Nature – Page 3 – Thoughts Towards a Better World

#749 – Dick Bernard: Dr. Soren Kolstoe, naturalist, outdoorsman, poet.

July 21, 2013/0 Comments/in Community, History, Nature, North Dakota, Quietings /by dickbernard

Depiction of Dr. Soren O. Kolstoe at entrance to Kolstoe Hall Valley City (ND) State University

A while ago I was researching answers to a 1957 North Dakota test for high school Juniors and Seniors about North Dakota History, Geography and Government.
Reviewing a 1963 Geography text by Bernt L. Wills I found a number of poems about North Dakota outdoors written by Soren Kolstoe, a name familiar to me from my days at Valley City State Teachers College. Dr. Wills was clearly taken with Dr. Kolstoe’s sensitivity to the land and fauna of North Dakota and wanted to include some of his work in his book.
The poems intrigued me and I set out to try to find out more about Dr. Kolstoe and his work. Thanks to Shirley Lindsay, daughter of “Koley’s” (Dr. Kolstoe’s) close friend, hunting buddy, and legendary Dean of Men Lou Bruhn, I made contact with a couple of Dr. Kolstoe’s children, one of whom sent me a signed book of poetry, Lyrics of the Prairie, written by Dr. Kolstoe years ago (access to all poems below the photos).
Dr. Kolstoe was also legendary at STC. He joined the faculty in 1924,and retired in 1958. (Turns out he was 70 when he retired, and I’m 73 now, which gives one pause.) A few weeks after his retirement I began my college career there, so I didn’t know him personally, though he was still an advisor to the Fraternity I joined in 1960. But he was larger than life, even as a retiree.
[UPDATE July 27, 2013, the Kolstoe family shared with me a 2003 memo written by a staff person at Concordia College, Moorhead, about Dr. Kolstoe’s bio: Kolstoe,Soren-History]
A residence building at present day VCSU is named after him.
Here is an undated photo of Dr. Kolstoe; a second of him ca 1959 in the college yearbook; and of the hall named for him, and following the photos are Dr. Kolstoe’s poems and some comments of Carolyn Kolstoe, wife of Dr. Kolstoe’s son, Ralph, himself one of two Kolstoe sons who achieved, like their Dad, PhDs in Psychology.
(click on photos to enlarge them)

Dr. Soren Kolstoe, undated, at a State Fair in ND, with his display of wild bird eggs.

“Dr. S. O. Kolstoe enjoys EBC informal initiation” EBC section of 1960 Viking Annual, Valley City State Teachers College

Kolstoe Hall Valley City State University July 5, 2013

The family has given permission to share Dr. Kolstoe’s poems about North Dakota wildlife and environment, and because of their number – over 60 poems – they are presented here in three sections. (The first three pages in each are identical). It is believed these may have been published ca 1965, but that is uncertain.
Part 1: Lyrics of Prairie #1001
Part 2: Lyrics of Prairie #2002
Part 3: Lyrics of Prairie #3003
Here’s Carolyn Kolstoe, June 19, 2013 (shared with her permission): “I am delighted to know that you have enjoyed my father-in-laws’ poetry. He published this booklet of his love of North Dakota and the pleasures that he found there. [He sold the book] while he was displaying his bird egg and stuffed animals collection at state fairs. [Dr. Kolstoe] received his BA at St. Olaf, Northfield, MN, and his PhD at University of North Dakota. He taught at VCSTC for many years, then in retirement, was hired by the North Dakota Wildlife Federation to visit any school in the state to show slides and read poetry of animals of the state. We were living in Grand Forks when he came to visit the schools there.
He was born in Haugesund, Norway, January 4 1888, and died in Grand Forks ND February 12, 1978. [Sons] Oliver is living in CA, John is in Montana, and Ralph [Carolyn’s husband lives, depending on season, near Bemidji MN, Marco Island FL or Grand Forks ND]. Ralph retired from the UND Psychology Dept after having taught there for 35 years.
Soren’s egg collection was donated to the state of ND and while it was owned by Soren, it was one of the largest collections in the United States. He had the eggs boxed by the number in a usual nest, bedded in cotton with a glass cover. Many were displayed in the museum near the State Capitol in Bismarck. I am not sure where they are presently.”
Dr. Kolstoe had a special permit to do the egg collecting.
Anyone wishing to get a message to Dr. Kolstoe’s family can simply write dick_bernardATmsnDOTcom, with Kolstoe in subject line.

