Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

1984 Oceania & 2025 America December 31, 2025

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Here’s the early 1970s edition of “1984” which I read. The print was small, difficult to read.(Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)

MULTIPLE TIMES I NEARLY STOPPED reading the book. But I was determined to finish, although the process took weeks. Sometimes I could read many pages. Other times I had to stop, set the book aside and not pick it up for several days. Yet, I continued slogging through the pages.

What book caused me to struggle so? The answer: 1984 by George Orwell.

If you’ve never read this dystopian novel and, no, I hadn’t, you should. Written in 1949, it is so relevant to today that the book could easily be titled 2025. And that’s not a good thing.

I jotted four full-sized pages of notes while reading. And what emerged was downright scary, because the fiction Orwell penned 76 years ago strongly resembles the United States of America under our current administration.

PLOT SUMMARY

But first, a summary of 1984. Main character Winston Smith lives in Oceania, a country ruled by The Party and the unseen Big Brother, who is watching, always watching. Smith is a writer, working for The Ministry of Truth, which is anything but. Workers there are tasked with rewriting history, basically erasing the past. Censorship. Smith, however, secretly disagrees with The Party’s work and ideology. But he, like others of the same mind, must be careful, oh, so careful. No one can be trusted, as Smith eventually learns firsthand.

People are disappeared from the streets, snatched. Vaporized, as if they never existed.

Troubling words like hatred, Thought Police, thought crime and control emerge in this novel. All are connected to The Party, a party focused on absolute power, world domination, acquiring more territory, on shaping narrative, on eliminating art, literature and science.

If The Party told you that 2+2=5, you better believe that. Smith didn’t.

The Party aims for absolute dominance—authoritarian rule under a dictatorship that opposes individual freedom and seeks to control every facet of life and the mind. Children are indoctrinated, blindly following and adoring The Party, becoming little spies who will turn on anyone suspected of defying Big Brother’s ideology. A woman calls Big Brother “My Savior.” Big Brother’s image is imprinted upon a coin. The eyes are watching, always watching.

HOW WILL IT END?

As I turned page after page, I tried to hold hope that 1984 would end well, although I knew it wouldn’t. I can only hope that the fiction George Orwell wrote does not fully become our reality in America. Whether it does or doesn’t is on all of us.

We can choose love over hatred. We can choose to exercise our personal liberties by speaking up, voting, contacting our elected officials, protesting, standing strong in and for freedom. We can advocate for others, calling out wrongs, working for the marginalized, the “snatched,” those struggling emotionally, financially and otherwise. We can help, encourage, uplift. We can listen. We can remember and learn from the past, not some rewritten version of the past. We can stand up for art, science, literature, truth. We can support freedom of the press, turn to trusted and reliable media sources. We can declare that we, the people, hold the power. Not Big Brother. Not a single man or his followers. Not The Party. But, we, the people.

WE THE PEOPLE

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. —Preamble to the United States Constitution

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TELL ME: Have you read 1984? If yes, what are your thoughts in the context of today, specifically in America? Do you see similarities, relevancy? What concerns you, if anything?

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

A Christmas message from southern Minnesota December 24, 2025

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“Silent Night,” an acrylic painting by Adele Beals, for sale at the Holly Days Sale, Paradise Center for the Arts, Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo December 2025)

THERE’S MUCH TO PONDER this Christmas as we find our nation in turmoil. Anger simmers and boils. Discord rises. Oppression continues. Peace in our country, let alone throughout the world, feels more elusive than ever. These are difficult days.

A baby in a manger at my church, Trinity Lutheran, Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo December 2025)

Likewise, the newborn Jesus and his parents faced similar challenges some 2,000 years ago. They were refugees who fled their Judean homeland for Egypt under the threat of an oppressive and violent leader. King Herod ordered all baby boys in Bethlehem to be killed after learning that a “King of the Jews” was born there. He feared being replaced. When I consider a leader so cold, calculating and cruel that he would mandate the killing of any boy age two and under to retain power, well, it seems unconscionable. But it was reality. And, had I been Mary, I also would have done everything possible to save my son.

Consider that in the context of today. Here. In America. Threats to our immigrants may not be as severe as death, although some have died in ICE custody. But detention and deportation, or the threat thereof, are very real. This is happening all over the U.S., including right here in my southern Minnesota community.

