Community – Page 29 – Thoughts Towards a Better World

#745 – Dick Bernard: A quick visit to Valley City, Sykeston and rural LaMoure, North Dakota

July 10, 2013/2 Comments/in Community, Family History, Quietings /by dickbernard

I just spent four days and nearly 900 miles revisiting places of my roots in North Dakota. It seemed like a long trip, and it was, but then, last night, I watched the first part of the Ken Burns program on the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803-05.
Piece of cake.
This trip happened when I learned that tiny Sykeston High School, where I graduated in 1958, and where my Dad taught for ten years, and my mother for four, was having its Centennial, I decided I wanted to be there. I wrote a blog post about Sykeston on my birthday, May 4, and this morphed into six others, and now this one, eighth in the series.

Tom Richter, grad ca 1960, gets his photo by the iconic 1913 at Sykes High School July 6, 2013

Associated, was another history centered blog post about Valley City State Teachers College, which I attended, and graduated from, in 1961. This led to another blog post on January 2, 2013, which has itself had many followup posts.

Old Main – McFarland Hall at Valley City (ND) State University July 5, 2013

So, there’s little reason to write more. Mostly, this post consists of photographs with captions I took at Valley City on July 5, and at Sykeston on July 6, 2013.
2013 Sykeston here *. (See note at end of this post.)
Valley City here.
There is an additional Facebook album from another larger Sykeston reunion in the summer of 2008, here.
And readers familiar with either place can add to with additional photos or comments at their leisure.
Sykeston is 400 miles one way from home in suburban St. Paul; in between, some 310 miles from home, is Valley City. So it was not “out of the way” to stop at one enroute to the other. Between Sykeston and Valley City is Jamestown – always “Jimtown” to my Grandpa.
When I began college in 1958, the first ten-mile section of Interstate 94 was being constructed in North Dakota, between Valley City and Jamestown. It was probably one of the first true pieces of Interstate in the United States. I remember it was said to cost “a million dollars a mile”. So it makes sense, with this piece of history, to note that endless ribbon of concrete called I-94 in North Dakota:

I-94 between Valley City and Jamestown ND July 6, 2013

This trip I drove 550 miles on I-94, lickedy-split. Kids today cannot imagine what it was like in the years before the Freeways, even on U.S. highways, all of which went through the middle of every town, large and small. It was not the good old days: no air-conditioning in the car, no cruise control, no seat belts….
At Jamestown, in 1959, along I-94 was built what has become something of an iconic tourist attraction, “The World’s Largest Buffalo”. That buffalo was constructed during the time I was in college, and I decided I needed to stop there after leaving Sykeston on July 6. The buffalo is, the plaque says, 46 feet long, 26 feet high, 14 feet wide and it weighs 60 tons. More about the buffalo here.
It’s not going anywhere. It has aged well.

The World’s largest buffalo at Jamestown ND July 6, 2013

We had been at that very spot in 1960, and here’s photo “evidence” (I wasn’t in this particular photo, and probably wasn’t photographer either, but all of my siblings and my Mom are in this photo):

Bernards Worlds Largest Buffalo Jamestown ND ca 1960001

Yes, it is just your basic tourist attraction, but impressive nonetheless.
Completing the trip, on July 7, my Uncle and I were driving out to the family “Century Farm” 10 miles from LaMoure and I asked him to stop at the corner of Highway 13 and their county road. There, as they have been for years, was a nest of wild prairies roses that somehow or other have escaped being plowed under for all these years.
The wild prairie rose is North Dakota’s state flower.
A photo of this flower is an appropriate way to end this post.

Wild Prairie Roses between LaMoure and Berlin ND July 7, 2013

* – This is a letter to those who attended Sykeston High School – an idea for future consideration: Sykes High Future001

#744 – Dick Bernard: Some Proposals for this Fourth of July

July 4, 2013/1 Comment/in Community, Peace & Justice, War /by dickbernard

Today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune has a good quiz to test your knowledge of the U.S. The column, including link to the test, is here.

Heritage House, Woodbury MN Summer 2013

Today, July 4, is supposed to be a simple kind of day in the U.S. My daughter described it well: “grillin’ and chillin'”.
This particular July 4 is a tad more complicated, if one wants to pay attention to complexity. Edward Snowden is a man sort-of without a country in the Moscow airport; the President of Bolivia was detained somewhere since his plane was suspected of harboring Snowden; and then there is something going on in Egypt, whether bad or good depends on the interpretation. A good long summary of Egypt is here for anyone who wishes.
And then there is a matter of our own less than pristine history. A surprising post I saw yesterday about a monument to a major American mistake in one war came in yesterday. The writer is not a “usual suspect” for this kind of essay. You can read A Memorial to a Mistake here.
We don’t like to own mistakes….
There is tradition for us, today. Ordinarily the theme is some variation of War, down to the Fireworks tonight “the Bombs Bursting in Air….”.
A pretty typical musical version would be this song sent to me by a friend not long ago. It is very patriotic. Good tune. But I left this comment “Such an angry self-righteous song. I’m an honorably discharged Army vet from a family full of military vets. My uncle went down on the Arizona at Pearl Harbor. Saddam Hussein and bin Laden were our useful “friends” years before 9-11-01…how soon we forget. I’m lifelong U.S. and I love this country; but we are part of the world, not above it or in dominion over it.”
I’ll see if my comment is “approved”. I posted it July 2, 2013 at 8:30 p.m. CDT.
I’m a patriotic guy, but my patriotism is canted somewhat differently than the singers and fans of that song.
Just for consideration, I’d like to propose looking at some alternatives to a war-based celebration of our Independence.
All you need to do is to take a look, and make up your own mind:
1. I’m proud to be a Founding Member of the U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation.
The Founder of this foundation, Dr. Michael Knox, is a friend of mine, and he noticed some years ago on a visit to Washington D.C. that there were no end to memorials to War, but reminders about Peace were in short supply.
Michael and I do not agree in all particulars about his project, but we are totally on the same page about celebrating Peace at least similar to our obsession with War.
Take a look, and consider becoming a member of the Foundation, and letting others know about this fledgling and important group.
2. A photographer and journalist I know, John Noltner, is continuing a nationwide project for which he has already achieved significant success.

