Last Word

Family farms are the future of agriculture

June 24th, 2015

By Fred Kirschenmann

My family owns a farm near Medina, and we are now transitioning that operation to Steve Sund and his family. Our farm has always been, and will always remain, a family farm committed to serve the health of the land and the community.

In my career I’ve had the opportunity to directly observe the evolution of corporate-owned farms. Such farms operate by a single principle: maximum, efficient production for short-term economic return (especially return to the…

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​The Old (Barbershop) Songs in a New Age

June 10th, 2015

“The Old Songs, the old songs, the good old songs for me / I love to hear those min-or chords, and good close har-mo-ny.” - Theme Song of SPEBSQSA [Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America]

“Most of us hadn’t realized the extent of the presence of barbershop harmony in African-American culture until 1992, when Lynn Abbot [Tulane University] ... discovered overwhelming evidence that barbershop quartetting was pervasive in…

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