Webblog

I was sick today so I was unable to make it to class and I missed the discussion of Dakota Circle. I thought I should just blog a few of my thoughts and comments. I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was a lot more interesting than Webb or Sharp. It did make some of the same points. Dakota Circle describes the plains as level, treeless, and semi-arid. It also (much like Webb) says there is adaptation. The book is like Sharp in the sense that it expands on more than just adapting to the environment. There are many other factors that come into play. This is evident in all of the chapters of the book.

I liked how each chapter was different than the one before. They were short and to the point, and even contained real stories to back things up. Also many of the things in the book reinforced the things we discussed in class. I felt that the book was more relevant to the material than the other books.

One chapter I found interesting was Chapter 6: "Something Odd in Absaraka." I couldn't help but tell my roommates' girlfriends the story of the roommate being murdered (both the girls I told happen to be freshman living in the dorms). I'm sure they slept soundly in their dorm that night. But the point is that legends and folklore are a part of our everyday lives here on the plains. I'm sure everyone knows of some legend from their town or where ever. People like a good scare now and then. That's why we go to places like the "Haunted Farm" or places that are actually haunted or maybe just some old abandoned houses. I know this old story of some high school kids were driving around one moonless night stopping at all the old abandoned homes in the country. They went to one and somebody scared this guy. Well, he was so scared he jumped right out of the window which happen to be on the second floor (but don't worry he was ok).

Another thing in this chapter that interested me was the glowing graves in Dickey, ND. I wasn't interested because I had never seen this before but rather I have seen the graves but at the time I had no idea they supposedly glowed. Let me explain. This summer I worked for a construction company installing fiber optic cable. When I started working there, they were mostly done with Dickey and had moved to the near by town of Adrian, but we still had all of our equipment in Dickey. Dickey is a town that if you blink while driving by it, you may miss it (Adrian is even worse). It isn't much of a town anymore. Anyway, one day the boss hands me a big bag of grass seed and tells me to seed every place where we had dug up the grass. Even thought Dickey is small, it still took me a couple hours to walk around the whole town and seed it. I was able to become very familiar with the town. I seen every building Professor Isern describes in his book while on route to see the graves. I've seen the cafe, the "Biggest Little Town in the World Pop. 74" sign, the post office, the State Bank of Dickey, the church, the big stucco house, and I even seen the graves (but only during the day). I wish I had known there was something different about them at the time. Maybe now I'll have to go back and see them again with a new perspective.

Of course, I can't forget chapter 20: "You Must Be from North Dakota." Actually I read this chapter first. I'd like to take the time to mention a few that I enjoyed and thought were funny. "If down south to you means Aberdeen." I have a cousin who goes to SDSU and I can't help but ask her "How's the weather down there?" and "When are you coming up." "If you expect to be excused from school for deer season." I guess deer season is a holiday for ND. My high school doesn't have school that day anymore due to the lack of student enrollment. (I only wish NDSU would do the same). "If even though you're not breaking the law, you break into a cold sweat when the game warden appears." I am always suspicious whenever I see the game warden or the cop no matter what I am doing. "If you think chokecherry jelly is the greatest jelly on earth." Enough said on this one. That statement summed it all up. "If you don't believe you sound like the actors in the movie Fargo." I used to believe this 100%, but I've been to a few places now where people did talk like they do in the movie, doncha know. So I have mixed feelings about it.