I asked John for something I might add to this post. Here are John’s words about his project:
“What does peace mean to you?
It’s a question I have been asking people for the past four years for a
collection of portraits and personal stories called A Peace of My Mind.
The goal is to find the humanity in every person…even our adversaries.
Perhaps through hearing the stories of some who are like us, and others
who are quite different, we will be able to see past the rhetoric that
confounds our national dialogue and develop a more compassionate way of
engaging with the world…in our own families, our neighborhoods, and the
international community.
To hear some of the stories of people working toward peace, follow this link.”
Invest some time in learning about this project, and consider contributing to its success.
3. The Snowden affair reminds me of someone I’d never heard of till a couple of years ago, Garry Davis, who was a U.S. bomber flight crew in World War II. And after his brother was killed aboard a Destroyer off Italy, his bomber group bombed one of Germany’s large cities.
Davis could not get out of his mind the sense that one senseless killing – his brothers death in War – simply begat another – his bombing Germans.
He knew there were innocent victims down there below him, people like himself, and like others he knew. After the War he decided to renounce his U.S. citizenship and became a Citizen of a World, with tragi-comic results. He became a citizen of everywhere, but was accepted as a citizen nowhere.
He had idealistic intentions. His only crime was wishing to renounce war between nations as a solution to problems, and for a time he had a huge following of people equally sick of war, having just experienced World War II.
People working together to solve problems became Davis’ mantra.
His is a fascinating story. He is still living, but at 92 frail. Indeed, a movie of his life is in preparation – I’ve seen a long preview of it. You can watch the trailer here.
Watch the trailer – it’s 7 minutes – and consider contributing to the completion of this very important film of witness to peace. Here’s the link to do so.
4. Peacestock. Finally, for interested persons in the Twin Cities area who are interested in the policy topic of Peace, consider Peacestock on July 13, in rural Wisconsin not far from Red Wing MN. Here’s the link for that program. I’m a long-time member of Veterans for Peace.

#743 – Dick Bernard: Remembering Donald Koller, and a kid memory of The Lone Ranger….

July 3, 2013/0 Comments/in Community, Family History, History, North Dakota /by dickbernard

UPDATE July 12, 2013: In memory of Don Koller, and granddaughter Samantha, and Donald’s parents Alma and Michael Koller. (See note from Rosella Koller below the photo; received July 11, 2013.)
(click on photos to enlarge)

Don Koller and Sam

I asked Rosella for more information about the photos. Rosella: That was our Granddaughter, Samantha. When she was 10 she had a double lung transplant. She got married in our home, in July of 2012. Passed in October in our home. We knew she was getting sick again, but surprised she died so suddenly. Don died Dec. 12, 2012. We have two other grandchildren, Danille, she came with us when we met [you] at the Mall of America. And we have one grandson Brenton. Rosella

Graves of Alma and Michael Koller, St. Elizabeth’s Cemetery Sykeston ND July 6, 2013

