Readers Write: The library, PSEO, Vance Boelter’s religious beliefs

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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I’ve spent the last decade connecting people to just the right information to meet their needs. I’ve helped middle-schoolers with history projects and connected health care workers to articles on overcrowded emergency departments. But the most important part of my job as a librarian is helping my patrons separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to that information. Who wrote it? What biases might the authors have? Was it reviewed by peers?

Finding reputable sources of information has gotten more difficult since I started my career, and this is especially true of local news in Minneapolis. A mainstream publication is no longer a guarantee of fact-checking. We must demand better of our papers, of our candidates and our current politicians. This is our city; we deserve the truth.

The fact is, sometimes our politicians lie to us. Sometimes the lies are bald-faced, contradicted by the evidence of our own eyes. We can look outside and see that there are more than 27 unsheltered people in Minneapolis. Sometimes the lies are simply hidden in passive voice: “A person was shot.” Bullets cannot act by themselves. And sometimes inflammatory language hides a lie, so that we read headlines, not substance. How do we dispute lies and find true news about the city we love? We fight back!

Ask yourself — who’s in charge of that department? Who wrote this piece? Who funded this? What evidence is there? And if the article doesn’t have that information, demand better! The people in Minneapolis who are doing true research and sharing accurate information will surface when we call out lies and misdirection.

Cait Kortuem, Minneapolis

The recent “ode to libraries” by a St. Paul writer (“The treasure that is the local library,” Aug. 10) tugged at my heartstrings, as it brought to mind childhood memories of my own rural Minnesota local library, with its treasure trove of novels for summer reading, its distinctive smell of books (all the more pungent in those days of either no or hardly any air conditioning) and its cool granite pillars for leaning against.

Fast forward to a more recent library encounter. A toddler approached me at my suburban neighborhood library, his arms stretching up towards me, asking, “Big hug?” His little arms grasped me like feathers around my legs. I reached down to reciprocate with a gentle embrace. Since we were now BFFs, he then delighted in showing me the stickers he had received from the librarian — racecars and fire engines — expounding about them in exuberant kid-speak.

Yes, life is good at the library.

Lisa Wersal, Vadnais Heights

I was glad to read the column on postsecondary education options by Aaron Brown (“At 40, state’s PSEO program earns an incomplete,” Strib Voices, Aug. 17). Personally, I’m glad this program is now accepted, encouraged, streamlined and normalized. It was not when I started.

It was hard both socially and emotionally as I felt lost between two worlds and neither wanted me. I met another high school student from a neighboring district at the community college and we became friends and support for each other. Luckily, I had a wonderful college counselor who encouraged me. Community college faculty treated me like any other student.

Sixty quarter credits later, I graduated from high school. But the University of Minnesota made me choose between entering as a freshman in the honors program with no transfer credits or taking advanced standing with the credits. I took the hard-earned credits. Yes, I saved myself and my parents some college tuition, but for me, it was all about the right education for the right student at the right time.

Val Steussy, Roseville

As a lifelong reader of the Minnesota Star Tribune, I am deeply troubled and disappointed by the decision to correspond with Vance Boelter and, worse, grant him a platform for self-justification and sermonizing (“Boelter’s religion in the spotlight,” Aug. 17).

The Star Tribune chose to give Boelter space for reflection on his “faith journey” and self-portrayal as a “humble man of God.” To be clear: That is not journalism that serves the public good. That is journalism that centers the narrative of a man charged with murder through the credibility of our state’s newspaper. When a man uses horrific political violence to silence the voices of others, the role of a newspaper should not be to hand him a microphone. The focus should remain on the legacies of the lives lost, the survivors recovering and the tough questions we as Minnesotans must face about where we go from here. Giving him space to sermonize does nothing but grant him the attention he craves while his victims’ voices remain absent.

The Star Tribune should reflect on its moral responsibility here. By all means examine the role of political rhetoric and radicalization in this tragedy. But do not become a platform for the very man who tried to destroy lives and undermine democracy in our state.

Minnesota needs courageous reporting. It does not need a megaphone for an alleged assassin.

Lindsey Weaver, St. Paul

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Thank you for your recent articles that are helping to increase awareness of Christian nationalism, especially in Minnesota. After reading your front-page article “Boelter’s religion in the spotlight,” I would like to encourage your readers to become more familiar with the difference between mainstream churches that are Christian versus Christian churches that are encouraging values that are influenced by Christian nationalism. I recognize that “Christian” is not a word that is received favorably by many people, including some of your readers, because Christian churches have many wrongs to address based on their historical record of supporting slavery and the genocide of Native Americans, among other past sins.

I am writing as a member of Christians Against Christian Nationalism - Minnesota. Our group is labeled “Christians,” but we invite anyone of any faith or no faith to join us in fighting the message of hate and fear spread by those who misappropriate the term “Christian.” The mission of Christians Against Christian Nationalism - Minnesota is to promote Christ’s command to love one another and to repair current distortions of the Christian message.

If interested in joining us, we have a Facebook page, or you can contact CACN.Minnesota@gmail.com.