Public Education 2020-21

I encourage you to share this post with others.  Related posts: May 17, June 3, July 22

Today’s Minneapolis StarTribune headline says it all: School districts to decide.  [Gov] Walz’s order allows online, hybrid or in-person classes.  Now comes a month of figuring out how/what to do in Minnesota’s over 300 public school districts, for near a million students and school staff, not to mention all other entities whose clientele are young citizens, most especially parents.  And don’t forget legions of contractors for this or that.  The general data from the Minnesota Department of Education is here if you are interested.  It will be an intense month.

Now the decision making goes back to the individual school districts to decide.  There will be lots of opinions. Succinctly, your own school district will be unique.

Our Governor Tim Walz was a public school teacher, and that is a good thing.  So, in his early years, was his predecessor Mark Dayton.  They and many others know the territory and the dilemmas.  Nobody is or will be perfect.  We will test our ability to work together.

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The following idea came recently from my long-time friend Marion Brady.  Marion is my elder, with a very long history in public education.  He sent me the following idea for educators.  I would encourage readers to visit Mr. Brady’s website and learn more about him and his ideas, and to share this idea with others.

When face-to-face schooling isn’t possible

There’s no getting around it. Firsthand experience is the best teacher. If what’s attempting to be taught is worth knowing, it’s going to be complicated. And if it’s complicated, firsthand experience isn’t just the best teacher, it’s the only teacher.

That’s the main reason most adults remember so little of what they were once “taught.” Information delivered by teacher talk, textbooks and computer screens is dumped on kids’ mental “front porch”—short-term memory—but gets no farther. To be useful, information has to be interesting enough to be picked up, taken inside, and a place in memory found for it that allows logic to access it weeks, months, or years later.

That rarely happens. Most classrooms are purpose-built for delivering information, making it hard to create firsthand experience. It’s even harder to do it via laptops, which goes far toward explaining the usual failure of virtual, remote, and distance instruction.      

Alfred North Whitehead, in his 1916 Presidential Address to the Mathematical Association of England, identified a fundamental problem with traditional schooling:

“The second-handedness of the learned world is the secret of its mediocrity.”

Schooling’s bottom-line aim is societal survival in an unknowable future. Survival requires new knowledge—continuous evolution of citizens’ mental models of reality. An honest look at the world today says time is growing short for creating schooling that teaches kids the most important of all survival skills—how to turn information into knowledge and knowledge into wisdom.     

That’s doable, but it requires changing the primary aim of middle school-level instruction from covering the content of the core curriculum to improving the ability to think—to hypothesize, generalize, synthesize, imagine, relate, integrate, predict, extrapolate, and so on.

There are dozens of thought processes and countless combinations of thought processes that make humanness possible, but they’re not being taught because they’re too complex to be evaluated by machine-scored standardized tests.

Make maximizing adolescents’ ability to think the aim, and the resulting efficiency from the sharpened focus will be revolutionary. Reducing the hours each day devoted to the soon-forgotten conceptual chaos of the core curriculum will make available a big chunk of time for programs keyed to individual learner interests and abilities.

Dealing with Covid-19

Nothing really substitutes for face-to-face schooling, but when that’s unwise or impossible, learning’s fundamentals still need to be respected.

–          Real-world experiences

–         Teachers or mentors who ask thought-stimulating questions

–         Keeping a journal

–         Instruction paced by learner understanding rather than the calendar

–         Learning teams small and intimate enough for dialogue—”thinking out loud” about matters of significance.

Textbooks, teacher talk and laptop screens give kids a steady stream of information, but it’s been “processed.” The interesting, creative, intellectually challenging work has already been done, leaving nothing to do but try to remember it.

Would newspapers publish completed crossword puzzles? What the young need that they’re not getting is “raw” reality to chew on—reality in a form that lends itself to description, analysis and interpretation.

Primary data—the “residue” of reality—provides it. However, for kids to engage, data has to come in the form of puzzles, problems and projects, with lesson aims they consider important enough for attention to be paid, and content interesting enough to be self-propelling.

But guidance is necessary. Teams of teachers with varied expertise need to monitor the teams and sometimes comment or pose questions.

Below is an illustrative activity consistent with the above that meshes with existing middle-level curricula and bureaucratic requirements.

Use the present crisis to give education back to educators, and make middle-level schooling’s aim maximizing the quality of thought, and adolescents will demonstrate abilities only long-experienced teachers knew they had.

 

A Project: Town Planning, 1583

Big idea: Humans shape habitats that then shape humans.

Age group: Middle school and older learners.

Instructional organization: Small, three-to-five-member work teams.

Technology requirements: Broadband internet access, laptop computer.

App: Zoom or another screen-sharing program

Primary data: Page 2 at https://www.marionbrady.com/documents/AHHandbook.pdf

Oltman Junior High School July 28, 2020

A Need for Resilience

38th and Chicago Ave Minneapolis neighborhood June 30, 2020

Today I made my 6th visit to the area of Minneapolis affected in the wake of George Floyd’s murder on May 25. On this day  All was quiet, save for road construction on Lake Street.  There is still lots of rubble, but it is contained and ready for removal.