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

#732 – Dick Bernard: A Gentle Lady says Farewell.

June 15, 2013/0 Comments/in Community, Minnesota, Nature, Peace & Justice, Quietings /by dickbernard

Today was “A Service of Thanksgiving for the Life of Leslie Reinhardt Reindl, August 1, 1936 – May 14, 2013.”
Of the photos of Leslie’s life on the display board, this one was my favorite.
(click to enlarge)

Leslie Reindl, from a photo on a display of photos of her life, June 15, 2013

We were told that Leslie prepared the service, and if so, she did a beautiful job. There were solos: the American folk hymn “The Lone Wild Bird“; and the classic “The Rose“, both very effectively presented by soloists, as were the poems “Living in the Light” by Jeanne Leicester and Barbara McAfee; and Sleeping in the Forest by Mary Oliver.
At the end of the service, the Veterans for Peace rang the Peace Bell eleven times, a long-time tradition, dating back to the end of World War I in 1918.
Leslie chose to leave this earth quietly, and simply in a “green burial”, to again be part of the earth, and to thus participate in the endless cycle of renewal. Mention was made of the Threshold Network.
I didn’t know Leslie well, apparently few did, but she left behind a beautiful legacy of caring for others, with a particular passion for the environment and for peace.
The program for the Service included the following testament:
“Leslie’s basic motive for the many roles she played in her life was compassion. Whether it was as a church Elder or as an advocate for peace and the care of all creation, compassion for people, creatures, and the earth drove Leslie.
She had a vision that connecting with Nature, and especially the experience of caring for creation, could help people internalize a compassion for ALL life, and thence build their own ways to help us all in eventually achieving a true, universal, Peaceable Kingdom [this two word phrase likely from her friend, and mine, Bob Milner, who was at the service].
Leslie left a legacy including land and funds, ideas and ideals. she and her family hope that we, her friends and fellow members of [the Macalester Plymouth United Church, 1658 Lincoln Avenue St Paul 55105] might use her legacy to aid in furthering the emergence of that Kingdom. Her family is exploring ideas widely, as they make plans to continue Leslie’s commitment and action.
For those who would like to be part of these efforts with a memorial to Leslie, memorial donations can be made payable to Macalester Plymouth United Church with “Leslie Reindl memorial in the memo line. Funds will be used to further Leslie’s legacy.”
Earlier in the week, the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers (MAP) established a fund dedicated to Leslie, anticipating the request today. Leslie was President of MAP in 2003 and 2004.
As I wrote to her husband, Wilhelm, today, “Leslie was on the court, and not in the stands. She was willing to do what was necessary to stand for her ideals for peace, justice and sustainability in our world.”
She was among the legion of people who will preserve the future for others on this planet of ours.
With gratitude to her husband of 43 years, Wilhelm, their daughter, Joanna, and friends, Linda Bergh, Connie Lindberg, Wes Davey and Molly Redmond who made today’s event so meaningful for all of us.

Vets for Peace ring 11 bells for peace at the conclusion of the memorial service for Leslie Reindl

Leslie J. Reindl Reinhardt
August 1, 1936 – May 14,2013
Born in St. Paul MN, Graduate of
Macalester College,
Postgraduate at the University of
Minnesota,
Editor for McGraw Hill Publishing Co.
(Postgraduate Medicine
Sports Medicine),
Freelance Editor
of
Text- and Trade-books.
She was
a Lover of Plants, Animals and People,
ready
to give sanctuary to all of them,
especially to
“Lone Wild Birds”
and a tireless
Advocate of Compassion and Justice
for all Forms of Life.

