As a background, I cite this article by Rebecca Toov posted January 13, 2016 on the University of Minnesota’s Archivist Blog.
“In 1912, Professor Franklin Springer began experimenting with wireless telegraphy – the sending and receiving of coded messages through electromagnetic waves – in the laboratory of the Department of Electrical Engineering. By 1914, the department offered coursework in “Radio Signaling Apparatus” and “Radio Transmission” and regularly conducted broadcasting experiments using the wireless equipment.
Cyril M. Jansky, Jr. joined the department as an instructor in 1920 and obtained an experimental license to operate a radio station on campus under the call letters of 9XI in March of that year. Engineering students – the station operators – broadcasted daily market and weather reports, musical programs, and play-by-plays of home football games.
I begin this prayer in remembrance of those whom the world owes a debt of gratitude for their pioneering radio research: Guglielmo Marconi, Heinrich Hertz, Jagadish Chandra Bose, Lee de Forest, and Alexander Stepanovich Popov. I include and commend Franklin Springer and Cyril M. Jansky in this list for their impact on the communication of Minnesotans. I thank You today for the inspiration and perspiration of these Your creative children. I see Your glory in their captivation and curiosity with Your inventions; frequency and the electromagnetic wave.
We thank You for the connections that KUOM provided in this era for Minnesotans. We thank You for this demonstration of the vistas of human relations that are unlocked with this single advancement in technology! Will You bless these men, their generations, and their creativity? Will You bless: the University of Minnesota, its’ Electrical Engineers, and future students inventing technologies for which we currently have no name?
Receive eminence today in all frequencies! You daily surround us like the atmosphere, bombarding us with wavelengths of faith, hope, and love. Yet, we have judged You because they are are as imperceptible to us as radio transmissions without a radio. Will you give us the gift of turning our radio on? May the citizens of this State forever tune into You so that we may send and receive Your signals!
Some of Saint Paul’s first Latinos likely were driven north during this era due to the unrest of the Mexican Revolution or Revolución Mexicana. The corruption of the Diaz administration was challenged by Madero and Pancho Villa. Mexicans who fled this conflict found work first in the sugar beet industry of Minnesota.
Let’s observe with You, Lord, and see where this prayer leads. We see a people displaced by war or revolt seeking a new way of life. We see a bold quest for freedom in spite of the rigors of farm labor.
Will You forgive the judgments made between groups during the Mexican Revolution, and their transference through these pioneers to Minnesota? All immigrants to Minnesota have carried our historical baggage here. We have viewed our neighbors and government through the lens of both our beliefs and misbeliefs shaped by the pains and experiences of our countries of origin. We give You our dirty glasses this day Lord, will You give us new eyes for those around us who have also overcome to reside in this place?
Will You remember the hearts of these new arrivals, and their commitment to stay and build community? Will You bless their progeny to see their wisdom? Will You bless those who have chosen to live here humbly in peace, even rather than be warriors in their homeland?
Will You bless the contributions of Latinos to our state, especially through generations of untiring work in agriculture? Will You remove the present day judgments of those who work with their hands in the field? Will You show us new solutions to the problems of guest workers and illegal immigrants?
We are drowning in judgment over the plight of guest workers and illegal immigrants in the present tense. We have refused, to often, to even hear the thoughts of our neighbor on the subject. Our Democratic friends have judged their Republican next door to be: racist, haters of brown people, and living in a bubble of white privilege. Our Republican friends may believe in the human rights of illegals, but that civil rights are belong only to citizens. They have judged their Democratic friends of being incapable of rationality, over emotional, and false accusers of those who love our laws and hate lawlessness. In any case, will You forgive us whether we are those who judge, or those who counter-judge our neighbor in Minnesota? We invite You to be our Judge and Justice for all Minnesotans. Will You make Anahuac- Saint Paul a place that is lawful and just for all nations who love your laws of grace and truth?