Today for the first time I saw the now notorious 3rd precinct of Minneapolis Police Department.  It is one short walking block from “my” place, Gandhi Mahal, which was destroyed by fire on May 29.  Two of today’s photos of 3rd precinct are at the end of this post.

Of course today’s quiet in Minneapolis is shrouded with the attempts to demonstrate “American carnage” taking place in Portland OR in the area near the Federal Courthouse, 620 SW Main St. Portland.  Nothing like troops and tear gas and protestors to make it seem like demonstrations in a couple of block area of downtown Portland are the end of America.

The last 24 hours here have been interesting.  I attempted to watch the House hearings with Attorney General Barr, but it was a bridge too far to last for more than two or three hours.  This is street theatre, Washington style.  ALL of the participants know the ultimate objective: sound bites on their favorite – or least favorite – TV channel, whatever it happens to be.  There is substance there, too, but the ordinary person needs a lot of discipline to discover the context.

Earlier this morning, I picked up the Minneapolis paper, and read on the front page about “Umbrella Man”, the new media star, filmed on May 27 breaking windows in a closed business across from 3rd Precinct at the time of the fires.   That story is still developing.  You can read it here.  Here’s more.  

(On May 30, a friend sent a Facebook Post, where someone outlined the varied categories of people who show up – and can mess up – legitimate demonstrations.  These were the categories, identified in the post.

Activists

Grieving Citizens

Rowdy Idiots

Chaos Agents  – (Dick: You can bet that there are lots of “umbrella man” types out there).

Professional Thieves

The correspondent was just expressing his/her own opinion, but its seems pretty comprehensive to me.

Day after the night of the fires at 27th and Lake St Minneapolis MN June 30, 2020. Throngs of ordinary citizens gathered to help with cleanup June 30, 2020

*

I’m just one lonely voice in this terrible situation.  About all I can contribute is my single voice, and evidence, of what we are witnessing in real time.  I am not a ‘babe in the woods’ on this.  A business very familiar to me, Gandhi Mahal, was destroyed in the Minneapolis unrest on May 29.  The neighborhood was very well known to me.  I visited there often.

The house in the photo that begins this post, was the first home I ever stayed in in Minneapolis, late May, 1965.  The picture is from June 30, 2020, and the house still looks the same as it did then – and is a short walk from 38th and Chicago, where George Floyd was killed on May 25.  I remarked at the beginning, that the ‘carnage’ was almost exclusively to businesses along the main streets – not the homes beside and off the street.  I’m sure the residents were terrified, but they were not the targets.  And the businesses were mostly small, catering to the neighborhood, not logical targets for criminals.

The 3rd Precinct, the last two photos below, is one block from Gandhi Mahal.  Until yesterday, when I saw it in person, it was a place I had never noticed before.  It is now the center of the debate about policing in general.  Of course, sound bites enter into everything these days.  No one I know – mostly liberals – has suggested “defunding police”.  Certainly how funds are used is an essential part of the debate.

I’m a keeper of history.  In a box downstairs are all of the newspapers from the time of Covid-19, and I actually pulled out the issues for May 25-31 yesterday to review the awful week of George Floyd’s death.

The posts I’ve done about the time period were May 27, 29, 30, 31, 2020.  There have been a couple of posts since, including this one.  At least I have some personal history on record.  Let’s keep working for resolution.

3rd Precinct, Lake and Minnehaha, Minneapolis, July 29, 2020 (behind and to the right of the flag).

3rd Precinct entrance July 29, 2020

 

 

A Peace of My Mind: Cry Out

I ask you to read this Indiegogo link , and then donate to John Noltner’s project “Peace of My Mind: Cry Out”.  I highly recommend this initiative, which will be open for contributions till early September.  I’d recommend acting early, and letting others know about this through your own networks.

I met John when he sat next to a me at a 2009 meeting of the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers,  He was just beginning a venture called A Peace of My Mind, photographing  and interviewing people “exploring the meaning of peace one story at a time.”  His story is within the Indiegogo link.

In 2011 John Noltner published his book, “a peace of my mind” consisting of his photographs and interviews of 52 persons of peace.

Minnesotans would recognize most of those featured in his book, which I have owned since its publication.  People I recognized in the book are as follows: the McDonald Sisters, Flora Tsukyama, Mel Duncan, Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, Sami Rasouli, David Harris, Kathy Kelly, Marie Braun, Zofar Siddiqui, Melvin Carter, Jr (father of St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter), and Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman.

John expanded the reach of his project nationwide, interviewing and photographing 63 Americans across the country.  His second book was published in 2016.

Both publications have been very successful.

John’s work has expanded into a variety of settings across the country, but Covid-19 has caused him to have to re-vision his continuing program on peace.  This is the reason for his new initiative, which I support very strongly.

The project now proposed by Mr. Noltner, the purpose of this blog, richly deserves your support.

