I'm not sure what I can say to convince you to read this article by Garrison Keillor, published in the National Geographic. Maybe you're already a fan and it won't take convincing. Maybe you've always felt you wouldn't find much in common with him, but I would beg to differ. This story, of his life growing up in Minnesota, is really Everyone's story. It doesn't matter if you grew up in the country, the city, or the suburbs, as did my friend, JB, who sent the original article to me via real mail (a letter in the mailbox! Oh happy day!).
Anyway, I loved every sentence of this beautiful piece of writing. It reminded me why I returned to Minnesota, my home state. My answer is the same as his. You'll find it here, right up to the last sentence:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/02/keillor-geography/keillor-text
Photograph by Erika Larsen
Wow, what a piece of writing! Twenty-some years ago I also returned here to my home state and I too am a lover of place. There are childhood memories just outside the door.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it? I'm so glad you read it. So much of life, maybe everything, is concentric. This sense of place really speaks to me. Thank you.
DeleteBorn and raised in Minneapolis (North Mpls till 5 & Fridley till graduated) and then living most of my adult life in Anoka, Coon Rapids, Fridley, Minnetonka, Osseo, etc...and only being eight years younger than Garrison...I was glued to every word. I may have moved across the river up here to Fargo nine years ago but I am a Minnesotan to my core. It is home. Even if it looks different now. It is home. I loved this. But then I am a fan of his in the first place--LOL! ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you were glued to it as I was. It's so wonderfully written and the places ... although I grew up in the country, those places are all places of my youth in their own way. Lots of memories ... Thank you for commenting, Rita.
DeleteI saw this yesterday, Teresa, and knew I had to wait and take my time reading this piece. Garrison Keillor is a mainstay here. Most Saturday evenings find me, or both of us, with Prairie Home Companion on the radio and I'v quite a few of his books, and, well, you know how it goes.
ReplyDeleteI know some of these places, having a daughter who has lived in MN for 14 years now, but, still, it feels much like it is to fly into Chicago, especially if first circling over Lake Michigan, coming into O'Hare, over my childhood neighborhoods (2) and the town we lived in most of our adult life. Garrison writes in a way that takes your hand and shows you what you already know.
A friend who sends mail? real mail? JB is a good friend, indeed. Thank you for sharing with us here.
I'm so glad for your response. I love this: "Garrison writes in a way that takes your hand and shows you what you already know." So true ... thank you for that thought.
DeleteIt's quite wonderful. He sends me mail fairly often and always with the coolest stamps (I'm a closet philatelist) ... :)
Me, too - a closet philatelist. These days I clip them. Garden clubs have a program with the Audobahn (sp?) organization and the stamps raise funds for endangered birds.
DeleteAudubon ... the Autobahn is the German superhighway where speeding is requisite. :)) Both might include "endangered 'birds'" ... :)
DeleteLong, long ago, I stood on the stage of the Fitzgerald Theater, and saw The Dressing Room. My, what a thrill. Even us Iowans find much to love in Lake Woebegon, and once I turned myself into a Lutheran, and began learning the culture rather than the theology, there was even more to love and laugh at.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who makes an annual summer trek up to Minnesota. She was raised there, and returns for a reunion of Catholic school classmates. They began school together in first grade, many, many, MANY years ago. She wouldn't miss it for the world.
The Lutheran Culture ... love that. It does seem to be so. Keillor has such a good eye/ear for it.
Delete