Photographed several years ago along a recreational trail in Madison, Wisconsin. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

For example, locally-based HealthFinders Collaborative, a community health center serving the underserved and uninsured in my area, has issued a statement that their patients, staff, volunteers and others do not feel safe due to visibly present federal agents in our communities. People are canceling appointments. People are afraid. In response to the very real fear people are feeling, HealthFinders is expanding virtual visits and is locking clinic doors. I expect those living in biblical times felt similar angst under the authoritarian rule of King Herod. No wonder Mary and Joseph fled with Jesus to Egypt.

This Christmas I can’t pretend everything is OK while hatred, disparaging rhetoric and injustices run rampant in this country. As a woman of faith, I look at Jesus and see how he lovingly embraced people. He showed love, care, compassion, kindness. To all. He would not be alright with certain groups of people being hated on. He would not be OK with people targeted, hunted, gathered, detained, sent away. Poof. Gone.

Among my favorite signs/messages at a No Kings protest I attended in Northfield this past summer. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo June 2025)

If there’s any message to take away from Christmas this year, it’s that we need to stand up for our neighbors. Ask ourselves the once-trendy question, “What Would Jesus Do?” We need to voice our concerns. Resist. Help. Encourage. Follow Jesus’ lead of serving, loving and supporting those who need us most right now. And that’s not the King Herods who choose power over humanity.

In closing, I hold hope that we, as individuals and a nation, will stand strong against that which oppresses us, that which is inhumane and that which is just plain wrong. We all, whether people of faith or not, inherently understand the difference between right and wrong, good and evil. Let us live as people who care about goodness, kindness, compassion, love and peace.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Commentary: I care about my neighbors, a free press, freedom & more December 3, 2025

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Protesting in Northfield at a NO KINGS rally. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo October 2025)

I CAN’T IGNORE the news. I want to, no, need to, know what’s happening on all levels from local to international. Perhaps it’s my innate curiosity or my journalism background that compels me to read and watch media reports. I feel an obligation, especially in these challenging times, to be as informed as possible.

What I’ve been hearing and reading from the federal government in Washington DC continues to concern me. Deeply. I can hardly believe the rhetoric, the hatred, the awfulness that is flowing like hot lava from fiery mouths upon this land.

Somali women walk through downtown Faribault during a community event. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

The latest is the hatred directed by our president toward Somalis living in America, including some 80,000 in Minnesota. My community of Faribault is home to many Somali Americans. The president has singled out Somalis in Minnesota with his derogatory words and planned, targeted ICE raids here. I am proud of the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul and other leaders, including the Minneapolis police chief, for speaking up and standing strong for the Somali community during a Tuesday afternoon news conference. They recognize the threat to this specific demographic. And they value the Somalis who call Minnesota home.

“Who,” I ask, “will be next? Me, because my eyes are green?” Maybe he doesn’t care for green-eyed people. Or you? Because he doesn’t like something about you.

This is a pig, not a female journalist. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

He certainly doesn’t care for journalists, especially female journalists. I realize a dislike of journalists is nothing new. But this president has gone well beyond “dislike” to outright meanness, bullying and name-calling. I never thought I would see the day when the leader of our country would chastise a reporter with “Quiet, piggy.” I never thought I would hear an American president call a reporter fat or terrible or ugly or any other adjective while hissing “fake news” at the media.

Bracelets against censorship and for rights. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2025)

When the U.S. government launched a Media Bias page on the official White House website just days ago, I felt nothing short of outraged. This is the United States of America, where freedom of the press ought to mean something, where the media is independent of the government, where reporters have a right and a duty to accurately report the truth without fear of intimidation, public shaming, recrimination,… This newest tactic of naming a “Media Offender of the Week” ought to anger every single person in this country. I don’t care what side of the political aisle you sit on. This latest action speaks to censorship, to controlling the press, to propaganda, to anything but democracy.

I value freedom. I hope you do, too, enough to stand up for a free press, individual rights, freedom from fear, intimidation, oppression and all that threatens us. These are unprecedented times (yes, I recognize that may be an overused word, but it fits) in our country. I refuse to remain silent.

THOUGHTS?