Do read the descriptor (link at the beginning) and then act.

Congratulations, John, on your continuing efforts for peace within and among all of us.

 

 

 

100 Days

Today it is 100 days to the 2020 U.S. elections.  The Democratic Convention is Aug 17-20; the Republican Aug 24-27.  Shortly thereafter the first absentee ballots can be mailed (each state has different rules – check them for details.). The time to impact/inform is very short; and the issues compelling.  Three previous  post: Schools (July 22), Racism (July 7) and John Lewis (July 19  ).  More will follow, especially between now and September 1.

Washington D.C. June, 2006, just a few blocks north of the White House.  I wonder if the whimsical symbols of Democrats and Republicans are still there….

Each of us will, on November 3, be voting for local, state and national elected officials.  My wish is that everyone who can vote, will vote, well informed, for all offices on the ballot.  Who are we?  Pew Research is a well-respected reporter of data on elections.  There are other impartial sources as well.  Voter turnout, including for President, is always disappointing – in the last election, fewer that half of eligible Americans voted for President of the United States.  We seem very casual about our primary role in politics.

The most visible offices for most of us are the President, Congress and Senate of the United States.  For your information, I broke down the offices by which party held them.  You can see the data (only two pages) here: U.S. Government001 (click to enlarge).

A friend has asked me to comment on Joe Biden.  I said I will do so when Mr. Biden is actually nominated as the Democratic Party candidate at it’s Convention in mid-month.  (My July 11 post has the links to the Convemtions.)  At the same post is my sketch of the American body-politic as I see it.  We are the same people, generally, as we were when I was born 80 years ago.  In my adult life, I have watched us being deliberately divided into warring tribes, intensifying in the past five years.  Ultimately, we have to be the solution, not the politicians we always like to blame, but truly take their cues for survival from their constituents.

POSTNOTE: The same day I received my mail-in ballot for 2020 (July 16), the Minneapolis Star Tribune had a page two headline “Cost cutting at USPS could delay mail service (Associated Press).  I knew of the article beforehand, and the longer article suggests political foot-dragging leading to voter suppression.  Those with an interest probably already know the story.  I’ll still vote absentee for both primary and general.  My advice, vote as soon as you know who your candidates are.

COMMENTS (Other comments at end of post): 

former MN Secretary of State recommends “that everyone consider voting as soon as the voting season opens on September 18th. Everyone in the state is eligible to take advantage of this opportunity and should because what happens in November remains unclear given the arc of the virus is unpredictable.”

from Steve, elected legislator:  Just sitting down for a late a.m. second cup of coffee and had the pleasure of reading your note and post. You mentioned a couple of things that concern me, as well. The percentage of voters in primary elections is almost always very low. Sometimes below 10%, though Minnesota does slightly better but nothing to brag about. Major changes in elected officials have occured when a challenger has done some aggressive organizing. 

Another issue you mentioned is the divisive nature of so much political rhetoric during the last dozen years–attitudes and prejudice implied through the Obama years and now more evident. Finding a way to bridge or repair those divisions is among the priorities of our next president, and those of us who want to be optimistic about a future.
from Mary Ellen: I appreciate your reluctance to comment on the ‘presumptive’ nominee. Who knows what the convention will bring? I’d like a younger candidate, even one of those very strong women.

I have been at my cabin since mid-May and will stay through September. This community has had two cases (2) of COVID 19 and zero deaths. We wear masks in town. Some people didn’t wear masks. They are the Trumpers. Now with the mandate, most of them wear a mask. Are they free to risk other’s lives?
We grant freedom of religion (even to snake handlers) and political freedom (even to KKK and their ilk) to all. Are there no limits?? Will no one start that conversation?

Playing a Very Dangerous Game

I’m just an old guy with a computer, but I try to be thoughtful about what I write.  This particular post began as a draft on Tuesday morning.  I was going to publish Friday, under the headline “Protests”.  The seeming Declaration of War by the President of the United States. attempting to divide Americans into two warring “tribes”, mine subordinate to his, most recently targeting Seattle, brings this amendment.  Except for the placement of the photos, what follows is virtually identical to the earlier draft.

There is a great deal more to say, but let this be a start.  And if you have the interest, I also recommend three previous  post, Schools (July 22), Racism (July 7) and John Lewis (July 19  ).  Several upcoming posts, the first tomorrow, on contemporary politics from my point of view, will flesh out my feelings on the upcoming elections (plural).  Today’s Just Above Sunset, “That Reality Thing”,  is as always worth your time.

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May 30, 2020. Gandhi Mahal area at 27th and Lake Street Minneapolis MN.  The restaurant would be between the two folks walking, about one block away.  Photo by Dick Bernard

This week the Portland OR protests were daily news.  (See POSTNOTE 4)  Now it seems that troops need to be sent in to save the city from the protestors.  perhaps this is the Current Occupants idea of the convenient war he needs to help win reelection.  We are being played for suckers.

