Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Rolling toward the election, thoughts from Minnesota October 30, 2026

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I stand beside the DFL Get Out the Vote bus touring Minnesota days before the election. I’m holding a campaign sign for Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a DFLer on the ballot. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo by Randy Helbling)

ONLY DAYS BEFORE the mid-term elections, the big blue bus rolled into Faribault in a DFL-led Get Out the Vote effort. I was among those who gathered to listen to candidates talk not only about their goals, but also about the importance of this election. There’s no denying this election is especially important given the current federal leadership in this country and the very real threats to our democracy.

This shows DFL candidates running for top state offices in Minnesota, left to right: Senator Amy Klobuchar with Fergus Falls Mayor Ben Schierer for governor and lieutenant governor respectively; Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan for U.S. Senate; Attorney General Keith Ellison up for re-election; incumbent Secretary of State Steve Simon; and Zack Filipovich, former Duluth councilman and accountant for state auditor. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2026)

As I listened to Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon share that his office is preparing for possible election interference by the federal government, reality hit. Hard. Yes, I’ve heard this, read this, intellectually understood this. But still, to hear this spoken aloud by the man in charge of elections in Minnesota took me back to the January 6 insurrection and the current threats by a President hell-bent on suppressing/manipulating voting, even bribing Americans with the promise of $5,000 payments if Republicans retain control of Congress. Really? Buying votes? Not mine.

The DFL Get Out the Vote Bus pulled into Faribault late Thursday afternoon for an hour-long stop to fire up voters. Minnesota consistently has the highest voter turn-out in the country. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2026)

I struggle to understand how anyone can support any candidate aligned with the President. So, yes, I am voting blue. Right down the ballot.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison addresses the crowd in Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2026)

I am concerned about the rising costs of everything from fuel to healthcare to groceries. I am concerned about tariffs. I am concerned about the unnecessary war in Iran. I am concerned about the United States’ damaged relationships on a global scale. I am concerned about an immigration enforcement program that has targeted not the worst of the worse, but also those who are here legally. I am concerned about Americans shot to death on the streets of Minneapolis by agents of their own government. I am concerned about the blatant racism and hatred spewed by our President and echoed by too many of his own party. I am concerned about the name-calling, the lies, the deception, the calls for violence. I am concerned about efforts to suppress free speech and freedom of the press. I am concerned about those who are losing their healthcare or unable to afford health insurance. I am concerned about those who live on the margins, who need our help, our compassion, our support. I am concerned about…the list is seemingly endless.

Parked along busy Minnesota State Highway 60/Fourth Street in Faribault, the DFL bus was highly-visible during its Thursday stop. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2026)

Perhaps I care too much. But I’ve always been someone to stand up for what is right and good and decent. I champion for those who are bullied, probably because I was bullied as a middle school student and even as an adult.

Lieutenant Governor candidate Ben Schierer speaks for his ticket. He’s running with Senator Amy Klobuchar in the gubernatorial race. In the foreground, supporters of Minnesota House District 19A candidate Martha Brown listen. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2026)

I refuse to remain silent, becoming somewhat of a political activist in the past year, if you call protesting weekly and planting my corner yard with DFL campaign signs political activism. My vote is also my voice.

A message posted on a house in Dundas, Minnesota, in August 2020. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo August 2020)

Here are some motivating quotes on voting that resonate with me:

Voting is the foundation stone of political action.—Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democracy.—U.S. Representative John Lewis.

We cannot be silent when our rights and our democracy are under attack. The way we win is by standing together—and by making our voices heard in every election.—Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey

Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.—President Abraham Lincoln.

Your vote matters. Even if you disagree with me. Vote.

© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Peace, just peace November 5, 2024

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I purchased this retro peace tray at an antique shop in St. Charles, MN., in 2015. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2015)

PEACE. Sometimes it feels especially elusive. And today, the day before the election (because I am writing this Monday afternoon), peace eludes me. I am so unsettled that I am binge-eating potato chips. I can’t recall the last time I had a bag of potato chips in the house or engaged in this type of eating behavior. This just is not me, someone who tries to eat healthy. But I am stressed.

