Irene North – Writings

Only take yourself with you

On 2025-09-02

The outfit I wore to the Sun Dance.

Driving East out of Scottsbluff, I pass all the familiar sights which bring me peace and put a smile on my face. There were the dozen or so horses walking with each other in still dew-laden field. Red cows meandered among the shimmering rolling hills of the morning. The sun glistened everything along my route North along Highway 385.

Somewhere past Alliance and before Chadron I turned right down a dirt road. Around a quarter of a mile later, I turned left into a field. I had reached my destination of a journey that had begun more than a year before.

Clear connections of conscious through conversation

By Irene

On 2025-08-08

In Ramblings

Oh, hey, look at that alliteration I accidentally did with my title. Anyway…

I had lunch yesterday and the day before with two really good friends whose opinions I value and respect. For the last year, I’ve been toying with the idea of two different blog posts, but have been hesitant to write them. Ultimately, this is my blog and I can write what I want, but I also want to be respectful of other people and not come off as an angry bitch.

Vignettes of my mother on her birthday

By Irene

On 2025-07-28

In Stories

The blanket Mom made me and Paul.

Today would have been Mom’s 78th birthday. Even though she is gone, there are many things that remind me of her and make me smile.

A eulogy for my mother

By Irene

On 2025-07-15

In Ramblings

I created the video above, including the music, which was shown at my mother’s funeral. I spoke the following words to all the people who came to say goodbye to Mom on April 15. Today is the one-year anniversary of Mom’s head-on collision. I’d like to remember this day with the positives Mom contributed to the world. I hope you can forgive any typos that remain.

The Bully

By Irene

On 2025-07-05

In Ramblings

Note: I wrote this on April 15, 2017. Other than my boss’s boss, no one has ever seen it. It feels pertinent to me today to share it, especially in light of those in power and when you consider how much we are told that bullies go away after high school. They don’t. We are constantly fighting against them. Talking to the bully and asking for help didn’t work for me, so I wrote this letter and gave it to the boss’s boss.

Sometimes, other people say it better

By Irene

On 2025-07-04

In Ramblings

Random things in my head

By Irene

On 2025-06-17

In Ramblings

Little yellow bastard outside my front door.

There are days I have thoughts in my head I want to write about, but can’t flesh them out into anything more meaningful than a sentence or two. Sometimes it’s because of the PTSD. Sometimes I can’t find the right words to express myself. Sometimes someone else said it better. Sometimes there isn’t anything more to say.

My first protest

By Irene

On 2025-06-14

In Nebraska

The wind picked up at the end of the No Kings protest, but it was still a good day and a good protest.

I’ve been to protests before, but it was always as a reporter. Today was the first time I attended a protest for myself.

It’s time for the troops, and everyone else, to make a decision

By Irene

On 2025-06-09

In Ramblings

The military has put the U.S. Marines into a “prepared to deploy status” in case they are needed to “augment support” in Los Angeles. If they are activated and they go, you will be witnessing the beginnings of a police state in America. We are a hair’s breadth away from it. This is not okay.

An enemy of asparagus

By Irene

On 2025-06-02

In Ramblings

Asparagus for sale at Walmart.

Note: This is an extended version of the 771-word column I wrote for the Star-Herald on February 17, 2016. My columns at the newspaper were limited to 800 words. I didn’t have the chance to write exactly what I wanted at the time and each time I tell the story, people want more details. This is the full version I wanted to write then and finally had the time to sit down and complete.