If you are reading this, you’ve already seen that one of our dreams for Access Press has finally become a reality—full color! This has been discussed for many months. We were just waiting for the right opportunity to make the biggest impact with the color. We just didn’t feel like recent issues warranted this huge leap. However, recent political events around the greater Twin Cities area have caused communities and issues to overlap and become intertwined. The Amalgamated Transit Union strike has affected the very heart of so many people, and we felt this edition of Access Press needed to stand out from all previous ones and become a standard for the future. The faces of our community affected by the strike, as showcased within the pages that follow, deserve full-color. These are real people with real lives. They are not two-dimensional, black-and-white, faded snapshots. See their stories.
Our legislators and Governor are caught-up in some very difficult dilemmas which will have no real winners. But, as they say, it’s not about winning; it’s about doing the right thing for the future of our citizens, making sure everyone has an equal opportunity for success or failure of their own dreams. Each of us, as well as our government, has a responsibility to all our fellow citizens to make every effort to ensure that even the most vulnerable people have the necessities to fulfill their own dreams. To quote John Lennon, “You may say I’m just a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” We can only hope that our leaders will work toward the goal of everyone being given the same opportunities to make their dreams realty.
We received some comments on Pete Feigal’s column last month. One of our readers suggested we look into the situation of being bullied a little more closely. Bob Brick, from Pacer Center, suggested that their curriculum on bullying might work to help inform us more on the bullying problem. Patricia Bill, also from Pacer Center, put together an article with some common sense tips that we don’t always think of when under pressure of your own children being bullied, teased or harassed. Thank you to Bob and Patricia for helping on this under-discussed issue.
Jeff Nygaard has put together some interesting thoughts and theories on universal health-care and how it might work in part one of what will be a three-part article. Much of part three we will be dedicated to answering questions that might arise as you read these articles. So, please keep a pencil and paper handy as you’re reading these articles and sending your questions after you read part two. I will remind you again in May that we will be answering your questions in the June edition of Access Press. Maybe if we all put our heads together we can come up with a real plausible, affordable, workable and equal-for-all plan that can be put into action—or maybe not—but let’s start the discussion and see where it takes us.
It’s spring once more in Minnesota! Time to get outside and enjoy this beautiful weather. Why not let Simon Delivers ease the burden of grocery shopping. Give them a call, or look them up on the web at http://www.simondelivers.com, and use the Simon Code of page nine.
