[Mpls] Badlands and the Franklin Avenue Library

[paul weir]

I've just returned from ten days in the North Dakota Badlands, where 
I visited a sick parent. Not a happy occasion, to be sure, but it was 
eased somewhat by the chance to do a bit of hiking and take a few 
photographs. And I have to tell you, I was stunned (as I always am) 
by the beauty of that part of the country at this time of year: 
buffalo grazing in juniper glades, cottonwoods rustling in the wind, 
coyotes howling at sundown, not another human for miles around. 
During the day, the sky is an enormous blue bowl;  at night, the 
stars are big as grapes. I'll share the secret with y'all on the 
List, but we should keep it to ourselves. It's the Theodore Roosevelt 
National Park at Medora. If you can take a few days off from life 
here in River City, I thoroughly recommend a camping expedition out 
there. The weather will probably continue to hold until mid-December, 
but then the bottom falls out, and the cold can be deadly.

I did a double take this morning over coffee when I read the Strib's 
editorial on the Franklin Library. For the first time in God knows 
how long, the editorial board got it exactly right: The community did 
a helluva job organizing to keep their library open, and their 
efforts do indeed represent a model for organizing around other 
issues when government resources are so scarce. Congratulations to 
Betsy Sohn, Sally Munger, Ruthie Hammond, and all the Friends of 
Franklin for a superb piece of work.

It's good to be back.

Paul Weir
Phillips


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