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Several community events were shown on slide shows. The events were the Grandin Smelt Fry, Corpus Christi Mass, Goat Game, Candles at Canaan, and the Lindaas Barn Dance. These events all demonstrated how communities, whether rural or urban, come together. The topic of organization/settlement of communities was raised. Railroads and businesses are big factors for urban settlement. Churches are big factors for rural settlement. Consolidation regarding farms and intitutions on the prarie was also a topic for this lecture. Many farms have went from small family owned operations to larger scale operations. This makes it harder for those small family farms to make a decent living. Micropoli was the last topic. Some examples of towns considered Micropoli are Jamestown, Minot, Devils Lake, etc. One version was Carl Kraenzel's vision. He used two descriptions- yonland and sutland to demonstrate the Micropoli. Regarding ND, the sutland is considered towns on I-94 while those on Highway 2 were regarded as yonland.

Isern had asked in class for examples of community activities that we have experienced. It took me awhile to think back, but my church used to do something similar to the Corpus Christi mass. We used to do a mass with two other rural churches. We would all get together on the lawn at the Balta Dam and celebrate mass. It was different because many people know eachother because the churches are all less than 15 miles away, but the members don't see eachother that often. This gave everyone an opportunity to meet up. Since my highschool years, two of the three rural churches have closed, and the third is being discussed whether or not to keep it open. When the quesiton was raised on how communities were organized. I thought about my community. Almost all of the people in my rural community are Germans and Catholic. I think certain areas were settled by people of the same ethnic groups.~Chris Schmaltz