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Saturday, July 26, 2025 at 2:06 AM

Captain's Log - The Evidence File

Captain's Log - The Evidence File
Image by Leanna Lehman with DALL-E.

When I first started writing a weekly column, back in 2005 for Anne at the Fallon Star Press, people would ask where the ideas came from each week. Didn’t I ever run out of things to write?

Ideas would come at the strangest times. And they still do. Driving down the road and you hear a funny phrase and think, “Oh, that’s a column.” Or something happens, and you can see a lesson wrapped in the way the drama unfolded — that’s a column.

I used to keep a manila folder on my desk labeled IDEAS, and in that were scraps of paper, restaurant napkins, Post-its, anything lying around when the idea struck that would hold ink. On Wednesday mornings, when the column was due, I would reach for the folder and rummage through the scraps and lists until I found one that grabbed me and looked like it might have potential.

But now deadlines are Tuesdays, and the IDEAS folder is instead a file on my phone in the Notes app called “writing.”

Inside there is the funniest assortment of quips, blurbs, and sometimes just a word, typed out in haste with no telling what I was thinking at the time. And it’s not as fun to rifle through as the paper file was. No pieces of evidence to help jar a story loose.

It may have been a better system back in the day. The item on which the note was scrawled would often provide clues to where I had been at the Eureka moment. Who I was with, maybe what the conversation would have been. On my phone, these little, sterile digital tracks are documented, but unless I also wrote where or who or what I was thinking at the time, sometimes there is absolutely no recollection of what I was thinking — or why this word “unencumbered” or “trails” is even in there.

Or better yet — what’s this one supposed to mean? “Stuck in the desert of the thoughts in your own mind.”

I sort of want to remember what the context is around that one.

So while I scroll through the evidence that ideas come from anywhere, I’ll be right here…

...Keeping you Posted.

Rach.

 

 


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Comment author: Mike HinzComment text: I knew Sam as a member of our church growing up. He always had a warm smile, a kind word, and a great sense of humor! He will be great missed!Comment publication date: 7/2/25, 11:57 AMComment source: Obituary -- Samuel Bruce WickizerComment author: Mike HinzComment text: Great teacher, great coach, but even a better person!!! Rest in peace Mr. BeachComment publication date: 7/2/25, 11:53 AMComment source: Obituary -- Jack Victor Beach, Jr.Comment author: Mike HinzComment text: I had Mrs Hedges for First Grade at Northside Elementary in 1969. I still, to this day, remember her as a wonderful teacher…one of my favorites!!Comment publication date: 7/2/25, 11:29 AMComment source: Obituary - Nancy Marie Hedges C Comment author: Carl C. HagenComment text: What are MFNs and PBMs ?? ............................ From the editor: This is a very good question and we apologize for not catching that wasn't in there. We reached out to the writer/submitter and got this info back...hope it's helpful. PBM: Pharmacy Benefit Managers are pharmacies that are owned by insurance companies. (CVS is one.) They negotiate with drug makers to get reduced pricing for medications, but they historically have not passed along those savings to patients. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/pharmacy-benefit-managers-staff-report.pdf MFN: Most Favored Nation pricing is a policy that means a country agrees to offer the same trade concessions (like tariffs or price reductions) to all member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). When applied to pharmaceuticals, it could disrupt global access, deter innovation, and obscure the deeper systemic issues in American health care. https://petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2025/05/22/the-global-risks-of-americas-most-favored-nation-drug-pricing-policy/Comment publication date: 6/23/25, 7:47 AMComment source: L E T T E R TO THE EDITOR
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