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#1131 – Dick Bernard: Random Acts of Inspiration

For many years, actually until quite recently, the prestigious Walker Art Center in Minneapolis had an impossible to miss work of art on its wall on Hennepin Avenue in Downtown Minneapolis: “Bits and Pieces put together to present a semblance of a whole.” (You can see its former presentation at Walker here.) I would guess the phrase was seen by millions of people, day after day – it was impossible to miss.
The phrase is no longer there. I cannot tell you what is there, now, though I go past the Walker as often as in the past.
I miss “Bits and Pieces”.
*
Random chance, literally, brought me face to face with Bits and Pieces in the last 48 hours. I did not plan my experience. Each quietly presented itself through invitations, or simply my marking time between one event and another.
Everyone of us has had similar glimpses of our real world, far from the mess we see constantly portrayed as “reality” on television or in the media. Here are mine May 14-16 in chronological order. What would some of your similar experiences be?
Saturday afternoon, May 14:
(Click to enlarge photos)

south Minneapolis MN, May 14, 2016

south Minneapolis MN, May 14, 2016


I was invited to stop by a neighborhood garden being planted by young people. This was no ordinary garden. Its produce will be sold to a well known restaurant in the neighborhood, Gandhi Mahal, whose owner believes in being part of the community. A group, Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light, is a driving force behind this initiative. All Saints Indian Mission and its First Nations Kitchen play an important role in this garden.
As I stood in that backyard, I thought back to my own old days, in the 1940s, Sykeston ND, when Mom and Dad had a big garden, and we kids had to participate in its care. I didn’t much like picking peas, or potato bugs, but somehow it now seems nostalgic and very positive.
A few hours later was a benefit concert for the Huntington’s Disease folks (the disease that got folk-singer Woody Guthrie). I stopped by the venue, left a donation, listened to a bit of the sound check by folk singer Larry Long, but passed on staying for the concert, which I’m sure was packed and outstanding.
Sunday, May 15:
Sunday morning was church as usual. I’m one of those people who like going to church; the people there infuse me with energy and optimism.
Afterwards I decided to stay downtown rather than drive home, as I was to be at another event at 3 in the afternoon.
What to do while marking the four hours? I started by proofreading part of a new book by our friend Annelee Woodstrom. This year is her 90th birthday, and her book will be her third. I don’t know how she does it, but she does. And each of her books have been profitable, as will be the third, I’m sure.
Her passion keeps her going. Her story is compelling.
I wandered back to the church to drop in on an event I knew was happening in the afternoon: the Blessing of Wheels, bicycles, motorized wheelchairs, and the like. This is an annual event. I’d never been before. It was brief, fascinating and uplifting.
I asked the lady, (photo below), if I could take her photo. Yes. She was to bring up the gifts, in this case, oil cans…. The brief ritual for perhaps 50 people, a basically non-sectarian but spiritual event, was really quite powerful – even for a non-biker like myself. Rituals have their place, an important place, in human life. In this case, even if you don’t own anything but a car with wheels.
Basilica of St. Mary Blessing of the Wheels May 15, 2016

Basilica of St. Mary Blessing of the Wheels May 15, 2016


Blessing of the Wheels, Basilica of St. Mary May 15, 2016

Blessing of the Wheels, Basilica of St. Mary May 15, 2016


Then the main event for Sunday, the reason I stayed downtown: the Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs at Orchestra Hall. I’ve long been an Minnesota Orchestra fan and have been in Orchestra Hall many times. This time was extra special. Up on that stage, amongst the several choirs for the 35th anniversary, were two of our grandkids, Kelly and Ted Flatley. The concert was two hours; they had prepared for this event for months. It takes work to get results….
Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis, May 15, 2016

Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis, May 15, 2016


Monday, May 16:
Finally, yesterday, I ventured out to suburban Blaine, where the Middle School I helped open as a brand-new Junior High School in 1965, recognized its 50th anniversary as a school.
You begin to feel old in such a setting: 50 years ago I was 25, a third-year geography teacher of 8th graders. That is three generations ago.
Roosevelt Middle School, teeming with adults and students, was a very vibrant place yesterday afternoon. There were kids doing Shakespeare; musicians playing jazz, walls and displays full of student projects for parents and visitors. There was lots and lots of life in that place.
It was a great late afternoon.
Roosevelt Middle School band members, Blaine MN May 16 2016

Roosevelt Middle School band members, Blaine MN May 16 2016


Student Art Project at Roosevelt Middle School, Blaine MN

Student Art Project at Roosevelt Middle School, Blaine MN


Event over, I elected to join a group of a dozen or so “old-timers” for a bite to eat down the street, and more conversation.
It was about 8:30 p.m., and I was on the road going east towards St. Paul, when one of the most brilliant sunsets I’ve ever seen showed up in my rear-view mirror.
Events of the previous 48 hours were already in context for me, but this sunset capped it. I thought back to the Saturday ritual in the backyard garden in Minneapolis, where a Native American elder helped the young people understand the significance of their efforts.
Native American Elder and dancer, Minneapolis May 14, 2016

Native American Elder and dancer, Minneapolis May 14, 2016


It was all good. Nature and Humanity in concert with each other.
Bits and Pieces has taken on a whole new life for me.
There is hope, lots of it, and it resides in every one of us, but it is the young who will have to make the difference.
*
The next few months will be filled with the mud-wrestling spectacle of national politics.
I can say that the last couple of days buoyed me up.
Look at the bright side. There is a bright side to this country and this world. Just look around you.
For some inspiration, check out Louie Schwartzbergs Ted Talk on Gratitude, which I first saw 5 years ago. You can access it here.

