OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
HERE ARE THE ANSWERS
When I am about to interview someone for a story, I try to learn a little about them beforehand. That way, I know some of the questions to ask them. I might ask them a few things when I set up the interview, I might ask a family member, or I try to look up some information online.
I usually have several questions written down before the interview in order to touch on a few subjects that need to be addressed.
As I was preparing for an interview recently, I thought of what questions a reporter would ask me based on things that I've been asked by people in Minneota recently.
Here are some of the questions I've been asked:
"WHY DO YOU DRIVE DOWN TO MINNEOTA EACH WEEK INSTEAD OF JUST MOVING HERE?"
My response to that is simple. While I love the Minneota community and its citizens, I live exactly 2 1/2 hours from my daughters, one to the north and the other to the east. That makes it much easier for us to get together. I have lived in Willmar for a long time and have a lot of friends there. I also am involved in several community things there. I don't mind commuting 70 miles from my home in Willmar to Minneota except for when the roads are bad.
"WHY DON'T YOU SIT WITH THE MINNEOTA FANS WHEN YOU ATTEND AN ATHLETIC EVENT?"
A lot of times people don't notice when I am at a game or event. One reason for that is because I like to keep my own statistics at games I attend, so when I start to write the story I have something to look back on. Whenever I've attended a sporting event, either at Minneota or the many schools we covered when I was at the West Central Tribune, I almost always have sat away from the fans of the team I am covering so I won't be inclined to "chit chat" while trying to keep track of the statistics. Many people have asked me why I don't sit at the table in press row then. I have done that at state tournaments, but I have ants-in-the-pants syndrome and I like standing and moving around more than sitting. Also, with the advent of livestreaming in recent years, it's much easier to watch the action and keep stats at home. That way, I can immediately start writing up the game as soon as it concludes. If I need additional information, I email or phone a coach or player the next day to talk about the game.
"WHAT WAS THE BEST INTERVIEW YOU'VE EVER HAD?"
On a local level, I have one person that stands out above the others but I won't name them because I don't want to single anyone in particular out. When I was working for a daily paper, I interviewed a coach who had cancer of his spine and had asked me to sit down with him and write a story to be published after he was gone. Sadly, he passed away a few days after the interview so I had to put my emotions in check and try to get the story completed. I was asked to read portions of the story at his funeral, which meant a lot to me. On a national level, my favorite interview was for another publication. I had the pleasure to interview Marion Ross, the mother on the "Happy Days" sitcom. Marion had lived in Willmar for three years while she was in elementary school before her family moved to Albert Lea. I had worked for several years to get in touch with her and it eventually came about by accident. A man by the name of Jim Meskimen had purchased my book about the Tracy tornado and we communicated via email every so often when he had a question about the tornado. Although I didn't know it at the time, I soon came to learn that Meskimen is a popular impressionist in California. When I asked hm about his talent, he told me he got it from his mother, Marion Ross. What are the odds of that? He soon lined up an interview with his mother for me and we had a nice long visit. Marion also revealed to me that her sister, Alicia, is buried in the Fairview Cemetery in Willmar. As a favor to Marion, I have placed flowers on Alicia's grave on Memorial Day for the past several years.
"WHAT WAS THE WORST INTERVIEW YOU'VE EVER HAD?"
This doesn't necessarily qualify as an interview since it never got off the ground, but when Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb's all-time hits record in September of 1985, I had a buddy working for the Cincinnati Reds at the time and he lined up an interview with Rose for me a few days after the historic event. When Rose got on the phone with me, I informed him who I was and congratulated him on obtaining the Major League Baseball record for career hits. I asked him a question and there was silence. I then asked if was still on the line, thinking we might have been cut off. He asked me what paper I worked for and when I told him it was a daily paper in Minnesota, he asked me what the circulation was. When he got my response, he said I wasn't from a big enough paper for him to take the time to answer my questions and he hung up.
"WHAT IS ONE THING YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE MINNEOTA DO AS A COMMUNITY?"
There are two things that come to mind, actually. The first thing is that I would like to see a mural painted on the side of the Mascot building, or some other available building in town, of the many famous people that have lived in Minneota at one time or another. People like Les Josephson, Larry Tillemans, Bill Holm, Val Bjornson, Jim Meger, and Don Haugen, to name a few. Secondly, I would love to see Minneota do more during the Christmas holiday in terms of lighting the streets as they did in the old days with lighted snowflakes or some other holiday design on each light post, decorative cross-street lighting at business intersections, and businesses having lights in their windows. Not only do I feel it would drum up more activity for the local businesses, it would also lift the spirits of the people in town.