Webblog

Hibernation

2007-12-28T13:49:00.000-06:00

This website for HIST 431/631 is inactive. The materials in it are those for the fall 2007 offering. I expect to offer the course on campus again in fall 2008. Feel free to look around.

RP: Oral History Report

2007-12-07T12:00:00.001-06:00

Every time I see a school bus drive by in my hometown of Perham, MN I wonder what it is like to drive on the Great Plains. What sparks my interest most is what the winter months are like for the drivers. I also wonder if they like their jobs or if they would rather do something else. I decided to interview Bill Bauck who is the manager of the busing company in Perham. I touched on a few subjects such as community life in Perham, his experiences with running the bus company, and driving in the winter months.

There are many tests that a person has to go through to become a bus driver. They have to pass a couple written tests, a driving test with a school bus, undergo an entry level drug test, and be subject to random drug tests throughout the time they’re involved with driving school buses. Many of the tests they have to take are given by the state and local government. They must also follow the discipline actions enforced by the school. From what Bill told me, these drivers take on a load of responsibility the moment they have one child step on the bus.

Bill has lived in Perham, MN his entire life; he lives just a ½ block from where his great great grandfather grew up. He discussed how the town has prospered since the time he was born. The streets in the main part of town used to be just like township roads; they weren’t asphalt and actually had ditches. He stayed in Perham because he became involved in the family business; running the bus company. He does dislike the town somewhat though because it’s small. His wife and he enjoy bigger cities, so to compensate for living in a small town; they travel to much bigger cities when on vacation. They have visited many cities in Europe and Finland which is where his wife is from. He did say however, that it has gotten easier to live here because the town has prospered so much. 50 years ago there weren’t many job opportunities for young people; girls could clerk in a story or work at the hospital and guys could work on their family farms. Because Perham is a desirable place for couples and families the community has had to adjust and there have become many new jobs available and that’s because the community is willing to accept new people. Having more and more families moving into the community has added more children to our school district. But on the downside, because families nowadays are much smaller we have seen a decline in enrolment. I wondered why people want to move to a smaller town and Bill said that out town has much more to offer than surrounding communities. For instance, we have a very nice community center that was founded through just donations which says a lot about the people who live in Perham. We also offer many lakes, a good school district, and a great community life. He said that the community is involved in many school events and participates in holiday seasons such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the summer holidays such as the 4th of July. I then went on to talk about what driving a school bus on the Great Plains was like. Bill said that he has been involved in the busing company for 58 years; he manages the family business and also drives buses although he has slowed that down over the years. He said that driving the bus isn’t relaxing; it’s a very stressful job because of all the responsibility. Young people don’t respect authority much any more and it’s hard to discipline them because there are many more rules dealing with the issue than there used to be. Another stressful fact is driving in the winter months. He used to have to wake up at 3:30 when there was expected bad weather to go and check the driving conditions, then call the superintendent to give his opinion of what they should do for school that day. Sometimes when the weather wasn’t bad enough to cancel school, Bill would get calls from one teacher yelling at him because she indicated the teachers couldn’t get out of their garages however, all the bus drivers were already at the station ready to go. He said that having to be the one to call in the road conditions was probably one of the most stressful parts of his job because he was constantly getting second guessed. Sometimes the superintendent would decide to keep school on but when the buses were out driving and called in some bad roads, they would decide to cancel school for the day. This was another stressful part of his job because all the kids that had been picked up had to be dropped off again. However, some of the parent of the younger children had already left for work, so Bill would have to contact the parents and inform them of the cancellation so that they could make other arrangements. He also mentioned another reason he doesn’t care for driving in the winter months is because of the darkness. When they leave early in the morning and it’s dark and there’s a lot of snow, it’s difficult to tell where you are. Sometimes you think that you’re on the road and have plenty of room but you’re actually about to go into the ditch.

Hearing all of this information made me realize how truly hard it is to perform well at a job like this. I never had any idea that bus drivers had to go through this much; I guess it was something I overlooked. Knowing that you’re in charge of so many children that get on and off of the bus everyday would make me so nervous; I would never want that kind of responsibility. I really learned a lot from this interview, not only about bus drivers but also about my community.

Bibliography:

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos242.htm
http://www.ladylike4.com/
I also contacted other bus drivers and the school to acquire back ground information.

