Who knew "City of Hustle" was a moniker for my hometown? Not me, but apparently Patrick Hicks & Jon Lauck, editors the editors of the forthcoming anthology of that name do. It's not due out till October but I'm sure you'll want to preorder now, especially when you find out the book includes my essay on the Nordic Hall (secret heart of Scandinavian Sioux Falls). I also didn't know it was residents (or anyone) who call Sioux Falls "the Best Little City in America." But it's 100% accurate that Money magazine once named Sioux Falls the best place to live in America.
NauenThen
The Nioux Sioux Falls
July 18, 2021
I've never seen the water in the Falls so low.
Really something to see all the bike & walking trails, how the Falls area has been beautified. This is not my Sioux Falls of 50 years ago in so many ways. It's great to see that the city has been smart about development.
As for my high school reunion: why didn't I take more pictures? Still processing but I'll have highlights soon enough.
Sioux Falls
July 16, 2021
The federal building, Sioux Falls, a block from my dad's office & my high school.
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!
Sioux Falls memory
December 9, 2018
In the summer we kids would get to ride in the back of the station wagon in our pajamas to the A&W on Minnesota Avenue & maybe 28th or 29th Street. We usually weren't allowed to order a root beer float with ice cream but we did get baby-size mugs of root beer. So delicious. I loved those heavy glasses. Read More
America's pinkest city
August 31, 2017
I love when my hometown shows up in the news (at least when it's for beauty not some crazy dingbat move by a senator or state rep).
This article talks about Sioux quartzite, a very hard, reddish stone. My high school & many important downtown buildings, along with some of the fancy late 19th-century homes on Prairie & Duluth avenues, are made of Sioux quartzite, so it never seemed that special because so ubiquitous. Beautiful, for sure, but how was I to know it wasn't like this everywhere? Read More
This article talks about Sioux quartzite, a very hard, reddish stone. My high school & many important downtown buildings, along with some of the fancy late 19th-century homes on Prairie & Duluth avenues, are made of Sioux quartzite, so it never seemed that special because so ubiquitous. Beautiful, for sure, but how was I to know it wasn't like this everywhere? Read More
High school redux
August 25, 2014
5 Sioux Falls girls: Jacque, Stacey, Bessie, Becky, me
It's going to take a lot of sorting & thinking before I can talk much about my weekend with some of the people I went to high school with. It's hard not to say "girls" even though it's been more than 40 years. But that's what we were, and I guess always will be to each other. With nuance.
I have to go get the eye test where they dilate, so probably not more today, unless I ace the test, but I haven't aced anything since high school. Read More
I have to go get the eye test where they dilate, so probably not more today, unless I ace the test, but I haven't aced anything since high school. Read More
Some personal history
September 8, 2013
A fun thing in Sioux Falls was to go to the airport, Joe Foss Field (named after the WWII flying ace, American Football League commissioner, former governor, and possibly South Dakota’s most famous native son), and watch the plane take off or land. I’d say planes, but it wasn’t exactly a Read More
By way of intro
August 22, 2013
In high school, I wrote a column, called NauenThen, for the school newspaper, the Orange & Black. My two-years-younger brother went on to write NauenAgain, and my youngest sister didn’t write NauenForever. Forty years later, it occurs to me to revive that rubric for a more frequent outpouring. I’ve been wanting a deadline, to take a stand, to be interesting. Let’s see how it goes. Read More