Lord, how does one pray for a “First Lady”, especially a fictional one? We constantly interact with icons and symbols in the present era: through smartphones and devices, in all kinds of advertising, and through mascots of our favorite sports teams. You also use the power of symbols and icons, Good Shepherd, and lead Your sheep to better know and remember You.
I will begin with thanking You for the impact of Betty Crocker on the state of Minnesota. How many millions or billions of bags of beautiful Gold Medal Flour did she sell? How many farmers, truckers, railroad workers, dockworkers, millers, and barge crew members were kept employed by her friendly voice and baking tips? How many families ate dinners, cookies, and pies that were touched by her red spoon? For these, and so many other unmentioned aspects, I give thanks to her creators, the voice of WCCO, and the Washburn Crosby Company.
Will You bless this company and the genius of personifying the fairly mundane product of spring wheat flour? Will You help the businesses of Minnesota to take joy in meeting the needs of its customers because they are worthy persons created in Your image? Will You bless the imagery of service that Betty Crocker implies: to her family, for her friends, and to herself through the soul-feeding acts of cooking and baking?
Going back about a hundred years, there were few safety requirements for Minnesota drivers, and even fewer for pedestrians. To improve their safety, City Council member and Safety Commissioner Aloysius Smith tapped Sergeant Frank Hetznecker to carry out his vision for “school police” now known as school patrols.
Lord, we thank You today for the freedom of travel we have enjoyed due to the automobile in Minnesota. We confess to You our propensity to want to exceed the boundaries of common sense with each new development of technology. Where we have failed Your laws and each other in this, we ask for Your forgiveness. We have rebelled against Your laws at times by how we drive, and the lack of peace in our driven natures.
Nevertheless, we thank You for those who created “school police” aka. school patrol of providing safety for children, and encouraging the responsibility of older kids to look out for the young ones. Will You bless the literal and figurative offspring of: City Council member Aloysius Smith, Sargeant Frank Hetznecker, and Principal Carmela Hanggi? Will You bless those who work in safety with ideas and methods that enhance the lives of future generations? Will You encourage the voluntary actions of kids helping other kids, and convince adults to release them into greater responsibility? We love You!
Despite his reservations about the Farmer-Labor philosophy, Governor Preus nonetheless encouraged the legislature to meet some of the farmers’ demands by broadening the legal powers of cooperatives, making low-interest loans available through the Rural Credit Bureau, and creating the Department of Agriculture. Preus also demanded higher taxes from the owners of ore-rich mines on the Iron Range, expanded highway construction, and improved equal rights and election procedures. His political savvy, combined with an apparent desire to correct inequities, made Minnesota’s twentieth governor a surprisingly prolific reformer.
The actions of Governor Preus are a testimony of his character. He saw the people behind the labels of politics, and helped them. He listened to those whose ideas were diametrically opposed to his concepts of civic order, economic laws, and even his faith. He loved his political enemies, and did good to those who opposed him.
Lord of Governors, G-d of all Farmers and Laborers, will You bless the personal and figurative heritage of Governor Preus? Will You raise up wise elected officials, like Preus, who see their critics as You do; human beings with thoughts and needs worthy of respect and careful consideration?
Will You have mercy on our heritage of bitter partisanship? We have loved our parties more than our neighbors! We have perpetuated a circle of judgment from this era to the present: the Progressives to the DFL and Republicans, the DFL to the Republicans and Progressives, and the Republicans to the Progressives and the DFL? We have defied aspects and reflections of Your image as expressed through our parties. Though imperfect and inconsistent, they often encapsulate our good will towards our neighbor. Will You bless the real, the good, the faithful and true within our system?
Will You bless us in our co-ops? Will You bless our Rural Credit Bureau and Department of Agriculture and family farms? Will You give us Your balanced view of taxation; may we adequately fund government while not punishing the rich, poor, or in between? Will You bless our infrastructure and those who build it? Will You bless the integrity of our elections and counting votes?
Will You forgive our judgments of the Lutheran Church of Minnesota? Will You bless its’ heritage of doing good to our citizens? Will You bless the heart of Martin Luther expressed through Governor Preus and the Lutheran Brotherhood?