Now the President sends in federal troops – at least people who look like such – into Portland, with plans to send them into other cities supposedly under attack.  And very dark political ads I see every day, with “I approve these messages” from the President of the United States.

I think the earlier military cleanup for the photo op with the Bible in the vicinity of the White House was simply practice for what is happening now, and I am increasingly of the mind that the damage and destruction following the death of George Floyd on Memorial Day was an initial demonstration of using protests as vehicles to discredit peaceful protest through use of agents provocateurs who blended in to commit the acts of mayhem on the streets of Minneapolis.

Beware the bright, shiny objects dangled to disrupt and confuse.

Just Above Sunset  (“The Protection Squadron” July 22) gives a good summary of what is happening, and the danger thereof.

Portland is not hard to fact check.  Yesterday I simply called a friend who lives in Oregon not too many miles from downtown Portland just to get an assessment of reality, which is very different than the sound pieces you get from television or from the presidential podium at the White House.

I have some recent experience.  Here in my own metropolitan area, after Memorial Day, protest erupted in the wake of the George Floyd murder in south Minneapolis (the four policemen involved are under indictment).

The restaurant of a good friend of mine was torched by someone: burned to the ground.  My friend was a pillar of his neighborhood, a very unlikely target of any local.  In fact, it wasn’t until the day after the protests began that his restaurant burned to the ground.

My wife will attest that I worried about rumors that the violence 20 miles away would spread the night I first saw flames on television.  I am embarrassed by that fear I had that first night.  My concern, that night, was white nationalists, exploiting an opportunity to make trouble.  These are the kinds of people we saw taking the State Capitol in Michigan – thugs masquerading as patriots.

The next day, and several times subsequent, I have driven to the area of the protests.  The dominant vision past the wanton damage to what seem to be mostly small businesses catering to the surrounding community, was of a community getting to work to clean up the damage.  The surrounding residential streets were untouched, though I am certain there was plenty of fear in those houses the night of broken glass and flames.

My friend is hard at work beginning the process of recovery and ultimately reopening his restaurant.

Meanwhile the theater of the absurd that is the current White House, tries to conjure up visions of chaos, confusion, and fear of the unknown other. I’ve been thinking of this when I see the clips of the supposed chaos in Portland; the feds in to bring back order; when I know, from my well-informed friend in Oregon, the bigger and much less demonic depiction of what is happening in a small area of Portland OR – protestors, almost all peaceably assembled, with the usual sprinkling of unknown agents provocateurs up to no-good.

I think we witnessed the same in Minneapolis some weeks ago; and in Lafayette Park across the street from the White House even more recently.

Beware the ‘bright shiny objects’, drawing you away from reality.  Make a real effort to learn the facts.

POSTNOTE:  I spent a lot of post-9-11-01 years involved in a group that did plenty of protesting about the Iraq War.  I know the drill.  All is not quite so simple as it seems.  One size does not fit all.  Years ago, I wrote a series that I called Uncomfortable Essays    These were primarily to my friends in  peace, justice, environment, sustainability and global cooperation communities – people I deeply respected and still respect.

The last of these essays were written during a time when I was becoming skeptical of the effectiveness of the method of engagement called protest.  It didn’t seem to be the most effective way to achieve change.  We gathered, heard speeches, walked and went home…and that seemed to be the be-all and end-all for most participants.  The protest seemed to have become the sole action.  If you are interested in what I was thinking then, go to those Uncomfortable Essays (link above), and read #15, 16 and 17 found on pages 37-47, all written in 2012.

To my friends in the movement, of which I remain a very active part, I simply offer the essays as an opinion to consider.  I didn’t, and don’t consider the writings as definitive in any sense.  Basically, though, they were appeals to think things through; to expand action beyond simply making some sign and walking in a street somewhere.

They are especially timely today.

Gandhi Mahal community meeting room July 7, 2020. photo Dick Bernard

Gandhi Mahals aspiration for its community – this room of the restaurant was not destroyed, but like the rest of the block needs to be demolished and rebuilt. Photo June 30, 2020, by Dick Bernard

POSTNOTE 2: Those who know me, know I was no stranger to nonviolent protests and demonstrations, from the wake of 9-11-01 to 2012.  Here’s one such gathering, I think it was in 2006 in south Minneapolis.  I’m the pole guy at right.  I was then President of the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers.

May Day Parade, Minneapolis, 2006. It was an unseasonably cool day, possibility of rain. The posters, which I have in posterity here at home, were the creation of Dr. Joe Schwartzberg, who is behind me, holding the Citizens for Global Solutions sign. Joe died in 2018.  His work lives on.  See the website The Workable World Trust.  Joe was also one of the founders of Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers, 25 years old this year, and is being recognized at this years National Veterans for Peace Convention August 2-9.  .Registration information here.

POSTNOTE 3: About noon on Saturday I was out and about, and noted a crowd by the Woodbury City Hall.  It was not a large crowd – perhaps a couple hundred – it turned out to be a Black Lives Matter march about to begin.  At one point, briefly, my road trip was delayed while the group crossed a busy cross street.  A young lady, white, probably college age, was the traffic marshall.  She was very pleasant, but no nonsense.  It was a minor inconvenience.  Good for them, I felt.