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Protesting in Minnesota October 19, 2025

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Protesters stand along Minnesota State Highway 3 in Northfield on Saturday afternoon during the NO KINGS protest. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

I AM AN AMERICAN, a Minnesotan, a resident of Rice County and the city of Faribault. I am a writer, photographer, blogger, poet. I am a wife, mother, grandmother. And I am also a protester.

A snapshot of a portion of the crowd protesting in Northfield, population around 21,000. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

On Saturday I joined millions across the country and world participating in NO KINGS rallies in my fourth protest since June 14. I care about America. I love America. But I don’t like what’s happening here under the Trump administration, which is eroding our democracy and taking, or attempting to take, away our rights, freedoms and, oh, so much more by authoritarian rule, force, threats, retribution, control, manipulation…

I refuse to remain silent at a time such as this. So I exercised my rights to free speech and freedom of peaceful assembly under the First Amendment to the Constitution by participating in a protest in neighboring Northfield along with a thousand or more others. We packed Ames Park along the Cannon River and lined the east side of Minnesota State Highway 3 for a block to listen to speakers, to share our concerns, to hold protest signs high, to hear plans of action, to sing and pray and reflect, and to engage in conversation.

Minnesota Highway 3 through Northfield is a busy roadway, providing a highly-visible location to protest. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

At times throughout the 1 ½-hour event, I protested next to a Vietnam War veteran, a mechanic, a retired professor of Spanish and Latin American literature (also a poet), a retired college office employee, a retired engineer, a retired elementary school teacher… I also mingled among countless others there for the same reason—to protest. To express our concerns about healthcare, education, the economy, immigration, due process, freedom of speech, a free press, free and fair elections, government funding cuts, the presence of military in our cities, the balance of power, the judiciary, the overreach of power, clean energy… The list goes on and on.

I saw a baby strapped to his/her mom. Kids on shoulders. Kids with signs. Young people of high school age and early adulthood. Those in their middle years. Those in their sixties, like me. And those even older, some probably pushing ninety. The turn-out for this protest was even bigger and more diverse age-wise than the one in June in Northfield on the date Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Doug, were assassinated.

Clever and creative signage is always part of the protests. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

To be among this group of peacefully protesting concerned Americans during the NO KINGS rally felt empowering. Uplifting. We were unified in our movement, even as one speaker pointed out that we may not agree on everything. Another termed what’s unfolding in America today as not “normal.” It is not, and should not be, normal. Ever.

Support from motorists passing by was overwhelmingly positive with honking horns and waves. Of course, we got a few middle fingers and intentionally roaring, racing vehicles. Only once did I feel unsafe—when a car sped by at a dangerously high speed, the driver clearly attempting to antagonize and threaten us. That was the only overt hatred I witnessed.

The crowd listens to speakers during the Northfield protest. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

Those of us peacefully gathered did not, as some Republican politicians adamantly and wrongly stated, come because we hate America. Far from it. We love America. That was clear in the peaceful tone of the event, in American flags waving, in recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, in singing of the national anthem, in signage, in our desire to uphold the Constitution, in our genuinely deep concern about the state of our country under President Donald Trump. In our voices rising. Loud. And free.

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NOTE: Please be respectful in your comments. I moderate all comments on this, my personal blog.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

From words on a government website to soybean markets & a crisis in rural America October 15, 2025

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Combining soybeans in rural Rice County, Minnesota. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo October 2022)

WHEN I FIRST READ the message bannering the United States Department of Agriculture website during the current government shutdown, my jaw dropped. In a two-sentence statement, “The Radical Left Democrats” are blamed for the closure of the federal government. How unprofessional, I thought, to so blatantly put politics out there on a website designed to help America’s farmers. But then again, why should this surprise me?

United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is doing the same in a video message blaming Democrats for the shutdown. She expects this to be broadcast in airport terminals. Many are opting not to air her clearly political statement. And they shouldn’t. It’s unprofessional and wrong in more ways than I can list, no matter what your political affiliation may be.

But back to that message on the USDA website. It goes on to say that President Donald Trump wants to keep the government open “and support those who feed, fuel and clothe the American people.” Now that is certainly a noble statement at face value, one we could all applaud. Who doesn’t want to support our farmers? But in the context of what the President has done to farmers, the statement seems laughable.