*
I began this series about Sykeston ND, intending to write only a single post. This is the 7th, and I won’t guarantee it’s the last….
Note: There are six other posts about Sykeston:
Feb 11, 2013: “Sykes High, oh Sykes High School”
May 4 (the main article): Thoughts on Sykeston High School at its Centennial
May 9 A 1957 Social Studies Test
June 12 Remembering Sykeston in late 1940s
June 28 Snapshots in History of Sykeston
June 29 Sports in 1950s small towns in North Dakota
Two of the certainties of life for all of us are that our life will end, and we don’t know when, or how. That we don’t know the answer to the “when or how” question is, in my opinion, a blessing.
So, it was a surprise to learn, in a June 28 e-mail, of the death of Sykeston kid friend Don Koller. Donald was one of about a dozen people I was trying to be in touch with about Sykeston memories in anticipation of this weekends Centennial of the Sykeston School.
His wife, Rosella, wrote: “I thought you would like to know Donald passed Dec 12 of last year 2012”.
We are all familiar with these kinds of messages. I had lost track of Donald for many years until a few years ago when somehow or other one of his daughters located me with a question. Some years later – I have a photo somewhere – Donald, Rosella and some of their family met me at Mall of America and we had a delightful visit. Obviously, I had a working e-mail address.
I looked up Donald’s name on the internet to see if there was an obit. There was one, it is here. They had lived for years in Armada, which is a village about 50 miles north of Detroit, and 50 miles east of Flint. I recall Donald mentioning that he had been in the military for quite a number of years, and then in the automobile industry for a career. (His brother, Robert, says it was the Army, and Chrysler Corporation respectively – Robert was a 27 year Army veteran.)
For some reason, I remember Donald’s affection for gardening.
I asked Rosella about cause of death: “He had quadruple bypass in 2008, they put pace maker at that time, and he was diabetic, in beginning of last year they put him on Coumadin, and got worse, in and out of hospital every month of last year. He was falling a lot, in Dec he fell and must of hurt his head, had a brain bleed, he had surgery of the head. He never recovered died December 12th, thank you for asking.”
Robert Koller, July 1: “I was a student of Sykeston High 1944 thru 1948. Your Dad was the Principle at that time. My brother Donald told me that he had been in contact with you. That was quite a while ago for sure. I have always enjoyed the history of Sykeston. Mr Huss was the janitor/caretaker while I was there and he and my father both came from the same place in Austria…(July 2) “Once when I was home I took Donald with me back to Ft. Gordon, Georgia where I was stationed. I was in the Army for 27 years and retired from it at Ft Lewis, Washington in 1976…After awhile Donald joined the U,S, Army and I took him to South Carolina where he had to report. After that he was in the Detroit area where he met Rosella. After they were married they went to Germany.”
Such is how personal history happens and starts to come together.
The 1940 census of Sykeston, which I have only recently accessed, shows Martin Huss, 57, to be from Austria; and Michael Koller, 56, from Hungary…. Donald apparently was almost exactly my age, as he doesn’t appear in the census, which was taken in early April, 1940. Neither was I.
His siblings, Jane (15), Robert (9) and Mary (2) are all listed. The census lists his Dad as employed by the WPA – the Depression was still on. His mother, born in Wisconsin, was 40. Jane had been born in Montana.
Donald and I likely met in First Grade at St. Elizabeth’s School in 1946. As I recall, Grades 1 and 2 were together; and Grades 3, 4 an 5; and 6, 7 and 8. I had completed 5th grade when we moved. I recall being in their small house only once, and meeting his Mom and his sister. I never met Robert or his Dad or his older sisters, to my knowledge.
As kids can be, we boys tended to be found at the same places, doing the same things. I recall nothing dramatic – when I had to make my First Confession I recall really struggling to figure out some sin to confess! I just knew I had to confess something. Best I could come up with, that first time, was saying “darn”….
But, kids being kids, I would suppose that at one time or another we qualified individually or collectively for one of my favorite old-time words, “rapscallion” (rascal).
I have been developing a list of kid memories, perhaps for another column sometime, but there is one specific personal memory of Donald Koller (he would have been “Donald”, as I was “Richard”, then).
The 1940s were radio days – there was no such thing as television out in North Dakota. And there were books, and comic books, if you could afford one, occasionally.
A favorite, back in those days, was the Lone Ranger, and his faithful sidekick, Tonto.
Here’s a piece of recreated radio from back in the day….
For some reason, Donald was always the Lone Ranger, and at least on some occasions I was enlisted as his Tonto. We’d “gallop” – we knew how horses ran – a few blocks, hitting ourselves on the rear-end (we were, after all, also the horse on which we were riding), me dutifully a bit behind him. At some point it’d be “whoaaaa, big fella” and we’d take on some imaginary adversary behind some bush or tree, and then be off again.
Why I remember that, and why with Donald, specifically, I have no idea.
But I do.
Six years away from Sykeston, and we came back for my senior year in 1957-58.
Don was in my class, and he is listed as “President”, but there is no picture of him. I don’t recall re-engaging with him as in the Lone Ranger days. At about mid-year he dropped out and to my recollection joined the Army, and the rest is history.
But I’ve never forgotten him.
I think we all wonder, once in awhile, if our having been around has made any difference to anyone…. It does, Donald did.
Thanks for the memories, Donald.
Rosella Koller can be reached at rosekollerATyahooDOTcom; Robert Koller at robertDOTkollerATcomcastDOTnet

#743 – Dick Bernard: Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman

July 2, 2013/0 Comments/in Community, Guns, Media, Minnesota /by dickbernard

If you don’t know the names in the subject line, this isn’t for you.
If you think this is about legislated gun control, it’s not….
For the last few days the trial has droned on in Sanford FL. About the only time I’ve actually seen it is at the gym, where the silent images pass by on the screen as I exercise, with some closed captioning.
At some early point the trial will go to the Jury, and a decision will be rendered.
I keep thinking of the guy I saw during the heat of the gun control debate at the Minnesota State Legislature on February 21, 2013.
(click to enlarge)

Minnesota State Capitol February 21, 2013

Of course, the guys point was not to pull his weapon and shoot somebody.
His point was, “don’t mess with my right to carry this thing around”.
He wasn’t terribly impressive, or impressing for that matter.
Like all the rest of us, he waited patiently to get into the hearing. I noticed later that his weapon was featured in a newspaper story. The gun became the story.
What I thought about, that day, was what would be the implications for him had somebody hassled him, and he had pulled out the gun and fired, and either hit his target, or missed and hit something else, maybe even just the wall of the Capitol building.
What would that Minnesota State Patrol officer the done – the one you can see perhaps six feet behind the guy with the gun.
Where would his power be then? Or would his gun give him any power at all; rather would it give him grief?
So, in Sanford, Florida, today, George Zimmerman is on trial for killing someone whose only offense, apparently, was that he looked suspicious that evening in February, 2012. Florida
law seems to mitigate in Zimmerman’s defense, but then there is the matter of killing somebody, Martin, who turned out to unarmed, and who would not have been dangerous had not Zimmerman took it upon himself to be the lawman of record in his complex.
The man with the gun won in Sanford that night in 2012; and it is possible that he will in court as well.
But if he prevails, what will he “win”?
Worst case, had he been unarmed, and doing everything identically that night, he would have been beat up, like happens every day in intemperate fights between angry humans.
That gun, whether he wins or loses in court, solved nothing for him.
As a gun solves nothing for the folks who think it is important to have their own private arsenal to defend against whoever it is they think they’ll have to defend themselves against.
Here’s that photo from February 21 again.
What would that guy have won, that day, if he’d found it necessary, by his own definition, to use that weapon?

Minnesota State Capitol February 21, 2013

Full disclosure: I qualified as expert with an M-1 in the Army, I don’t own a gun, never have, never will, I didn’t think gun control (getting rid of guns) was a practical or possible resolution to the gun issue, though I favored stronger regulation of weapons, particularly background checks and registration of all weapons.

Establish a Peace Site, promote Peace

July 1, 2013/0 Comments/in Community, International Relations, Minnesota, Peace & Justice /by dickbernard

A Peace Site dedication at St. Paul’s Monastery, St. Paul, June, 2009

My friend, Lynn Elling, founder of World Citizen and co-founder of the Nobel Peace Prize Festival, now part of the Nobel Peace Prize Forum, has a favorite Gandhi saying which he recites often: “If we are to reach real peace in this world and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with children”. The entire quote is here.
For Mr. Elling, promotion of Peace Sites has been an important part of his near life-long history as witness for Peace.
He first learned of the concept “Peace Site” in the early 1980s. I met Mr. Elling and learned of Peace Sites only six years ago, and in many assorted contacts since then, I agree that they are a wonderful community building venture wherever a group chooses to dedicate one, with direct and potentially lasting positive impact on children.
Here are a few notes about Peace Sites, and how anyone can create a Peace Site at school, place of worship, organization, etc:
HISTORY: Best as I can determine, the idea of formal Peace Sites originated in New Jersey in 1982. Here is a column from New York Times at the time: Peace Sites NJ 1982001. Mr. Elling, of Minneapolis MN, learned of the idea and set about replicating it in Minnesota in 1988. Characteristic for him, he engaged all out, to the extent that there are now hundreds of Peace Sites which trace their history back to the local idea of this man.
World Citizens list of Peace Sites as known today can be viewed here.
BECOMING A PEACE SITE: In my six years of knowledge of Peace Sites, I have witnessed and/or learned about many Peace Site Dedications in various settings.

A Peace Site dedication program at Great River School, St. Paul MN, November, 2012.

There is no “formula” for a Peace Site dedication. There are ideas for what a Peace Site celebration might entail, but in my experience the best Peace Site dedications are home grown through a process in which community members elect the kind of dedication they wish to have.
Often times these will include dedication of a Peace Pole; sometimes of a standard model, sometimes they are a unique creation of a local artist or group of artists.

New Eagle Scout Eric Lusardi, at left, brought a New Peace Site and personally designed Peace Pole to life in New Richmond WI in the summer of 2012. Melvin Giles, center, helps dedicate the Peace Site on the International Day of Peace Sep 21, 2012.

But the key aspect of a successful Peace Site is that a local committee create their own idea and program, and involve the greater community in the Dedication ceremony.
REDEDICATION: One of the remediable problems I have seen with Peace Sites is that, once created, they simply exist and are not rededicated on a regular basis. A great deal of effort is expended to do a Dedication, but no attention is paid to rededicating the Peace Site on a regular (as yearly) basis.
What can too easily happen is that the great esprit of the moment can quickly erode, and if there is no conscious effort on an ongoing basis, before too long, people forget that they are a peace site, or the people who originated the idea in the first place move, or in other ways the institutional memory disappears, and with it the whole idea of a peace site.
It is important for existing Peace Sites to make a commitment to rededicate in some fashion each year.
There is no “cookbook” for Peace Sites, but they do kindle a candle of Peace in the hearts and minds of children and adults wherever they appear.
Consider the possibility of a Peace Site where you live.
Past posts specifically about Peace Sites are here and here.

Some lucky bird may take up residence in this ceramic birdhouse which will grace the top of the completed peace pole when the Peace Site at Washburn High School in south Minneapolis is dedicated in the Fall of 2013..

Rededication at Bloomington MN Jefferson High School May 3, 2013. The school has an annual rededication as a Peace Site, and it is a major annual event.

#742 – Dick Bernard: Gay Pride outside the Basilica of St. Mary

June 30, 2013/0 Comments/in Community, Education, Family History, History, Minnesota, Peace & Justice, Politics /by dickbernard

Today was a most interesting day at Basilica, my home for Sunday Mass almost every Sunday.
Inside, it was business as usual. Outside, a short block away in Loring Park was the Gay Pride Festival, and shortly after 9:30 Mass concluded, the Gay Pride Parade would literally pass by the street corner next to the Church. This was an exultant day for the Gay Community, understating the obvious, days after the Supreme Court rulings, and only about a month since Gay Marriage was legislated in Minnesota.
I’m not sure that “Gay” is a proper “one-size-fits-all term in this situation. Nonetheless, I’m happy for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community this day. I’m straight. The issue has never bothered me.
The guy at Archdiocesan headquarters – the local Archbishop here – is probably not in a celebratory mood. He has spent years and loads of anonymously donated money to make sure Gays could never marry, including a massive and expensive campaign back in 2010 – a DVD in every Catholics mailbox.
But the LGBT community can celebrate, and (I believe) largely because the Gays have come out of the shadows and made themselves known in families everywhere, there is now no going back. Living anonymously didn’t work. They won’t be anonymous again, thankfully.
(Someone in our family called our attention this morning to this video in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. One of the two in the video is a relative of ours; her Dad is seen momentarily as well. A wonderful man in one of the groups I belong to announced the wedding of he and his partner on Sep 21. “Sorry you can’t expect an invitation – it will be a big wedding”, he said. The nephew of my daily coffee buddy came out a couple of years ago…and on and on.)
As Catholic parishes go, my Church is a welcoming place for the LGBT community. Indeed, one of the intercessions this day was “for respect for all people [including their] sexuality.”
Still there are and will continue to be discomforts. Coming in, today, I met two friends in my age group. There were a couple of “wink and nod” kinds of comments about what was going on in Loring Park and would be, later, on Hennepin Avenue. I didn’t nod. There are ways to send messages without making a scene.
Going out of Church I took a photo towards Hennepin Avenue outside:
(click to enlarge)

From Basilica of St. Mary towards Hennepin Avenue June 30, 2013

I was thinking back to a day a few years ago when I took another photo from the other side of the street, and wrote a blog about what I was experiencing that particular day, October 3, 2010.
The blog speaks for itself.
Lucinda’s project, along with others efforts, was immensely successful, but the wounds remain to this day.
Leaving the Church I had some free ice cream, and passed on the opportunity to write a postcard to my lawmakers supporting the euphemistically named initiative for “religious freedom”, which is a major campaign of the hierarchy of my Catholic Church, and has no useful effect other than to work towards increasing the power of the Catholic Church in the public square. NOT a good idea.
Back home, I took a photo of a reminder of Lucinda’s project back in 2010. It has remained prominently displayed in our house ever since we purchased it, a constant reminder about one of the ways a supposedly powerful ad campaign can be turned on its head. There are 15 of those DVDs in the sculpture, all of them once featuring the Archbishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis campaigning to prevent what the LGBT community is celebrating this day.
There is a message for advocates in that, and not just advocates for the Gay community….

June 30, 2013, from Fall, 2010

COMMENTS:
Greg, June 30: Very well done. I didn’t have the opportunity to mention why I chose the shirt I was wearing this morning. It was red and white striped. I picked it out because it was the one shirt in my closet that comes closest to reflecting the rainbow. As I explained to others, I was wearing it in Solidarity!
Bonnie, June 30: Thanks, Dick. Again, well said, as usual . . . .
Angela, June 30: I’ve been exercising ‘summer hours’ for my Mass attendance at the Cathedral which means, I attend the Sat evening anticipatory mass. I didn’t attend yesterday because I knew Nienstedt would be the celebrant for the so called ‘Fortnight for Freedom’ mass. So I stayed away. As a matter of fact, I make a point not to attend a mass when I know he will be the celebrant. I did however participate in Eucharistic Adoration and prayer the rosary Saturday afternoon.
Keep up the good work on the blog.
Joyce, relayed from her friend, Dan, June 30: I read about the DVD, and effots to turn them into money for support through art. Great idea. I think I’ve even seen some of the stuff on the DVD on the TV… Gay USA perhaps but I can’t do video, and don’t really need to see it. I think I’ve seen all their talking points by now.
A minor point… he wonders if Gay is a proper substitute for LGBT, and I would say absolutely. But gay works better as a descriptive term than as a noun. Gays, and “the gays”, is less desirable than “gay people” or even ” LGBT people.” (one of the problems with breaking down gay into LGBT, is that then others want to add Q, A, I, P, and some other letters I can’t remember, resulting in something that becomes difficult to say as well as write. This is also on it’s face, divisive, while gay can include everyone who doesn’t identify as strictly heterosexual or straight. But Gays or the gays, almost implies a different species. (It can be cute if used in the proper context, but not so advisable in serious discussions.)
Now don’t get me wrong, I appreciate his support, and realize he isn’t intending to stigmatize or marginalize, but for someone who supports equal treatment for all people, he may find it helpful to stress that those previously marginalized and dehumanized, are in fact human, and people. That’s why “gay people”, black people”, etc, works better than “the blacks” or “the gays”.
But a very good, needed, and welcome article.
Dick, responding to above: There is this matter of ‘dancing around’ this issue, as there is with a White talking about race with an African-American, to this day. You don’t know what to say, and consequently the tendency is to say nothing, and the risk is to say something that might be interpreted wrongly. I encountered this ‘tip-toeing’ as recently as last evening.
This also happened in the 1960s and 1970s during the times of aggressive advocacy for women’s rights. For a male, even one who cared, it was a bit like walking through a minefield, particularly if you didn’t know the woman well.
It is as it is.
My college roommate for three years is Gay and in a long-term relationship – I think. He has never told me directly that he is gay, and I have not pushed the issue. Of course, he would have been gay then, too and I didn’t know it, and there was not the tiniest bit of the issue and we were active in the same college groups. But the stigma of the label hangs on, now, for over 50 years.
So, I do the little bit that i can.
I appreciate the last sentence.

#741 – Dick Bernard: Remembering the "Field of Dreams": Sports in 1950s small town North Dakota

June 29, 2013/0 Comments/in Community, Family History, History, Minnesota, North Dakota /by dickbernard

Other posts in this series:
Feb 11, 2013: “Sykes High, oh Sykes High School”
May 4 (the main article): Thoughts on Sykeston High School at its Centennial
May 9 A 1957 Social Studies Test
June 12 Remembering Sykeston in late 1940s
June 28 Snapshots in History of Sykeston
July 3: Remembering Don Koller and the Lone Ranger
*
One week ago today I was at a baseball game featuring 5th graders from Apple Valley and Bloomington, two twin cities suburbs. The game was at Kent Hrbek Field, a ballpark named after the Bloomington native and Minnesota Twins legend which is perhaps two miles from the old Metropolitan Stadium, where, as a kid, Hrbek developed a love for the game that became his profession, including two World Series championships.
What drew me there was grandson Parker, birthday partner of mine, who’s a mighty good ballplayer for his eleven years, and on this particular day was catcher. He lives for baseball.
(click to enlarge)

Parker Hagebock, catcher, at Kent Hrbek Field June 22, 2013

“Back in the day”, in assorted North Dakota tiny towns, before television, and far out of range of any major or minor league sports, I developed an appreciation for sports, so it is easy to watch the assorted games we see from time to time.
A week from today, I’ll be out in Sykeston for the celebration of the Centennial of the High School, and it seems a good time to remember sports, as I knew them, emphasizing Sykeston.
As for Sykeston itself, here are the 1950 and 1958 school yearbooks, each having a few pages about the athletic programs in that tiny school:
1950 – Sykes Hiawatha 50001
1958 – Sykes Hiawatha 58001
There aren’t too many pages to “leaf” through to find the four or five pages in each yearbook which talk about Athletics as reported by the student editors of the time.
For years Sykeston’s main claim to athletic fame (to my recollection) was the 1950 Boys Basketball team (you can read about it in the yearbook) which won 3rd in the North Dakota Class C State Tournament. This was a big deal! I was not yet ten, and though I was at the tournament in Valley City, I can’t say I was that attentive.
More recently, Sykeston native Travis Hafner, became a noteworthy Designated Hitter for the Cleveland Indians. He graduated from Sykeston High School (class of 12 or so); my senior class was about 9…. There was no high school baseball program at Sykeston. Travis did his learning later.
Sykeston did have baseball, though not publicized in the yearbooks.
In those long ago years, Sykeston, like most places, had a town baseball team – men from teenage on up who played neighboring town teams on Sunday afternoons. It was a big social event for the communities.
In Sykeston the ballpark was, and perhaps still is, on the southwest edge of the town. There were no “stands”, and people parked along the base lines, hopefully not to be hit by an errant foul ball.
I don’t recall practices between games – I might be wrong. We came to play, usually just on Sunday. There were some good “country” ball players in those little towns: they could hit and field very well. But it’s a long leap up and out of the country to the minor or major leagues. “Pronk” Hafner was one of the lucky ones.
Personally, I loved sports.
It interests me to observe that I didn’t offer sports memories as most memorable in my young life. I was pretty good, in a sense, but I didn’t score a lot (other than my first game in 8th grade: 34 points, and second game, 32) or the time I made 12 of 14 free throws in a game somewhere. Rarely did I score over 10 points.
But like many small town kids, I participated, and dreamed, and listened to games on the radio.
We really didn’t have much of a choice but to participate, I guess. For a team sport, you needed a team, of boys, and sometimes most all of the boys in the school suited up.
There was girls athletics as well, but these were the days when girls played half-court only. And there were cheerleaders, and townfolk cheering on the local team in every community.
I find only a few photos of me “back in the day”. Here they are, for posterity.
Your own memories?

Frank and Dick Bernard, circa 1955, at Antelope Consolidated school near Mooreton ND. First try at American Legion baseball.

Ross ND Basketball Team 1953-54. Dick Bernard, 8th grader, kneeling second from right

Ross ND marching band in a parade in Williston ND 1954. If a school was lucky, a teacher had some knowledge of music, and there was an opportunity to at least learn the basics of an instrument!

Grandson Parker and Grandpa Dick June 22, 2013

#740 – Dick Bernard: Snapshots in the history of Sykeston ND

June 28, 2013/1 Comment/in Community, Family History, History, North Dakota /by dickbernard

Other posts in this series:
Other posts in this series:
Feb 11, 2013: “Sykes High, oh Sykes High School”
May 4 (the main article): Thoughts on Sykeston High School at its Centennial
May 9 A 1957 Social Studies Test
June 12 Remembering Sykeston in late 1940s
June 29 Sports in 1950s small towns in North Dakota
July 3: Remembering Don Koller and the Lone Ranger
*
This post will be of particular interest to people with a specific interest in Sykeston ND history.
A week from today, the celebration of the Centennial of the Sykeston High School is in its first day. I graduated from this tiny school in 1958, and since May 4, have been remembering various aspects of the school and the town and the times of the 1940s and 1950s. The first post, with links to two others, is here.
I’ve done lots of family history over the years, and by now I know myself: once I open the memory gate, one thought begets another, and this “chapter” visits a bit of the history of Sykeston in the year 1951; which then begat an idea to revisit the history of Sykeston as it was in 1940, through the eyes of the United States Census.
Most of the content of this blog will be the links. I hope you take the time to look.
1951.
In an earlier chapter I had sought out a visual image of Sykeston back in the 1940s, and came across this Geological Service map of the town in 1951:
(click to enlarge)

Sykeston from a USGS topographic map, 1951. (www.usgs.gov for this and other maps.)

This gave an opening to try to reconstruct, through the memory of a then-11 year old, who lived where in this tiny town. Of course, an 11 year old’s range tends to be very limited, and interests immediate and focused, and mine certainly was. But I’ve tried to reconstruct that year, and recently I sent the Sykeston 1951001 street grid to a dozen people, along with a list of who I thought lived where in the town. Thus far, three contemporaries, none of whom currently live in Sykeston, have taken the bait, and helped fill in the blanks, resulting in this incomplete but surprisingly full list: Sykes residents 1951001 (Each of these links is a single page, easy to print out.)
1940.
Having done as much as I could with 1951, it occurred to me that the 1940 United States Census had not too long ago been released to the public, and I could probably get more information from that document. Indeed, it took not too much effort to find Sykeston, Wells County, North Dakota. The link is here. It is eight pages in all, and can be printed page by page if one wishes.
Today I elected to reduce the information on those eight pages into a more user friendly form, and the three page pdf is accessible here, naming everyone who lived in Sykeston in 1940, and giving some tentative generalized data for the interested reader: Sykeston ND 1940 CensusRev Note particularly the Preliminary Statistics on page three. They say a lot about the life and times of what was probably a pretty typical tiny U.S. town in 1940.
There is a great deal to be said about 1940 compared with 1951. I will only say that I was surprised at the apparent change in the population of Sykeston in the eleven year period, in the midst of which was World War II. I had expected to see mostly the names that I knew in 1951 on the 1940 list. There were some, but not many, and that surprised me.
For persons acquainted with Sykeston this can be the launch for some interesting conversations at reunion.
Tomorrow: Remembering the Field of Dreams. Sports in 1950s small town North Dakota.

#737 – Dick Bernard: JUNE 24, 2013: Saint John the Baptist/la Saint-Jean Baptiste National Holiday of French Canada

June 24, 2013/1 Comment/in Community, History, Minnesota /by dickbernard

UPDATE on June 25 gathering: see end of this post
Also, see Comment below Masqueray grave photo
Bulletin from Dr. Virgil Benoit:
This afternoon (Monday, June 24), in northeast Minneapolis, there will be a celebration in honor of heritage beginning at 4:30 PM at Pierre Bottineau Park located at: 2000 2nd St. NE Minneapolis (Here’s Map link.
4:30–4:45 Gathering
4:45-5:00 Welcome by President of the French American Heritage Foundation (FAHF), Mark Labine
5:00–5:15 Story by Noel Labine
5:15—5:30 A sense of heritage from Rev. Jules Omalanga; and
Jerry Amiot, AFRAN (Association des Français du Nord) : An invitation to know AFRAN
5:30–6:00 Supper (Soupe aux pois, tourtière, plus items to be added) Free
Some activities and visiting will continue until 7PM.
Everyone is welcome to this first in recent times of a commemoration of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste.
Sponsored by Initiatives in French Midwest (IFMidwest), Virgil Benoit, Director in collaboration with The American-French Heritage Foundation
While not in the invitation, I believe that “pot luck” items are welcome.
*
Today, June 24, is the feast St-Jean Baptiste, has long been a festive holiday in Quebec, and in various ways in other French-Canadian “nests”. It came with the original French settlers to Canada in the 1600s. It was part of the French Catholic tradition.
I’ve been in Quebec City for two celebrations of St-Jean Baptiste Day, in 1982 and again in 1987. They were quite the occasions.

Statue of St. John the Baptist, Cathedral of St. Paul MN June 23, 2013

How the altar at the Cathedral of St. Paul is described.

If you’re of the Christian persuasion, even in your past, you know a bit about St. John the Baptist. At Mass this morning at Basilica of St. Mary, Fr. Greg Miller, from St. John’s University in Collegeville noted that St. John the Baptist is patron of St. Johns Abbey, which is of German origin, so French-Canadians do not have sole claim to the Saint. (Full disclosure: I’m North Dakotan, half German (ancestry directly from Germany), half French-Canadian from Quebec, proud of both lineages!)
There is no statue of this most prominent Saint at Basilica of St. Mary*, but I knew there was one at the Cathedral of St. Paul* so went there and took the photo which is above. It is one of six side altars beside and behind the sanctuary of the Cathedral, dedicated as follows:
St. Anthony – Italians
St. John the Baptist – French and Canadian
St. Patrick – Irish
St. Boniface – German
Sts. Cyril and Methodius – Slavic
St. Therese, the Little Flower – Missionaries.
These reflect large ethnic (and often heavily Catholic) groups which migrated to and settled in the Diocese of St. Paul, prior to the time the Cathedral was constructed (early 1900s).
Enroute out of the Cathedral, I picked up the Sunday bulletin and noted on page seven this article about Saint John the Baptist and the French and French-Canadians:
St John the Baptist001
All the clerics mentioned in the article, Bishops Loras and Cretin and Priests Ravoux and Galtier were French. I noticed the phrase “even the flawed Galtier”, and as is my curious self, I wanted to know a little more. Probably the answer is in this article about Galtier in Wikipedia. (See the paragraph beginning “In 1840”)
Through their past, and in the present, the French and French-Canadians are intertwined, through ancestry, Church, and in other ways.
Huge numbers of Minnesotans are at least partially French in ancestry, most of these are French-Canadians whose ancestors came to what is now Quebec between about 1630 and 1760. In the 1980 census, the last to ask questions about ethnicity, 8% of Minnesotans stated they had French descent (France or Canada).
Relationships are complex. In a sense, the French and French-Canadians, both of the same culture and heritage, are quite similar to the native Germans and what we call German-Russians in North Dakota. In both instances, the ancestral lines were long separated for different reasons, but most aspects of the culture and heritage carried down to even the present day.
This is not a simple topic.
If you can, come over to northeast Minneapolis this afternoon for continuation of a many centuries long tradition.
*NOTE: Both the Cathedral and the Basilica of St. Mary were creations of the French architect Emanuel Masqueray. The legendary Archbishop John Ireland, Irish, who grew up in infant St. Paul, was a product of the preparatory seminary at Meximieux, France, and a lifelong “fan” of France, engaged Masqueray to build the twin cities edifices, and a number of other Churches in the Archdiocese. Not long ago we viewed his gravestone in St. Paul’s Calvary Cemetery.

Comment
June 24 from J.P., French-Canadian who grew up and now lives in Manitoba: The following are just my personal thoughts and what I can remember of St. Jean Baptiste day in my life time.
Growing up in Southern Manitoba, St. Jean Baptiste was just another day (we were told at school that he was the French Canadian Patron Saint). It was no big deal for us in Manitoba but again we were told that it was in Quebec.
Having lived in Quebec from 1970 thru 1982, in my humble estimation all that day represented was the day the separatist folks took to the streets & parks and really promoted their intentions of over throwing the federalist government and have their own country, while the rest of us federalists bit the bullet and tried to enjoy the day off the best we could. (Not a very great memory)
Now that we are back in Manitoba I have found that there are a few small French Canadian hamlets in the Province that will celebrate that day as it was meant originally 100 years ago, strictly as a French CANADIAN Patron Saint. They may have a small parade followed by some kind of picnic , but not a real big deal.
Remember, that this is strictly my opinion in answer to you query.
UPDATE, after the gathering:
We were a small group of about two dozen. That was expected.
A good time was had by all in attendance.
This was a usual “pot luck” – too much excellent food, excellent variety, people brought whatever they wished (God must have a special “pot luck” division to handle affairs where people bring something to share!)
Noel Labine told a great story about St. Paulite and budding railroad magnate James J. Hill‘s involvement in the Metis revolution in Manitoba parts. Of course, JJHill was a Canadian by birth and upbringing, and would have sympathies for and loyalties to the country of his birth. Noel referenced Albro Martin’s biography of Hill as an excellent resource.
Catholic Priest Father Jules Omalanga, native of Kinshasha Congo, whose first language is French, and who’s a founding member of the Board of the French-American Heritage Foundation, gave a great talk about cultural aspects of a Francophone African (or other nationality or language) coming to and assimilating into the United States. Each week at northeast Minneapolis’ St. Boniface Catholic Church, the noon Mass on Sunday is in French for a primarily francophone Africans living in America. I have been to the Mass, and while not a francophone, it is always very spiritual and uplifting.
We learned a great deal in the two presentations.
This resurrection of St. J-B Day was initiated by Initiatives in French Midwest, and collaborating groups were the now 31 year old AFRAN (Association des Francais du Nord) at Red Lake Falls MN (no website), and the newly Twin Cities based French-American Heritage Foundation whose temporary web location can be found here.
Here are a few photos from June 24 (click on photo to enlarge):

Dr. Virgil Benoit of IF Midwest and AFRAN, and Mark Labine, President of French-American Heritage Foundation, chat with Michael Rainville, Minneapolis, at the Fete.

Noel Labine tells a story about James J. Hill and the Metis uprising

Father Jules Omalanga tells of the African francophone experience in America.

“Pot-Luck”. There was far more than enough!

#736 – Dick Bernard: The Traffic Lights

June 22, 2013/1 Comment/in Community, Media, Minnesota, North Dakota, Quietings /by dickbernard

As everyone in the Twin Cities knows, the last two nights have been interesting, to say the least. Powerful, fast-moving thunderstorms raced through our neighborhoods with high, straight-line winds and brief but torrential rains. The Star Tribune headline says 250,000 are without power this morning.
I was at Gandhi Mahal restaurant in south Minneapolis about 8 p.m. last night and the proprietor, Ruhel, said what was happening outside reminded him of days in his native Bangladesh, when the high winds and heavy rain would make for perfect mango-picking weather: the wind would dislodge the ripe ones from the tree.
Our conversation had been interrupted when he raced out to help bring in the sidewalk cafe furniture. He returned, soaked.
Enroute home I had to change route once – a flooded intersection. It was an interesting trip.
But I think this morning about traffic lights in our town, both Friday and Saturday early morning.
I am a creature of habit, leaving early for morning coffee on heavily traveled city streets.
Yesterday, the traffic lights were out at two places along my route; in early afternoon at another; this morning at yet another place (photo below, click to enlarge).

Out of commission traffic lights at Radio Drive and City Centre in Woodbury MN 8 a.m. June 22, 2013

In none of the instances were there any means of traffic control: no temporary stop signs, not even volunteer traffic cops. We were all on our own.
I marvel at the order that instinctively prevailed at even the busy intersections: People stopped, took turns, no horns blared.
We were all strangers acting completely civilized towards each other.
We were, I thought, acting like people in our society typically do (which is very much unlike the “it bleeds, it leads” enemies-not-friends mentality of what passes for news these days.
We are, in the imperfect way of humans, a good team when competition is well tempered by good old Kindergarten-wisdom – be nice.
Just a few days ago, I read an article which seems pertinent for this space, this day, about becoming and being a team.
It was in the Summer 2013 Alumni Review of the University of North Dakota, and was Chapter One of a new book, , “Eleven Rings, The Soul of Success“ by UND graduate (1967) and legendary NBA Basketball Coach Superstar Phil Jackson who holds 11 NBA Championship Rings.
You can read Chapter One here, if you wish: Phil Jackson on Success001
It has some good lessons about how successful teams (like our society at those traffic lights in Woodbury) can work, well.