POSTNOTE 4:  This came from Nancy and was included in my Mary 31 Post, “Learnings”:

from Nancy, May 30:

Here’s a post that I saw on Facebook today — very important message:

‎Jesse Haug‎ to Lowertown, Saint Paul
9 hrs
A reminder that on nights like these, there are multiple distinct groups in action, with distinct goals and behaviors. Do not confuse one with another.

I’d group them into at least 5 categories.

1/
ACTIVISTS: They have clear goals, at least in their own heads. They are out to be heard and noticed. They may be nonviolent. If there is property damage, it will be targeted. Diff activists may have diff targets, but it won’t be indiscriminate.

2/
GRIEVING CITIZENS: They aren’t (yet) organized activists. They’re hurting deeply. They haven’t been heard. They have more anger than they know what to do with. They may cause unjust damage, even though their anger comes from a place of justice.

3/
ROWDY IDIOTS: They don’t give a shit about justice. They just want to fuck shit up. They’ll mingle with the activists, even though activists are ultimately a nuisance to them. They’ll come like moths to a light any time things are going off the rails.

4/
CHAOS AGENTS: Like rowdy idiots, they want to fuck shit up. But like activists, they have a goal and are self-controlled. They’re here to escalate, create an opening, make others look bad. Prime examples: alt-right instigators and crooked police. (There’s overlap.)

5/
PROFESSIONAL THIEVES: Whenever there’s chaos, there’s an opportunity to make a buck. Some of the “looting” has actually been well-organized, coordinated hits: post a lookout, designated grabber, getaway car.

6/
There may be more groups I’ve overlooked.

I say all of this to point out the danger of using the word “protesters” for everyone out there tonight. If, for example, you say, “protesters need to stop burning buildings,” which of these groups are you are referring to? Be specific, not vague or generalizing.

Above all, be careful that you do not wrongly ascribe to ACTIVISTS and GRIEVING CITIZENS the actions of the other three groups. That is just what those other groups want.

The need for justice is real. The grief is real. Take them seriously. Respect them.

Addendum: just in case it’s not obvious, the first two groups are the vast majority of people out there — but the last three cause the vast majority of damage.

Schools

In days, the state of Minnesota will make a decision about school opening for 2020-21.  In some states, schools may already be open.  In our state, most schools open the day after Labor Day.  Usually, the ritual would be as it has always been.  This year is very different, literally and inevitably a life or death matter for someone entering the school as student or staff.

This year is not routine.

There will probably be at least 51,000,000 students in American public schools, maybe 5 million more in alternative learning situations. About 1 of every 7 Americans are school age.  They are unique individuals, virtually all of them under age 18, and in various ways bring home to school with them every day.   In many ways, school is their community.

Add to this immense number of students about 10%, another 5 million or so, teachers and other school staff of all sorts, and millions upon millions of parents and other concerned adults, and infinite variations of opinions and concerns, and you get an idea of the potential for predictable disasters this fall.  All that is unknown is specific dates, times, places.

It is not so simple as saying go back to school.

Of course, there are millions more who depend on the school industry, as school bus manufacturers.  They are not included here.  They do not “go to school” – they profit from it.

“Raise your hand” if you’ve ever been a school staff member, anywhere, any time in history.  Almost certainly you went to a public or private school as a student.  “School” is not a novel concept.

Personally, I taught 8th graders for nine years, mostly in the 1960s in suburban Minneapolis.  I was an 8th grader in tiny Ross North Dakota in 1953-54.  I would venture that kids in the 1960s, when I taught in suburban Minneapolis; were not much different than today’s 8th graders coming back to school this Fall.  Kids were, and still are, kids.

This will be a very difficult year, not easy.  School staff along with medical personnel in particular are on the front lines.  Among great numbers of others: stories clerks if ask sorts.  On and on.  And peoples lives are at stake, of all ages.  We need to work together.

POSTNOTE: I bring a certain amount of experience to this conversation: Nine years as a teacher of 8th graders, 27 years representing teachers, growing up in a home where both parents were public school teachers; as well as two Uncles and three Aunts, all teachers.   Father of a long-time middle school principal; grandfather of nine kids, six of whom have already graduated from high school; 3 still in school, one of them in Special Education because of medical circumstances rising from an accident a couple of years ago.

This doesn’t make me an ‘expert’, but at least as much as anyone else who proffers an opinion on the topic.

 

John Lewis and Larry Long

Yesterday, Molly sent me a single page tribute to John Lewis.  Take the time: John Lewis (click to enlarge).

On July 24th, 8 p.m., on YouTube and Facebook, troubadour Larry Long presents the premiere film of a live performance of The American Roots Review at the Mane Theatre in Lanesboro MN.  Details here. (scroll down – on right side of page).  POSTNOTE: This program was Friday evening.  It may be archived, along with other programs, at Larry’s website.

