Tag: For Fun
A Whopper of a Wage
My opinion article in the Duluth News Tribune considers the effects of a “living wage” on multi-earner vs. single-earner families. It also features a slew of bad Burger King puns. P. A. Jensen (@RuralityChecker) lives in Minnesota
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For Fun: Liberal House on the Prairie
“Well, Caroline, the world’s going to hell in a handbasket.” “Charles!” “But it’s true,” Pa said, stomping off his boots at the door. He handed her a rabbit by the back feet. “Did you know McSweeney’s isn’t carrying fresh produce
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For Fun: Post-Viral Parenting
The virus lays bare the trades we’ve made. Trading our time for money, we’re told, is what we all do. Fair enough. Trading our kids for money, we’re not told, is also what we all do. Fair not enough. Foul.
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For Fun: Lady Trojans Invade the Northland
“Next on the agenda is Principal Swenson for an update with the mascot problem. Ray?” “Thanks. As some of you know, we got a cease-and-desist letter from Really Equal for All demanding that we change our sports logo. Apparently a
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Mind the Gap: Four Solutions to the Education Achievement Gap
C. N. Hughes, Ed.D. Director State Agency on Trends In Race and Education State of Minnesota St. Paul, MN 55155 Dear Dr. Hughes, This letter summarizes the findings of our grant (“Closing Minnesota’s Race-Based Educational Achievement Gap at All Costs,”
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For Fun: Local Flavor
When I’m somewhere with television, I like to watch cooking shows, even if not for typical reasons. And I don’t mean the traditional cooking shows, where a lady stands behind a countertop with 300 ingredients and seventy-eight bowls, with three
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For Fun: The Super-Duper Market (An Ode to Grocery Stores)
My wife lies to me. “I’m going to the grocery store!” she says. She takes a list. She even comes home with food. But she doesn’t go to the grocery store. She goes to the supermarket. There’s a difference. Because
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For Fun: The Rural Minimum
The logic behind minimum-wage laws can be baffling. Specifically, it ignores key differences between rural and urban areas. As I’ve written elsewhere, those differences include costs of living, but they also include, you know, how much work the workers do.
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For Fun: A Small-Town-Diner View of Medicare for All
“I’ll have the country-fried steak breakfast scramble.” (Waiter scribbles.) “With a side of pancakes.” (Waiter scribbles again.) “And an extra egg.” (Waiter scribbles, then reaches into apron to grab another pen—the first one has gone dry.) “And a side of
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For Fun: FDA Attacks Almond “Milk”; Is Peanut “Butter” Next?
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is trying to protect you from mistaking almond milk for cow milk. One immediately sees the urgency: almond milk can come from a cow, at least if a local 4H-er names her cow Almond.
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For Fun: Why Do Tiny Towns Have Three Diners but No Perkins?
Recently I was eating at a diner in a tiny town with someone from a metropolitan area. She said, simultaneously to everyone but no one in particular, “Don’t you just love places like this? I just love places like this.”
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