Diving into the Wreck--Adrienne Rich Gone Too

Not only has the Earl left us, but also the Poet, Adrienne Rich, one who led us on the dive below the surface of words in one of her most famous poems:

I stroke the beam of my lamp
slowly along the flank
of something more permanent
than fish or weed
the thing I came for:
the wreck and not the story of the wreck
the thing itself and not the myth.  

Fierce in her feminism, Rich left the world poorer in poetry on Tuesday when she left.

Watch Remembering Banjo Player Earl Scruggs, Poet Adrienne Rich on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

The Earl is Dead. Long Live the Earl.

Earl Scruggs is gone.  There will be bluegrass tears all through the country, mostly from folks who came to love the banjo through his fancy fingerwork.  His banjo picking on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" album and the recorded commentary from him there were the things that drew me in.  I was taken enough to purchase a banjo way back in 1978, and I carted that banjo and Scruggs' banjo instruction record around for over 30 years.  Too bad I only ever learned a couple of licks and never really played.  But I always appreciate a good banjo picker, and Earl was among the best.  He was a great ambassador for the instrument.  Story here.
Enjoy this banjo dynamo as he appeared with Steve Martin and other men with banjos on David Letterman. 

St. Patrick's Day--Limericks and Libation

A week late, but the B's had their annual St. Patrick's Day party this past weekend, giving us some time to get together, share some limericks and talk, and gather 'round the "campfire" for storytelling and catching up.  Returning visitors from Missouri came up, and this photo shows the elite crew that remained until late, long after the lighter weight classes had cashed it in.  It was a great time!

Fictions in Your Brain

A talk yesterday with some budding creative writers, followed by reading an article about scientists looking at the brain on fiction has prompted some thinking about fiction.  It appears that a brain reading good fiction (see--good fiction) reacts to the text in a way similar to its reaction to events occurring in real life.  So says a recent article in the NY Times. 

I was saying as much to a small audience of Dr. Blessinger's creative writing class.  Young writers always struggle, perhaps knowing that their work is not up to the standards of good fiction or poetry or non-fiction writers, but knowing too that they need to work through those weaknesses, that not everyone gets to reach the top echelons with ease, or at all.

So we all struggle, boats against the current.

Let It Snow Snow

Madison has not seen a lot of snowy days this winter, but February shall not pass without one.  Here we're getting a good dose, light and fluffy, with no wind (yet).

The Shooter's Legacy

This week has brought its share of unpleasant excitement, and it's no small thing in a town like Madison, where people know people in a tightly-knit kind of way. We have a friend who can generate family trees, along with temporary relationships and marriages, from generations past, and she's not a Madison native.  Even I, after living here a mere 10 years, know well how many of the townspeople are related to each other, who their kids are, and what their family history is.

But the discovery of an apparent 50-year grudge of one man against another stemming from an incident in high school is a real revelation, the stuff of fiction.  In news reports about the shooting of Norm Johnson by Carl Ericsson, the motive apparently comes from some incident lost to the memories of all but the shooter.  It reminds me a bit of Edgar Allan Poe's story, "The Cask of Amontillado," in which the narrator Montresor reports that he had borne a "thousand injuries" and so sets out to wall away Fortunato in the catacombs to die slowly in revenge for those unidentified injuries.  Poe's story identifies its narrator as the one carrying the grudge, the other not knowing what motive lies behind Montresor's actions.

In any case, the creative writer in me sees the possibilities in this small-town tragedy, dreaming as is my wont about the scene or scenes that may have played out repeatedly in the imagination or memory of the tortured soul.

I'm reminded though, that Poe had an idea of revenge that you'll see in movies and tv shows:  the act of revenge must be known about, that the person seeking revenge must inform their victim and have them know what's being done.  At the end of "Cask," the narrator, noting that it's been 50 years since he walled up Fortunato, still nurses a grudge, having never told his victim what was going on, so what he asks for at the end is perhaps not for Fortunato, but for his own conscience: "In pace requiscat!"  

Shooter in Madison, SD

Last night nerves were on edge after a fatal shooting occurred in downtown Madison, not far from Dakota State University.  Today they're still a little frayed, with some imagining a threat at every turn, afraid to go out, fearful of someone waiting to injure random citizens.  It's easy to let one's imagination run wild and see a killer on every corner, but I just can't muster up the siege mentality when someone probably had a specific beef and addressed it by attacking someone else.  People usually attack people they know, not random folks. Fault me for minimizing the threat, putting me, the wife, and the dog in danger, but that's my nature, and it keeps my life in the kind of perspective I like.  I'm not the center of the world; important things--things that the history of the world, or even the town, will recall--happen somewhere else.  This thing is not about me.