There is much more to be said about both John Lewis and Larry Long.  Two witnesses for peace and justice.

A Centennial

July 24-25, the LaMoure Country Memorial Park at Grand Rapids will be celebrating its Centennial.  All details are here, which includes a link to North Dakota Covid-19 regulations, which will be updated and will be followed.  If you plan to go to this event, please check the website first.

Busch family gathering July 29, 1965. from front left: Tom Bernard, Ferd Busch, Mary Brehmer, Edithe Busch, Lucina Pinkney, Vincent Busch, Florence Wieland, George Busch, Art Busch, Esther Bernard, Rosa Busch.

The Park has commissioned a wonderful memory book about The parks history.  There are over 50 pages of text and photos, bringing to life the 140 years the oxbow area of the James River a mile from Grand Rapids ND, has been used as a social gathering place for settlers of the LaMoure County area.  Seven members of the Busch family in the above 1965 photo appear in the probable 1921 photo at the park entrance (below, from page 32 of the book).

Busch kids and Dad at the entrance to LaMoure County Memorial Park ca 1921. At center are the parks first caretakers, Arthur and Lena (Berning) Parker, the Busch kids Uncle and Aunt.

Here is page 13 of the book: grand rapids chautauqua.  Chautauquas took root for a time in the history of North Dakota and other states.  To this day there is a Chautauqua Park in Valley City, ND, an hour away from LaMoure County; another flourished about the same time along the Souris River near Tolley ND . The Chautauqua featured in this book included appearances by William Jennings Bryan and William Howard Taft.

(Cost of the book, truly a keepsake: $20 plus $3 shipping, check to LaMoure County Auditor, send order to Sonya Albertson, 9856 County Rd 34, LaMoure ND 58458.)

A PERSONAL STORY:

My parents taught in tiny North Dakota towns from 1928 forward.  In their married days, Dad was almost always “Superintendent” – a title with more trouble than status.  That story is here.  I don’t recall a single town in which we had relatives.  Over the years, even though we might visit only once or twice a year, the place with constancy – home – was the Busch farm, about 5 miles from the Park.  Today, 80 years after my birth, all the Busch’s long gone, that piece of ground between Berlin and Grand Rapids remains an honored place in my life.

Dad grew up in Grafton.  He and Mom met at the place I called VCSTC, now VCSU.  In their years it probably was still called the Normal school.  They both started as teachers in ND country schools in about 1928.  In those years, such teachers had minimal licensure requirements, but were expected to continue their education each summer.  Dad finished his degree at Valley City in 1940.  Mom took a detour into ‘homemaking’ for some years, the way it was, then.  In all, they taught a total of 67 years.  One of Mom’s schools is one of the museum pieces on the grounds of the Park.  Her contract, I think for 1932-33, is probably still on the wall of the school.

The Chautauqua story in the book reminded me of a ‘Dad story’ written 1981 about a college memory at Valley City:

“[After high school] we could start teaching after one quarter of college provided that we had taken our senior reviews in high school…I did the usual class work…There were 1200 students enrolled and classes were large…At that time the summer registration fees included the tickets to the Chautauqua that was held each summer in Valley City.  It was near the end of the Chautauqua era and I believe that was the last big one held in Valley City.   We used to walk the distance from the college area to the park every night for the various educational entertainment.  I do remember that many people from the area would come and camp out to take in the activities.  It was the custom.

I don’t remember many of the events that took place.  I do remember Billy Sunday, a fire eating evangelizer, who preached fire and brimstone for about an hour.  I don’t remember much of what he said but his antics were sometimes bizarre.  He would start his sermon very calm but as he warmed up to the occasion he would take off his coat and tie, jump up and down on the stage and sometimes as a climax he would get up on the table and shout.  no microphones so they had to be leather lunged in order for the audience to hear.  I think most people were more impressed with his antics than with what he said.”

Back to the real world of the Park (which is what we called it), likely every time we came to the farm to visit, we went to the park before heading home.  We didn’t know the family lore, then, that Mom’s Uncle and Aunt, Art and Lena Parker, were the first caretakers at the park, and lived in the house at the entrance, or that it was on Uncle Art watch that the auditorium was constructed.  Etc.  In fact, we never met Parkers, since by our time they were long gone to Dubuque IA.

I’m convinced that my Uncle Art, born Oct. 1927, was named for his Uncle Art – that secret lies with Grandma and Grandpa Busch in St. John’s cemetery in Berlin….

When we came to the park, we came as kids, of course, so what attracted us were the rides, which were by today’s playground standards very primitive.  But who noticed, or cared?  They were our first destination.

Grandpa would connect with the old guys tossing horseshoes; Vincent would take us down by the little dam to fish for some bullheads.  Occasionally there might be a ball game, and of course something to eat, before we went back to the farm.  One picture shows folks playing croquet.

In 1993 we had our big family reunion at the park (picture below), and I remember that a week later a record breaking thunderstorm up in the Jimtown area coursed downstream, and the spot where we had stood for the reunion photo was under six feet of water.

