8-Opinion
8 The News-Press
November 7, 2013
opinions / yours and ours
For all who chew, this spud’s for you There are few things better than a baked potato, but you must never have one before Sept. 22. It’s very bad luck if you do. To be safe, I don’t bake one until the day the clocks fall back. This year that was Nov. 3. In French, a potato is a “pomme de terre”: an apple from the earth. Apples are great too, but you can’t put sour cream or bacon bits on them. French fries in French are “les frites.” Makes no sense. I couldn’t explain why baked potatoes are so wonderful when they are so ordinary and abundant any better than Katharine Hepburn’s description of Spencer Tracy. Hepburn compared Tracy to a baked potato. “A baked potato is pure,” she said. “It’s of the earth, and it’s dependable, that was Spencer.” We rarely had baked potatoes when I was growing up. We had mashed potatoes,
and they’re almost as good as baked potatoes. I played with my mashed potatoes, however. It’s difficult to play with baked potatoes, so immediately you feel more grown up. I am a miserable cook, but I can bake a potato. They are foolproof, unless you take them out of the oven too soon, which I have done. Then they are crunchy, and not so good. Baked potatoes should be prepared when the weather breaks, when summer has packed up, and autumn registers for a while, before winter settles in.
question of the week
Will Fox’s absence hurt the Broncos? After head coach John Fox’s emergency medical procedure that will keep him away from the Broncos’ sidelines for a month or two, Colorado Community Media stopped by the Sports Authority and Target in Highlands Ranch’s Town Center and asked local residents what sort of impact they thought Fox’s absence would have on the team.
“It won’t (have any impact). Peyton is the quarterback, he’s the coach.” — Brandon Nelon, Littleton
“I don’t think we will miss him too much. Del Rio is a good interim coach, and we have Peyton.” — Chris Mueller, Highlands Ranch
“I don’t think it will affect them. I think Jack Del Rio is quite capable. He has proven himself as a head coach.” — Katie Allison, Highlands Ranch
“I don’t think it will affect them; we’ve got Peyton. He could be the coach, the quarterback, he can do whatever.” — Angelina Heuchert, Centennial
Exit onto road less traveled “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” From the Robert Frost poem, “The Road Not Taken.” Have you been there, faced with a tough decision or at a crossroad in your life? And if so, did you take the road less traveled or did you follow the path where the ground had been cleared and maybe just a little bit easier to traverse? I have found myself at that decision point on more than one occasion, a true crossroad in my life. And maybe it’s the closet poet in me and huge fan of Robert Frost, but I, in most cases, seem to take the road less traveled. In most cases it has served me well and set me on a new course, adventurous tour, and wild ride. But just as the poem reads, “… and that has made all the difference.” And then there have been those few times where I followed the masses, accepted the easy path, went along to get along, and I found myself either bored or disappointed, always wondering what would have been or could have been had I chosen the road less traveled. You see, I am not a very good “yes” man, and when I find myself at a decision point, especially a critical decision point, I need to be able to evaluate my options and determine what most others might choose to do, and dig in deeper to the “why” behind their decisions. And this is what usually triggers my decision to try an alternate route. When people share with me where they are in the crossroads of their own life, I often encourage them to take the time to clearly write out all of the op-
There may be no better dinner on a snowy evening than a baked potato. It is a simple and honest meal or side dish. Compare this to lobster. You don’t have to euthanize a potato. Compare baking a potato to homemade lasagna or Thai pretzel chicken. You just pre-heat the oven, foil-wrap or olive-oil the potato, and then go do something else for a couple of hours — unless you microwave it. Which I never do. For some reason, I prefer to bake potatoes. It’s a part of their charm. I speed-dial frozen entrees all the time, but I don’t want to speed-dial a potato. I’d add some thoughts about the Irish potato famine, but it’s unpleasant, and I want a pleasant column for a change. No complaints or grudges, or proposals of prison time for tailgaters. This surprised me: “China is now the world’s largest potato-producing country, and nearly a third of the world’s potatoes are harvested in China and India.” India? My No. 1 television program is “Modern
