Dear Body: I Owe You An Apology I’m a millennial and a woman, so naturally I grew up with a healthy amount of body complexes.

I was convinced my body had betrayed me in every possible way. It had failed to protect my baby. Failed to stay healthy. Failed to do what bodies are “supposed” to do.

And if my body failed, then by extension, I had failed.

That’s a heavy thing to carry.

You are safe with me.

Están seguros conmigo.

Waad iga nabad qabtaa aniga.

You’re Too Smart For Propaganda — Act Like It Take a quick walk with me down Memory Lane to my World History class sophomore year of high school.

This is what happens when misinformation is allowed to masquerade as journalism, when politicians exploit fear instead of facts, and when social media does what it does best: amplify the loudest lies at the speed of outrage.

My Life Above the Fold: 2025 Edition Every December at the newspaper, we do the same thing: stare down a year’s worth of headlines and try to decide which stories mattered most to cobble together the annual “Year in Review.” This is a ta...

What does your year in review look like?

A Letter to Santa from the NICU Dear Santa,

Santa, if you’re taking requests this year, give others the miracles they deserve.

open.substack.com/pub/thepeopl...

The Impossible Body: Another Rant About the Never-Ending Circus Featuring Women and Their Weight There is a uniquely exhausting math equation many women learn early in life: You must be thin, but not too thin; curvy, but not too curvy; fit, but not muscular; soft, but not flabby; confident, but h...

There is a uniquely exhausting math equation many women learn early in life:

You must be thin, but not too thin; curvy, but not too curvy; fit, but not muscular; soft, but not flabby; confident, but humble about it.

If you solve it correctly, you win absolutely nothing.

The Only Thing I’m (Admitting To) Buying This Cyber Monday Despite my career in journalism and my lifelong pursuit of battling back against the never-ending onslaught of misinformation paraded across social media feeds, I have a confession:

When the present feels chaotic, nostalgia allows us to wrap ourselves in the emotional equivalent of a warm, worn-in sweatshirt from high school — a reminder of who we were before the world got so loud.

What do you think is the greatest invention in the past 10 years and why is it the mute button at gas station pumps?

CORRIDOR CONFLICT: North Country group, project leads at odds over various studies Editor’s note: This is part three of a three-part series on updates on the east side corridor project. This part analyzes the various studies and mass amounts of information surrounding

With a lot of information being shared from older studies and documents, here is a closer analysis of the project and its history.

This is part three, marking the end of the three-part series — or is it?

CORRIDOR CONFLICT: North Country group calls foul on communication, transparency following data request Communication — or lack thereof — has been a key point in public comments at meetings of the Steele County Board of Commissioners and Owatonna City Council for more than

Following a data request, members of the North Country group are questioning if local elected officials are in violation of open meeting laws as a part of what Steele County is describing as a discussion group that is "solely information sharing," asserting no violation has taken place.

CORRIDOR CONFLICT: North Country residents present petition regarding east side corridor project to Steele County, Owatonna It's been more than two years since residents who reside in an area known as the North Country development have been attending nearly every meeting of the Steele County Board

Over the past two months, the North Country group attended the public meetings armed with a petition, stating 580 signatures should warrant the county and the city to re-evaluate the routes again.

But what weight does a petition such as this one carry in Minnesota?

Owatonna City Administrator Kris Busse announces Aug. 8 retirement The city of Owatonna announces City Administrator Kris Busse will retire Aug. 8.

The first woman to hold the top seat in Owatonna government will be retiring come August.

Kendrick Lamar has taught me that if he can write a diss track about Drake and win 5 grammys and headline the nation’s biggest concert, I can be a hater all I want too

I'm just a girl, who works in journalism, sitting in front of you, sobbing slightly, asking you to please stop putting the -st, -nd, -rd and -th after dates.

I’m rebooting my #bookstagram this year, so if you’d like a total stranger’s opinions on the books she reads check me out at www.instagram.com/coffee_cats_...

Long-awaited Chipotle preps move to Owatonna in former KFC building The rumors are true — yes, actually true.

People of Owatonna: it’s happening.

Rachel's Light, Hospitality House merge to form one nonprofit entity fighting against homelessness In a groundbreaking move to address homelessness more effectively, two well-established nonprofit organizations in Owatonna — Rachel’s Light and Hospitality House — are officially merging into one uni...

Take a look at my chat with leaders of Rachel’s Light and Hospitality House of Owatonna as they merge to create The Lighthouse of Southern Minnesota.

It has been decided that my 2025 New Year’s resolution will be to read every book the Moms for Liberty group gets upset about.

Who needs Oprah and Reese?

Join me for the newly established Moms for Literacy Book Club I just now made up (no child or X chromosomes required for membership).

36 pages without sex? Worst smut book ever.

Too many people haven’t touched a book since they graduated high school and it shows.

I don’t understand the lure of hockey smut. Have none of you actually smelled a hockey player before?

I’m just a girl, sitting in the black hole of social media, asking you to support local journalism.

Maybe print is dead, but at least when you finish reading a newspaper there isn’t a string of obnoxious comments at the bottom of the page.

Do we start by pulling all our best tweets and giving them new life here?