I hope I feel differently in a few days. Feelings about my personal peace aside, I hope peace washes over the entire nation. We need it.

We need a calming, a break from all the negativity and barrage of craziness (a word I don’t often use and don’t particularly like, but it fits here). We need a return to normalcy and decency and respect.

We need to start caring about one another again, to stop the attacks and finger pointing and all the behavior that spirals us into discord. There’s been way too much bullying, too much name-calling, too many lies, too much degrading and hateful rhetoric. Too much. I want it to end. And I imagine I am not alone in feeling that way.

Peace. I’m talking inner peace. I’m talking peace within families and neighborhoods and schools and communities, where, even if we disagree, we can get along, set aside our differences, listen, compromise, work together.

When I was coming of age in the tumultuous early 1970s, peace was a buzzword. It was everywhere. On protest signs, in fingers flashed, in words spoken, on clothing, in pleas made… Looking back to that time period, I recognize that peace felt elusive then, too. But somehow we found our way back, until we didn’t.

NOTE: As the creator of this blog, I moderate all comments. This post is not meant to spark political sparring, but rather reflects my thoughts and feelings.

© Copyright 2024 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

House Divided, the game February 6, 2024

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The frosted cover of Monopoly House Divided, left on a table in Central Park. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2023)

NOW THAT CAUCUSES and primaries have kicked off, this seems a fitting time to share photos I took a few months back at Faribault’s Central Park. But first the back story. Randy and I sometimes walk in and around this block square park and into adjacent neighborhoods for exercise. Occasionally while crossing through Central Park, I’ve noticed miscellaneous items left there, like abandoned boxes of food, articles of clothing, even Play Doh slime. I would pull out my smartphone and document my finds.

I have no idea why this game was left on a picnic table or by whom. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2023)

On the frosty morning I spotted play money scattered across the grass and a board game atop a picnic table, I took extra time to investigate. I found a political version of Monopoly, Hasbro’s House Divided. Who knew? But I suppose given the political scene in this country, the constant bickering between parties, this should not have been a surprise. Let the board game company make money on the division within our nation.

The board game was lying open on the table as if the players abandoned it mid-play. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2023)

The game features “Executive Power” and “I Voted” cards and rules that allow players to buy states, earn votes and collect rent while on the campaign trail to the White House. That’s a simplified summary.

That’s the White House in the front. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2023)

Now, I loved Monopoly as a child. Randy played the game with our kids, often sprawling across the living room floor on Sunday afternoons. By that time I had no interest in the game. And I have no interest in playing House Divided Monopoly. There’s enough division and chaos in the real world of politics to focus on it in a competitive board game.

Playing pieces on the frosted board game cover. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2023)

I’m already weary of the current presidential campaign, and it’s only just begun. How many months until the election?

TELL ME: Have you played this version of Monopoly? If yes, what are your thoughts on the game?

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NOTE: I don’t want the comments section to turn into a space for heated political debate and discussion. That is not my intention. As always, I reserve the right on this, my personal blog, to publish or not publish comments.

© Copyright 2024 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Reflecting on a Faribault first on this, MLK Day January 16, 2023

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I took this photo of a St. Olaf College student watching a video in an exhibit, “Selma to Montgomery: Marching Along the Voting Rights Trail,” in 2015. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr is shown in this frame. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo April 2015)

TODAY, THE DAY WE HONOR Civil Rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr with celebrations and a federal holiday, seems fitting to share my excitement over the election of Adama Youhn Doumbouya to the Faribault City Council. Elected in November and just recently taking office, the Liberian-born immigrant becomes the first person of color to serve on the Council in a city chartered on April 9, 1872.

I expect Dr. King, who advocated tirelessly for equality and human rights, would be proud. I feel not only pride, but also gratitude in knowing that Doumbouya will bring a new young voice (he was born in 1987) and perspective to my ever-changing city.