MR: Dances With Wolves

2007-12-07T11:46:00.000-06:00

Dances With Wolves begins with the star, Kevin Costner, playing Lt John Dunbar , a wounded Union soldier being told that his injured leg must be amputated. After starting off on what seems to be a suicidal ride on his horse, Kevin almost accidentally leads his troops to the battlefield where they obtain victory over the Confederates. Dunbar is rewarded with medical care and the choice for his next post for helping out the troops. He chooses one on the Western Frontier, upon reaching his new post he comes to realize the last two men that were at that post died, and he will be alone.
Dunbar has his horse and a wild wolf to keep him company. He later starts to organize his camp when he has his first encounter with the Lakota Sioux and they try to take his horse. In attempt to communicate with the Indians Dunbar in turn makes friends. He first enters the Indians camp after he saves a white woman who was adopted by the Sioux at a young age. She later becomes the translator for the two. After spending little time at his fort anymore and more time with the natives, and the white women with whom he begins to fall in love with, his fellow soldiers start to assume him a traitor and track him down.
Dances With Wolves shows the different views of the plains landscape, the damaging influences of white settlement against the beauty of the landscape, the battle between the white abuse of natural resources and the Sioux living within them. Also the extreme violence of war against the loving and family orientated Sioux.

MR: The Searchers

2007-12-07T11:45:00.001-06:00

The Searchers is a movie starring John Wayne as Ethan Edwards, a Civil War veteran that fought for the Confederacy living on his brother's land in Texas in 1868. Edwards is wandering, and people do not know what he has been since the end of the Civil War. While Edwards is out, the Comanche launch a raid that devastates him. His brother, sister- in-law are killed while his neices are gone and the farm house is burned to the ground. This is a major turning point in the whole story of the movie. This makes this movie turn from triumphant homecoming to a showdown. Edwards tracks the Comanche with help from his adopted nephew, Martin Pawley played by actor Jeffery Hunter. They continue to search until they find the the oldest niece dead, but not the youngest one. The youngest one is married to Scar, played by Henry Brandon, the leader of the Comanche. He has the same hatred for white people, as Edwards has for Indians. Edwards hatred switches from Scar to the youngest daughter. They are eventually found by the Texas Rangers.

This movie shows that racism is rampant for both cultures. This shows a common theme in American History. Indians and whites have a deep seeded distrust of each other. This is show in other movies like Thunderheart. I think that this is changing, but time will tell.

Film Review: The Last Picture Show

2007-12-07T11:33:00.000-06:00

Based on the novel by Larry McMurtry Last Picture Show the film is set in a declining town in the early 1950's. It tells the story of two high-school seniors, Sonny and his friend Duane, who is upset over the closing of the towns theater due to the invasion of television. Due to the slow decline of the town there are few things to break the monotony, mostly sex and drinking. The boys mentor Sam the Lion gets through life by living in the past, most often by telling stories of events that happened years before. One of my favorite scenes, and the most poignant, were when Sam takes Sonny and his handicapped friend Billy, fishing at the "Tank" a small pond outside of town where according to Sonny there arent any fish but only turtles, to which Sam replies that is fine because he doesnt like anything about fish, he just fishes for the scenery.
This film reminded me alot of my home town. The townspeople seem to either be young people struggling to grow up, or old people struggling to stay young. Due to the fact their isnt much to do in town the most common distractions are the gossip about who seems to be cheating on their wife now or drinking. I thought it was ironic how some of the films that were played at the Royal Theater were some of the movies we were supposed to watch for this class because they tell the legends of Texas that in the film seem to be a era long past. The black and white filming of this movie and the constantly barren and windswept streets of the town depict the plains as Webb would have liked arid, level, and treeless and the fact that the town is barely alive and stagnant is a depressing look at alot of small towns in the plains that seems to tell me change and keep with the times or get blown away by the wind.

