Heritage Renewal

Saturday afternoon the 10th, Dr. John Helgeland, NDSU Professor of Religious Studies, led a book discussion at the Walhalla Public Library, the discussion being an activity of the "Building Community Vitality through Arts & Heritage" initiative. Twenty-four well-read and well-spoken citizens turned out to talk about Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, by Kathleen Norris--a book with many implications for our lives in prairie towns. Included in the group were many returnees or newcomers to Walhalla who spoke movingly about the virtues of the community, and sometimes, too, about the down side of small-town life. It was quite a conversation. There will be another one Saturday afternoon March 31, when I will come back to the same place to lead a discussion of Nevil Shute's A Town Like Alice. Another positive note about community developments in Walhalla: the architectural historian of the state of North Dakota has replied to preliminary paperwork concerning the Walla Theater, affirmed its apparent eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places, and urged that a nomination be prepared. One more little step toward the larger goal of making the Walla Theater live again.

Cold outside, but a pleasant afternoon at Dakota Soda in the Zandbroz Store, Fargo. Yesterday was the first session of "Great Books of the Great Plains," the book discussion organized for F/M Communiversity by the CHR. A lovely group of readers gathered; eleven are enrolled at Communiversity, and that was about the number present and participating. Subject for the day: Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, by Kathleen Norris. Next discussion: Sunday, 25 February, when the subject will be A Town Like Alice, by Nevil Shute. What do these two works have in common? The dynamic of newcomers in a small town, what they find there, how they get along with old residents.