This is my all-time favorite award-winning photo showing diversity in Faribault. I shot this image at the 2012 International Festival in Central Park where kids gathered to break a piñata. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2012)

Today’s Faribault is vastly different from the Faribault of the past, even of recent decades. It is decidedly more diverse in skin tones, religion, culture, customs, dress, language and more. Admittedly, those who have moved here from places like Somalia, Sudan and Mexico have not always been welcomed. Racism exists. Sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant. I wish that wasn’t true, but it is.

Faribault is a city rich in immigrant history. This banner hangs in the downtown historic district. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2019)

In the context of this evolving, diverse Faribault, it’s important to remember that nearly all of us (with the exception of indigenous peoples) are descendants of immigrants. Too often we forget that. Our forefathers landed in America, then Minnesota, with dreams. Faribault’s newly-elected councilman, who witnessed civil war in his home country along the west coast of Africa, landed in New York City in 2013 with dreams.

Visitors could photograph themselves at the 2015 “Selma” exhibit at St. Olaf College and express their thoughts. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2015)

Although I’m not privy to Doumbouya’s personal dreams, I’ve read his backstory published in a Faribault Daily News feature. After moving to Minnesota, he worked at a meat-packing plant in Austin, south of Faribault near the Iowa border. He served on the Austin Planning Commission. Eventually, he pursued a college degree, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in urban and regional studies. He moved to Faribault in 2020, owns a home here.

That’s a nutshell summary of the background Doumbouya brings to city government. Responses to a Q & A published pre-election revealed a candidate eager to serve his community. Eager to advocate for affordable housing, transportation and inclusive workforce development. Eager, too, to improve city infrastructure and technology for residents and businesses. Eager to focus also on economic development. I’m confident he will work hard on those goals of improving life and expanding opportunities in Faribault.

This image from a 2015 Downtown Faribault Car Cruise Night shows the diversity in my city. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2015)

It took a long time—going on 151 years—for my city to get here, to the point of a person of color serving on the City Council. It took time, too, for social justice activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to make progress towards equality and human rights for all. As we approach the 55th anniversary of King’s assassination on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, much work remains to be done.

A promo for the MLK Breakfast in Faribault. (Credit: Faribault Diversity Coalition)

The same can be said in Faribault. But I see progress. I see progress in the election of Doumbouya to the City Council. I see progress via the efforts of the Faribault Diversity Coalition, which today hosts its ninth annual MLK Breakfast and has also started a recent Speaker Series. I see progress in personal connections and communication and caring attitudes. Faribault’s future is as limitless as our dreams.

© Copyright 2023 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Note: Adama Youhn Doumbouya’s photo is not included on the City Council website page, leaving me without an image to share here.

 

One word: VOTE November 3, 2020

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My dad carried home a July 31, 1953, memorial service bulletin from Sucham-dong, Korea. In the right column is listed the name of his fallen buddy, Raymond W. Scheibe. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.

MEN AND WOMEN have fought and died for our democracy.

A chair placed before a Stephen Somerstein photo offers visitors a place to sit and contemplate. This photo was taken at the “Selma to Montgomery: Marching Along the Voting Rights Trail” exhibit at St. Olaf College in 2015. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.

Men and women and children have marched for equality. And they still are.

A portion of a photo by Steve Somerstein, from the exhibit at St. Olaf College. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo 2015.

There was a time not all that long ago when people of color and women did not have the right to vote.

A message posted on a house in Dundas. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo August 2020.

It is our responsibility as citizens of the United States of America to vote. To let our voices be heard. To exercise our freedom. To cut through the political rhetoric and untruths to make informed choices. To recognize that in a democracy, every vote matters.

This folding polling booth, patented in March 1892, is on display at the Village of Yesteryear in Owatonna. It comes from the Meriden Town Hall, where voters used it until 2009. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo July 2012.

If you have not yet voted, then get to your polling place today and cast your votes. I voted early, via mail-in ballot. And, yes, I hold full confidence in that system.

Randy put this sticker on his sweatshirt after voting in the 2010 election. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.