Final thoughts

2007-12-07T11:32:00.001-06:00

I just wanna say, I had a real good time in this class, it seems that this semester flew by too fast. I hope you all have a safe semester break and good luck on finals next week.

ttyl peace

MR: Open Range

2007-12-07T11:30:00.000-06:00

Open Range starring Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner, is about two free grazers, Boss (Duvall) and Charlie (Costner). It begins with Boss and Charlie moving a herd along with their hired hands, Button and Moses. They take their cattle, and graze them on the open prairie, and then once a place is grazed off, move on to another place, and eventually sell the fat cows. Moses is sent into town, and runs into trouble with the local cattle baron, who loathes free grazers. Boss and Charlie go and rescue him, but then the cattle baron (Baxter) sends men out to kill them and scatter the herd. Moses is killed, and Button is severely wounded. Boss and Charlie take Button to the town doctor, and then they settle down to take justice into their own hands on Baxter and his men, who are going to come after them for defying Baxter. Boss and Charlie settle in for a gunfight, and Charlie happens to fall for the doctor's sister. The next day the gunfight shapes up, and Boss and Charlie clean house with Baxter and his men. The movie ends with Charlie proposing to the doctor's sister, and she accept. Then Boss, Charlie, and the recovered Button set out to sell their cattle and return to the town to settle down.

This movie shows a lot of good scenes of the country, and the town seems to be pretty authentic to a plains town. One of the best thing it tells about the plains is that the men who live there must be willing to defend themselves and their property against bullies like Baxter, or they will lose everything.

Film Review: Corner Gas season 1

2007-12-07T11:18:00.000-06:00

Corner gas is a television show based in a fictional Canadian town called Dog River. Things in Dog River are often slow and uneventful and the townsfolk like it that way. In the first few episodes one of the main plots is the new owner of Ruby's Cafe, Lacey, trying to run things a little different than the townsfolk are used to and meeting some hostility. Brett, the main character and the owner of the gas station is the main character who tries to keep life simple but is usually the character who ends up going through to most trouble. His interest in Lacey drives him to do alot of things he normally wouldn't even try such as babysitting to try and impress a girl. Most of the plot lines follow along the lines of odd and everyday things such as the signs in the bathrooms in the gas station and getting a new cell phone.
I Can see why this show is called the Seinfeld of Canada. Seinfeld prided itself on being a show about nothing and Corner Gas follows along these same lines. Much like alot of the small towns in North Dakota, and on the plains as a whole, the townsfolk like things the tradition way they are and when those things change for whatever reason they are usually met with confusion and often hostility. I cant speak for every town on the plains but being from a small town i have witness this hostility myself many times. My town often prides itself on trying to be open to businesses and opportunities but whenever anything new comes to town it is usually met with alot of scepticism and more that a fair share of hostility that makes it tough for new businesses whcih in my opinion is partly to blame why the population of our town is slowly declining. In my opinion a small town needs to be open to change in order to survive and im not sure Dog River would survive for long in the real world.

RP: Lecture 10

2007-12-07T11:17:00.001-06:00

Lecture ten was about politics on the plains. Being I tend not to follow politics much, I got to be honest this was my least favorite of the lessons. Political ties on the plains have always been mainly republican excluding Oklahoma. On the political map these state every year are displayed as red states, possibly the only states in the nation that are actually close to deserving that title. Plains politics have always been slightly weird, I will explain of course. On the plains we typically send the republicans to our state offices, but for some reason year after year we send democrats to the senate. While other regions have had their political trends described by scholars the plains have not been able to do that like other areas. Sure one man is currently trying to make an attempt however lets just say that things are not looking hopeful. It was a short lesson but more interesting than I thought it would have been.

By: Justin Nygaard

FR: Capote

2007-12-07T11:12:00.000-06:00

Capote is about the cold blooded murders that took place in 1959. These murders happened in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas. Two men entered a small farm house in a effort to get ten thousand dollars. They did not want to get any evidence of their crime so they kill the whole family. Truman Capote learns about these murders when he was writing for the New York Times. He went to this small town to write an article on these murders, but the more he discovers, the more he wants to know. He figures out that this could be the foundation for a great novel. After the two murders are captured, Capote schedules several interviews with these two men. He befriends both of the murderers, but starts to develop a relationship with one of the murders, Perry Smith. Capote starts to help these two individuals, by getting them a new lawyer. Capote soon realizes that he needs these two men to die before his book can be finished. He starts to feel very drained by this whole thing because he wants to finish his book, but he has strong feelings for the men as well. Towards the end of the movie, Capote is even reluctant to tell Smith the name of his book, In Cold Blood, because he doesn't want him to feel bad. The two men are finally executed in 1965. Capote was present at the execution and is finally able to finish his book. It was a huge success and Capote never wrote any more books again.

