Garrison Keillor Speaks at the National Press Club

“15 Things That Need to Change Right Away”

Minnesota native, Garrison Keillor, spoke last night at the National Press Club in Minnesota and let his feelings shine through as he gave his take on “15 things that need to happen tomorrow.”

Before getting to the points, Keillor pointed his inspiration for the current speech. In his life, he has only gotten generic compliments. Thinking about this made him feel that his forty years in radio were nothing but a “comforting baritone presence” and that tonight he would give a speech that is more specific.

Starting off with a common theme in the night; humor, Keillor started the list with things like changing the names on street signs, laying off the “now-required” flag pins, and putting a cease and desist order on unnecessary airport announcements.

Moving into a more serious topic, Keillor suggested a rearrangement of seating in the house and senate into a “checkerboard fashion” in order to make more progress.

He then transitioned into the pressing topic of increasing the minimum wage. The room got quiet as Keillor explained that it makes no sense that people who work hard cannot support themselves. “If you work hard . . . you’re gonna be ok. But you just can’t do that with the minimum wage. L.A. did something about it last week and the rest of us need to do something about it tomorrow.”

Positive reactions were received from the audience as Keillor went into currently discussed topics such as gay rights, diversity, and woman’s rights. Keillor believes that the government needs to come along with the acceptance of different sexualities. Branching off from this, Keillor said that the United States needs to give the word diversity a rest. “We are diverse . . . minorities are not trophies, they are people.”

Lastly, Keillor recognized that there are some changes that cannot be made, but putting the face of a woman on the twenty-dollar bill is not one of them. His suggestion being Emily Dickenson.

From the smallest to the biggest issues that were discussed in Keillor’s 15 changes, the audience reacted in compliance and stayed engaged well through Keillor’s consistent use of humor and sarcasm.

After taking a few questions regarding mostly things that did not have to do with his speech, Keillor closed the night by singing “Let Freedom Ring.”

Story #1 – Revised

Lowering the Drinking Age

The American drinking age of 21 sets us apart from all other developed countries. Recently, many people have accused this law of being outdated and causing more harm than good.

Results from a recent National survey found that 66% of students have used alcohol by the 12th grade. These numbers show that the act of underage drinking is not uncommon and the effort to keep those under the age of 21 from drinking has had a lack of success. In the United States, a citizen over the age of 18 is considered an adult and obtains the right to vote or serve in the army, but is denied a glass of wine with their dinner.

Alexis Aguirre, a writer for The University Star at Texas State University, believes that making drinking a forbidden act only drives young people to want to drink more.  Aguirre states, “Legal drinking age does not eliminate consumption among young people. Instead, it only drives underage drinking underground, creating a dangerous culture of irresponsible and extreme drinking.”

Aguirre makes it clear that by the time a person is considered an adult, they are more than capable of making their on decision on whether or not they consume alcohol.

A 21 and older drinking rule is thought to feed into the rebellious nature of teenagers.

The law passed in 1984 has shown to cause cases similar to those during the prohibition – those under the legal age set out to drink as much as they can and in the smallest amount of time possible because they do not know when they will be stopped.

Writer for Time Magazine, Camille Paglia, explains that young drinkers – college students in particular – turn to binge drinking at wild parties, giving them less control of their surroundings. Paglia states, “What this cruel 1984 law did is deprive young people of safe spaces where they could happily drink cheap beer, socialize, chat and flirt in a free but controlled public environment.”

One thing that all activists in favor of lowering the drinking age to 18 have in common is that it gives students a chance to learn to drink responsibly.

In an article posted by The New York Times, Gabrielle Glaser, the author of “Her Best-Kept Secret: Why Women Drink — and How They Can Regain Control,” says that “Teaching people to drink responsibly before they turn 21 would enormously enhance public health.” Glaser believes that allowing students between the ages of 18 and 20 to drink legally would drive them away from binge drinking at random parties and give them the opportunity of having a safe, controlled environment.