Then there’s the above photo, from July 29, 1965.  I always thought that was taken at the park, but more likely it was taken at Florence and Bernard Wieland’s place north of Valley City.  My wife, Barbara, died July 24, 1965, in Minneapolis (kidney disease, age 22), and the funeral was in Valley City on July 29 and every family member was there, from Babbitt, and Tolna, and Dresden, and Hancock, and Chicago, and Dazey, and of course from the Busch farm.  Funerals are common for reunions, and this was no different.  The cake probably was for the nearby birthdays of Edithe and Esther….

Imperfect as the 1965 photograph is, it was essentially the same family posing at the park entrance 45 years earlier, 100 years ago: Ma, Pa and kids born before 1920.  Sitting on Grandpa’s lap was their first grandkid, son Tom, now 56 years of age, and one of those who came to the 1993 reunion.

Thanks to everyone, everywhere, who keeps local community heritage alive and well.  Most especially, thank you to those involved with the LaMoure County Memorial Park.

Busch-Berning Family Reunion, LaMoure County Memorial Park, Grand Rapids ND July, 1993

The Busch-Berning Archival collection continues in process at the North Dakota Historical Society in Bismarck.  The archival collection is 11082.  COVID-19 mitigated against a summer trip to Bismarck to complete the collection, which includes nearly 1,000 photographs from 1800s to 1972.

Ball game at the park, July 24, 1924 (photo probably taken from the roof of the caretakers house near the entrance.)

COMMENTS:

from Sonya:  This is a wonderful read! I love the connections your family had to the park. Many memories have been made at Memorial Park. It has influenced thousands of lives.  Thank you, Dick!

from Christina: My daughter in law gave me the book.  It is SO good.  I read every word.

from Myron: Thanks for sending this link to Memorial Park events. I have been following plans in LaMoure Chronicle. I have been to park many times. They used to have a LaMoure County Play Day when I was in grade school in Berlin. It was so much fun to go to that every spring. I competed in broad jump.  I helped start LaMoure County Summer Musical Theatre at grand hippodrome building in park.

from Darleen:  For a few years I spent the 4 of July at the park with both of my children.  We were there to celebrate the great grandma’s July 4 1896, birthday.  One yr there was a cake decorated as a flag.   Most of her family came.  It was a huge family so I didn’t get to know very many.   They were of [my husbands] maternal side of the family.

Election 2020

The Minnesota Primary Election begins one month from today, August 11.  Details.

The Democratic Convention is August 17-20; the Republican August 24-27.  Details (weblinks) at the July 1 post.  Other posts on the topic of Election 2020 are at July 3, 7 and 9, and there will be more in coming months.  Check back every week or so.

Years ago I scrawled out a personal assessment of myself and the American Political “Scrum” – the mass of people who make up the ‘body politic” of this country.  I could ‘gussy” this up, I suppose.  But I like it as it is.

You can see “ME?” as I defined myself at the time.  Today, I’d probably move my ‘spot’ a bit more to the left, but not a lot.  Our country seems far more polarized now – I have my opinion, you have yours.

I’ll leave it at that for now.  In coming days and weeks I’ll more define the R and the D from my own perspective, and Biden, and local and state and other races and their importance.

In the end “we, the people” make the difference, and in the end, we all get what the majority of us thought we deserved.

POSTNOTE: This afternoons e-mail brought the following, from Carol, published in July 10 St. Paul Pioneer Press:

A July 3 letter writer (“Out-of-date lists”) tries to cast doubt on future election results by suggesting since a million dead people erroneously received federal stimulus checks, “mailing out ballots to everyone” could lead to similar results. Stimulus checks were sent out (hastily) based mostly on IRS tax rolls. Recipients did not request them.

The writer seems to imply the state is similarly mailing actual ballots willynilly to those on an outdated list. On the contrary, what we received in the mail are applications for ballots, which we can fill out and return if we choose to. The ability to vote by mail on request (“absentee” voting) has been Minnesota law for some time. The only difference this year is that, because of the pandemic, the state is encouraging this method by sending applications to registered voters.  There are layers of safeguards for voting by mail. Is it possible that someone could receive an application for a recently deceased relative, fill it out using their personal information, forge their signature, mail it in and receive a ballot? Only by risking the very real possibility of going to prison.

I suggest that the writer call the Secretary of State’s Office if there are further things he does not understand. They seem quite willing to answer questions.”  Carol Turnbull

Dick: Absolute certainty: there will be endless scams and schemes to mislead and deceive.  It has already begun and it will only intensify.  Be certain you cast a ballot, and that your ballot will be a well informed one for each and every office for which you can vote.

(I requested absentee for both primary and general this year – possibly second time I can recall doing that.  The process of me (Minnesota) was very easy and quick.)

