Getting Back in the Saddle

Despite my best efforts to refrain from discussing Buffalonian politics here in Minnesota, it would seem that I’m back.

Trust me, I’m as surprised as you are.

I’d really thought I’d gotten off the Minnesota-politics-and-opinions carousel. That season of my life was over, like the closing of an aged and abused book I’d chosen to leave behind on a dusty shelf in historic Buffalo. I’d sworn off the journalistic business, cured the newspaper bug that had been flying around my head since college, “finished my race” as I’d told my readers in my farewell column bearing the same name.

Standing at the gates of the career factory I looked at the good Lord and said, “Okay, that’s over - what a nightmare! – no more controversial jobs for me. What’s next?” I wrung my mitts together like a DC Comics villain, plotting my next invasion of the career field.

God met me at the gates of said career factory with a dimly amused, 'Ha. It’s not over until I say it’s over. You just sit tight, young lady, and wait a year.'

So, ignorantly, I buried my inner Lois Lane and swore off journalism and everything having to do with writing opinion pieces.

I met Daniel almost a week after I left my reporting job. Resigning from the position was a bold move that had inevitably landed me in the unemployment office. I hadn’t yet begun to lick my career-crippling wounds, they were still raw and gaping, instead content to just simmer with a chapped hide and sore feelings. Daniel reached out through the blog I had created and we exchanged a couple of messages.

He patted me on the back, I raved about the injustices of corporate America. We bashed the bossmen in our respective lives before doing what everyone does online to emails – we parted ways. Gen Z calls it “ghosting.”

I was done with journalism and writing opinions, disenchanted with the community and Minnesota policy as a whole. I’d resigned myself to finding a new career. Bolstered by the support from the local community and my family, I bobbed in the COVID-rich waters of unemployment for a year, doing little until Uncle Sam jerked the unemployment check and I re-entered the workforce in November 2021.

Back to Buffalo I went, begrudgingly but thankful to work, despite my grump at not obtaining one of those highly-coveted, work-from-home jobs.

Now, I’m doing something quite different that I never in a lightyear measure of time imagined myself doing: car sales. It’s been eight months and I still don’t think anyone believes I’m actually doing this. Daniel is certainly entertained about it. It puts food on the table and in my four horses' bellies.

It certainly isn’t journalism. Which circles me back, in a way, to Daniel’s Logical and Wright.

Daniel contacted me about his online platform for sharing conservative resources and the happenings of Wright County, Minnesota, with a vision that this site would become a corral of sorts for the “Rocks and Cows party” that our dear old Tim Walz loves to disparage. There are many individuals out here with much information, and many voices needing a platform. Daniel had the vision to publish these voices and whatever information on any given subject pertaining to life out here in the “Rocks and Cows.” And, he wanted me to be a part of it.

So, he did what could only be acquainted as the 2022 version of dialing me up. He emailed.

From the primordial sludge of the interwebs Daniel came sneaking back into my life, this time with an offer, 'Write for my website, Miriam, and I won’t censor a single jot or tiddle of what you have to say.' He reaffirmed to me that my voice had mattered in this community, that it still mattered in that silver-tongued, salesman-y way that I myself know all too well as a salesperson. He won me over.

Reading between the lines as every good writer does, I could see the unspoken probe as if it had been a flaming-red cattle brand ready to hit my skin. He begged the question without breathing a word, 'Are you still writing anything that matters, Miriam?' I didn’t have an excuse for said between-the-lines revelation, so I swallowed my pride and told myself that no, I wasn’t writing anything that mattered. I’d left that part of my career behind, checked out of Hotel Reporter, and escaped the swirl of opinionated musings. I’d resolved to never go back into journalism, or, rather, the part of journalism where I’d gained the most attention - opinions.

Being the person of faith I am, this was the elbow-in-the-ribs moment from God. The rubber met the road and I had to give Daniel an answer. I was terrible at managing my own blog in my own right, but he had the website already up and ready to go, with a readership. I had no excuses, no keen distractions to hide behind. This was an opportunity to write and have a voice in Wright County again. I just merely had to get back in the saddle.

And, for those of you who don’t regularly swing into saddles, let me tell you – it isn’t as easy as it sounds. Climbing back into a saddle after you’ve been tossed in the dirt is hard. It hurts, you have to build up a variety of muscles. You have to reestablish a relationship with the animal beneath you. What used to be subtle cues are now rusty hinges that creak and squeal. You have to relearn the art of the saddle, and writing for this kind of platform is not that different. There is a vein to hit, a delicate dance. As I exchanged barbs with Daniel, I had to focus up and determine if this is something I wanted to do again.

And, here I am.

The purpose of my little corral on this site is not far removed from Daniel’s purpose. Logical and Wright is a conservative watering hole, you could say. It’s a place to come and have discussions, to withdraw information (or deposit it). It’s not much different from the Opinions page of a newspaper, minus the paper and subscription fees. I, myself, will discuss a variety of things happening not only in Wright County, but in Minnesota and across the country. We’ll talk about everything from faith to politics to movies – anything and everything that comes to mind (Daniel, you promised!)

I tried my best to bury my inner “Lois Lane,” which is what I called my pursuit of journalism and writing opinions. While I’m not returning necessarily to the field, I’m circling back to my “roots,” as it were, to writing things that matter. I’m not going to lie – I’m transparent, honest, and opinionated and not afraid to show it. Just like in my newspaper column, "Auteur Access," people won’t agree with me, but many will. Either way, I’m excited to be here.

While us “Rocks and Cows” may not have as strong a voice at the polls as we would like, a small voice still has something to say. Hopefully, Logical and Wright will explode into being a community page to share ideas and the happenings of not only the area, but our state and this corner of the nation. I, for one, appreciate Daniel and his vision, and can’t wait to start stirring up conversation. Education starts somewhere, and who knows? Maybe it starts here.

That being said, please know that the opinions you’ll read here in my little corner of this page are strictly my own. While they may overlap with Daniel or any other contributing writer, these here are mine and mine alone. They don’t reflect the mission or convictions of Logical and Wright or anyone else but myself. And I’ll stand by them, make no mistake. We do live in a free country, still, and remember – do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Please keep that in mind as we exchange correspondence.

So, that being said. I’m back in the saddle at Buffalo. Let’s see where this trail takes us, shall we? As always, every reader has my thanks and appreciation for visiting this platform. I know Daniel and myself (and whoever else joins our posse) appreciate you being here. Change starts, sometimes, by just having a conversation — and Daniel and I are all about having a conversation. Between the two of us we could talk a man deaf, I think.

Blessings to all of you who have stopped by. Let’s give these rocks and cows here in rural Minnesota a voice, shall we? It’s about time we got involved.

Let’s make Minnesota – and at that, America – great again.

In Christ,

Miriam