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A year-end review

Another year has gushed through the culvert of time, leaving behind a scoured gully along with some unexpected and pleasant flotsam. The year 2025 began with my wife and I watching the famous ball drop in Times Square. Not in person, of course. We viewed it on TV, awakening from our prebedtime naps just in time to witness the blizzard of confetti and the singing of “Auld Lang Syne.” The meaning of that song’s title is as clear as a cup of mud. We had good reasons to be tired: we were in Kansas City, visiting our four-year-old grandson. Anyone who has spent time with ...

Reflecting on 2025; priorities for the year ahead

As 2025 draws to a close and Minnesotans enjoy a holiday season filled with family, friends, and, yes, snow, I wanted to take stock of what we’ve accomplished this year, reflect on some of the challenges we’ve faced, and look forward to the work ahead. This year started with the transition of power from one president to another. I chaired the bipartisan inauguration committee and spoke about the need to recommit to my North Star: finding common ground where I can and standing my ground where I must. Last Congress, during a highly partisan time, I was again ranked as one of the ...

Politics isn’t measured in words, it’s measured in results

Politics is a lot of talk. Sometimes, that conversation results in action. Other times, it fizzles out and gives way to the next headline, the issue forgotten and the solution left uncharted. In my decade as a Minnesota senator, I have seen dozens, maybe hundreds, of conversations bubble up and then pop before any meaningful reforms are signed into law. If we only talk and don’t act, nothing changes. From housing affordability to mental health, and from public safety to education, those of us who write our laws and decide how to spend the public’s money must remember that when ...

What is narcissism?

I frequently hear people say that someone whom they know is a narcissist. | am not sure that they are all using the same definition or criteria to make that judgment. What do psychologists mean when they say that someone is a narcissist? Where does the name come from? I have heard of two versions about where the name narcissist came from. To roughly summarize them, one version is that a man in ancient Greece named Narcissus was obsessively and consistently looking at and admiring the reflection of his face in mirrors. This obsession was a punishment by Nemesis, the goddess of ...

Enjoying my oyster stew

Food is many things: flavors, textures, smells, an excuse to use your fingers to clean a bowl that was used to mix chocolate cake batter. But food is also memory. It’s a time machine, resurrecting recollections that had shriveled like an orange peel on a scorching summer sidewalk. Oyster stew does the trick for me. Every Christmastime, my parents would whip up a big kettle of oyster stew. I was the only one among my seven siblings who would sip some stew with our parents. Which was just dandy; more for me. When December’s deep cold arrives something deep within me stirs, ...

Mother/daughter relationship proves hard in life and death

Dear Annie: I’m writing to ask your opinion about whether I should include my estranged daughter in my will. She accused me of something very vile that never happened and spread it throughout the family. She also broke her younger sister’s heart for another reason. I have a grandson I’m not allowed to see, and communication with my daughter is nonexistent. I have moved 1,000 miles away to avoid the drama. Since I’m no longer welcome in her life, should I even consider her when I die? -- Devastated in Alabama Dear Devastated: Wills are a bookend to human life and can include ...