In the meantime, Madison police are patrolling the streets, looking for a white guy, 50-60 years old, medium height, who was seen driving a maroon, four-door sedan.  Sources say he might be wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap.  The scene played out on Egan Avenue and Fifth Street, near Memorial Park.  Our campus was on lock-down last night but classes resume today.

Proust and Family Memories

No, the title doesn't refer specifically to the author of one of the most interesting novel/memoir works in the 20th century.  Proust a website that prompts the user to gather information about themselves and from others to tell their life story.  Looks interesting.


Introduction To Proust.com from Proust on Vimeo.

Global Game Jam at DSU 2012

Global Game-Jammers gathered at DSU this weekend to work together to build a video game under the tutelage of their fellows and faculty Jeff Howard and Steve Graham.  Fellow DSU faculty member Nate Edwards created this video to illustrate the goings-on of the students and others who worked and played long hours to create their games.  Nice job, everyone!  

Have You Seen These Movies? Not Likely.

We're lucky, in our small town, to have a movie theater with two screens, and every night they offer something to watch, at six bucks a head.  But I can't help but stop and notice when the two movies offered seem to be tamer versions of some of the popular films being shown elsewhere across the country.  How about taking the dragon out of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," so it's not so darned wild-sounding.  Doesn't a movie like "Girl with a Tattoo" sound a lot more like a small-town movie?  And rather than "We Bought a Zoo," how does "We Bought a Soo" sound?  That might be a little more controversial if you realize that some have, over the years spelled Sioux as Soo.  Sure, they just got the Z up there backwards, but it's interesting to mark the little things that make living in a small town so darned interesting.

(Just a little note here:  the bowling alley/lounge is NOT connected to the theater.  They just share the sign.)

New (Interim) Prez at DSU: David Borofski

The South Dakota Board of Regents just announced our interim president at DSU for the coming year as they search for a new president to replace Dr. Doug Knowlton.  It's Dr. David Borofski, currently the provost and chief academic officer at Westwood College, a for-profit school with its headquarters in Denver, CO.

Let's hope he's the man for the job.  He won't be a candidate to replace Knowlton.

At Home at the Yarn Farm

The wife, who has taken knitting under her wing, is discovering how cast-off sweaters you might find in a thrift store are really hiding places for balls of yarn.  It seems to be working out that way, as the photo to the left shows.  Having teased the seams apart, we then spooled the sections into balls, the balls into loops, the loops then soaked and cleaned.  Now, she's waiting for the five different sections (front/back/sleeves/turtleneck) to dry.  She's got 820 yards of wool yarn to work with, less than four bucks invested (but a fair chunk of time).

Walt Whitman and Robert Frost: Pitchmen

When I heard Walt Whitman's long-lost recording of "America" used in an ad for Levi's jeans, it didn't ring wrong to me; the recording is in the public domain, and the commercial seemed a soft sell, pitching American values and freedom more than any particular product.  The match between the video images and the audio (with subtitles) is nice, and the visibility it gives to the poet seems to me to be okay.  But would it hurt to name the poet?  Give him some credit.

Things seem different in the new Jeep Wrangler commercial, which shows the Jeep navigating a snowy road as an audio recording of Robert Frost reading from "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening."  A small text tag at the end identifies the poet, the poem, and the copyright holder:  Henry Holt.  What's next?

"Dust of War" Trailer--SD After the Apocalypse

DUST OF WAR TRAILER from Andrew Kightlinger on Vimeo.
Friends and former students were in on the filming of this cool-looking movie using the backdrop of the territory near Pierre, SD.  I'm looking forward to seeing it.  Those costumes look great, thanks to our own Kelly Macleod here in good old Madison, SD.

Cosmic Reminder: You're Double-Lucky

January 11, 2012

Check the name of the blog:  it's a Horseshoe Seven, my grandfather's brand.  It's a symbol that calls upon two kinds of luck--the lucky horseshoe, the lucky seven.  So today, as we relish our first snow fall of the year, and the first snow fall of the winter, and a little of that good old South Dakota wind and cold, it's fitting that the day also bring something more.

And here it is, the seed catalog that says spring is not that far out, friends, and even as you're thinking that a spring break trip might be just the ticket, you'd better also be thinking about which tomato plants you're going to go with this summer.

Coming to the End of Another Semester

Things always get a little hairy and busy at the end of a long semester, and the fall term has a special difficulty with Christmas nipping at my heels as I try to get all my grading done and the final grades in.  But I'm closing the gap now as I edge ever closer to the end point, and it's fun to see the result of the student work all through the 16-week period.  One of those things I can share is my students' work on some little informational videos we post on a blog site.  It's here:  http://compdsu.blogspot.com/

Sure, the videos are a little uneven, but consider the students put these together after finishing their long researched essay (some of which were condensed to the video text) and they only had a week to work on it.  Nice.  I'll keep doing it.

The Tinder Box Heats Up Mochavino's

The Tinder Box at Mochavino's

Mochavino's was graced tonight with the cool bluegrass fusion band The Tinder Box this evening.  These guys have a unique sound, mixing banjo, guitar, and trumpet with some high lonesome vocals, a snare, and a bass drum.  Nothing plugs in!
Their original music, available on a free CD they offer at each appearance, is haunting and beautiful, and I find myself playing the songs over again and singing along.  Check out some of their music on their Facebook page or on their Youtube page.
The three guys are Dominic Osterloh on banjo, Chad Konrad on guitar, etc., and John Wallner, trumpet.  Chad and John offer up some great harmonies while Dominic picks away on the banjo.  You might think the combination sounds a little odd, but these guys have it worked out.  It's really amazing what a philosophy, sociology, and psychology major can put their collective minds to.  Their songs are often haunting and sorrowful, but then they'll do a foot-stomping blues number and shake things up.  Nice.
Combine that with some good food, good company, and good conversation, and things are . . . good.

First Fire

All through the summer, back into spring, back to last winter and beyond, and even now, as winter rolls in and the roads and fields finally turn white with snow, I've been stocking up for the cold, stacking wood, splitting, stacking again into the back yard.  And now it's time to fire up the stove, finally, and turn that wood into heat for the house.  And for Walter, the old dog whose big trick is to find the warmest place in the warmest room.  Now he can find a spot that's too warm for even him.  He won't go to the edge of the fire, creep too near the stove.
We've had such good weather coming into this winter that a fire in the stove hasn't seemed right, so the big heater has stayed cool until last night, when the right thing seemed to be, bring the ash can and log holder up from the basement, lay the fire tools near the stove, bring newspapers in to get the ball rolling, gather up kindling to be the first to flame, then add the first logs to the fire.  Fast forward an hour or so and the stove is blazing and the thermometer, set at 70 degrees, now shows the room to be at 75.  Finally, the payoff for cutting, hauling, splitting, stacking, bringing into the house.  Walter, now snoring by the fire, seems thankful.

Nate Berkus Likes My Brother's Pottery

Okay, so the name Nate Berkus didn't spring to my mind as a mover and shaker that I had heard of, but once I started the video I recognized him from some morning shows.  And LO!  He recently recognized my brother Jered's Pottery as a great source of some inexpensive, but finely crafted pieces.

And now I can say, "Nate likes it.  You might too!"  He's on Etsy, and 'he's also got his own site:  http://www.jeredspottery.com/.  It's beautiful stuff.  You'll like it too, and it makes great gifts.

Looking Forward to a Darn Tough Winter

Winter has come.  Snow has fallen, wind driven and cold, covering most of the leaves that never got raked, the wood that didn't get moved yet, the snowmobiles that have rested since spring came, the porch floor that didn't get painted.  So now some of those are hidden, temporarily, until spring comes round again.  Meanwhile, the wife and I are happily facing a short week, just one long day and one short one, then a Wednesday free from duties, then a Thursday for giving thanks.

One item on my thankful list is this dandy pair of Darn Tough socks, a gift from my daughter and her beau.  They're guaranteed to last as long as I hope their relationship does--meaning, for a lifetime.

I've been dogging on the blogging, but we have been busy, gone to Sioux Falls for a weekend getaway on Veterans Day, where we enjoyed a stay at the Holiday Inn, dinners at Parker's Bistro, Phillips Avenue Diner, and Bros Brasserie Americano.  All great places to eat.

In addition, we enjoyed an evening with the Carpe Diem String Quartet and picked up a copy of their Montana CD, which extends the enjoyment of the weekend.  It's awesome, tough and beautiful, like Montana itself and this fine Vermont pair of socks.