Reunion doesn't even start till tonight & I've already seen many of the people I most want to. I like easing into it, getting some talks before it's all a jumble of "oh my goodness" & "how are you?!" & "where are you living now." I kind of love being this old & able/willing to be real with people. Realizing again why I like the people I did. I only have an hour before the next event so I will pick this up again later. So very happy to be here!
NauenThen
Sioux Falls
Comments
Jul 28, 2021 3:08 PM EDT
About 25 years ago I had a job interview with Gateway Computers who then were headquartered in Sioux City and I had to fly into Sioux Falls. I got a job offer but decided against it because I had recently taken my UK-born wife and son to another state and I just thought it would've been too much to ask of her to relocate. I do a lot of 'geo-snooping' (my made up term, but feel free to use it!) and love to use Google Maps Streetview to look around small towns in the Midwest; i.e. Vermillion, S.D., Pella, IA. and many others. Also, a number of years ago I took a 'sale-priced' ticket to Pierre, S.D. on a whim and spent an interesting two days there.
- Michael Sharpe
Jul 28, 2021 3:15 PM EDT
Wow, I totally love this. Feel free to geo-snoop 812 West 23rd in Sioux Falls (57105). We moved there from across the street when I was 10, but our old house isn't still there.
- Elinor
Jul 28, 2021 3:16 PM EDT
p.s. did you learn the local way to pronounce Pierre?
- EN
Jul 28, 2021 5:09 PM EDT
I did learn how to pronounce it 'local' :) I've still got some pictures I took. Not too long after that there was a major epidemic of Elm disease in the region and I was heartbroken to think that perhaps the stunning elms around the capitol and the city might've been afflicted and removed!
- Michael Sharpe
Jul 28, 2021 5:17 PM EDT
Re: the Sioux Falls address -what a lovely home to grow up in! Just looking at it I can almost create my own memories of a faux (lot of 'x's being thrown around today!) childhood! Weekend before last I took four days and drove from our home in Greenville, South Carolina to New Harmony, IN. If you're not familiar with it please take a few minutes to look at it. I was entranced (not a word I would ever use in conversation with my male friends! :). I was the only guest in a B&B (the A.C. Thomas House) which was immaculate. The town/village is nearly picture perfect and had many places that I like to call "poet's houses!"
- Michael Sharpe
Jul 28, 2021 5:24 PM EDT
You live in Greenville?! I've spent a lot of time in Spartanburg since I was 19 ~ one of my oldest (post-Sioux Falls) friends is from there. I love Greenville, though we don't go there very often. We usually drive up to Murphy NC to see friends ~ that is one nice drive, through the Nantahala & Sylva etc. I will check out New Harmony ~ some intentional community was there? I have a vague idea of heard of it.
- EN
Jul 28, 2021 5:41 PM EDT
There were two "intentional communities" in New Harmony. The first was founded by George Rapp a German semi-mystic with Calvinist leanings. His community then sold their land and infrastructure to Robert Owen, thus the second community.
re: Spartanburg, I'm actually taking a tour of the BMW plant there tomorrow. Also last week I drove to the Cowpens National Battlefield Memorial which is 13 miles NE of Spartanburg. I'm trying to be a scholar of early American History (Ha, another failed scholarly endeavor!) and at least this gives me an excuse to get out of the house!
- Michael Sharpe
Jul 28, 2021 5:48 PM EDT
I've never been to Cowpens, tho my friend lives on that side of S'burg. Robert Owen, yes ~ I had Brooks in my mind but he was MA. Sometimes it's more fun to make it up than look it up, or, rather, see where the wisps of memory lead me. I think those are, in fact, highly successful scholarly endeavors. First off, you know SOMETHING & more than a lot of people. And you get in your car & look at things. Why does it have to be more complete than that, unless you're getting your PhD on the first 15 minutes of the Revolutionary War.
- Elinor
Jul 29, 2021 2:57 PM EDT
Speaking of Brook Farm, if you haven't you and Johnny must read Van Wyck Brooks' "The Flowering of New England, 1815-1865" which is a joyful foray into the world of Boston and New England, combining criticism, local color, and gossip of the key intellectuals and artistic greats of that era. I had to be 'dinorsaurish' but a modern group would consist of Tweeters, podcasters, and Starbuck habitues! I don't think Van Wyck would have a lot of use for them!
- Michael Sharpe