family health

The Mother of All Sore Throats

It started with a scratchy throat, nasal congestion, and a bit of a cough last Tuesday. Have y’all noticed during this pandemic that anytime you come down with symptoms that seem like a cold, the flu, or allergies, surely you’ve got Covid? Even though I’ve been vaccinated and boosted, with the Omicron variant running around, I figured I’d better take a test. We had a box of at-home tests, so I took one and tested…

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family health

Pandemic Hair Gone and Other Related News

Pandemic Hair Last week marked the first anniversary of Minnesota going into a state of lock-down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Governor Walz declared a state of emergency Friday, March 13, 2020, and businesses, government agencies, and nonprofits, including the museum I lead, started shutting down within the following week. After a year’s worth of following pandemic protocols, including masking, distancing, not gathering with our children or other relatives (except for Hubby’s mom, who needs…

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design history pragmatic historian product packaging

Scented Toilet Paper, Pastel Toilet Paper

Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, when people were faced with a lockdown for several weeks, there was a run on toilet paper, paper towels, and facial tissue. Entire sections in stores where these were kept were empty. Strict limits were put on the number people could purchase at any given time. For months, there were gaps on the toilet paper shelves. Where there used to be several options for purchase, you were lucky if…

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history observations pragmatic historian

Let’s Not Wait for History to Make Judgements

Throughout the four years of the Trump regime, as report after report came out about corrupt, unethical, possibly illegal, democratic-norm-breaking behavior, joined by an incessant number of lies, conspiracy theories, threats, and nasty comments, there has been a common refrain on Twitter. “History will not judge these individuals well.” As though merely pointing out how future people will look back on this time, shake their finger, and say, “Tsk, tsk,” and individuals currently engaging in…

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health tips

COVID-19 Testing in Rural Minnesota

This fall I’ve been dealing on and off with a scratchy throat and cough. Naturally, with those being symptoms of COVID-19, the first thought upon developing them was that I was sick with Covid and I should get tested. The Minnesota Department of Health encourages testing regardless of how severe your symptoms are because even those not displaying symptoms can spread the disease and testing is the primary way they can properly track it. When…

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