#720 – Dick Bernard: "ah one and ah two…"

May 21, 2013/0 Comments/in Community, Family History, History, Nature, North Dakota, Quietings /by dickbernard

THE TORNADO IN OKLAHOMA: While preparing this blogpost, word came of the tragic tornado most affecting Moore, OK. It caused me to recall another tornado which for some reason I’ve always remembered, the Fargo Tornado June 20, 1957003. See photo at the end of this post. In times like these thoughts always go to a heightened sense of community, and the importance of the public infrastructure and planning for the long term possibilities. Sometimes we do this well; often we do this poorly.
*
Lawrence Welk remembered
August 10, 1994, I was at the ancestral farm near LaMoure ND, trying to do a small part to help my Uncle Vince and Aunt Edithe during harvest time.
This particular day, a Wednesday, for some unremembered reason, the suggestion was made that we make the 110 mile drive west on Highway 13 to see the small farm near Strasburg where Lawrence Welk grew up.
I took a photo of Vince and Edithe, my Mom’s brother and sister, that day:
(click to enlarge)

Vince and Edithe at the Lawrence Welk boyhood home near Strasburg ND August 10, 1994.

For anyone over a certain age, the Lawrence Welk story doesn’t need repeating; and his long popular show lives on, larger than life, on TV week after week. He is a part of Americana.
He was the first recipient of the North Dakota Roughrider Award in 1961.
Lawrence was of the group called German-Russians who make up much of the population of South Central North Dakota. He and his brothers lived in the upstairs and unheated attic of the tiny farmhouse, and Welk practiced his music skills in the barn, entertaining the cows and the chickens when not doing the hard work required of farmers.
Lawrence Welk came unexpectedly back into my life last Thursday, on a visit to my still-surviving Uncle and Aunt, now living in Assisted Living and Nursing Home respectively in LaMoure; now 88 and 92.
We were about finished with “dinner” (the noon meal will always be “dinner” out on the prairie!) and in walked a lady and her husband who had come to do a show for the residents that very afternoon.
It was then I met Loretta (Welk) Jung and her husband Oliver.

Loretta (Welk) Jung at St. Rose Care Center in LaMoure ND May 16, 2013

Loretta, a retired First Grade teacher in Jamestown, is related to Lawrence: their Dads were first cousins, living in nearby communities. Loretta knew her much older cousin Lawrence as a person and at some point in time decided to carry on the Welk tradition by doing a road show at Nursing Homes and the like on her cousin, Lawrence Welk.
I can attest, she gave a fascinating program that enthralled the attentive audience at St. Rose Care Center last Thursday. If you look carefully, you can see Uncle Vince and Aunt Edith seated in the second row.

The following day I went out to the farm with Vince to help with the mundane things that needed doing.
Mowing the grass beside the house, I found a verdant reminder of Edith’s love of flowers…she hasn’t been out to the farm for a long while, so these tulips had just decided to take things into their own hands and just get about the business of blooming.

May 17, 2013, beside the house

We picked a bunch of the flowers and delivered them to Edith in her room at the Care Center.
The next day we picked some more, and brought them in as a more-or-less floral arrangement for the dining room.

May 18, 2013

And so the seasons go on.
In earth terms, it is spring, and the rhubard (“pie plant” to Edith) begins to grow as it always does in the patch in the garden; and the apple trees by the house begin leafing out for another season – maybe there’ll be lots of apples by fall, maybe few. We shall see.

“Pie Plant” (Rhubarb) May 17, 2013

April Tree leafing out at the farm May 17, 2013.

For the rest of us, we’re in our own “season” in our lives.
May this season be a good one for you.
Cherish each day. Here’s a ten minute video on gratitude and living each day that helps put this into focus.
Dr. Elwyn Robinson on Lawrence Welk in History of North Dakota, c 1966, page 555: “While he was an individual, not a type, Lawrence Welk, the orchestra leader, gave all Americans an image of the North Dakota character. Of Alsatian stock, he grew up on a far near Strasburg, North Dakota, learned the accordion from his father, and in the 1920s began to play at churches, country dances, and then on the radio station at Yankton. After the Second World War, he and his orchestra, playing his famous “Champagne Music,” attained success with long engagements at hotels, many recordings, and a weekly television show. The honest, friendly, and unsophisticated Welk and his wholesome show gave millions of viewers some understanding of North Dakotans. During his rise he had met ridicule and contempt, and so courage and energy played a part in his success. His loyalty to North Dakota was obvious to those who watched his program.”
Thursday, June 20, 1957, Fargo ND