 

Texas State University article: https://star.txstate.edu/node/1704

Time Magazine article: http://time.com/72546/drinking-age-alcohol-repeal/

New York Times article: http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/should-the-drinking-age-be-lowered/?_r=0

Lowering the Drinking Age – Final Draft

The American drinking age of 21 sets us apart from all other developed countries. Recently, many people have accused this law of being outdated and causing more harm than good.

Results from a recent National survey found that 66% of students have used alcohol by the 12th grade. These numbers show that the act of underage drinking is not uncommon and the effort to keep those under the age of 21 from drinking has had a lack of success. In the United States, a citizen over the age of 18 is considered an adult and obtains the right to vote or serve in the army, but is denied a glass of wine with their dinner.

Alexis Aguirre, a writer for The University Star at Texas State University, believes that making drinking a forbidden act only drives young people to want to drink more.  Aguirre states, “Legal drinking age does not eliminate consumption among young people. Instead, it only drives underage drinking underground, creating a dangerous culture of irresponsible and extreme drinking.”

Aguirre makes it clear that by the time a person is considered an adult, they are more than capable of making their on decision on whether or not they consume alcohol.

A 21 and older drinking rule is thought to feed into the rebellious nature of teenagers.

The law passed in 1984 has shown to cause cases similar to those during the prohibition – those under the legal age set out to drink as much as they can and in the smallest amount of time possible because they do not know when they will be stopped.

Writer for Time Magazine, Camille Paglia, explains that young drinkers – college students in particular – turn to binge drinking at wild parties, giving them less control of their surroundings. Paglia states, “What this cruel 1984 law did is deprive young people of safe spaces where they could happily drink cheap beer, socialize, chat and flirt in a free but controlled public environment.”

One thing that all activists in favor of lowering the drinking age to 18 have in common is that it gives students a chance to learn to drink responsibly.

In an article posted by The New York Times, Gabrielle Glaser, the author of “Her Best-Kept Secret: Why Women Drink — and How They Can Regain Control,” says that “Teaching people to drink responsibly before they turn 21 would enormously enhance public health.” Glaser believes that allowing students between the ages of 18 and 20 to drink legally would drive them away from binge drinking at random parties and give them the opportunity of having a safe, controlled environment.

 

Texas State University article: https://star.txstate.edu/node/1704

Time Magazine article: http://time.com/72546/drinking-age-alcohol-repeal/

New York Times article: http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/should-the-drinking-age-be-lowered/?_r=0

Lead Exercise Stories

1. Local Fire Fighter Falls Out of Tree While Rescuing Cat

Bob Harwood of the local fire department got hurt this week while out rescuing a cat that was stuck in a tree.

Harwood climbed a 50 feet oak tree to save the cat. 15 feet to the botton, Harwood fell due to a dead limb that broke under him. He was taken to St. Lukes hospital where he is doing “just fine” despite a broken left leg.

As for the cat, she landed on top of Harwood and is safe and sound at home with her owners, Suzanne and Samantha Decker

 

2. Alarms at Northeast High School

Between false alarms and food fights, Northeast High School is experiencing an unrest last few weeks before summer vacation.

Last Wednesday, the alarms were pulled 3 times by disgruntled students. These students were in protest of the suspension of 5 other students on Monday for smoking marijuana in the parking lot. There were 10 students involved in the false alarm issue and were all suspended. These suspensions were followed by a cafeteria-closing food fight on Tuesday.

Principal Laura Vibelius stated that these incidents were caused by general unrest, saying, “Not so much unrest because of suspensions, but because of summer vacation being so near.” With this, she expects no more incidents in the near future.

 

3. Streets Shut Down Due to Gasoline Spill

A Texaco gasoline truck overturned, flooding the sewer lines and causing streets to be closed and houses to be evacuated.

The accident occurred on 48th street and Correctionville Road. The streets and ditches were flooded and sewer lines were affected two blocks around.

Flushing the gas away took around 2 hours. During that time, 4 families were evacuated from their homes because of sewer line gas and cars were rerouted using side streets.

Fire Chief Charles Hochandel stated, “The firemen followed catastrophe and hazmat procedures set up beforehand for just such an occurrence.”