Michael Norton, a resident of Highlands Ranch, is the former president of the Zig Ziglar organization and CEO and founder of www.candogo.com
Craig Marshall Smith is an artist, educator and Highlands Ranch resident. He can be reached at craigmarshallsmith@comcast.net
D.C. must grow up In stark contrast to Washington’s dysfunction, which brought us a 16-day government shutdown and the risk of default in October, Coloradans know what it means to do their jobs day in and day out. Across the state, and in some cases as they recovered from catastrophic flooding, workers in Colorado continued to carry out their duties and meet their responsibilities, in light of the paralysis in Washington. From police officers to teachers, business owners to assembly-line workers, we proved that Colorado doesn’t shut down. To highlight this point, immediately following the shutdown, we traveled across the state to work side-by-side with Coloradans who are working hard day in and day out. Despite challenges they face, the workers we met with were meeting their obligations, providing for their families, and contributing to our economy. At Adam’s Mountain Cafe, an eatery in Manitou Springs, the restaurant’s owner, Farley McDonough, quickly put me to work. Between filling waters and wiping down tables, I talked with customers about the hardships and losses they’ve suffered as a result of the mudslides and flooding in Manitou this summer. They also shared with me their frustration with the dysfunction in Washington. Later, when riding along with Officer Marcus Juliano on his beat in Pueblo, I witnessed his dedication to his community as he responded to call after call well into the night. In Fowler, at the family-owned Jensen’s Blue Ribbon Processing, Jerry Jensen, the meatpacking plant’s owner, explained the challenges and costs of competing with
The News-Press tions, all of the pros and cons, and to visualize each option as if they actually made the decision to pursue that option. When we are faced with a decision point or at a crossroads, we should surround ourselves with strong friends, wise advisers and people we absolutely trust to be our sounding board and help us walk through our options and thought processes around each important decision we need to make. Do I take more risks than I should? Yes. Are they educated risks or guesses? In most cases. Do I follow my heart, my gut, and attempt to balance that with what is going through my head? Yes. But at the end of the day, as Robert Frost says, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” I would love to hear what you do at the crossroads of your life at gotonorton@gmail.com and I really do believe that this will be a better than good week.
Marvels.” I can’t get enough. Now and then the History Channel has a “Modern Marvels” marathon and I am glued to it. Season 15, Episode 3: “Potato.” Originally aired January 28, 2010. It covers everything about potatoes, and the narrator, justifiably, makes the ordinary potato sound like a major contributor to civilization. The narrator, Lloyd Sherr, has one of the great voices in television. His stage name is Max Raphael, which is a combination of his sons’ names, Max and Raphael. He makes the potato sound heroic. Idaho is sometimes called the “Potato State,” but its real nickname is the “Gem State,” which isn’t very inspiring. You’re in the clear: It’s past Sept. 22, the first day of autumn. Have a baked potato tonight.
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large companies. Jerry works hard every day to keep his doors open. At U.S. Tractor and Harvest Inc. in Alamosa, mechanics explained the difficulties small farms are facing due to drought and high feed costs, not to mention the fact that Washington has yet to reauthorize the farm bill. Whether it was substitute teaching in Denver, working at Brown Cycles and Edgewater Brewery in Grand Junction, or hauling onions at Tuxedo Farms in Olathe, the contrast between these hard-working Coloradans and the political antics going on in Washington was crystal-clear. Though the government has reopened — at least temporarily — the effects of this ridiculous and manufactured crisis were undeniably damaging to the country and to Colorado. As we look forward, now is the time for Washington to get its act together and work on priorities important to Coloradans. This includes fixing our broken immigration system, passing the farm bill, and most importantly crafting a balanced bipartisan budget. Democrat Michael Bennet has represented Colorado in the U.S. Senate since 2009.
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