#686 – Dick Bernard: Going to listen to Al Gore on "The Future. Six Drivers of Global Change"

February 8, 2013/0 Comments/in Climate Change, Community, Economics, Education, Environment, International Relations, Nature, Peace & Justice, Politics, Technology /by dickbernard

Al Gore was in Minneapolis on Thursday, and while I’ve been to lots of speeches, including by Mr. Gore, and didn’t really need to go, there is something that draws me to such events. I got to Westminster Presbyterian Church an hour early, but turned out to be a half-hour late: I got a seat, but in one of two overflow spaces. The house was packed for the longstanding Westminster Town Hall Forum.

Al Gore speaks Feb 7, 2013, Westminster Town Hall Forum Minneapolis MN

I won’t write a review of the speech: you can listen to it here. (This is the instant video of the speech. Mr. Gore’s portion begins at approximately the 40 minute mark). At about the ten minute mark is a 30 minute musical concert by a twin cities musician, who was also very good.
Neither do I plan to review Mr. Gore’s book, “The Future. Six Drivers of Global Change“, which is readily available everywhere, and is meant for reflection, discussion and personal action.
“The Future” is a book for thinking, not entertainment.
I’ve long liked Al Gore. He is a visionary, not afraid to articulate a realistic vision if we wish to survive as a human species.
Visionaries, especially prominent ones, are often viewed as threats, and are vilified in sundry ways by their enemies.
So it was with Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth which was released in 2006, ridiculed by his enemies. But as current events in our country are showing, the film has been in all relevant particulars true, if anything, even conservative. Yes, there are “yah, buts” in the film, but as an acknowledged climate expert said at a meeting I attended a year or two ago, he said the film was 90% accurate, and this was from wisdom of hindsight.
We saw Mr. Gore speak on An Inconvenient Truth a year before the film was released, in 2005, and it was a memorable, never to be forgotten event. Here’s what I wrote about it then: Al Gore July 2005001. It is remarkable that this was eight years ago, already. Of course, largely, denial continues to be a prevalent reaction to things like Climate Change.
In so many ways we humans live with short-term thinking (“me-now”) and we imperil not only our present, but certainly our future. “An Inconvenient Truths” dust jacket made some suggestions back then that are still relevant today. They are here: Al Gore Inconven Truth001
“The Future” covers numerous topics other than just climate change, and covers them well.
In his talk, Mr.Gore said he got the idea for “The Future” several years ago – 2005 I seem to recall – from a question someone asked at a presentation he was making somewhere in Europe.
From that seed grew extensive research and reflection.
Mr. Gore suggests – that’s all he can is suggest – a wake-up call.
To those who think the cause is hopeless, he asked simply that we remember changes like Civil Rights in this country, which in his growing up days in Tennessee would not have been seen as a possibility either. It is the people that will change the status quo, he said, recalling a particular learning moment in his youth when a friend of his made a racist comment, and another friend told him to cut it out. It is small moments of public witness like these that make the difference, he suggested. He gave other examples as well.
Of course, Gore is a prominent world figure, a former Vice-President, and now a very wealthy man.
But in his appearance, yesterday, he was part of us – he even stopped by the overflow rooms before his speech to give a personal welcome. It was a nice touch, we felt.
By our demeanor – I like to watch how audiences react at events like this – we were very actively listening to him.
It’s past-time to get personally involved, but never too late.
(click on photos to enlarge)

Mr. Gore stops by one of the two overflow rooms prior to his speech.

Dick Bernard – Thoughts at Christmas Holiday Season 2012: Have a Great Day.

December 2, 2012/1 Comment/in Community, Family History, Minnesota, Nature, Quietings /by dickbernard

PRE-NOTE: I encourage you to watch the video at the end of this post.
Thirty-five years ago, sometime in early December of 1977, I did my first homemade Christmas card for friends and family, a very simple card with illustration by my then 13 year old son, Tom, and a hand printed short phrase by Kahlil Gibran: “Then said a rich man, Speak to us of Giving. And He answered. You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”
The twelve months preceding that card were memorable, though not necessarily in a positive sense, though there was much positive, too.
Certainly without intending, the hand-made card became a tradition, continuing to this day, the 36th in the series. The first 20 or so were sent exclusively by U.S. mail. This will be the first one which one must have access to the internet to see in complete form.
Each year since 1977 has had one thing in common: something would happen sometime during that year that stuck with me, and the annual card was born, never fancy, always just me. We all have our ‘ways’.
2012 was an event-filled year, but nothing rose to the surface until an idea struck, yesterday, with receipt of an unexpected photo from a friend, David (click to enlarge):

1973 in the Bugaboo Mountains of British Columbia, Canada.

