Jason W. Selby

1 week ago | globegazette.com | Jason W. Selby

Therapy dog Millie is retiring from the Osage Community School District. Her master, Ann Ott, is also saying goodbye this spring. In Ott’s room there is a Serta mattress Millie sleeps on. She has been in Ott’s classroom for almost five years, accepting pets from hundreds of students. A yellow lab, Millie gets excited when Ott gets out her vest to start the day. But being 10 years old, Millie needs Wednesdays off. “I just know the connection dogs can make in a child’s life,” Ott said.

1 week ago | globegazette.com | Jason W. Selby

Occasionally, I collide with my past in the form of laminated ID cards. Some I keep in my wallet as reminders. Others I have hidden from myself out of forgetfulness. I saw my University of Northern Iowa photograph in the folds of an old computer backpack one night this past week. Each card shows me gradually younger, and in none do I have children. When I entered college, I memorized my social security number. In kindergarten, when Mrs.

1 week ago | globegazette.com | Jason W. Selby

Scattered around our old farm in southern Iowa were bricks and mortar from a house that stood there long before I was born, before our home was built. This was across the fence, past the chicken coop and the outbuildings with old newspapers and a plow. Most of this ancestral debris lay beneath two sugar maples and the bin that roared in autumn while drying grain, like the static from the beginning of the universe.

2 weeks ago | globegazette.com | Jason W. Selby

For Mark Borchardt, music is emotional, a way of conveying the most sacred moments. Borchardt has lived all his life in Grafton, where he grew up on a farm. Since he was a child, he has been a member of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in his hometown. That is almost 65 years in the same parish. In 2025, the Fine Arts Council of Mitchell County is sponsoring two performances of Pepper Choplin's Easter Cantata "Come Walk with Me" to be hosted by Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Osage.

2 weeks ago | globegazette.com | Jason W. Selby

Before he died, we were speaking as if Alex Trebek was already dead. Though he had pancreatic cancer, in truth, he was just as alive as any of us. We may joke that his obituary was phrased in the form of a question, but for decades Trebek gave us a pure form of truth. Rarely during his program did he pause because an incorrect response found a loophole in fact.