Rural Minnesota, planted in corn and soybeans. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo October 2024)

Here in the heartland, farmers have lost a major market for soybeans, my state’s top agricultural export. China has stopped buying soybeans from not only Minnesota, but America. That’s billions of dollars in lost income. And all because of the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China, begun by the man who slapped tariffs—now averaging 58 percent—on Chinese imports with a threat to increase that to 100 percent. I’m no economist. But even I understand China’s retaliatory tariffs and actions to tap other markets for soybeans. They went to Brazil and Argentina.

And now President Trump proposes sending $20 billion in aid to Argentina, all tied to an upcoming election there. Why would we bail out a country exporting their soybeans to China while our own financially-strapped farmers are suffering because they’ve lost a key market? This makes no sense to me. Again, I’m not an economist or a politician, simply an ordinary American citizen, with a farm upbringing (and who decades ago freelanced for the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association), questioning the logic of any of this.

Even without the Argentinian component tossed into the mix, there’s more. President Trump has proposed an aid package for farmers to help them get through the financial crisis he created via his tariffs and the resulting trade war with China. That aid would come from the money collected from tariffs. Now I know farmers—my dad was one—are fiercely independent and would rather have a market for their cash crops than government aid. If not for the tariffs…

Trucks await the harvest. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo October 2022)

As the harvest continues here in Minnesota, I can’t help but feel for those who work the land, who continue to face so many uncertainties, financial challenges and stressors. Interest rates on loans remain high. Market prices remain low. Land rents continue to rise. Equipment and other costs are high. And on and on, including the loss of the long-standing soybean export market to China, which quite likely may never be reclaimed.

This is becoming a crisis situation for farmers—those who feed, fuel and clothe Americans. From fields to small town Main Street, rural America is hurting. And politically-biased blame words published on a government website aren’t helping.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

A Banned Books Week commentary on free speech October 10, 2025

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This American Library Association poster anchors the Banned Books Week display at my local library. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

AS A WRITER, journalist and avid reader, I’m a firm believer in free speech. Never have I seen that right more threatened in America than it is today. It’s downright scary—efforts by the federal government to suppress voices (already occurring), promises of retribution (now being carried out), abuse of power (happening on so many levels) and much more that threatens our very freedoms, our democracy. I could go on and on.

But today I want to focus on Banned Books Week, which ends tomorrow. Thursday evening I gathered with a group of volunteers for an appreciation event at Books on Central in Faribault, a used bookshop founded by the Rice County Area United Way. While I don’t volunteer there (yet), I’ve blogged about the bookstore numerous times because I love books and I love that monies from BOC book sales help nonprofits in my area. We weren’t there to discuss banned books, though, but rather to celebrate volunteerism and this small bookshop which has become much-beloved by the Faribault community and beyond.

It was not lost on me as I sat there surrounded by books, listening to volunteers share their passion for this place and for books, that everyone who walks in the door is surrounded by choices. As it should be. Choose what you want to read or want to share with others.

A powerful and fitting quote for Banned Book Week displayed at Buckham Library. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

Yet, there are individuals, organizations, elected government officials and others who want to determine what we can read by banning books from libraries, schools and elsewhere. That, my friends, is censorship. And I’m not OK with that. If I find the content of a book to be offensive, then I can stop reading it or never open it in the first place. Likewise parents can monitor their child’s reading materials just as they would online content.

A sampling of books that have been banned in various places in America. These were included in a display at my library. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

In the words of the American Library Association’s 2025 Banned Books Week theme, “CENSORSHIP is so 1984.” That’s a reference to George Orwell’s prophetic 1949 novel, 1984, about a totalitarian government. That’s a simplistic summary. But the book is particularly relevant to today. I intend to check it out from my library to reread.

Bracelets available at Buckham Library support the RIGHT TO READ. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

After the bookshop appreciation event Thursday evening, I stopped at Buckham Memorial Library to see if staff had created a Banned Books display as they have in the past. They did. After I read the information and looked at a sampling of books that have been banned (not from my library), I grabbed a green bracelet imprinted with this message: CENSORSHIP is so 1984. READ FOR YOUR RIGHTS.

I will continue to read. I will continue to write. And I will continue to embrace, support and advocate for free speech. I have a voice. I refuse to be silenced.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Commemorating 9/11 in Faribault, a photo essay September 11, 2025

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A firefighter rings a bell outside the Faribault Fire Hall during the 9/11 ceremony. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

WE GATHERED THURSDAY MORNING at the Faribault Fire Hall as the sun beamed bright upon the crowd, as those in uniform stood in reverent respect, as engines idled, as the bell rang, as the American flag was raised and lowered, as heads bowed in prayer.