David, the guy in the blue shirt in the front row of the photograph, is a “coffee buddy” most every Friday. A month or so ago I had invited he and another coffee friend, Fred, to join a small discussion group whose members are retired educators, interested in public education.
David came to our gathering on Nov. 16, sat down at the table with the other five of us, and immediately noted Jerry, with an exclamation: “I think I know you!”
Indeed they did know each other, and David found the old photo. Jerry is the guy with the mountain man beard in the photo. They and the others were for a number of years in the 1960s and 1970s members of a twin cities group, primarily teachers, who did some mountaineering each summer at places like Bugaboo, Devils Tower, and on and on.
While I never mountaineered, the photo was nostalgic for me, nonetheless. While disconnected in fact, I was connected in spirit.
Such is how things seem to work in this universe of ours. Random things are not so random at all. I recall the 2011 film, “I Am, the Documentary“, which remains available for viewing. We saw it when it first came out, and highly recommend it. It gives lots of food for thought.
Yesterday went on, and in the afternoon Cathy, my spouse, put up the Christmas tree, with help from one of our daughter-in-laws.
That tree has been Cathy’s tradition for many years.
In the evening, after the project was completed, I went down and saw the tree, and there affixed to one of the branches was the 1977 Christmas card of mine, about the only “ornament” I can say I own.

1977 greeting card on Christmas tree Dec. 2012

The 2012 Christmas message was born, from random acts with no relation to each other. Such has happened before, and will again, doubtless.
Happy Holidays at this Christmas season.
The passage of time since that first card reminds me of the second card, in 1978, when I chose this poem by the famous poet, Unknown:
THE LOOM OF TIME
Man’s life is laid in the loom of time
To a pattern he does not see,
While the weavers work and the shuttles fly
Till the dawn of eternity
Some shuttles are filled with silver threads
And some with threads of gold,
While often but the darkest hues
Are all that they may hold.
But the weaver watches with skillful eye
Each shuttle fly to and fro,
And sees the pattern so deftly wrought
As the loom moves sure and slow.
God surely planned the pattern:
Each thread, the dark and fair,
Is chosen by His master skill
And placed in the web with care.
He only knows its beauty
And guides the shuttles which hold
The threads so unattractive,
As well as the threads of gold.
Not till each loom is silent,
And the shuttles cease to fly,
Shall God reveal the pattern
And explain the reason why
The dark threads were as needful
In the weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
For the pattern which he planned.
*
POSTNOTES:

Another view of Bugaboo in 1973. Note peak with a dot of snow in background. That is same peak as shown in above photo.

During the past twelve months I began making a point of taking some photos each month at an 1870-era one-room farm house at a small city park near our home. The ‘album’ now includes perhaps 44 photographs. You can view them here.
A few weeks ago came a remarkably uplifting piece of video, less than ten minutes in length, which I would invite you to enjoy in the spirit of the season. You can access it here. It is exactly as it is. Do check it out. The film is by Louie Schwartzberg. It is narrated, beautifully, by Brother David Steindl-Rast; the beautiful music by Gary Malkin.