MR: Legend of the Falls

2007-12-07T11:03:00.000-06:00

Legend of the Falls was produced in 1994 based on the novel by Jim Harrison. The setting of the movie spans from just before World War I into the Prohibition time and into the 1920s. It is base on the Ludlow family of Montana. The father Colonial Ludlow, played by Anthony Hopkins being a veteran of the Indian War and after being perpetrated by the Indians decides to move away from all the nonsense and actual hires a couple of Natives as hired hands on his ranch. The most significant being One Stab, a native who speaks mostly of his Cree people, and narrates the movie. Colonial Ludlow and his wife, who was born and raised in a city, leaves him and their three sons to return to the city. The middle son, Tristan (Brad Pitt), is wild, handsome, and one who has studied the ancient American Indian traditions. The oldest son, Alfred (Aidan Quinn), is mature even at a young age, always responsible, and cautious. The youngest son, Samuel (Henry Thomas), is naive but educated, and constantly being watched over by his brothers. As the story expands, Samuel comes home from Helena and brings his fiancé Suzanne (Julia Ormond) whose presence is captivating for all. Samuel decides he wants to serve the country and enter into World War I, when he does this his dad and brothers are obscured. His brothers decide they most enter in order to protect their little brother. While in the war, Tristan comes upon Samuel getting brutally killed, and is deeply affected by it. When Tristan and Alfred return from the war, both console their father and Suzanne who obviously is attracted to Tristan. Alfred, being in love with Suzanne purposed at his brother Samuel's grave saying it's what Samuel would have wanted. Susanne declines. Susanne later finds Tristan weeping at the grave, and comforts him. Alfred, jealous because he is aware of their attraction, and having seen them return together from a ride, makes a sharp comment to Tristan at dinner that night which sends him storming out. Susanne follows, and he turns and kisses her. The two become lovers. The story ends with Tristan, still largely affected by his brother's death, leaving Suzanne and his family at the ranch for about 10 years. When he returns from traveling the world, Suzanne has married Alfred and lives in the city with him. When Tristan returns he falls in love with One Stable men's daughter, marries her, and later she is killed as Tristan is caught dealing alcohol during Prohibition. After Suzanne hears of the marriage she is distraught and kills herself from being jealous because she always loved Tristan. The story ends of Tristan encountering a bear, which is significant in the fact that Tristan's characteristics are like a bear. The bear ends up killing Tristan in the woods of Montana, but the actual bear lives on, just as Tristan's spirit would have.

2007-12-07T10:52:00.000-06:00

McLintock, starring John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, and Patrick Wayne is a great western comedy. John Wayne is George Washington McLintock, a cattle baron, who has to spend most of the movie defending his land. Katie (Katherine as she would have it) used to be a rugged wife of McLintock's and they reminisce about the old tough times and Indian fighting throughout the movie. She was brainwashed by the East and the city life, which has partially affected their daughter as well. McLintock basically has a steak in everything in the town life and is depicted as the white mans only real means of communication with the Indians. The Indians are depicted in a very derogatory way as only wanting to go on the war path, get guns, and they are lead by one drunken Indian that is in eternal whiskey party mode. During a town festival, they are given guns and ride through the town shooting up the place with the cavalry hot on their tail. McLintock has to go and settle a dispute between new settlers who want their steak and McLintock does not want to give up his acres of cattle land. In the end, the unruly women are spanked and taught a lesson and they live happily ever after.
McLintock told of the ruggedness of the plains and the changes over time, which resulted as more settlers came to towns and were looking for land. It also demonstrated a sense of how the Indians felt after being chased off their lands by the white man. This depiction of the Indians was very stereotypical for westerns at the time. Overall I think McLintock is my favorite John Wayne movie.

RP - More Rawhide!