And then, like the rest of you, my dear Americans, I will wait, recognizing I have done my part by voting, by exercising my democratic right.

© Copyright 2020 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

When a small town Minnesota newspaper implements a “pay for” letter policy August 11, 2016

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SHOULD A NEWSPAPER charge for publishing a letter to the editor?

My Minnesota State University, Mankato, journalism professor Robert Shipman would likely turn over in his grave if he read that question. He impressed upon me that the editorial page is the heart of a newspaper. A staunch supporter of community journalism, he would not advocate paying for letters to the editor. Neither do I.

I have great respect for this newspaper man who nearly 40 years ago taught me the basics of journalism—instilling in me a strong sense of fairness in writing balanced news stories. Opinion, he emphasized, should be reserved for the editorial page.

 

Gaylord Hub election letters policy - Copy

 

This brings me back to charging a fee for letters to the editor. Interestingly enough, my concern is prompted by a notice published in The Gaylord Hub, a third-generation family newspaper where I accepted a reporting job right out of college.

Decades after I left my two-year stint at this small southern Minnesota weekly, I still get The Gaylord Hub. Unlike most community newspapers, The Hub does not have a strong editorial page. Rare are the editorials. However, locals often voice their opinions in letters to the editor. There’s been significant controversy in Gaylord related to school issues.

But now the publisher/editor has established a new policy for election-themed letters. Policies for letters to the editor are the norm at newspapers. Many publications restrict length; monitor for libelous and offensive content and personal attacks, etc.; and don’t publish election-related letters in the final issue before an election. But, in a quick perusal of the internet, checking out several major dailies across the country and several Minnesota daily and weeklies, I found none with a “pay for” publication fee.

The Little Falls based The Morrison County Record, for example, states that “Letter writers are encouraged to stick to the issues and the positions on issues and qualifications of the candidates.” Letters that lean toward advertising aren’t published.

In Gaylord, though, under the new policy, if you want to write a letter supporting or opposing a candidate or a political party, you’ll have to pay for it. Thirty dollars for up to 300 words for a Paid Election Letter.

I get where the newspaper is coming from with this policy. Some people will abuse the system by viewing the editorial page as a free advertising opportunity. But to blanket apply that to all election-focused letters seems a suppression of opinions. The policies established by The Morrison County Record seem more appropriate, more balanced in curbing potential abuse while maintaining freedom of expression.

That said, there was a time when newspapers printed obituaries and engagement, wedding and birth announcements at no cost to readers. No more, at least in most publications. Would my college professor opine that change. He likely would. Robert Shipman was Old School community journalism. He was all about integrity, unbiased reporting, getting facts right and, above all, always always spelling names correctly. He taught me well. He taught me that the opinion page is the heart of a newspaper.

Thoughts?

Copyright 2016 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

The new letters to the editor policy published in the August 4 edition of The Gaylord Hub.

 

Driving home a political point along a Minnesota interstate November 4, 2012

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IF YOU’RE LIKE ME, you are fed up with all the political literature, billboards and advertisements.

If you’re like me, you don’t even read the campaign material that arrives in your mailbox.

If you’re like me, you don’t even want to answer the phone or door any more to listen to another pollster or campaign volunteer or candidate.

But then along comes a political statement like this, posted along Interstate 94 about 15 miles east of Alexandria (between mile markers 117 and 118 near the West Union exit):

Driving east on I-94, you’ll see the car ramp first, then the limo driven into the ground and then the message.

Creative freedom of speech

I don’t care what your political persuasion or whether you vote red or blue, support Barack Obama or Mitt Romney. You just have to admire the creativity and hard work of whomever planted this limo in the ground along a busy Minnesota interstate to drive home a political point.

Spotting this political billboard of sorts this past weekend truly caused me to pause and consider how very fortunate I am to live in a free country like the United States of America.

Here we are free to express our opinions, to let our voices be heard, to speak out, to tell others what we think, to vote. And, yes, I pretty much duplicated myself with all of those phrases.

Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Finally, a woman on the Steele County Board April 4, 2012

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CONGRATULATIONS, STEELE COUNTY, Minnesota. You’ve finally elected a woman to serve on the County Board of Commissioners. It’s about time.

I could hardly believe the news when I heard it this morning on an Owatonna radio station. It wasn’t the election of a female that surprised me. It was the fact that it’s taken this long.

For the first time in its history, this southeastern Minnesota county will have a woman serving on its county governing board. She is Nina Huntington, a dental hygienist from Owatonna, who beat out opponent Doug Hughes in a special election on Tuesday to represent the Fifth Commissioner District.

Huntington won with 250 votes, or 60 percent, compared to Hughes’ 164 votes, according to an article in the Owatonna People’s Press. Only 10.25 percent of the district’s registered voters cast ballots.

Interestingly enough, Steele County also made headlines on Tuesday as Minnesota’s healthiest county in ratings released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. That study considers mortality, morbidity, health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factors, and physical environment. Click here to read those study results.

So there you have it—Minnesota’s healthiest county now has a woman helping to govern it.

Huntington’s election in Steele County leads me to wonder this:

How many other Minnesota counties have never had a female serve on the county board of commissioners? If you have the answer or can direct me to that information, I’d like to hear. I would guess that number to be quite high.

Also, what do you think a woman can bring to county government that a man may not?

CLICK HERE to read an interview with Huntington published in the Owatonna People’s Press after she filed for office.

CLICK HERE to read the election results story in the OPP.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

FOX 9 anchor Heidi Collins deserves criticism November 4, 2010

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AFTER SOME THOUGHT, I feel compelled to add to my earlier post regarding FOX 9 news anchor Heidi Collins’ on-air interview with Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie last night. The more I think about the interview, the madder I get.

Typically, I stick up for journalists. I once became so upset with a circle of friends who were blasting newspaper reporters and newspapers that I stalked out of the room. I had never done that before, but I get fed up with media-bashing.

This time, though, I cannot defend journalist Collins, if you can even call her a journalist. She deserves every ounce of criticism, every degree of heat, every negative comment tossed her way.

Her condescending attitude, her insinuations, her talking over Ritchie and that “I ask, you answer” statement showed an utter lack of respect for the office of Secretary of State.

Collins seemed biased and intent on provoking Ritchie. In other words, she was anything but professional and she was downright mean.

I cannot, as a professional writer and a former newspaper reporter, stick up for anyone in the media who conducts herself/himself in such an unprofessional manner.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

After the election comments and mud-slinging in Minnesota

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IN ALL THE POLITICAL NEWS and rhetoric that filled our Wednesday here in Minnesota, the most sensible sound-bite of the day, in my opinion, came during an on-air interview between FOX 9 television news anchor Heidi Collins and Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie.

During the interview, with the two sometimes talking over each other, Collins became a bit testy and instructed Ritchie, quite curtly, that she was asking the questions and he was to answer.

So…, when Collins asked when we’ll have a new governor, Ritchie responded that Minnesota will have a new governor when the governor takes the oath of office.

All of us—my husband, 22-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son—watching the interview burst out in simultaneous laughter. Ritchie nailed that question with an answer that not even a politician can twist into a political statement.

Speaking of which, Minnesota GOP Chairman Tony Sutton has done nothing to endear himself to me with his snotty, snide, venomous comments that portray the ugly opposite of Minnesota Nice.

With words like “should be reamed” directed toward Ritchie, “something doesn’t smell right” aimed toward a Hennepin County vote reporting glitch  and promises to be “very, very aggressive” in the recount process, I already dislike the man. Honestly, I just wanted him to shut up.

For the record, I don’t specifically align myself with any particular party. I evaluate candidates based on their views, stands on issues, personalities and character. Through the years, I’ve voted Republican, Democrat and Independent.

Whatever the outcome of the expected gubernatorial recount, I hope that both political parties can maintain civility and stop the mud-slinging that has already begun, by the GOP, in this process. Enough already.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling