parks, our one-of-akind outdoor recreation experiences and the cultural treasures that define our state. Last week, I visited a crew of middle school students who spent one of the first week...

Hashtags. It seems like everywhere you look people are talking about hashtag this or hashtag that. Unless you spend a lot of time on social media, you might be wondering what all this hashtag business is about. Let’s start with the basics: a hashtag is a pound symbol (#) followed by a string of numb...

Life is made up of moments. Some big. Some not so big. Some seemingly small that just may turn big. And despite the big or not so big, some are moments that will affect you for years to come or perhaps your entire life. They can be obviously monumental moments – a marriage, divorce, birth of a ch...