2007-12-07T10:49:00.000-06:00

My second dipping into the world of Rawhide was no less fruitful than the last. After years of telling my parents that I hated Westerns, I'm coming to the conclusion that that isn't the case at all (my first clue should have been when I began to like High Noon and the Magnificent 7).
In these episodes we learn that women on the Plains were, for better or worse, evil; especially if Rowdy becomes interested in one of them. In the first of the anti-woman set, the crew find a woman standing next to a burning house; she explains that it was her house, her parents died of a disease, and she didn't want to bury them and get it herself. They offer to take her with them to the nearest town, which she agreed to do. Of course, all if not what it seems and, after flirting heavily with Rowdy, its discovered that she is part of a gang which wants to steal the Cattle Drive's payroll!
Rowdy contines his bad luck in the next episode, where they find a woman baking candy and singing in a house surrounded by dead Indians. Despite her acting crazy, a show, it quickly becomes obvious that she poisoned the natives out of revenge for the slaying of her husband. Unfortuantely, Rowdy has once again fallen for the woman and decided to escort her back to the East coast for her own safety. Everythinh comes out in the open when she runs into her sister an dbrother in law, and is then shot by the cheif of the Deleware Tribe out of revenge for the killing of his brother.
The depiction of Indians in this episode is, although not wholly negative, hardly politically correct. The tribe, although Christian, is shown to be friendly but childlike. Of course, this is still much better than the women of these episodes which are shifty, coniving and secretive; they bring nothing but disorder and strife to the all-male world ofthe Cattle Drive.

RP: Lecture 9

2007-12-07T10:48:00.001-06:00

Lecture 9 was about immigration onto the plains. The main immigrants into North Dakota were Norwegians and German Russians. At first the main ethnic group in North Dakota was Norwegians but through the years the Germans have taken the title as the largest ethnic group. For the most part on the plains immigrants tended to stick together making towns that were mostly one ethnic group. When moving over here some immigration was planned carefully by having one man come over and find a good place to live and buying land for the rest of the community to come over as well. This was not the only type of immigration however their was also chain immigration. Chain immigration worked because one family would decide to move over to the plains and eventually when another family from that community decided they were moving to the plains they thought may as well move to the same area as our friends and so it kind of worked like a chain movement. German Russians were primarily from two spots in Russia the Black Sea German Russian, and the Volga German Russians. Onto the plains their was also a large movement of Methodists, and of course their was always other group as well however these were the main movements. On the plains before the immigrants however their was also a group of Yankees usually running the towns before they got there. However most of them waited for the immigrants to get here and settle down then they made a killing selling land to the immigrants and then they left out much richer.

By: Justin Nygaard

MR:Our Daily Bread

2007-12-07T10:38:00.000-06:00

Our Daily Bread reflects the time of the Great Depression, and how hard life in the city was. John Sims and his wife Mary live in the city and cannot find work. Mary invites her uncle over to their house for supper to see if he would give John a job but ends up giving them land in the country. John did not know anything about farming, but he decided to start his own community where everyone would work together, not for money, but to help each other out. A good example of this is in the community there is a stonemason and a carpenter building a house right next to each other. The carpenter is trying to build a fireplace and cannot get it, while the stonemason is trying to assemble the frame for his house. They both realize that neither one is doing a good job, so they decide to switch jobs, and work on a part that they each know how to do. The community plants corn but a drought sets in and by the end of the summer everyone begins giving up, including John. John was to the point where he was running away with another lady who came to the community, when he heard that there was water flowing 2 miles from their community. He rushed back to tell everyone, and after some convincing, they all work together to build a creek towards the field. Finally they get water to the corn and they are all able to survive. The movie shows how if everyone pulls together their resources and knowledge, that you can accomplish many things. It also shows that you must never give up on yourself and your dream because miracles really do happen. The movie also shows what life was like in the plains during the great depression and how everyone was affected by the depression, as many families came to the community.

FR: Friday Night Lights

2007-12-07T10:16:00.000-06:00

Friday Night Lights is a 2004 movie, which is based on a book by H.G. Bissenger called Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, and A Dream. This movie tells of the 1988 Permian Panthers rocky season and shows their highs and lows. They are coached by Gary Gaines, who is played by Billy Bob Thornton, who seems to be on the verge of losing his job. Though out the season, Gaines seems to be getting threats from the people in the town that if it does not win, they will hurt him.They story really focuses on a couple of the players and how they struggle with football and their everyday lives. James "Booby" Miles, played by Derek Luke, is stud of a running back but tears his ACL. The movie shows how Miles tries to come back, and gets hurt even more. Miles season and career are over after the injury. Another player that is focused on in the movies is Don Billingsley, played by Garrett Hedlund. Billignsley has a rocky relationship with his father Charles, played wonderfully by Tim McGraw. Charles is an alcoholic and absolutely obsessed with football. In the movie, Charles duct tapes a football to Don's hands. This is a theme though out the movie. Even the town is obsessed with football. The team makes it to the playoffs and all the way to the championship ,but runs into a buzz saw that was Dallas Carter High School. This made for a climatic end to the movie. Permian loses but the game is very close.

