What reporter and storyteller Amy Allender brings to the Northern Sentry is a unique perspective of not only Minot, but North Dakota. I have often said that if Amy Allender was selling you a car, it would indeed be the absolute best car available for you and your family. Like she does in her column “I’m Not From Around Here”, she would call attention to all of those little things that make the car she is trying to sell you look great.
By reading Amy’s columns, I often find myself raising my awareness of what it is I see around me. An example I always use is the beautiful yellow flowers of the hundreds of acres Canola that paint the North Dakota landscape this year. Amy would notice those flowers, too, but she would grab you by the hand and take you into the field where you can smell the Canola and watch the many honeybees, from nearby hives that she would also point out, buzzing from flower to flower.
In a recent coffee group conversation, someone asked the question “How could you not want to live in Amy Allender’s North Dakota?” Across the table was another guy who had to respond, “Well say that to me when it’s 40 below zero this winter.”
I want to continue this thought a bit with a recent conversation I had with someone who called me about my healthcare benefits. The conversation was going nowhere, when the young lady out of the clear blue said, “We’ve got some time before my computer goes back online, tell me about North Dakota.” I am pretty sure she was changing the topic because we had been waiting for her computer to re-boot for what seemed like an eternity. OK, I’ll go along with your inquiry and ask a question before I provide an answer. “Have you ever been to North Dakota?” The answer took be a bit off guard when she said, “I’ve lived in California all of my life, and to be honest I don’t even know where North Dakota is.”
Here’s my chance, I thought. I can tell her about our cold, cold winters, or I can share Amy Allender’s North Dakota, and quite honestly Rod Wilson’s North Dakota with her.
We talked about the 4 seasons, and how the trees change color and how a lot of the fields are covered with yellow flowers right now, and some of them will soon have blue flowers that kind of look like an ocean.
She asked whether we ever had picnics or whether we did anything fun outside. A recent memory brought me back to the SkyFest where there were literally 100’s of kites that dotted the deep blue sky over Lake Sakakawea. “Sakakawea what?’ she asked.
Somehow we just quit worrying about her computer re-booting and talked about North Dakota, and a little bit about the plains states. She had heard about Minnesota, but then asked if we were close to Washington D.C.?
I suggested that she maybe got out an Atlas (yep, you guessed it- she had no clue what an Atlas was) and just kind of look at where North Dakota is. (Hooray, the computer came back online).
I told her that I haven’t lived anywhere else, and well, at my age probably won’t be in a hurry to move. I also told her about the buildings that mark century old farmsteads, and how everyone stops and looks up when we hear the roar of a B 52 (back to Google).
Amy, just want you to know that I am neck in neck with you when it comes to being a fan of Minot, and of North Dakota. I do so appreciate your view and how you always keep the glass half full. Last, if you don’t follow Amy’s column, take a few minutes and let her tell you good things about where we live.
Enjoy An Evening Of John Phillip Sousa
July 17th grab your lawn chair and head for Oak Park and the annual Minot City Band Sousa concert. Those marches you love to hear (we can’t play them all of course) played by the Minot City Band. Starting time is 7 PM…parking is available across 4th Avenue. Mark those calendars…and don’t be late!
Today’s Chuckle
If people actually profited from their mistakes we’d all be rich by now.
PS-
The annual Minot Fireworks Show will take place in front of the grandstand at the North Dakota State Fair. Includes a music score and probably the largest computer orchestrated display in North Dakota!
