on second thought
By Lori SorensonAugust 23, 2023A young couple showed up on our porch in June with a gift. “We have something we’d like to give you,” they said in a phone call earlier that day. Their business is Twisted Farmers Fab, which specializes in custom metal art — commercial signs, personalized wall hangings, fire pits and, their latest, hanging wind spinners. On this warm summer evening they handed us a heavy metal circular wind…
By Lori Sorenson, editorJuly 25, 2023Office chatter at the Star Herald has been entertaining this week. “I’m definitely wearing a cowboy hat,” I said. “I think I can turn some jeans into Daisy Dukes,” Greg chimed in. “But wait — then you’ll need chaps. Where can we get those?” Mavis, a seasoned horse rider, volunteered to bring her wardrobe to work. We discussed safety. “If the air quality is poor, I’ll have my inhaler handy.” And…
By Lori Sorenson, editorJune 27, 2023We spent last week in the beautiful Black Hills exploring backwoods logging trails and climbing atop lookout points of the national forest service. We enjoyed breathtaking scenery … as we do every time we travel to the Hills. Maybe it’s because we live on the relatively flat prairie among cornfields and soybeans, but the Black Hills views of the deep canyons and majestic overlooks never get old.…
By Lori Sorenson, editorMay 30, 2023About 15 years ago I hit a deer on the road and totaled my old Chevy Blazer. No one (except the deer) was hurt, but it shook me up and stressed me out. It meant an insurance claim, finding a different low-budget vehicle, and time-consuming paperwork for a single working mother with no spare time. My own mother often encouraged us to tackle problems by considering how important they’ll be five…
By Lori Sorenson, editorMay 10, 2023Once upon a time there was a little blond boy who grew up near Luverne between the Rock River and Blue Mounds State Park. He was made of “snips and snails and puppy dogs’ tails,” with boundless energy and an effervescent love for life. Behind his blue eyes sparks of mischief and brilliance. He’d leap out of bed at sunrise and grab his bicycle and pole to go fishing in Hallett’s Pond on…
By Lori Sorenson, editorApril 18, 2023We had cake in the office Tuesday to celebrate my 30 years as Star Herald editor. I love what I do, and I cherish the role of a weekly paper in a community, so it’s definitely worth celebrating. Thirty years sounds impressive, but it’s just on par with countless feature stories we’ve written about people in their jobs for 30 or more years. When I started at the Star Herald in April 1993, Charlie…
By Lori Sorenson, editorMarch 28, 2023It’s been said that for every tragedy there is a miracle to make up for it somewhere else. I don’t know who says this or if it actually happens, but I hope it’s true. Sometimes in grief after tragedy, hope is all we have. … Well, that and prayer. Lots of prayer. … By lots of good people who have been very good to us. In the days and months following the Sept. 13, 2022, death of our Carson, many…
By Lori Sorenson, editorMarch 07, 2023I invested in snowshoes this winter after several treks across open fields in a borrowed pair with my neighbor friend, Wendy. In January she purchased two sets, one for herself and one for a snowshoeing partner (lucky me). My only previous experience with snowshoes was 15 years ago in the Blue Mounds State Park with their rented wooden raquettes and rawhide laces. I remembered that it took nearly…
By Lori Sorenson, editorFebruary 14, 2023In addition to journalism and survival skills, college taught me the harsh consequences of a sedentary lifestyle and reckless diet. Late night homework with Cheetos, on-demand cafeteria soft-serve and weekend beer and pizza sent me home in sweatpants after my first spring semester. Fortunately, a 20-something metabolism and occasional three-milers on the gravel road near Kenneth took care of the…
By Lori Sorenson, editorJanuary 24, 2023It’s been four months since we lost our Carson to suicide, and I haven’t yet made an appointment with a grief counselor. I’m grateful for professionals who can guide a conversation, and I fully intend to have that conversation. I just haven’t felt the right moment or the right reason. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t had therapy. Webster defines therapy as “treatment intended to relieve or heal…
By Lori Sorenson, editorNovember 21, 2022The calendar says it’s time to be thankful. … for things like a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs and food on the table. … like turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing (the homemade kind from Mom’s recipe). And pie. I’m especially thankful for loved ones, like my husband, our children and our families … and for loved ones in heaven — not because they’re in heaven, but because we were…
By Lori Sorenson, editorNovember 01, 2022“Forever indebted” is how I’m feeling lately. We picked up the supper tab for my sister, Lisa, one day last week. “You didn’t have to do that,” she objected. It’s true we didn’t. But it seemed like a small thing considering all she’d done and been for us in the days following Carson’s passing. She contacted family, organized helpers and food, kept me on track when my brain short-circuited,…
By Lori Sorenson, editorOctober 11, 2022Carson has been gone for a month. It’s been one of the hardest parts of grieving his loss — knowing that with each passing day he’s slipping farther into the past. There will be no new social media posts, no new Christmas card photos with his smiling face among our own, and no new milestones in his life to celebrate. What we have of Carson’s 21 years is the current sum of all we’ll get. But we’re…
By Lori Sorenson, editorAugust 30, 2022We bought a smart TV on a “too-good-to-pass-up” Prime Day deal earlier this summer and finally set it up two weeks ago. It’s an Amazon Fire TV, and as such, is powered by none other than Alexa herself. In fact, instruction No. 1 was to open the Amazon app on my phone and follow instructions from there. Among them was to download the Alexa app and set her up to power the TV by voice command. “…
By Lori Sorenson, editorAugust 02, 2022Matt and I recently met friends near Hill City, South Dakota, for our annual ATV ride on the trails of the Black Hills National Forest. As always, the four-day getaway included campfire conversations, relaxing picnics on scenic overlooks, and — best of all – abundant wildflowers. We have wildflowers in Rock County, but there’s nothing like rounding the curve of a wooded trail that opens into…
By Lori Sorenson, editorMay 31, 2022As I surveyed storm damage through the Star Herald camera lens Monday, I couldn’t help but notice how Mother Nature took out her wrath on two neighboring farms but skipped the one across the road. When the National Weather Service jarred us from our sleep at 2:15 a.m., we sheltered in the basement like everyone else. We emerged to find our home and property still intact. Others didn’t. It raised…
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