#622 – Dick Bernard: 9-11-12

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9-11-2001 seems to have become a permanent fixture in the American psyche. I offer a reflection a little different from what appears to be typical this day.
On this anniversary of 9-11-2001 the front page of the Minneapolis paper had a photo of a beam of one of the collapsed NYC towers as it is exhibited in a park in rural city in southwest Minnesota.
I wondered how this would have played post-December 7, 1941. Who would have suggested dismantling my uncle Franks tomb, the USS Arizona, with parts taken here and there as monuments in various places?
I cannot imagine even a serious thought, then, of desecrating the relic that was the USS Arizona and shipping pieces here and there as relics of war.
To this day, to my knowledge, the Arizona rests where it was destroyed, undisturbed. I’ve been there.
I also wondered how this debris will be looked on by some successor to our civilization coming across this rusted beam in a remote town 150 or 1000 years from now.
It will be puzzling to the visitor to what remains of the United States.
Like everyone, I would guess, I remember exactly what I was doing at the time I heard of the Towers being hit on 9-11-01. I didn’t see it on TV until late in the afternoon of that Tuesday.
The event had a strong personal impact: when I established my first web presence in April 2002, I chose for my Peace and Justice page two photos I’d taken of the twin towers in June, 1972, right before they were completed. A year later I wrote a reflection that remains at that same place on the web.
I remember.
(click to enlarge)

The Twin Towers NYC late June 1972.


NYC skyline June 1972. Photos by Dick Bernard


I wonder what we have learned since 9-11-01.
Sadly, it seems we have learned very little.
On 9-11-01 we seem to have had two forks in the road to recovery from the attack of 19 terrorists.
We could have done the normal thing: after the shock wore off, normally a short period of time, we would have begun to regroup, to learn from what happened, to not react. We could have even found ways to reconcile and for certain not indict an entire religion and race for the vicious attack perpetrated by a few.
Of course, we didn’t do that.
Almost unanimously, our country took the other fork, by far the most popular route: a combination of negative emotions such as revenge, or exploiting an opportunity…. We ended up injuring ourselves almost fatally in many ways. We damaged ourselves far more than the terrorists damaged us on September 11, 2001. Afghanistan Oct 7 2001001
Fast forward to the current day.
The photo of the tower beam on display in Marshall jarred me a bit, but did not surprise because three years ago, at the Peace Garden near Dunseith ND, bordering Canada and the U.S. since 1934 as a Garden of Peace between our two nations, I saw one of those monuments of World Trade Center rubble on the grounds.
I wrote my feelings about it in 2009, and it is archived here.
At the same post, as an Update, much more recent, is a column written this summer by James Skakoon of St. Paul. After his own visit to the Peace Garden, with the same reaction as mine, he happened to find my column on-line, and his comments speaks for itself.
But the bottom line is that it appears likely that we will be solemnizing the tragedy of New York City in 2001 for the immediate future as a monument to War, not Peace. We are compounding our loss from the tragedy.
I hope that there is thought given to changing the emphasis from continued emphasis on war, to more emphasis on the need for peace.

#615 – Dick Bernard: Election 2012 #40. Four years after Peace Island

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Today, September 2, 2012, is the fourth anniversary of the first day of Peace Island, “Hope in a Time of Crisis, A Solutions-Driven Conference”. Peace Island was a remarkable and exhausting Tuesday and Wednesday running at the same time as the Republican National Convention just two or three miles down the road in downtown St. Paul, September 2-4, 2008.
Earlier today, I received word that my committee colleague who helped organize that Conference, Verlyn Smith, passed away on Friday, August 31, 2012. Susu Jeffrey, who originated the idea of Peace Island, commented “Oh, the loss! What I liked so much about Verlyn is…just himself, this large, gentle presence with the thoughtful, often humorous, comments.”
Indeed.
Verlyn’s memorial service will be next Sunday, Sept. 9, at 3 p.m. at Grace University Lutheran Church, 324 Harvard St., Minneapolis 55414. He was a retired Lutheran Pastor and his last call was at Grace Lutheran. Here’s the only photo I have of him at the Peace Island Conference. He’s the man seated at the right. (click to enlarge a bit)

Verlyn Smith (at right) Sep. 3, 2008 at Peace Island. Speaking is Ray McGovern, in background is Coleen Rowley.


Peace Island was a rather remarkable event. In the end a total of at least 23 speakers, mostly nationally known, addressed the audience in a half dozen plenary, and several other specific sessions. Several hundred people attended one or more of the sessions.
Peace Island was so peaceful that it attracted no interest from the news media, including the alternative media from the the progressive left who, to our knowledge, never did any reporting from or even about the event.
This wasn’t due to lack of effort on the Peace Island organizing committee’s part.
Our event was just too peaceful, apparently. It was boring from a news standpoint, in other words.
The action was down the street in St. Paul, inside and outside the Republican National Convention. Paradoxically, even those committed to peace and justice seem to revel in conflict.
Peace Island covered a great array of topics. Here is a five-page portion of the program booklet for Peace Island: Peace Island Sep 2-3 08001
Our committee quite literally wrestled with all aspects of the agenda for nearly two years before it convened. We were all volunteers. Visionary with the idea was Susu Jeffrey who, with Dennis Dillon, ultimately the chair, moved the idea forward.
Others on the committee included Dick Bernard, John and Marie Braun, Rebecca Janke, Ann Lewis, Bob Milner and Verlyn Smith. A couple of us, including Verlyn, were laid low with serious illness at one time or another.
The program was solely sponsored by the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers (MAP).
We early on decided that the conference would be solutions based. It is difficult to keep such a focus when there are so many problems, but the speakers generally did their best.
Perhaps the speaker with the greatest problems to confront ‘back home’ was Anne Hastings, Director of the Haitian microfinance group Fonkoze. During the summer and fall of 2008 four separate hurricanes hit Haiti causing immense disruptions and death and destruction in the tiny country. Fonkoze was a nationwide agency serving the needs of the poor, and its members severely hit. This was one and one-half years before the earthquake of January, 2010.

Anne Hastings, Joseph Schwartzberg and Bharat Parekh, Sep. 3, 2008


At demonstration on Labor Day 2008 in St. Paul MN


Massive police presence on the streets of St. Paul Labor Day 2008. Note policeman filming the protestors.


Concert at Peace Island Picnic Sep 4, 2012. This was separate from the Conference but a directly related event. In foreground is Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, Pete Seeger's grandson.


Preparing a giant peace sign to be photographed from above (it worked)


Completed peace sign can be seen here.

Gunboat on the Mississippi "protecting" RNC convention goers from peace island folks


In 2008, Peace Island was scheduled at the time of the Republican Convention in St. Paul.
Today, four years later, September 2 is between the Republican Convention (in Tampa last week) and Democratic Convention (in Charlotte, this week).
Problems continue and will continue so long as people are on this planet.
Working towards solutions should still be our objective, for the ultimate good of the planet earth.
Final Thought: Reports on events like this, including mine, are almost impossible to objectively report about. They are full of emotion from one side or another.
But there are other ‘sides’ to the story. When I was scanning the photo with the armed and dangerous police along the parade route, I got to thinking about a burly uniformed Ramsey County officer I was standing behind at the local coffee shop some months ago. I had noticed his shoes and we struck up a conversation about the kinds of shoes police personnel wear. The only thing I remember from the conversation was his comment that his feet hurt when he was on guard during the Republican National Convention….

#612 – Dick Bernard: Election 2012 #38. Joe Biden, Pat Kessler and Niall Ferguson

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Today, I decided to attend the Vice President Joe Biden event at the Depot in Minneapolis.
I’ve attended these kinds of events before, so I knew exactly what to expect. It took an hour out of yesterday to pick up the ticket, then four hours today to drive over, stand in line, stand inside waiting for the Vice Presidents half hour speech, then drive home afterwards. I was there for the entire event.
It was a good day. I’m tired.
(click on photos to enlarge them)

V. P. Joe Biden, August 21, 2012, The Depot, Minneapolis MN


There was nothing unexpected in the vice-president’s remarks. I heard Pat Kessler of WCCO-TV report live back to the Noon News on ‘CCO that Biden was in the Cities to “fire up the troops”, or words to that effect.
Of course, motivating supporters is a totally appropriate use of time for a candidate. Kessler, who is my favorite local TV reporter on political matters, was stating the obvious.
(Like all the camera people and reporters, Kessler was “penned in” the press area, certainly not roaming the crowd. I watched Pat as he did his work, writing his notes, walking around in the ‘pen’, contemplating his thoughts.)

Pat Kessler reporting at noon, August 21.


I wondered how much time Kessler’s piece would get on the WCCO-TV evening news. Back home I watched, and he got about three minutes, only perhaps a minute of which was about the event in which I had invested five hours of my time. This is not a criticism. He was doing his job. And he does it well. He always seems fair, and cares about getting his information right, and conveying it in as objective manner as possible.
But if TV news is where people get a lot of their political news, they certainly get no depth of coverage at all. Maybe 20 minutes of that half hour news program is advertising; the rest divided into the traditional “news, weather, sports” with perhaps some special features thrown in (the State Fair is coming up and ‘CCO will do the news from there….)
Back home, I picked up the mail which included, this day, Newsweek’s August 27 edition, with President Obama on the cover, and the cover article, “Hit the road, Barack. Why We Need a new President” by Niall Ferguson.
I’d gotten a preview of this article the previous day through two commentaries challenging Ferguson’s methodology and his interpretation of facts. You can read them here and here. UPDATE Aug 22: Another one, from Business Insider, came today and is here. And another, here.
Because Ferguson is a writer of some prominence, and because Newsweek remains a magazine of some credibility, Ferguson’s printed words get credibility that apparently they don’t deserve. Likely very few of the Newsweek readers get the benefit of a critique of Ferguson’s objectivity. The choice is to accept his opinion or not.
Back to the Depot and V.P. Biden, I think most of us felt it was time well spent. But it was tiring.
Well before the invocation opening the gathering, I struck up a conversation with a lady who was sitting on the floor near the media platform.
She was surprised that there were no chairs (it is the usual for these kinds of events).
At the same time, so far as I know she stayed till the end, and she was a supporter. It was just too tiring.
I ran into one fellow I knew and we had a good conversation about things political; and it is always interesting to just people watch at events like this. I become aware of how diverse the scrum is that goes by the name “Democrat” at such gatherings. (And you also notice people who are quite obviously not Democrat, but they are at such meetings for reasons of their own.)
In the long line before entering the old Depot, I got to thinking about the time in 1960-61 when I first came to Minneapolis, via the Soo Line, for a student union conference at the UofM Farm Campus in St. Paul. I was a college senior at the time, and I’d never been on a jaunt like this before. The bustle of the twin cities was new to me.
Where Joe Biden was speaking was where I and my fellow students had debarked from the train from Valley City ND over 50 years ago, sometime during the transition period from President Eisenhower to President Kennedy. A memory from that era is here: Politics 1960 vs 1996001
Things have really changed….

The line into the refurbished Milwaukee Road Depot August 21, 2012


There’s about two months till the election.
Get engaged.

Message t-shirt seen at the Joe Biden event


Portion of Milwaukee Road Route Map 1954, seen at the Hotel which now occupies the former Depot.


The old smokestacks from the days that the Depot welcomed coal-burning steam engines.

#611 – Dick Bernard: A couple of Union Reunions

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Friday evening, enroute home from a trip to my home state of North Dakota, I stopped at a freeway restaurant for a cup of coffee with a retired teacher friend from Anoka-Hennepin Education Association days.
Kathy gave me the below photo, and asked if I would scan it for her. It wasn’t labeled (a usual malady for photos – hint!) but we basically came to consensus that it was probably taken at the 1989 NEA Convention (New Orleans) in an expression of solidarity for the students who had occupied Tienanmen Square in Beijing in 1989.
(click on photos to enlarge)

AHEA Delegates to NEA Convention, probably 1989 in New Orleans


It was common for these kinds of actions at union gatherings. Most of we union members and staff had a keen and sincere sense of justice. Indeed, that is why I became active as a union leader in the late 1960s, then staff member of the Minnesota teachers union (MEA/Education Minnesota) for the rest of my career.
Sunday night came another event: a retirement celebration for Lee J., a union staff colleague for many years, who said he’d been in the profession either as teacher or staff for 40 years.
It was a great celebration, with a great number of family, current and retired colleagues and friends.
Lee likely went home pleased and proud last night.
I’ve never been much of a ‘dress for success’ kind of guy, but last night I decided I needed to choose an accessory for my evening ‘ensemble’. It is below:

I don’t recall where I got the button, but occasionally it adorns me like a piece of jewelry. It is something to be proud of. (People who know me would chuckle at the ‘thug’* part. No matter. I care about Unions.)
There were the usual memories last night, spoken and unspoken. We were regaled with the never-ending “grapefruit tree” grievance which, at one point, snared me for a time though I was nowhere near the teachers district.
After the event, I recalled to Lee the time, I’m guessing it was 1984 or 1985, when he was still a teacher and local leader, that he and his family borrowed my meager apartment in Hibbing for free accommodations for a summer vacation. My place was nothing fancy, that’s for sure, but for Lee and Becky and their two young kids it worked just fine.
Today is not the best of times for Unions generally, public employee unions in particular.
It seems that working for economic and social justice is viewed as a threat.
Newt Gingrich’s infamous 100 words from 1996 includes among the 64 repulsive words, “Taxes” and “Unionized”.
(Actually, Newt’s list emphasizes 64 “optimistic and positive governing words”, and 64 “contrasting words”. He didn’t invent the language, but to this day if one looks carefully at this list of words, one can identify the theme of most every campaign for or against…. These days, these words are called ‘dog whistle’ words – you are either supposed to have reverence for, or be repulsed by certain words. Much like a Pavlov’s dog reaction. It is not healthy for us as a society.)
Those who buy the nonsense of Newt’s words, especially from within the dwindling middle class, will rue the day they chose to buy the propaganda that certain words represented good, and others, evil.
It’s been 40 years since I started my union staff career, and a dozen since that career ended with my own retirement.
To Kathy and Lee and to all who have toiled in the often thankless task of seeking justice for working people, thank you.
And to the younger folks who need to take on the duties going forward, be mindful of the fact that what you now take for granted came at great cost in time and energy by people just like yourselves, too busy, but committed to justice.
What was gained, can be lost.
* – I can’t say that I know a true “union thug”. Doubtless they exist somewhere, but they’re rare. Closest call I had was once talking to a management representative who negotiated with Jimmy Hoffa of the Teamsters on occasion. He said Hoffa was a really decent guy, but he knew what he needed for his members, and that was that.

#610 – Dick Bernard: The Dakota Conflict (the so-called Indian War, or Sioux Outbreak, of 1862-63)

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UPDATE August 18, 2012: Here is a note about this ten-part series in today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune: “LEARN MORE: This series “In the Footsteps of Little Crow,” can be downloaded in a 10-chapter e-book for Apple, Kindle and Nook e-readers startribune.com/ebooks. Miss an installment? Find the entire series, plus photo galleries and video, at startribune.com/dakota. Coming Sunday [August 19]: Minnesotans family stories from 1862.”
I would venture that most students learn history as I did: from a book, with one side winning, the other losing. And the winning side was the one supported by the author of the book, and the authorities who authorized the book to be used, and taught, in a certain way. That’s how history has always been – a story – and if the teacher dared to teach some alternate view, even if more accurate in hindsight, that teacher would probably not have a job next year.
That’s why I find the 150 year retrospective about the Dakota Conflict refreshing. This week is an opportunity to revisit that time in our history.
Sunday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune began a six part series on that they now call the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862-63. The series is entitled “In the Footsteps of Little Crow” and can be followed on-line.
I have a particular interest in this War, since one of my ancestral family was involved in it as a soldier; and a direct outcome was the final treaty that led to the family homestead land in northeast North Dakota. I wrote a bit about this two years ago, here. His enlistment document on 6 October 1862 is here: Samuel Collette Oct 62001. Note the scratch outs on the form. He was born in Canada, not the U.S,; his term of enlistment was for a year, rather than three months.
Introducing the series in the Star Tribune is this commentary by editor Nancy Barnes, and an editorial “Dakota War Story can aid the healing”.
There is an ongoing exhibit on the War at the Minnesota History Museum in St. Paul. I posted briefly about this exhibit at this space on July 1. It is a powerful exhibit, well worth seeing. It causes reflection. It makes the simple much more complicated.
Star Tribune editor Nancy Barnes, in her column (previously noted), includes this most pertinent quote from a 1924 history book authored by historian Solon J. Buck: “In the history of the nation the Sioux Outbreak is only an incident, while the Civil War is a major event. In the history of Minnesota, however, the relative importance of the two is reversed.”
Samuel Collett, Great-Grandpa’s half-brother, arrived in St. Paul from Quebec in about 1857, just before statehood, and ultimately settled in Centerville. He is almost certainly the reason the rest of the family followed to old St. Anthony in the mid-1860s.
Samuel enlisted in the Army at age 22 on 6 October 1862 and was discharged 28 November 1863, serving in Co. G, First Regiment of the Minnesota Mounted Rangers. I’ve seen no pictures of Samuel – they were apparently all destroyed in a house fire some years ago – but the Narrative of the First Regiment of Mounted Rangers to which he was assigned is recorded in Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars 1861-65 pp 519-524, published in 1891 by the Pioneer Press Co*.
The narrative, written in January 1890 by Captain Eugene M. Wilson, is, of course, solely from the point of view of one person on one side of the conflict. It’s first long paragraph sets the stage, and is my small contribution to this conversation:
“This regiment was recruited in the fall of 1862, on account of the urgent necessity of having cavalry for the purposes of the Indian War then being prosecuted in Minnesota against the Sioux Indians. In the month of August previous this merciless and savage foe had perpetrated a massacre all along the frontier that, for extent of mortality and horrible details, was without a parallel in American history. The Sioux were naturally a fierce and warlike race, as their name “Cut Throat” implies. They undoubtedly were suffering some injustice from the neglect of the general Government, which was then bending its every energy to the suppression of the great Rebellion, and was excusable for failure to carry out treaty obligations with the Indian tribes with the promptitude that had characterized its actions in times of peace. But this formed no adequate excuse for an outbreak of war, and not the slightest apology for the fiendish outrages that spared neither infancy, age nor sex, and that followed even death with mutilations so diabolical and obscene that common decency forbids their publication….”
This is, of course, ‘war talk’, about an enemy. At the time the book was written, it was likely the only accepted point of view, unburdened by another ‘side’ to the story.
Nonetheless, it was into this attitude that people like Private Samuel Collette volunteered to serve.
I plan to read the story this week. I hope you do, as well.
* This book is part of the Minnesota Historical Society Library collection. The chapter, and additional writings about the soldier and campaign, are found in the family history, “The First 400 Years: Remembering Four of the Families of Henry Louis Bernard”, compiled by Dick Bernard, 2010, also in the collection of the MN Historical Society, pp 23-26 and Appendix 1. The story of the Old Crossing Treaty is found on page 269 of this same book.
Other relevant articles in the family history book: pp 245-268.

#605 – Dick Bernard: Election 2012 #34 Hubert H. Humphrey: Working for compassion is not a task for the meek….

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This morning a friend sent me a quote of John F. Kennedy, which seems apropos today: “If by a “Liberal” they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a “Liberal,” then I’m proud to say I’m a “Liberal.”
The friend didn’t know that a few hours later I was planning to take a look at the newly dedicated statue honoring former U.S, Vice-President and United States Senator Hubert H. Humphrey.
There were a few of us at the statue about 4:30 p.m. including George and Edna from Brooklyn Center (below photo, click all photos to enlarge).

George and Edna with Hubert Humphrey, August 5, 2012


Both reminisced fondly about Hubert as an important figure in their lives. George recalled the large numbers of African-Americans who paid respects to Mr. Humphrey when he died. Hubert was a lion for civil rights, before it was popular.
Humphrey and Kennedy, liberals, were colleagues in the U.S. Senate 1953-1960. Kennedy had served in the Senate 1953-60, till he took office as President of the United States 1961-63. Humphrey was a U.S. Senator from 1949-64, and again from 1970-78, and Vice-President of the U.S. 1965-69. Before his national recognition, he had been Mayor of the City of Minneapolis 1945-48.
Humphrey was only 68 when he died; 34 when he became mayor of Minneapolis. I remarked that politics is for younger people. It requires much energy.



The basic biography of Hubert Humphrey is here, at the website of the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of the University of Minnesota. Many of his memorable quotations can be found at this site as well.
In 2004 I happened across a book which mentioned a meeting with then-Senator Humphrey. It became the basis of my 2004 Christmas letter which remains on the internet here.
Here is a portion of the letter:
Early in October [2004], while reading the excellent book, Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life (Henri J.M.Nouwen, Donald P. McNeill, Douglas A. Morrison. Image Books/Doubleday c 1966, 1983 pages 5&6), I came across a passage which grabbed my attention: “…compassion can at most be a small and subservient part of our competitive existence. This sobering idea was forcefully brought home to us during the early stages of this book. One day, the three of us visited the late Senator Hubert Humphrey to ask him about compassion in politics. We had come because we felt he was one of the most caring human beings in the political arena. The Senator, who had just finished talking with the ambassador of Bangladesh, and obviously expected a complaint, a demand, or a compliment, was visibly caught off guard when asked how he felt about compassion in politics. Instinctively, he left his large mahogany desk, over which hung the emblem reminding visitors that they were speaking with the former Vice-President of the United States, and joined us around a small coffee table. But then, after having adapted himself to the somewhat unusual situation, Senator Humphrey walked back to his desk, picked up a long pencil with a small eraser at its end, and said in his famous high-pitched voice, “Gentlemen, look at this pencil. Just as the eraser is only a very small part of this pencil and is used only when you make a mistake, so compassion is only called upon when things get out of hand. The main part of life is competition, only the eraser is compassion. It is sad to say, gentlemen, but in politics compassion is just part of the competition….”
I had two thoughts after reading this passage:
1) Here was a public person, well known for his compassion in public policy, relegating compassion in politics to the subordinate status of eraser.
2) I also was aware that an eraser, unused, soon hardens and becomes useless. Is this the same with unused human compassion?
Ours has become a brutally competitive society: winner take all, Losers are…losers. Compassion is, more than ever, only the eraser; its use determined by the Winner.
We have experienced, once again, the brutal polarity of U.S. elections. Once again the electoral “Super Bowl” has identified winners and losers. Once again, the U.S. population is described as split. I wonder: who qualifies for compassion? What does a ‘winner’ – and society at large – lose, in a winner-take-all society as ours has become?
What is the cost of this polarity to the United States? To the world at large?
Does a person deserve compassion as a right? Or does he or she have to qualify for it, or earn it? Do we each set up a ‘compassion boundary’, which we restrict to only certain people: family, certain friends, neighborhood, town, state, nation? Or does everyone in the world – an Iraqi? an Afghani? Someone in Darfur or Haiti? – equally merit compassion whether we know them or not? These are questions, I think, worthy of serious reflection and action.

Franco-Fete in Villes Jumelles (the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul) September 28-30, 2012

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UPDATE Sep 12, 2012: Here’s an interesting hour with samples of Le Vent du Nord music and discussion of Franco-Fete on Bonjour Minnesota radio program Sep 11, 2012.
CONTACT INFORMATION: Check in occasionally. Scroll to end of this post.
Francophone, Francophile, French-Canadian ancestry…or know someone who is, or is interested? Consider passing this post along, about a very special event in Minneapolis September 28-30, 2012. That’s only two weeks away. Home website is here.

(click on all photos to enlarge them)

Statue of Pioneers corner of Marshall and Main Street NE, Minneapolis, less than a mile from the conference venue.


reverse side of Pioneer Statue


In 1980, the United States Census asked, for the last time, a question about the ethnic background of Americans.
That year, 7.9% of Minnesotans- 321,087 persons, one of every 12 citizens – declared themselves to be a least partially of French (France and/or French-Canadian) ancestry. Neighboring Wisconsin counted 7.3% Wiconsinites of such ancestry and many other states had very significant numbers of persons in this category. Fr-Can in U.S. 1980001
It is this base, and any of those with an interest in the French language and cultural influence, who will want to set aside the end of September, 2012, for the first-ever Franco-Fete in Minneapolis.
All details, including registration information, are on the web here.
IMPORTANT TO NOTE: The agenda continues to evolve. Even if you’ve checked before, check back again to get a more complete picture of the entire conference. The music and meal programs especially should be reserved now as we anticipate very significant interest both Friday and Saturday evening.
Franco-Fete will include all the elements of a fine program: family, food, fun…along with academics, history, music…
This will be the first such Fete in Minneapolis-St. Paul, but is not a first ever venture.
Leader Dr. Virgil Benoit, French-Canadian (Franco-American), professor of French at the University of North Dakota and a lifelong part of the Red Lake Falls MN community, has been putting together similar festivals for over 35 years in various places in Minnesota and North Dakota. Dr. Benoit is a professor of diverse talents and great skill, as well as having great passion for the culture and language of his birth.
This years conference will be the largest and most ambitious thus far. Most likely it will be continued in subsequent years.

Virgil Benoit ca 2008 compliments of Anne Dunn


There are two major venues for this years Conference:
Our Lady of Lourdes Church, since 1877 the spiritual home of Minneapolis French-Canadians, will be the venue for Friday night Sep 28. The below photo, taken ca 1968, shows Lourdes as it was before the development of Riverplace around it in the early 1980s.)
DeLaSalle High School, a few short blocks from Lourdes on Nicollet Island in the Mississippi River, and within a short walk of downtown Minneapolis, will be the venue for all of Saturday Sep 29 programs.
On Sunday, September 30, at noon, the French-speaking congregation at St. Boniface Catholic Church in nearby northeast Minneapolis, will host those who wish to experience the Catholic Mass in French. This community, largely immigrants from African countries with French colonial overlays, is a vibrant French-speaking community in the midst of the Twin Cities. While not a formal part of the conference, we urge participants to take part in this ending celebration.

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Minneapolis, 1968


Our Lady of Lourdes, August 7, 2012


DeLaSalle High School, Nicollet Island, Minneapolis MN


Fr. Jules Omalanga, pastor St. Boniface Catholic Church, Minneapolis, after Mass March 25, 2012


After a sit-down supper at Our Lady of Lourdes on Friday Sep 28, and tour of the church, noted musician Dan Chouinard and friends will give a concert in the sanctuary of the Church.
On Saturday evening Sep 29 the noted Quebec band Le Vent du Nord will do music workshops and a music program at DeLaSalle. They are internationally noted, and one of Canada’s most popular ensembles. (The web page can also be accessed in French.) UPDATE: More on the Le Vent du Nord event here.. Tickets can also be purchased on-line here. The evening program begins at 5:30 p.m.
The St. Boniface Francophone Choir of Minneapolis, Dan Chouinard and others will also be part of this evening extravaganza.
And Sunday Sep 30 at noon, the community at St. Boniface will host all for Catholic Mass in French.
Again, Franco-Fete is only two weeks away!
Now is the time to enroll.
NOTE: You can find many related commentaries using search word Quebec or French-Canadian. Or enter any of the following numbers in the search box and click enter: (Each has a basis in French-Canadian or Quebec) #15 Grandpa; 28 Weller; 43 Fathers Day; 280; 306; 313; 388; 449; 450; 459; 481; 486; 510; 550; 573; 582; UPDATE Sep 5: 585; 610; Aug. 17, 2012; Sep. 1, 2012;
You are invited to submit your own commentaries, either as a distinct blog post, or as a comment to be added here. Dick_BernardATmsn.com
CONTACT INFO:
General, local contact:
Dick Bernard
dick_bernardATmsn.com
cell 651-334-5744 (leave message, with return phone #).
Specific, including interview requests:
Dr. Virgil Benoit
University of ND at Grand Forks
virgil.benoitATund.edu
toll-free: 855-864-2634

Clotilde Blondeau and Octave Collette about July 12, 1869


Clotilde Blondeau and Octave Collette married at St. Anthony of Padua in then-St. Anthony, now-Minneapolis MN July 12, 1869. In 1871 the City Directory showed them, and the rest of Collette family, living at what is now the corner of SE 2nd Street and SE 6th Avenue at what is now a block or two from Father Hennepin Park and Minneapolis’ Stone Arch Bridge, and perhaps three blocks from I-35E bridge. More here.
Additional information for those with a continuing interest in matters French-Canadian are invited to visit here. This space will be updated and may well become a continuing presence for those with an interest.

#601 – Dick Bernard: Dark Knight Rises: In the wake of the Aurora tragedy. Part Two.

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UPDATE July 23, 5:15 p.m.: I went to Dark Night Rises this afternoon at the Woodbury Theatre, where it is showing on three screens, thirteen times today. I admit that had the tragedy not occurred, I probably would not have gone to the film. But it did, and I did. Of course, everybody is entitled to their own opinion. In mine, the film deserves the four stars (out of four) it received. It is well worth the nearly 2 1/2 hours. You decide.
Friday I remembered Columbine, as experienced 13 years ago by a grandparent nearly a thousand miles away.
I also noted the reality of any tragedy: there is a short and definable life to any crisis, and then people move on. It is a survival strategy. We react, then retreat.
Only if a Crisis is kept in mind to carry on year after year, will it be much remembered after a few months.
For now we are all in Aurora in one sense or another. We have things to learn from Aurora, but it will take stamina to keep it from disappearing from view, as have all the others.
A local friend in law enforcement noted this morning that his sons good friend was in the Aurora theatre, was shot, and for a time was in critical condition (he’s doing okay). He tweeted “the first half hour of the movie was great”, or words to that effect…. Another friends daughter lives in LA, and one of her friends was in the Aurora complex the night of the killings.
In this global age, “six degrees of separation” is very much alive and well. We can’t build walls to keep people out. There are no borders. We’re on one earth.
Now comes the matter of the future after the news media depart Aurora. What will happen to the necessary conversation among ourselves, about violence in word and deed*, about deadly weapons and such? It is an essential conversation that deserves to live on.
I noted in the local Patch on-line newspaper yesterday a survey about Gun Control. Normally, I don’t take the bait for these, but yesterday I did, filing the following comment.
Posted 7:40 a.m. July 21, 2012, on Eagan Patch
Dick Bernard: “I follow and support the Brady Campaign. At upper right on the home page of their website is an ongoing tally of people shot in America each day. About 1 a.m. today, for today, the tally was 8; at 7:30 a.m. it was 84. Tally for the year thus far over 54,000…. In your poll I voted “Sometimes”, though I don’t hunt, have never owned a gun, and qualified as expert as a marksman in the Army. There is no need or excuse for weapons of mass destruction in circulation in a civilized society. Last I heard we don’t need machine guns to hunt deer; and the self-defense argument can easily be reduced to absurdity. But this won’t be dealt with in the next four months before the election. People need to have the stamina of the NRA to change course on this insane business of guns in this country.”
Right before commenting, I’d chosen the “sometimes” response about “Should gun ownership be tightened?” in this “non-scientific” poll. (“Sometimes: Some guns—those primarily used for hunting or personal protection—are fine. But weapons primarily designed for violence shouldn’t be available.”) (The other options were Yes, No and Unsure.)
At last reading, 55%s of the respondents want no gun control, so the comments are quite predictable. 26% say “yes”, 17% “Sometimes” and 1% unsure.
I found the observations interesting, and rather than try to summarize them, here** is the entire thread, which is now up to 147 comments.
Where do you stand on this. This deserves deep face-to-face conversation neighbor to neighbor.
Final post on this thread here.
UPDATE:
From Greg: Here’s the problem: we have allowed the NRA to be taken hostage by people who demand absolute right to bear arms, all types, all amounts, all time and all places.
The solution is so obvious: right thinking people need to pay their dues, become members and take back the NRA from the radical fringe for the benefit of us all! Imagine what the next NRA convention would look like: the exhibitor’s hall full of vendors selling the latest in new orchids, quilts, hiking tour organizers, etc. It can happen, if we make it happen.
The Twin Cities as with most other large cities has a problem with certain night clubs attracting violent people who consume ample amounts of liquor and then begin stabbing and shooting people. Each of these establishments has an occupancy limit. If hoards of 7-Up drinking people fill these problem-causing establishments early in the evening, order rounds of 7-Up and engage in quiet conversation the violent people would never be able to enter.
Why, we could call these events Rosa Parks Parties in honor of that great lady from Montgomery Alabama.
Remember, all that is needed for evil people to succeed is for good people to stay glued to their computers.
From Bruce: “Gun Insane” by Darcy Burner, listed numerous shootings over the last 23yrs [see it here: An Adult Conversation about Guns. I most certainly agree that it is a horrible shame these happened, and that we need to have an adult gun control conversation in this country. I hope its raised in the 2012 election cycle, but I’m not sure either candidate want to go up against the mind set in this country that sees these senseless killings as the price we pay to protect our freedom with guns. For the NRA and the patriots on the right, a little loss of life is an acceptable price, and the answer is more guns with conceal and carry hand gun laws to protect us from these crazy killers. Its insane, and this is where we live.

#600 – Dick Bernard: Election 2012 #32. Politics-in-the-park. Jim Klobuchar and Garrison Keillor at a Summer Picnic

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“In one form or other we [Garrison Keillor and I] both talked about our gratitude for an America ideal now grievously threatened, both [of us] having found a forum not only for whatever message or minstrel entertainment [we] had to offer but now aware of the very real threat that those rites of passage may be disappearing in the country we once idealized. You know as well as we do, Dick, that the threat is real. We can survive being outspent in this election. We can’t survive being outworked.
Again, it was great to see you and thanks for your hospitality. Let’s keep talking.”
Jim Klobuchar, July 21, 2012
Monday July 16 I was at a meeting in Roseville, and had to leave early to get to our annual Senate District picnic in suburban Lake Elmo.
It was closing in on 6 p.m., and I was already a little late, and the outside temperature was still 100 degrees.
“Who’ll bother to come?”, I thought to myself.
But there were plenty of cars in the lot when I came, and up the hill in Pavilion Two at 3M’s Tartan Park, were plenty of people. Sure, it was good to have the odor of picnic food to help mask the other frgrances…but it seemed a good time was being had by all who’d ventured out. (Many photos taken that evening can be accessed here.)
(click to enlarge photos)

From Pavilion Two at Tartan Park, July 16, 2012


Some of the 200 or so gathered for the picnic


A great Bluegrass bunch: Switched at Birth


After the vittles and the musical warm-up (as if we needed any warm-up!) came the speechifyin’.

Garrison Keillor at Tartan Park July 16, 2012


My list says there were eleven speakers, including our local candidates for office. Such opportunities are essential for candidates for office, as well as for those of us who will make the important electoral decisions not long from now. I admire all of them who got up to speak, if only for five minutes.
In our queue, Monday, were two speakers who need no introduction in these (and many other) parts: Jim Klobuchar and Garrison Keillor.
Jim Klobuchar was early on the agenda, and had left by the time Garrison Keillor had arrived. None of us, including those who had invited the speakers, were ready for the treat we received. They are consummate professionals and conveyors of experiences as lived and observed over many years.
Jim had important stuff to say, he said, and he doubled or more the amount of time allotted. All of us fixed on every word.
Garrison, just returned from Los Angeles, where Prairie Home Companion had been on-stage on Saturday night, gave us nearly an hour, musing on his home, Minnesota, both as seen from an airplane and from his memory. We had a mini-Prairie Home Companion show, with Garrison leading us in sing-along; hanging around to chat with whomever, be part of photos, and just be with we sweaty residents of the east suburbs of St. Paul. (UPDATE: I doubt any of us knew that his mother, Grace Keillor, was near death. He didn’t let on….)
It was a phenomenal evening.
We might have left exhausted, but it was a highly energized exhaustion. We’d witnessed something very exceptional.
So, what did the speakers say?
Everyone would have a different take on that, I’d guess. Our local candidates for elected office introduced themselves and the reason they are running for office. A good place to bookmark to learn more about them, ongoing, is our local Senate District website, here.
If you’re from here, watch for opportunities to meet them. They care about this place they call home.
In my hearing, Garrison and Jim focused on how important the coming election is for the future of young people.
Our kids future rides on what we voting elders decide in November.
This Fall, more so than any in this generations memory, offers clear and contrasting distinctions between two visions of the future of this country.
Jim, who was born just before the Great Depression into a mine family in the then hard-scrabble Vermillion Range town of Ely, recounted the devotion of these hard-working immigrant miners to getting their children a good education: a passport out of the underground mines.
For most of us who know of Jim, his trail took him to the University of Minnesota, thence a long and illustrious career as a columnist for the Minneapolis Tribune; thence a leader of adventures.
He marvelled that he, the poor grandson of immigrants from a foreign land, could become the father of a United States Senator, Amy Klobuchar. Only in America.
And that opportunity for all is at risk, he said, if we don’t take a deep breath, and get to work and change our direction as a country.
Garrison, a little younger than I am, born early in the 1940s, had a message very similar to Jim’s.
His Dad was a very common man as well, in the area of Anoka, MN. Garrison’s Dad, unlike Jim’s, was very conservative, and couldn’t come to grips with people like FDR.
For Garrison, the ticket out of Anoka and into the world was public education. Medical reasons kept him out of football, and he happened upon words, found his groove at university and then in radio, and the rest is history.
Both Klobuchar and Keillor went to the public University of Minnesota, in the days when even a poor kid could afford to go to college without becoming a slave to permanent debt.
I gathered that for both of these men who’ve scaled the mountain to success, the issue this November is not how we treat ourselves and our savings accounts, but how we treat our children.
It is we, the real politicians – each and every one of us – who will make the decision November 6, 2012.

Jim Klobuchar, July 16, 2011


Garrison Keillor, July 16, 2012


Candidates with Garrison: JoAnn Ward 53A, Ann Marie Metzget 53B and Susan Kent 53


Candidates July 16, 2012


Garrison and 4th CD Congresswoman Betty McCollum, July 16, 2012

#599 – Dick Bernard: Thoughts in the immediate wake of Aurora CO

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UPDATE: Followup posts here and here.
Out and about this afternoon I noticed that Dark Knight Rises is playing at our local Woodbury Theatre, and the parking lot was packed. What these two facts might mean, I don’t know. The front page of the Variety section of this mornings Minneapolis Star Tribune gave the film Four Stars (out of four). This places the STrib in an awkward position this afternoon.
One has no doubt what the lead story on tonights news – all channels – will be. It is yet another tragedy, certainly not the first, and as certainly not the last in this comfortable-with-violence country of ours.
Waking to the breaking news this morning caused me to think back to an afternoon on April 20, 1999.
I was returning to St. Paul from a day-long meeting in Brooklyn Park, and along I-94 somewhere heard the announcement about school shootings in Littleton CO.
This elevated my concerns. My son and family had lived in Littleton for more than ten years, and Lindsay, my granddaughter, was 12 and in a Littleton school.
Those were the days before cell phones, and I couldn’t make contact till I got back to my office. There was an e-mail. All was okay with our family.
I learned the school was Columbine, which didn’t relate to me since no one had mentioned it before. I looked it up on the then fledgling version of mapquest, and found its location, which was misplaced on the computer map.
Turned out Columbine high school was about a mile straight east of where my kin lived, and Lindsay’s school was in a different attendance area in the massive Jefferson County Public Schools.
About a week later I was in Littleton – it had been a previously planned trip – and together we hiked up “Cross Hill” in the rain, and with hundreds of others, including pastor Robert Schuller of the Crystal Cathedral and his film crew, silently remembering and witnessing. Cross Hill was simply a pile of construction dirt, but it did overlook Columbine just a little to the east. It had its own controversy. The builder created and planted the crosses to each of the victims of the massacre at Columbine, including crosses to the killers, who had committed suicide after the deed. Someone else had come in and cut down those two other crosses….
Such is how grief works its way through, and in one way or another it will play out this way in the latest tragedy.
(It turned out that last night Lindsay, now married and living in the same neighborhood as in 1999, was at the midnight opening of Dark Knight Rises, but at another theater 20 miles away from Aurora.)
One never knows.
In the wake of Columbine I dug out an old handout from some workshop I had attended back in the early 1970s. It was one of those pieces of paper that seemed to be worth keeping, and I have kept it in its original somewhat primitive condition. A psychologist used the graphic to walk us through the stages of response to Crisis situations we might face.
(click to enlarge)

The stages in essence, and their approximate duration, are these:
IMPACT – Hours
RECOIL-TURMOIL – Days
ADJUSTMENT – Weeks
RECONSTRUCTION – Months
This is what “normal” response to a crisis looked like to some psychologist in 1972.
How will this latest tragedy be dealt with? How will it be used? The following days and weeks will tell the tale.
A good friend, a retired prosecutor in a major city, sent an e-mail this afternoon with an observation which occurred to him: “Every mass shooting in the United States has not occurred in a large city. They have all occurred either in rural areas, such as the Red Lake Reservation school shooting, or in suburbs such as Littleton (Columbine high School) or Aurora Colorado and the school in a small town outside of Cleveland, for example. What does that prove, what does that mean? I have no idea. Nor have I read of any analysis of this phenomenon, and I have searched for one/some.”
May we all seek non-violence as a solution to our problems.
UPDATES:
From Will: 1. Every time there is a national tragedy, every American wants the world to know where (s)he was and what (s)he was doing.
2. Are you saying, with no proof, that this film provoked the shooting? What if the theater had been showing a religious film and a shooting still took place?
3. Are you saying or suggesting we must start censoring, even banning films on the basis of their likelihood to provoke shootings? ACLU and CCR will come after you with both barrels!
4. If you believe Congress needs to pass stronger gun laws, use your computer skills and tell us which Congresspeople still in office received donations and in what amount from the NRA over the past five years and put it on your blog.
5. Write a letter to Sens. Franken and Klobuchar and your Congressperson—it’s Bachmann, isn’t it?—with your specific ideas on tightening gun controls.
Copy the NRA.
Response to Will from Dick:
1. Certainly, and why not? The only difference between now and 50 years ago is that most all of us can instantly communicate with most everyone anywhere.
2. No
3. No
4. Yes, member of Brady Campaign already, but not inclined to push my weight around in a blog. According to Brady Campaign, this year we already have over 54,000 gun-related deaths in the U.S. and we’re only halfway through 2012. We are awash in weaponry, but to even think about voting for some kind of gun-control is, at this moment, a political death sentence. The public does have to make a difference.
5. See #4. But the odds of any candidate for office actively pursuing gun control four months before the 2012 election are essentially zero. Groups like Brady Campaign know that, but I’m sure they are fully capable of thinking longer term.
There might be one or two that have some thoughts as a result of my blog. That’s all I can expect. It is pertinent and timely.
From Greg:
As it looks now, Friday evening, evidence points to serious mental illness on the part of the shooter.
Serious psychoses typically begin growing small during childhood/high school years, then burgeoning during college/graduate school.
The man is undeniably bright. Eventually we will learn whether he voluntarily dropped out of graduate school or whether the University asked him to leave. We will learn what his professors thought of him, and whether they saw similarities with the Virginia Tech shooter. What did the professors/ administration do to bring this man to the attention of the county mental health authorities? Keep in mind also that Colorado as with many other states is facing budget shortfalls. Mental health services historically are among the first government expenditures to be cut. Reason: There is just no natural lobby to press the legislature to retain funding. Compare mental health services with funding for highway construction, school aid, etc.
The mother of the young St Louis Park man who shot and killed two convenience store clerks was quoted in a newspaper article saying she knew her son had severe mental health problems but was unable to get medical care for him. Everyone will be abuzz for a week or two about this man, then something else will come up. A new legislature will be elected in Colorado November 6th. There will be other more pressing issues with which to deal. There may be some talk about this tragedy but basically nothing will be done. It will be yesterday’s news by then.
Someone who knows him was said to have described him as a loner, another indicator of mental illness.
Saw his father on cable tonight boarding a flight in San Diego for Denver. Got the quick impression the father is well educated and perhaps upper income class.
If this is even close to being true, what efforts did the father make to lead his son to mental health treatment? This is a major flaw in our society, that parents have no legal obligation to notify police their adult child is mentally ill, receiving no treatment and just may be dangerous
If a parent knows this to be true yet does nothing to warn authorities that parent faces no legal liability, civil or criminal if the adult child then shoots up a theater. Moral responsibility yes, but no civil or criminal responsibility.
Back to the shooter, look at his photo being shown on TV. Is that his booking photo taken after his post shooting arrest? The almost smirk he seems to have; another indicator of possible mental illness.
Now, a person can be seriously mentally ill but not have an insanity defense to criminal charges. Insanity is but one type of mental illness. Each state has its own definition of what constitutes insanity. In the days ahead we will learn what the Colorado standard is.
Look at the planning that went into this attack. Tonight we learned he had about 6000 rounds of ammunition for the four weapons he possessed. He wore an elaborate costume with protective gear. He had to make an effort to purchase all of that. Then he booby trapped his apartment. From the preliminary description we have of the apartment he must have spent quite some time and effort to purchase the materials with which he constructed the booby trap. The prosecution will argue the booby trapping effort is further evidence he understood the difference between right and wrong and constructed the booby traps as a way of avoiding capture.
from Carol: OK, a little bit miffed here at some responses. While I have due respect for prosecuting attorneys (retired or otherwise), I take exception to Greg’s trying to blame the parents. He wrote: “Got the quick impression the father is well educated and perhaps upper income class. If this is even close to being true, what efforts did the father make to lead his son to mental health treatment? This is a major flaw in our society, that parents have no legal obligation to notify police their adult child is mentally ill, receiving no treatment and just may be dangerous…”
If, of course, the parents were divorced – the father abusive, alcoholic or whatever – then they would get blamed for THAT. From all indications, in high school and so on this kid was not any weirder than his peers. He is legally an adult. His parents may, or may not, have made efforts to “lead” him to treatment, but they couldn’t force him. Greg wants what to change, exactly? What is the age cutoff where he thinks a parent should be “legally obligated” to notify authorities that their “adult child” may be mentally ill? 25? 35? 50? How about a child who is in school, working, married, living in another state – possibly has cut off contact? Should the parents be legally obligated to force themselves into his or her life?
And what exactly does he think the police are going to do with that information? Even this kid’s apartment mates didn’t know he was collecting an arsenal, boobytrapping his apartment, and risking all their lives. If the police ran around checking on every adult child who the parents fear may be mentally unstable, they wouldn’t get anything else done.
Those who have daily contact with an individual are the best assessors. And in this case, you have the sinking feeling that there was very little to set off alarms.
It does seem the best indicator should have been that someone who in a short period of time bought several weapons, a ton of ammunition, complete bulletproof clothing, plus chemicals and bomb-making materials was in deep trouble, and should have been on the police radar. But we can’t have any coordinated database of this kind of thing, of course. That infringes on our civil rights – having our kids shot in a crowded theatre does not.