People gather inside and outside the fire hall before the commemoration began at 7:46 a.m. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
A Faribault police officer clutches an American flag. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
Cleaning a Rice County Sheriff’s Department vehicle before the ceremony. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

A short ceremony here marked the 24th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America, an act of violence that initially claimed 2,977 lives. And many others in the years thereafter.

Flag bearing police officers participating in the memorial event. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
Saluting. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)
Members of the sheriff’s department and others salute. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

At 7:46 a.m., when the first plane, Flight 11, hit the first World Trade Center, the ceremony in Faribault began. I mostly wandered, watched, framed photos, struggled to hear speakers. But mostly, I heard the silence, felt the heaviness upon hearts, remembered.

The youngest in attendance stands inside the fire hall. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

On that morning in 2001, I was caring for my 7-year-old son, who wasn’t feeling well, and his friend. I knew nothing of the attack until my husband called from work to inform me. As I scanned the crowd 24 years later, I wondered where all of them were when the unthinkable happened. Some were not yet born. Others, like Faribault’s communications director, was sitting in his seventh grade science class when he got the news. Many of us were just going about our normal day.

The line-up of firefighters, police officers and others was impressive. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

When I reflect on that day, I recall how profoundly different the world felt afterwards. The absence of airplanes in the sky following the attacks in New York City and at the Pentagon and then the crash of the fourth plane over a field in Pennsylvania was noticeable. I remember worrying, wondering if the Mall of America in Minnesota would be attacked in a symbolic act of terrorism. Everything felt different. Surreal. Scary.

Many firefighters were in attendance, as I would expect given how many of their brothers and sisters on the East Coast perished on 9/11. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

I remember my son and his friend building two towers from blocks and then crashing toy airplanes into them, sending the blocks toppling into a pile. Child’s play as I watched endless media coverage, unable to turn off the TV.

A Faribault fire fighter with two Faribault police officers. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

Time passes. Days, months, years, decades. And here I was, 24 years later, standing outside my local fire hall. Standing with firefighters, law enforcement, EMTs, an insurance agent, the former mayor, city employees, local media, a child, a veteran, an older woman and her dog…ordinary people remembering those lost on that tragic day in American history, 9/11.

Patriotism threaded through the event. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

TELL ME: What are your memories from September 11, 2001? How did you feel and how do you feel now?

This Faribault fire truck was parked along the street by the fire hall. Other emergency vehicles were also parked either along the street or on the fire hall driveway. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Politics, passionate voices & peach pie at a potluck September 9, 2025

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A protester at the NO KINGS day rally in Northfield. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo June 2025)

MONDAY EVENING I GATHERED in rural Rice County with a crowd concerned about issues ranging from healthcare to immigration, agriculture, education, the environment, diversity, gun violence, the SNAP program, tariffs, voting rights, veterans’ benefits, the economy and much more. All current-day topics worrying many of us, including me.

I’ve never been politically active. Until this year. To stay silent now feels complicit. I care enough about this country, about freedom, about democracy, to let my voice be heard. I’ve participated in three pro-democracy rallies, including the NO KINGS Day Rally in Northfield and two on Labor Day in Owatonna. I’ve volunteered at a DFL Sweetcorn Feed in Faribault. I’ve donated to the DFL, called and emailed my legislators in Washington, DC. And Monday evening I attended a potluck, billed as a DFL Working Families Garden Party. This all from someone who previously voted primarily Republican. But no more, not in the past four Presidential elections or in some other past elections. I’ve always looked at candidates, their character and their stances on issues before voting. I still do, but party affiliation now matters to me, too.

Minnesota potlucks always include bars, like these at a previous event I attended. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

DEEP CONCERN

At all of these recent events, I’ve heard—whether from politicians, candidates for office or ordinary people like me—a deep concern for our country under the current administration and those who go along with whatever our President says and does. This concern comes from good, decent people. Farmers, teachers, business owners, lawyers, blue collar workers, college students. People who carry crockpots of pulled pork and baked beans, bowls of creamy garden-fresh cucumber salad, peach pie and bars to a political party on a rural acreage.

As I sat in this bucolic setting Monday evening listening to short speeches from candidates like Martha Brown of Faribault, running for Minnesota House District 19A on the slogan of “Common-Sense Leadership for Working People,” or fiery Matt Little from Elko New Market who embraces the label of “radical” and who is running for Congress in the Second Congressional District or Ben Schierer of Fergus Falls, campaigning for state auditor and vowing to represent both urban and rural communities, I felt hope.

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon speaks at the DFL Garden Party hosted by Ted Suss, right, near Nerstrand. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

COMPASSION & HOPE

I felt hope, too, when I heard Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon talk about protecting voter information, voting rights and more. I felt hope when I heard Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy speak. As a nurse, her care and compassion for others threads through her speeches, shines in her political life.

A memorial banner honors the Hortmans, shot to death in June, and their dog, who had to be euthanized due to his injuries. Below the Minnesota flag hangs a campaign sign for Jake Johnson, who is running for office in Minnesota’s First Congressional District. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2025)

Most notable in Murphy’s talk, at least for me, is the deep grief she feels over the politically-motivated assassination of her friend and colleague, Minnesota Speaker of the House Emerita Melissa Hortman and Hortman’s husband, Mark. The Hortmans were shot to death on June 14, the day I protested in Northfield, despite warnings not to do so. I refuse to be silenced.

Murphy spoke on Monday evening against a backdrop of American and Minnesota state flags and a banner of the Hortmans and their dog with this message: STAND UP FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE. She talked, too, about attending the funeral on Sunday of Fletcher Merkel, 8, among two students killed in a mass shooting that injured 21 others at Annunciation Catholic Church in south Minneapolis on August 27. Justice. Peace. No more gun violence.

This sign from the NO KINGS rally in Northfield really resonated with me. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo June 2025)

UNPRECEDENTED

I’ve lived enough years to observe that what’s happening in this country right now is unprecedented. I’ve never felt more fearful of losing our freedoms under authoritarian rule. It’s happening already with snatching people off the streets, imprisonment and deportations without due process. It’s happening in intimidation and retribution; mass firings; suppression of free speech; funding cuts that are undermining research, healthcare, education and more; gathering of private information by the government; sending armed military into cities; and in countless other ways that affect all of us no matter our political affiliations.

This isn’t about rural vs urban. This isn’t about us vs them. This is, rather, about preserving and protecting our very freedoms as Americans. This is about caring and feeling hopeful. This is about speaking up. About doing something. And sometimes this is also about eating pulled pork, baked beans, cucumber salad and homemade peach pie at a potluck on a beautiful September evening in southern Minnesota.

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NOTE: I moderate all comments on this, my personal blog, reserving the right to publish or not publish comments. Please be respectful whether you agree or disagree with me.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Honoring the legacy of Congressman John Lewis July 15, 2025

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In 2020, I photographed this inspirational message, right, by John Lewis on a home in Dundas, a small town just south of Northfield. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo August 2020)

HIS WORDS AND ACTIONS should inspire all of us to do better, be better, both as individuals and as Americans. “He” is Georgia Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis, who died five years ago on July 17.

Looking through a window into an exhibit space at Flaten Art Museum at St. Olaf College, Northfield, where I toured this photo exhibit 10 years ago. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2015)

Today I honor this man who left a legacy of strength in voice, power in actions and examples of righting racial injustices. In 1965, Lewis marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, for voting rights for Blacks. He coordinated voter registration drives, led the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. And in 1986, Lewis was elected a U.S. Congressman, a post he held until his death.

A portion of a photo by Steve Somerstein whose work focused the traveling exhibit I saw at St. Olaf in 2015)

This son of Alabama sharecroppers and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 was remarkable in his determination, in his commitment, in his desire to right wrongs and improve the lives of Blacks.

But what Lewis brought to this country extends beyond a singular issue. He understood the value of each individual voice and used his voice to make sure others understood that what they say and do matters.

In the years since his death, I’ve researched the congressman. And in doing so, I’ve discovered statements he’s made that resonate strongly. Here are a few examples:

“…get in good trouble, necessary trouble and help redeem the soul of America.”

“You must be bold, brave, and courageous and find a way…to get in the way.”

“My greatest fear is that one day we may wake up and our democracy is gone.”

“Never let anyone—any person or force—dampen, dim or diminish your light.”