COMMENTS;

from Rebecca: I like your cartoon of the political scrum.

from a long-time friend ‘out west’: Hi Dick, I am a center-right progressive in the ilk of Teddy Roosevelt and Ike, and as such, I have always been a registered Republican.  Always have been and always will be.  When the southern racists who parked in the Democratic party because of their hatred of Abraham Lincoln moved over to the GOP, I then started voting mostly for Democrats.  But I still find it useful to remain a registered Republican because of the stuff they send me which allows me to understand what they are trying to accomplish, which I can compare with the Democratic position on the same subjects.

from a long-time friend in England:  I am not saying don’t bother voting – democracy only works when people vote after all – but somehow & barring last hour revelations or worse it seems to me the election has been lost for president Trump already. I like your sketch & it feels like you are not the only one who has shifted leftwards even if not by much. It doesn’t take much to reverse the last election.

It also seems to me that president Trump has outlived his usefulness what with tax cuts, decisions regarding the Middle East & stuffing the Supreme Court. To the movers and shakers he has become an embarrassment & a liability. He has been divisive from before day one dividing the world, the US, the administration & lately even his “own party” – assuming he has a party other than himself. Who could have imagined Republicans forming lobbies & action committees to make sure he is not re-elected!? Finally his niece is coming out with a book which indicates the family is also divided.

Here’s what the Financial Times had on one front page this weekend & you would expect conservatives to be attacking her viciously instead while some do have issues with what she wrote (earlier), still on the whole they seem to be of two minds & agree with much of what she professes.  Also, here.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,

from Steve: I don’t know how I missed sending a note to you after your Political Scum note. I was just going through emails trying to make sure that I hadn’t missed a constituent request or comment. I loved your drawing. I remember making a drawing on a poli sci exam in college., Not as sophisticated or fun as yours, I had fascists and communists meeting as totalitarians at a point on a circle, each arriving by separate paths around the circumference. What kind of circle are we talking about these days. Seems to me that the politics of this administration in Washington is found on a tangent, far from a rational/ideological scheme.

A lighter moment….

Some while back , I heard the 45th occupant of our U.S. White House practices to perfect his angry demeanor.  He is an actor, after all, and fancies that his loyal subjects like him to display anger, about everything, always, so it makes sense.  No, I can’t prove this, so no need to ask.  It does make sense, from his daily public demeanor.   Luckily, I think, perhaps a third of Americans buy his general approach, but that is small consolation.  He has the throne for now.

Today from a couple of directions from people who don’t know each other, an item from “an Aussie friend”, and another from a good friend in London-town, England.  I present both, below, as received.  You can take your pick as to whose piece was submitted by the Aussie, which by the Brit….

#1

I am trading relatively friendly emails with a couple of Trump supporters & below is my reply to one who proclaimed the remarks by president Trump at Mount Rushmore as “an excellent speech, the best I have heard by an American president in a long time”.

The main thing according to Trump’s supporters is that for once he followed what he was told to say in that oh-so-much-better-than-Lincoln’s-Gettysburg-Address speech. There you go even his supporters have set the bar low enough such that he can pass muster! He is working on a new book – that will also be written for him of course, as the Mount Rushmore speech was – Mein Strumpf (that’s sock in his grandpa’s language, German, because the world can’t wait till he puts a sock in it).

& as I am sure you know, Strumpfs (Smurfs in the UK or Schtroumpfs in France) are blond & so white they are blue like the best diamonds & she is up for it, none of this LGBT or feminism stumff.

In the book he will lay down the 4-year plan to make, sorry keep, America great & they will all live happily ever after:

I am vastly entertained by the choice of sobriquets the other camp has chosen for me! However Joyce as usual can do better with language, e.g.:

“The delegation, present in full force, consisted of Commendatore Bacibaci Beninobenone . . . Monsieur Pierrepaul Petitépatant, the Grandjoker Vladinmire Pokethankertscheff, the Archjoker Leopold Rudolph von Schwanzenbad-Hodenthaler, Countess Marha Virága Kisászony Putrápesthi, Hiram. Y. Bomboost, Count Athanatos Karamelopulos, Ali Baba Backsheesh Rahat Lokum Effendi, Señor Hidalgo Caballero Don Pecadillo y Palabras y Paternoster de la Malora de la Malaria, Hokopoko Harakiri, Hi Hung Chang, Olaf Kobberkeddelsen, Mynheer Trik van Trumps, Pan Poleaxe Paddyrisky, Goosepond Prhklstr Kratchinabritchisitch, Herr Hurhausdirektorpresident Hans Chuechli-Steuerli, Nationalgymnasium- museumsanatoriumandsuspensoriumsordinaryprivatdocentgeneralhistoryspecial- professordoctor Kriegfried Ueberallgemein.”

Please note that Mynheer Trik van Trumps is actually in the original, prophetic eh? (James Joyce: Ulysses, Chapter 12: Cyclops) – I would replace Mynheer with Menhir to stress the phallic virility of El Presidente.

Obelix carrying a Menhir:

#2

“Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?” Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England wrote the following response:

A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever. I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman. But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface. Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead. There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.

So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:

  • Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.
  • You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss. After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: ‘My God… what… have… I… created?’ If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.