#655 – Dick Bernard: Ken Burns on PBS: The Dust Bowl, part two

November 20, 2012/0 Comments/in Community, Environment, Family History, History, Nature, North Dakota /by dickbernard

I wrote about the first segment of Ken Burns The Dust Bowl here.
Part Two, last evening, was equally compelling. You can watch both part one and two here.
Together, the two segments total nearly four hours. They are available on-line through December 4. They are well worth your time.
And they provide lots of opportunity for reflective thought about where humans and government fit into nature, positively and negatively.
If you watch the entire four hours, about ten years in, particularly, the area of the Oklahoma panhandle – “no man’s land”, and you think about our place in the our own present and future United States and World, you will have reason to consider what we are bringing down upon ourselves and our own future, if we pretend to ignore the consequences of our own actions.
There is no sugar-coating. This is reality, and not belief.
As I watched I got to thinking back to something I wrote seven years ago as my Christmas Letter.
It was a story about an old Cottonwood tree at my Uncle’s farm in North Dakota. The story is here (link is in the caption below the photo). The tree still exists, out there in a row of trees east of the farmstead.
Have a great Thanksgiving.
Help keep Thanksgiving for the generations to come after us.

#654 – Dick Bernard: The Dust Bowl

November 19, 2012/0 Comments/in Climate Change, Community, Environment, Family History, History, Nature, North Dakota /by dickbernard

Sunday evening we watched part one of Ken Burns’ latest photo-documentary: the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.
I’d urge everyone to watch this series, which is playing on public broadcasting around the nation.
You can watch the program online here, but only through Monday, November 19. Consult your local listing regarding part two.
Born in 1940 in North Dakota, I just missed the Great Depression, and thus did not experience directly the drought years that so heavily impacted the state.
But my entire background experience – my raising – was shaped by people who actually experienced those bad years.
North Dakota was not technically part of the Dust Bowl, which centered in the panhandle of western Oklahoma and neighboring states of Texas, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico. But according to Uncle Vincent, near 88, who we visited in LaMoure this past weekend, ND certainly did experience the massive dust storms, though not on the scale farther south.
Vincent has always remembered 1934, the year he was nine years old, as being the worst year of all in south central North Dakota.
In fact, the only time ND entered Sundays program was 1934, when President Roosevelt came west and did a trip through part of North Dakota. A hand-made sign from someone said, at the time, “You brought back beer”, recognizing the end of Prohibition, “now bring us water”.
Back then, like now, people liked to pretend that they could use “God’s gifts” as they wished; and that their actions would have no consequences. They were in control.
Ain’t so.
The Dust Bowl years were with no reasonable question the worst directly man-caused catastrophe in American history. The genesis of the Dust Bowl was the result of careless national policy, and hope-springs-eternal practices of Dust Bowl farmers. Buffalo grass could handle the drought and wind storms. Over plowing, wind and no rain brought disaster in the 1930s.
We live in the same kind of dream world today – not surprising, we’re the same human beings. We’re not much into long term vision, or vision period.
We think that there are no consequences to our own head-in-the-sand attitudes about many things, climate included.
North Dakota is now a very prosperous state, with oil extraction in the west a primary reason. But in the long run it will be false prosperity caused by contemporary folly of short-term thinking.
Vince and I chatted a little about this.
North Dakota today is said to have as much oil reserves as Saudi Arabia, but we need to remind ourselves that we are driving ourselves over another cliff on energy: even with North Dakota, the oil resource has finite limits, and when its gone, what will our descendants do then?
And what are the consequences of fracking, long term.
As with foolish over-plowing in the development days of Oklahoma and other states, we can consider that we are digging our own grave as a prosperous society.
The Dust Bowl is a good vehicle, a wake up call, for all of us.
Do take the time to watch it.

Aunt Edithe and Uncle Vince, Nov. 17, 2012

Dry Antelope Creek ND, Nov. 18, 2012

(Uncle Vince, for all of his working life a dirt farmer in North Dakota, noted in a previous visit that while it was dry in his areas in 2012, farmers still had very good crops, especially of corn. He said the crops utilized good subsoil moisture, but there needs to be a wet fall and winter to replenish that moisture, or a dry year next year would not have such good results.
Antelope creek, which we used to play in as kids in the 1950s, was dry yesterday. Meaningful, or meaningless?)

En Avant: A Significant Film Work in Progress on the French presence in Minnesota

November 8, 2012/0 Comments/in Community, History, International Relations, Media, Minnesota, Native American, Nature, Quebec/French-Canadians /by dickbernard

UPDATE: May 29, 2013: Here’s a 5-minute preview of the film. Note that it may take a bit of time to download, and that a password is required to access: the password is: enavant2013
French film producer and director Christine Loys has released this up-to-date precis about her project: Précis 130513
*
An important film on the French presence in Minnesota, En Avant, is being prepared for production and at some point in the future will be released in France and in Minnesota.
At a special event at Alliance Francaise Minneapolis, on October 10, 2012, explorer and environmental advocate Will Steger of Ely, made brief introductory remarks before a discussion about the En Avant project.
(click on photos to enlarge)

Will Steger at En Avant introduction at Alliance Francaise Minneapolis MN October 10, 2012

Why Will? The answer lies in one of those serendipity things some people call coincidences, but which to me have more of an “unseen hand” aspect to them. Christine: “Will Steger was there as my special guest because he was the first person to introduce me to Minnesota.”
Most Minnesotans know that back in April, 1986, Richfield native Will Steger led an intrepid group of adventurers on a trip by dogsled to the North Pole.
The adventure was successful, and back at home, on a chilly May day, I was among those who gathered outside the Minnesota state capitol for the welcome home. Theirs was a thrilling accomplishment.
At the time, there had been a small piece of news about a rather astonishing meetup on the Polar icecap on the 1986 adventure. It is best described by Jon Bowermaster, with this recollection by Will Steger:
“As I skied the last half mile [of the Antarctic crossing in 1989] I could not erase from my mind a picture of another time, another cold place. It was April 1986, the middle of the frozen Arctic Ocean, when [French doctor] Jean-Louis [Etienne] and I first met. He stepped to the top of a ridge of jumbled sea ice, seemingly out of nowhere, and we embraced, like brothers, though we’d never even been introduced. Everything that we’d done these past years evolved from that fated moment, from that embrace. We had turned our dreams – about adventure and cooperation, about preservation and the environment – into realities. We had the confidence to take risks, and the scene splayed in front of us now was our reward, our affirmation.
The Soviets had marked our entryway with red flags and made a Finish line. A gathering of one hundred, speaking a dozen different languages, swarmed around us as we came down the flag bedecked chute. As I called my dogs to a stop one last time and stepped out of my skis, Jean-Louis walked toward me. I lifted Sam onto my shoulder and Jean-Louis – completing the circle begun those years ago in the middle of the Arctic Ocean – wrapped us both in a bear hug.”
Back in France, Christine Loys, a photo journalist who initially was a friend of Dr. Etienne when he made his solo trek, became part of the Transantarctica expedition whose co-leaders were Will Steger and Dr Jean-Louis Etienne.

Will Steger, Christine Loys, Jean-Louis Etienne, 2009 in Paris, after Will had given a talk on climate change at the U.S. Embassy

Some time later, Ms Loys made a trip to this mysterious place called Minnesota, and in her journey through our state was startled to see French name after French name…towns, lakes, etc.
She learned that the motto of Minnesota is in French, L’Etoile du Nord; and that the motto of Minneapolis is En Avant, meaning “Forward”.
The French knew much about Quebec, and the French antecedents of Louisiana, but very little about this apparently French-drenched place called Minnesota, and Christine went to work.
The idea for a movie about the French in Minnesota was born, from the earliest days of people like Fr. Hennepin, to the present world-known Guthrie Theatre, designed by the French architect Atelier Jean Nouvel, which overlooks the very falls of St. Anthony which Frenchman Fr. Louis Hennepin saw and named in 1680.
Ms Loys hard work continues as she returns to France for some months, with plans to return to the Minnesota in 2013.
We wish her well.

Panelists at Alliance Francaise October 10, 2012

Panelists from left to right: Pierce McNally, attorney; Jérôme Chateau, CEP Normande Genetics, former President of the French American Chamber of Commerce (FACC) and today Vice President of FACC; François Fouquerel, Dean of “Les Voyageurs” at Concordia Language Villages; Robert Durant, Treasury/Secretary at the tribal Counsel of White Earth; Bob Perrizo, artist, journalist, writer, historian
Also speaking was Barbara Johnson, President of the City Council of Minneapolis who made the introduction. She is a descent of the French. Her maiden name is Rainville.
Dick Bernard was invited to make some remarks representing the 2012 Franco-Fete committee, of which five members were in attendance at the gathering.
This is also posted also here.

