Jason Berghorst
By Jason Berghorst, reporterAugust 08, 2023“Thanks for coming!” Maybe you’ve heard or said those words recently or often in your life. I sure have. I’m a “thank you” sayer. I’ve thanked police officers after pulling me over and even said thank you to another driver who hit my car in a parking lot. To be fair, the thank you was at the end of our interactions after the accident. I was thanking the man for taking responsibility, working…
By Jason Berghorst, reporterJuly 04, 2023Two years ago this month, I wrote a column about my Top 5 wish list for Luverne. I thought it would be fun to look back at my 2021 hopes for my hometown and see if any wishes had been granted. The following made my list two years ago: 5. Dar’s Pizza opening a Luverne location. 4. Kwik Trip coming to Luverne. 3. A larger Lewis Drug in town. 2. A permanent Star Herald sports reporter. 1. A normal…
By Jason Berghorst, reporterJune 06, 2023This column marks the beginning of my 10th summer working part time at the Star Herald. In 2014, Editor Lori asked me if I could help as a part-time reporter for a few weeks that summer when the position was open. General manager Rick agreed, and my temporary fill-in gig began. It wasn’t quite as random as it may seem, however. When I graduated high school, I thought journalism was going to be my…
By Jason BerghorstJanuary 03, 2023While I try not to use words that cliché, I know that’s what it sounds like to others when I say things like “When we were in school …” or “Back in the ’90s”… As I get older, I find myself saying things like that more often. Sometimes these statements are just for fun. An attempt to entertain. Other times they are simply sharing a memory that makes me feel good. Often, though, it’s the history…
By Jason BerghorstSeptember 20, 2022My day job is teaching world history and psychology classes to high school students. Each year in the second or third week of the school year, I teach about cultural diffusion in world history. Simply put, cultural diffusion is when one group shares its ideas, technologies and/or ways of life with another group. We study how this process happened in the earliest civilizations and how it is still…
By Jason Berghorst, reporterAugust 09, 2022A few weeks ago, my 11-year-old television quit. My first course of action was to ask two tech-savvy friends for TV advice. Both suggested a “smart” TV. One specifically suggested an Amazon Fire TV that he had purchased online earlier this year. Being a middle-aged, traditional shopper, I wasn’t quite ready to purchase a TV online. So, off to Best Buy I went. No doubt the young salesperson saw…
By Jason Berghorst, reporterJuly 12, 2022Twenty-five years ago last month I graduated from Luverne High School. It will be five years ago next month that I returned to Luverne High School as a social studies teacher. Needless to say, it was fun and interesting to return to my alma mater 20 years later in a new role. So many things had changed obviously. Yet, somewhat surprisingly, so much had stayed the same. Sometimes exactly the…
By Jason Berghorst, reporterDecember 28, 2021I have a habit of inserting unsolicited local history into conversations with my friends, co-workers and students. Not helpful, insightful historical facts that people find interesting, but often random tidbits of how things used to be. It’s perhaps an occupational hazard for a history teacher living in his hometown and working in the school he graduated from. But more than that, it’s human…
By Jason Berghorst, reporterAugust 03, 2021A few weeks ago our church hosted a “Christmas in July” Sunday just for fun. Adrian’s town celebration is known as “Christmas in July.” Of course, there’s Christmas in July on the Hallmark Channel. And, not surprisingly, more stores are offering “Christmas in July” sales. All of this Christmas talk caused me to think of a wish list. I’ve written about my personal wish list for Luverne in…
By Jason Berghorst, reporterJuly 06, 2021“Things happen in threes.” I’ve heard that phrase, or variations of it, numerous times over the years, most often referencing deaths or other bad circumstances and events. I usually dismiss “happens in threes” as simple superstition. If you wait long enough, eventually three people you know are going to die or three unfortunate things will happen to your family. Don’t get me wrong, I’m…
By Jason Berghorst, reporterJune 08, 2021Recently a friend sent me a link to a satire video that had some fun with graduation open houses. “So spot on,” the friend remarked in the text. The video highlighted the most universal aspects of the traditional open house: •Hastily cleaned garages with the normal garage items hidden behind a tarp. •Display boards of photos from childhood — extra credit if the yearly school photos are lined up…
By Jason Berghorst, reporterMarch 23, 2021If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. That old “rule” seems to be forgotten on social media. It seems like negative, divisive, and/or false information is posted or shared much more than positive or uplifting content. You know what I mean. The same few people who constantly produce posts that are either bashing one political party, sharing false information or…
By Jason Berghorst, reporterFebruary 16, 2021Another birthday came and went for me this week. While it wasn’t a “significant” birthday, it provided me with a reminder that I am, indeed, getting older. I’ve long passed birthdays that allowed me to drive, vote, or drink legally. I’ve even been eligible to run for president for a few years now. While the number might not matter as much these days, I’m definitely noticing the years passing by.…
By Jason Berghorst, reporterDecember 28, 2020What’s your favorite Christmas song? “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” is my favorite to sing with others. “O Holy Night” is my favorite to listen to soloists, duets and choirs sing. “Silent Night” might be the most beautiful, especially a capella in candlelight. I also love “Oh Come All Ye Faithful,” because it means the start of my favorite hour of the year. To say that the Christmas Eve service…
By Jason Berghorst, reporterDecember 01, 2020What will your life be like in the year 2045? That’s the question my ninth-grade students had the opportunity to think and write about recently. What will life be like in 25 years? What jobs will they have and where will they live? How will the world be similar to and different from 2020? The assignment to write two pages imagining life in 2045 is how we start the Careers Unit. I learn so much…
October 13, 2020Well, I took the bait. It happens about once every two weeks or so. I replied to a semi-political comment on Facebook. I should know better. In my defense, the original post was about the no-barrier COVID testing available this week in Luverne. It wasn’t technically political. I would have passed it by, but the author of the post mentioned online learning. As a teacher experiencing hybrid…
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