#1060 – Dick Bernard: The First Day of School

Roosevelt office area from the front lobby August 23, 2015

Roosevelt office area from the front lobby August 23, 2015


This year is rather unusual in Minnesota. A very late Labor Day means that there have been some deviations from the normal mandatory day after Labor Day start to the 2015-16 school year.
Nonetheless, the evening just past was doubtless a nervous one for K-12 students and their teachers and other school staff as the new school year begins. Everything happens at once. Returning to school is much like going to a family reunion; you know what to expect, but you’re not sure how you’ll perform, regardless of your particular role. I’d guess there was more than normal incidence of fitful sleep last night.
For reasons laid out in a previous post, this year, for me, is much more significant than usual. My early career, I was a junior high school geography teacher, and in 1965, in my third year, 50 years ago this week, probably on September 8, 1965, I met my first classes of eighth graders at Roosevelt Junior High School in the Minneapolis suburb of Blaine MN.
It was my first year in Minnesota*.
I remember very little of the month of August, 1965. I still work at filling in blanks of that month, through mining the memories of others. August, 1965, was a traumatic time for me.
I do remember, as one of many new teachers in the Anoka-Hennepin School District, taking a bus trip to see the Districts schools at the beginning of workshop week. In those years, this already massive district was growing by over 2000 students a year, and each year brought newly built schools, and lots of new teachers.
Roosevelt Junior High School had just opened. Everything was new.
The school, then, was out in the country, literally, bordered by farmland, and reached by a two lane road. The nearest housing development was about a mile south. That was a long time ago. Here’s a photo I took of the school about 1968 (my brother was piloting the plane, and, remember, I was a geography teacher!)
(click to enlarge all photos)
Roosevelt Junior High School from the northwest, Fall, 1968

Roosevelt Junior High School from the northwest, Fall, 1968


A couple of weeks ago I stopped by present day Roosevelt and took a few photos, all of which were reminders about 1965.
Photos August 23, 2015, Dick Bernard

Photos August 23, 2015, Dick Bernard


August 23, 2015 (the hallway looks almost exactly the same as 50 years ago.)

August 23, 2015 (the hallway looks almost exactly the same as 50 years ago.)


The classroom I started the school year in 1965, pictured August 23, 2015

The classroom I started the school year in 1965, pictured August 23, 2015


In the lobby, was a display case with some history of the school building itself:
History of the Roosevelt Jr. High School - display, August 23, 2015

History of the Roosevelt Jr. High School – display, August 23, 2015


SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES
Back in 1965, Roosevelt was grades 7-9; at some more recent point it became a Middle School, and at various point a new wing and a swimming pool were added, and the 10 acres were developed from the bare ground there when we opened the building.
In the course of 50 years, tens of thousand of students, and well over one thousand staff members have shared space at Roosevelt. Personally, I was there for seven years.
I was amazed at the wonderful condition of the school, so many years after it opened for business.
Today Roosevelt Middle School opens again for another year, and the faculty and staff greet a new crop of kids. Those quiet halls I walked a couple of weeks ago will teem with life again.
Each student will will receive a student planner with the “rules for the road” for the “town” that is Roosevelt Middle School. At the end of the planner are several pages we all might review. Here they are: Student Planner 2015-16001
My best wishes to the Roosevelt crowd, and to all school personnel everywhere.
Have a great year.
* POSTNOTE: My first August in Minnesota was in Anoka, then a country town, the county seat of Anoka County, perhaps 20 miles from downtown Minneapolis. The road to Minneapolis was two lane, down what was called the West River Road, alongside the Mississippi River.
I had been to Anoka once in my life, probably 1956, with my parents and siblings, when we stopped at Rum River Park. I know this only because I have a photo (which apparently I took). We would have been enroute to Chicago on U.S. 10 visit my Uncle and Aunt who had recently had their first child.
At Anoka MN, summer 1956, from left: Henry, Frank, John, Esther, Mary Ann and Florence Bernard.

At Anoka MN, summer 1956, from left: Henry, Frank, John, Esther, Mary Ann and Florence Bernard.


In 1965-66, my son and I lived at 1615 South Ferry Street, a block from the Mississippi River Bridge, “catty corner” from the Embers Restaurant across the street. Where the house stood is long gone. The Smarts, Mom, Dad and two kids, lived there, as did my son and I and perhaps one or two others who roomed upstairs. I don’t recall the others.
Being in a new town is a lot like being a young child again: one’s range is very limited.
For me, Anoka meant that house, an old corner cafe at the southeast corner of Ferry and Main Street, the old St. Stephen’s Catholic Church and Fr. Murphy. Much of that first month I drove into St. Louis Park to continue working in the original Lincoln Del. I worked there until early January when the toll of two jobs brought pneumonia to my door, and I had to quit. That broadened my horizon a tiny bit: the Mork Clinic and Goodrich Drug Store entered my sphere. But otherwise, mostly, Anoka was home, to work, either at the Del, or at Roosevelt Junior High School down then rural and two lane Co Rd 42, 125th Ave NW, 7 miles east of Anoka.
Anoka remains recognizable to me 50 years later, but like all places, particularly suburban, it is greatly changed by the passage of years.