#537 – Dick Bernard: Spring "Yard Work"

March 17, 2012/0 Comments/in Community, Environment, Minnesota, Nature, Quietings /by dickbernard

Today, being a late April day (albeit in the middle of March), with all the snow gone, a short sleeve day and all, seemed a good day to begin the annual housekeeping trek along my walking route which ends on the north side of Carver Lake.
Helpfully, one of those small plastic buckets, about a half-gallon in size, materialized near the beginning of the walking route. In its previous life it probably held a plant. Perhaps it had blown off someone’s deck. Whatever, it was useful. (Actually, it had sat there for several prior days, but the time was not yet right to pick it up.)
Today was the day it would be of service to the community.
Our walking route is pretty clean. There is a small crew of people – mostly unknown to each other – who do “police call”.
Still, the first post-snow day out yields its share of treasures, mostly off the beaten path.
For instance, a bright piece of paper beckoned me into the off-trail woods, and when there I spotted three old and gray beer bottles, well disguised from many moons of anonymous living.
Along the way I was fetching something in the weeds and I met a guy who noticed, and groused about those people who toss stuff “when there are all sorts of garbage cans along this walk”. So true. I subscribe to the philosophy, though, that left garbage along the path is a magnet for more garbage, and policing helps keep down careless disposal of anything from cigarette buttes to tissue. Every little bit helps….
At the bench where I learned, a couple of years ago, that it is important to carry along one’s cell phone – it might come in handy – I met the pleasant guy I see frequently, pushing his Dad in his wheelchair for a walk in the park. We chatted a bit, and he commented that he’d filled two bags full of trash this same morning.
He usually does policing of the pond and lake banks, but he doesn’t sound quite as enthusiastic about doing it this year. Too big a mess. Maybe some of us will “step up to the plate” and help?
Past Carver Lake swimming beach and up the hill I went. A one liter plastic pop bottle beckoned, and when I got to it, assorted other trash magically appeared in its neighborhood. I was rapidly filling that little bucket a second time.
At the playground, a Dad was supervising playtime for his two year old. The youngster saw me dumping the garbage, and the Dad said “thanks”.
It was a good day on the trail today.
Have a great one yourself.

#510 – Dick Bernard: A Memory of a long-ago Ground Hog Day

February 2, 2012/0 Comments/in Family History, History, Nature, Quebec/French-Canadians, Quietings /by dickbernard

Today is a pea-soup fog day in my town, and the temperature is about 32 degrees, so any of the resident Woodbury groundhogs have no worries about sunburn, or freezing to death. They will not see their shadow, at least not from sunlight.
But the place for groundhogs today is Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Punxsutawney Phil has been on the job since 1887, telling us about the rest of winter. Here’s something about him, and what he predicted today….
There are, of course, other groundhogs, and twenty or so years ago my Dad, Henry Bernard, recalled a story of his Dad, circa 1912 at their home on Wakeman Avenue in Grafton, North Dakota.
“I must have been four or five [Dad was born Dec 22, 1907] when this incident occurred.
My father, Henry Bernard, was the chief engineer at the flour mill. During the summer the fellows caught a woodchuck (groundhog) and put him in a cage. He was named “Pete”. Pete gave a lot of amusement to visitors. His ability to peel and eat a banana was a source of awe to visitors. However, his ability to eat a soda cracker without losing any crumbs was remarkable.
Pete was kept in the cage until fall when he became very drowsy and slept almost all the time.
Dad decided that Pete was ready to hibernate and took him home and released him in the unfinished basement that we had. Pete got busy and dug a hole in the dirt wall., “stole” bananas, apples, carrots, etc., and took them inside the hole and sealed it from the inside.
Dad remembered the story about the groundhog and on February 2nd told mother to watch and if Pete came out to send the “boy” (that was me) over to the mill to tell him.
Sure enough Pete did come out, saw his shadow and went back into the hole for another six weeks. We must have had more winter.
Then he came out again but was sickly and died shortly after. The veterinarian said it was because he lacked certain things for his diet that he would have picked up if he has run wild. Dad had Pete mounted and kept him for many years. This story was often repeated and even I have repeated it many times since that time.”
Thanks Dad.