On Monday, March 13th, I made a presentation
about my Vagabond project at the Haaland Home in Rugby. I described the the origin of the project, the scope of it, and the way I am going about my exploration of the middlewest. And then I read to the folks gathered in front of me from my Vagabond journals, emphasizing some of the Rugby materials I have gathered. After I completed my talk, I opened the floor to questions and comments. This is part of the conversation that followed.
Vagabond: How would you answer the question "Why are you here?"
Audience: Well, my daughter is here, that's why I came up here. To be close to my daughter.
Vagabond: That's one of the most common answers - family. Another common one is "job - my work brought me to this place." [To Sam Thomas in the audience:] Your work brought you to North Dakota; you are originally from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Then once you got here you couldn't leave, and we'll have to find out why that happened. Others of you - why are you here?
Audience: I married into North Dakota. My husband's family came up here from South Dakota and saw all this beautiful hay land and moved up here. And I married him.
Vagabond: So you married into North Dakota?
Audience: 1944.
Vagabond: The rest of you - why are you here? Those of you who served during World War II got to see the whole world. You could have picked some place else, yet you chose North Dakota. You came back here. Why?
Audience: I was in the service for three years and I was all over the United States.
Vagabond: And you came back here and have lived here since?
Audience: I ranched twelve miles out of town. I wanted to ranch. I ranched twelve miles east of here.
Vagabond: So you came back to do what you wanted to do for a livelihood.
Audience: This area has all the things you really want - good family, good living conditions. It's just a terrific community.
Audience: I'm one of a younger generation and people ask me: what are you here for; what do you stay in Rugby for; why don't you want to go onto bigger and better? This is my home. I like it because there are no so many people and because of what it has to offer - it is a quieter life. We can walk out our back door and be in the country. It's a good place to bring up your family; it's the surroundings here; it's nature. My husband loves to fish and hunt. That's probably one big reason why he stays here, because he loves to fish and hunt. In North Dakota, the hunting is right out your back door. Fishing is an hour away. There's a sense here that you belong to a community. It's close-knit. We don't have to deal with the hub-bub of traffic to get to work. The quiet. You know people here; you can talk to them. Living in a big city where the hub-bub is doesn't do it for us.
To be continued....
"The quiet. You know people here; you can talk to them."
This place feels good.
Posted by: Peter | March 21, 2006 at 07:13 PM
Ah, yes, Peter, it is a good place. You gotta be able to put up with some snow and cold, however, and a lot of wind....
Posted by: Tom Montag | March 23, 2006 at 07:24 AM
I finished printing A CONVERSATION AT THE HAALAND HOME".
I Sure enjoyed it as did the residents. Yesterday was my last day at the home until Fall. We leave for a 3 week trip to Texas next week. Looking forward to reading about your adventures in Upham and Lignite. Sam Thomas
Posted by: Sam Thomas | March 29, 2006 at 05:55 AM
Thanks, Sam.
I hope you have a safe trip. You might want to pull onto the main street in West Point as you go past, and drive on their cobblestones....
I am working on the Upham and Lignite materials even as we speak. I hope you are prepared to take a little bit of teasing??
Posted by: Tom Montag | March 29, 2006 at 08:36 PM