Opinion

Several weeks ago on X, that social media platform’s owner, Elon Musk, tweeted that he has the U.S.’s twice-yearly Daylight Savings/ Standard Time change in his sights. “Looks like the people want to abolish the annoying time changes!” he wrote. Vivek Ramaswamy responded quickly: “It’s inefficient & easy to change.”

One of the things I've always appreciated about American elections is that the results are always fascinating -- a glimpse into our communal likes, dislikes, and moods. Sometimes, though, they're also perplexing, a reason to step back and wonder why the results turned out as they did. That's where I found myself after this year's general elections -- not so much because of who got elected, but because of how voters decided to approach the electoral process itself.

We all know winters in Minnesota can be rough. Most of us have heard, or perhaps told, stories of past winters with galeforce winds and snowdrifts as high as a house. Here are some glimpses of memorable winters from the past.

In late November 1922, there was a meeting of Litchfield’s Business Men’s Association where a talk was given by Charles Maxson, the superintendent of the Litchfield schools.

There’s something in the air this time of year. The energy, the cheer, the spirit. On our person, we sport the right colors to tell others we’re in the mood. We decorate. We feast. We come together to celebrate, to share this moment with one another. The spirit of the season fills us with love and hope.

In 1897, 8-year-old Virginia asked her father, Dr. Philip O’Hanlon, a coroner’s assistant on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, whether Santa Claus was real. O’Hanlon chose not to answer, but suggested Virginia pose the question to one of New York’s most prominent newspapers at the time, The Sun, assuring her that “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.”