Albert Lea Tribune | Columns by Garrison Keillor

Columns by Garrison Keillor

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Life’s variety pack of people, places and things

Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009

It costs $722 to fly from St. Paul-Minneapolis to Bismarck, N.D., and you can fly from St. Paul-Minneapolis to Paris for $754. Life is unfair; we all know this. Big prizes go to mediocrities while you struggle on, unappreciated. The righteous suffer while the wicked prosper. Read story

When the tough really should get going home

Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009

The former Marine officer Matthew Hoh, who resigned his Foreign Service post in Afghanistan because he feels the war is pointless and not worth dying for, deserves all the attention he’s gotten and more. Read story

Coffee with an old grumbler in a dark mood

Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009

A gorgeous fall here on the upper Mississippi, but among the old grumblers I drink cheap coffee with, the mood these days is dark, due to low interest rates and the advance of the glaciers, which is why I, sunny optimist that I am, seek out the company of the young and ebullient and drink $4 coffee, but sometimes you get stuck next to some old guy in a plaid shirt who gives you an earful about Wall Street bonuses and how the game is rigged in favor of the custom-tailored suits, and you must be polite and listen. Read story

Petulance, presence and the Nobel Peace Prize

Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009

Evidently some people were disappointed that Dick Cheney didn’t receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and believe me, I sympathize — I thought Philip Roth should’ve gotten the literature prize instead of that grumpy Romanian lady with the severe hair — but it was Mr. Obama whom the Norwegians wanted to come visit Oslo in December and stand on the balcony of the Grand Hotel and wave to the crowd along Karl Johans Gate, and, face it, Mr. Obama is going to draw a bigger crowd than Mr. Cheney would have. Read story