I found that this is common theme on the plains. I experienced this to an extent but not as intense. Football or sports in general is the glue that makes the community come together.

Heritage Site: Heritage Hjemkomst Center

2007-12-07T09:50:00.000-06:00

Not too long ago I visited the Heritage Hjemkomst in Moorhead, and I highly recommend that anyone spending some time in the Fargo/Moorhead area should check it out. Once you pay the admission fee, there is so much for you to be able to do, including a Viking ship, a Stave Church, the Clay County Historical Society's museum and a separate part of the building that has an exhibit that changes. The Viking ship is the first thing that I saw, and it is really very impressive. An area man built the ship by hand in a potato warehouse not too far east of here on highway 10. After completing the ship, the builder and his family launched this ship in Duluth, then sailed it to the east cost through the great lakes, and eventually sailed it across the ocean to Norway. The other great thing at the center is the Stave church which was built by a group of people from the metro area. The church is as close to the original Norwegian construction method as modern building codes would allow. The design of the church is really quite spectacular, especially when you learn that the real churches in Norway were built without modern fasteners, but instead fit together with properly notched wood. Along with the construction of the church, there is an amazing amount of hand carving done on the inside and outside along the front entrance. It is all really cool to see and everyone should!

RP: Lecture 11 (Final Lecture)

2007-12-07T09:43:00.000-06:00

Dr. Isern’s final lecture for this course was about community on the plains. Isern discussed the great sense of community that has been found on the plains for as long as there have been people here. I found it interesting to hear him talk about how when the overnight boom towns came with the railroads, a sense of community came almost instantly. Isern talked about how community differed from those living in town and those out on the farm. Townsfolk would primarily be involved in some sort of lodge, such as the masons, would be primarily from Yankee stock, and would hold town social events. Farmers grouped up in more similar ethnic backgrounds, had a strong community built around the church, and would visit socially from farm to farm. With the coming of the automobile this all began to change and the sense of community began transforming as well. Starting in the 1920’s rural populations began to dwindle as more people moved to town and many left in the wartime era of the 1940’s as well. There was a short boom in the 1950’s and ‘60’s, but unfortunately that was short-lived. Present day North Dakota is primarily centered along the two major highways running east to west; those being of course Highway 2 in northern ND, and I-94 across southern ND. All the major "Class A" towns can be found along those two roads.

I really enjoyed this last lecture from Isern, and think it was a good lecture to end with. I still feel there is a great sense of community to be found here on the plains. I know where I grew up almost everyone knows everyone else, and it’s impossible to go to the grocery store, gas station, or any parts store and not run into someone you know. I miss that now living in the big city of Fargo; it seems you loose some sense of community when a town gets too large. Overall though this lecture was short, but very enjoyable, much like the class as a whole.

Film Review: The Alamo

2007-12-07T09:35:00.000-06:00

The movie begins with a man riding into a town saying the Alamo has fallen after the shot at the scene at the Alamo. The movie is based on the events that took place before, during and after the Alamo. The movie goes back in time to show Sam Houston selling Texas and Davey Crockett asking Sam Houston to come out and see what Texas has to offer. After Crockett makes it out to Texas he takes Lt. William Travis with him to the Alamo after being asked to defend it by Houston. The men seem to underestimate the Mexicans attacking and begin to fight amongst themselves meanwhile the Mexicans are beginning to surround the Alamo. The Mexican General Santa Anna waits anxiously for Sam Houston to arrive and after he doesn’t they start a series of attacks on the fort. They refused to take surrender from them and keep attacking. After waiting a long time Lt. Travis begins to realize the strength in his men and gains a lot of respect for them and gives them a motivational speech to keep them going. After getting the men to fight, they all die except for Crockett who threatens Houston’s arrival on Santa Anna. Santa Anna does not surrender and says he will kill Crockett on the spot. After Houston arrived Crockett’s word was the truth and the Mexicans were taken down. I thought it was a great film and did a wonderful job in portraying what the Alamo must’ve been like.

Return Movies!

2007-12-07T09:24:00.000-06:00

Hey folks,

Some of you may have movies still out. If so, please return them to the department secretary Jack on the top floor of Minard Hall. Jack sits in the office with the big glass windows. Thanks!

RP: Lecture 11 or 12 (the discussion)

2007-12-07T09:11:00.000-06:00

Lecture 11 or 12, the last hurrah was a big discussion on Dr. Isern’s book Dakota Circle. The discussion added a little bit more to the book because we got the North Dakotan perspective and the Minnesotan view on the book. We first broke up into our five groups and discussed the overall theme of the book which was a collection of short stories and experiences that targeted essentially locals for its reading audience. Then Dr. Isern called and we conducted a very successful internet class or whatever you would call it. There were only a few interruptions because of the connection, which is much better than I expected. After discussion, we opened up the floor to questions and such questions were asked such as who the book was intended for, when did he get the idea to put the book together, and why there were not any road maps in the book.
The discussion drew from old lectures such as Webb’s Theory, ethnic cultures on the plains, and small town claims to fame through big ugly objects. This topic has come up in multiple lectures. We finally asked the question, do Minnesotans feel such a connection or sense of pride in their big statues? I believe we (Minnesotans) do not take as much pride in them because they are tucked away better, there is more scenery to enjoy so you do not have to stop and marvel at an ugly statue because it is the only thing around. For instance, I think only two of us Minnesotans knew about the big ball of yarn and none of us cared.

RP: Lecture 11

2007-12-07T08:46:00.001-06:00

This was another short lecture about community on the Plains. Dr. Isern began by explaining the population boom and decline on the Plains. The population boom started after WWII when all the war veterans came home and wanted to start a family. Once the children grew up they decided they did not want to live on the Plains anymore and also if they stayed they did not have as big of families as previous generations. We also discussed how population follows the major roadways. Dr. Isern showed us how all the big cities of North Dakota are found on either I-94 or Highway 2 by drawing a map on the blackboard. We also talked about how farms have become larger and larger because less people want to farm. Dr. Isern had a good theory that the parents encouraged their children to go to college and get a job away from the farm so they could sell the farm and live in a nice condo in Arizona. I thought this was a great theory because I have been to Yuma, AZ to visit my grandparents and there are a lot of people from the Plains that live there.

RP: Lecture 10

2007-12-07T08:32:00.001-06:00

This was a short lecture about politics on the Plains. Plains states tend to send Republicans to the state government and Democrats to the national government. This seems odd to me since most Plains states are considered Republican states. It would seem then that they should send Republicans to both parts of the government if they are considered Republican states. Radicals were the next subject for the lecture. Agrarian radicals show up most on the Plains. This is because there are a lot of farmers on the Plains. Then we moved to the 4 point model and Gordon Kahl. Next was the dependency theory which covered the Staples Theory, Carl Kraenzel, Elwyn Robinson's 6 Themes, American Sectionalism, and the dependency theory in the southern hemisphere. Politics are not my favorite subject but it was still a good lecture.

RP: Lecture 11

2007-12-07T08:28:00.000-06:00

Lecture 11 dealt with the population boom on the great plains through the 1960s and the the ultimate population decline that occured starting in the 1970s. Professor Isern presented us with the information about how small towns were bustling communities until the automobile came around and started to change everythingand that peopl could go where they wanted to get there supplies or take their travels. this also lead to the eventual movement of people away from parts of the great plains as the automobile allowed people to move much easier to larger populated cities and towns leaving some of the smll communities that littered the plains just shells of their former selves. I found this unique in the fact that you still see this largely today as small communities are tending to still shinki becasue people will move away to larger communities like fargo, or the cities.

Matt Liese

RP: Lecture 9

2007-12-07T08:20:00.000-06:00

This lecture focused on immigration mostly of Germans from Russia. The Great Plains was a great spot for immigrants that wanted to keep their culture. They could buy large sections of land and group together with people from their home country. There were 3 different patterns for migration, chain, group settlement, and dispersed settlement. Chain migration is when one person comes to the new land and then sends letters to the home country encouraging more people to come. Group settlement consisted of sending a scout to the new land to choose a good spot and then the rest of the group would come and settle in the same area. Dispersed settlement is random people settling anywhere. Assimilation still remains a debate today because some say it is necessary for cooperation and others discourage it because of isolation. The Germans from Russia began coming to America in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Some of the reasons were because Russia wanted them to become Russian and the men to join the army. Many also came to preserve their German culture. Next we talked about Mexicanos on the Plains. They come to work the beet fields and packing houses. They have a different objective then the Germans from Russia. The Mexicanos come looking for work instead of to preserve their heritage or because of government pressure.