I find each of those four statements especially empowering. They are calls to action. Messages meant to end complacency. Encouragement to each of us to speak up, to be heard. To shine our lights in our neighborhoods, communities, state, nation and world.

The faces of the Civil Rights Marches and Movement include Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This photo by Stephen Somerstein was part of the Selma exhibit.

And if we ever feel that our voice is only one, that our words aren’t heard, that our actions don’t matter, Lewis offers this message: “Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful. Be optimistic.” Hope and optimism. Such positive words that are easy to read, but not always easy to believe. Yet, Lewis would want us to believe that things can get better.

In honor of Lewis, “Good Trouble Lives On” rallies are planned nationwide on Thursday, July 17, including here in Minnesota. The event is a national day of nonviolent action to respond to the current attacks on civil and human rights. From small towns like Madison in far western Minnesota to the Twin Cities metro and many other communities across the state, people will gather to let their voices be heard. Rallies in southeastern Minnesota are set in New Ulm, St. Charles, Winona, Stillwater and Northfield, the nearest to me. The Northfield protest is from 6-7:30 p.m. at Ames Park in the downtown area.

For more information about “Good Trouble Lives On” and to find a rally site, click here.

“Get in good trouble” and honor U.S. Representative John Lewis, a remarkable human being whose light still shines in America, strong and radiant.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Commentary: Floods, alligators & an email July 7, 2025

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 2:41 PM
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Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo used for illustration only)

I HAVE SEVERAL THINGS on my mind today which are roiling my emotions. Not on a personal level. But on a broader, national scale.

First, I feel heartbroken over the loss of lives in Texas following flash flooding. The latest death count I’ve read is eighty-five, 27 of those children. Dozens remain missing. Most heart-rending are the deaths of the young campers at a summer camp. I think many parents, myself included, can relate to dropping a child off at camp with the full expectation that they will be there when we come to pick them up at camp’s end. For too many, a parent’s absolute worst nightmare—that of losing a child—is now reality. I feel for anyone who has lost a loved one in these floods, no matter their age. I am thankful for the 850 rescued thus far.

Titles of two photos in the “Testify” exhibit I saw. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo April 2025)

ALLIGATORS

Secondly, I’m deeply-troubled by the gloating and hype about “Alligator Alcatraz,” a deportation detention facility in Florida. Those in power have been flaunting the name, stating quite clearly what will happen to anyone who tries to escape. There’s nothing remotely “funny” about alligators attacking and devouring human beings. There’s nothing “funny” either about placing people in cages. But neither seems to bother those who are vocally promoting this facility in such a vile way.

As soon as I heard the words “Alligator Alcatraz,” I was reminded of a traveling exhibit, “Testify—Americana Slavery to Today,” that I saw at my local library in April. Within that exhibit was a studio portrait of nine unclothed Black babies and toddlers sitting or standing in one long line. The circa 1897 image by a photography studio was simply titled “ALLIGATOR BAIT.” I remember standing there, my jaw dropping in disbelief. The photo was right above another image, that one of the African-American 9th Calvary Regiment, ca. 1939.

Then I read the text below the two photos: The juxtaposition of photos heightens the irony of being hawked as unwanted, or “alligator bait,” while at the same time being drafted into a calvary regiment to serve in the name of the United States’ highest ideals. Historians have actually investigated to determine if African-American children were indeed used by hunters to lure alligators. The results were somewhat inconclusive, but the fact that research was needed is telling.

I wondered when I saw the “ALLIGATOR BAIT” photo how humans can be so cruel? I wonder the same today.

Hands of an octogenarian used for illustration only. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

A TROUBLING EMAIL

Lastly, a few days ago I received an email from the Social Security Administration, which I initially thought to be phishing given the title, “Social Security Applauds Passage of Legislation Providing Historic Tax Relief for Seniors.” Turns out this was legit. I’m sure many of you got the same email.

As I read on, I couldn’t quite believe what I was reading—a clearly partisan piece of propaganda from an agency I thought was non-partisan. Not only that, the content was not complete or accurate.

Whoever crafted this email and thought it was OK to mass-send, it is not OK.

LET’S DO BETTER

There you go. This is what’s on my mind today, just days after celebrating the Fourth of July in a country I love, even with all its faults, atrocities, injustices and troubles. But we can, and must, do better. I believe we can.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling