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The future of Memorial Day: Who will remember?

I wonder if the Memorial Day traditions of decorating graves of loved ones, sometimes even graves so old that we never met the people buried there, will continue into the next couple of generations.

From the time she was little, a co-worker went with her grandmother and later her parents every year to the family cemetery plots to clean gravestones and place flowers for Memorial Day. She still pays that respect to generations past.

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, was declared a holiday in 1868 to remember those who died in battle. Over the years, the tradition has come to include flowers on any loved ones graves but special services still are held to remember veterans.

My friend’s experience at cemeteries has me thinking. In previous years, families tended to live closer together with adult children making their homes nearby. Entire sections of fields became private cemeteries for generations of people from the same family or those from a single community. Churches, like my own rural church, had cemeteries right next to them and still do.

But we all know times have changed.

Today, I live a couple hours from where my dad is buried. My mother puts flowers on his grave and on the graves of her parents. As I get older and have fewer obligations at my own house, I like to think I’ll drive there to decorate his grave. It’s something I want to do, but I also don’t think it should just be an “older person’s” job to remember the holiday’s meaning.

Looking to future generations, there might be a different approach to Memorial Day. Can you virtually decorate a grave? I’m sure you can virtually visit one.

It certainly is interesting to wonder if social traditions will change dramatically when it comes to honoring the dead. I’m glad the American Legions still work hard to carry on the original traditions of the holiday.

Here are some Memorial Day services organized by military groups in the area:

Arlington: Memorial Day Dedication, Arlington Veteran’s Memorial, 10 a.m. Monday. I’ve seen this cemetery decorated on Memorial Day with a breath-taking display of flags.

Chancellor: American Legion Post No. 283 Memorial Day program and Flanders Field ceremony, 9:30 a.m. Monday, Chancellor Reformed Church; Auxiliary will serve rolls and coffee after the program.

Brandon: VFW Three Rivers Post 4726 and American Legion Post 318 will hold an 8:30 a.m. ceremony Monday at the Brandon Cemetery with a breakfast following at the Post Home on Main Avenue.

Dell Rapids: American Legion Post 65 and auxiliary will hold services Monday at several cemeteries and in Dell Rapids. In case of rain, all events will be at 10 a.m. Monday at the Dell Rapids Middle School commons. The schedule includes: 8 a.m. at Logan Reformed Cemetery, 8:40 a.m. at Stordahl Cemetery, and 9 a.m. at Willow Creek Cemetery. A parade will begin at 10 a.m . on Fourth Street in Dell Rapids, followed by a ceremony in the city park, a service and program at the Dell Rapids Cemetery, Dells Nursing and Rehab Center and Orchard Hills. A brat feed will be from 11 am. to 1 p.m. at the Legion Hall
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Harrisburg: American Legion Post 45 will host a program at 11 a.m. Monday at Pleasant View Cemetery (on South Cliff Avenue). Lunch will follow at the American Legion.

Hartford: American Legion Post 118 will have a program with a speaker at 7 p.m. Monday at the Legion Hall on Main, followed by a wreath ceremony at Memorial Park and refreshments at the Legion.

Humboldt: America Legion Post 62 will have a 10:30 a.m. program Monday at the community center, followed by a service at both of the cemeteries in town and a potluck.

Renner: The Thompson-Schjodt Legion 307 Memorial Day service begins at 10 a.m. Monday at Swedona Covenant Cemetery, 5 miles east of Renner. Coffee will be served after the service at the Legion Hall.

Sioux Falls: Annual Memorial Day event begins at 10 a.m. with a medley of songs by the Sioux Falls Municipal Band before the 10:30 a.m. program. Butch Haugen with the Veterans of Foreign Wars will speak and the El Riad Fife & Drum Corps will participate. In case of rain, the program will be at the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 628, 3601 S. Minnesota Ave.

Valley Springs: Charles R. Doman Post 131 will have an 11 a.m. program Monday at the Post Home, 401 Broadway Ave., followed by a service at the Valley Springs Cemetery at 11:30 a.m. and catered dinner at the Legion Hall.

Kids: Today is the first day of the rest of your summer

On the first day of summer break for my three children, I had a much easier time getting out of the house.
No lunch checks to write, assorted clothing to locate, breakfast suggestions to offer, “let’s get going” notices to issue, forgotten backpacks to hand out the door. You get the idea.
It’s also the first time I will have two children in high school and zero middle schoolers. That means I only have obligations to go to high school concerts and sporting events. At one point in parenthood, I had a child in elementary, middle and high school at once _ a lot to keep track of.
I still will go to college concerts, too, but those are relaxing and don’t involve having to iron anything or buy new pants because last year’s are too small.
It’s funny how we mark our lives in phases. Parenting is definitely a huge part of who I am. While I will always be a parent, my duties have changed and will continue to do so. It’s been years since I’ve had to cut up someone’s hotdog so they wouldn’t choke, for example. It’s amazing how kids learn independence, usually regress a little and then grow into strong individuals right before your eyes.
There is one thing I miss this morning, however. There’s no one awake to tell: “Have a good day today and do your best.”
The first day of summer vacation is for sleeping in.

Time for the flower show

Flowering spring trees are hard to miss, especially in the week of Seattle-like weather we’ve been having.

Buds are blooming in yards, boulevards and shelter belts all over the city and county. It seems like everything is about three weeks behind schedule. Fruit trees are in full bloom, lilacs are just starting and peonies aren’t even tall enough to think about flowers yet.

Here’s the color in my yard. What are you seeing from your front steps?

Celebrating independence, Norwegian style

Norwegians, particularly those who claim that ancestry here in the Midwest, aren’t known for boisterous, wild parties. We like to celebrate with a bit of bland but delicious food, typically white in color.

But today is Syttende Mai, and it’s worth celebrating the country’s independence. Syttende Mai means May 17, and is the day in 1814 when Norway got its own constitution, freeing itself from Swedish rule.

Years ago, Sioux Falls had a parade and other activities to mark the holiday designed as a day for children. These days a low-key public event that still involves a smorgasbord is held. It’s a great day to remember rich traditions and stories of strong people.

I can still sing the Norwegian national anthem, which I learned in my language class at Augustana. (Luckily for you this isn’t a recorded blog.)

In honor of my heritage and that of many others, happy Syttende Mai!

Ready, set, farm

Last night when I went to sleep, the farmer of the field across the road was just getting a good start on planting. I could see his tractor lights and hear his motor, and I knew he wouldn’t quit until it was done.

This morning, it had that deep neatly combed look of a newly-planted field.

This is what my neighbors do: They’re family farmers. They’re not corporate farmers, and they’re not on any list of farmers who get giant subsidies. This year, they’re feeling a push to get their crops planted after a late start because of a South Dakota winter that ate up spring.

Earlier this week, the Senate passed a farm bill, a huge step after Congress failed to do so last year. I don’t know exactly what that means to each of my neighbors, but I liked part of a quote by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat interviewed for the farm bill story in the Argus Leader. She said: “We saw last year undeniable proof that farming is the riskiest business in this country…” She was referring to the 2012 drought.

This morning two of my neighbors were back in the fields, planting and spraying. It made me think of growing up on our farm in northeastern South Dakota when my dad would work long days and my mom, brother and I would take him morning and afternoon lunch. Cookies and coffee in the morning; a sandwich and an ice cold bottle of Pepsi wrapped in a newspaper to keep it chilled in the afternoon. If we were lucky, we got to ride a few rounds with him, too.

So here are my two neighbors, probably not even thinking much about the farm bill this morning, as they go about their work in two different colored tractors (red and green make for an equal opportunity neighborhood) in fields across the road from each other. Farming has come a long way in seed development and technology since my dad turned the dirt. I suspect that even though that’s the case, my neighbors might be thinking of the one thing that all spring planting symbolizes.

Hope.

Farmers live on that.

Here’s my neighbor planting.

The other neighbor is spraying.

Winter, spring, summer…we’ve got it all

Remember when it snowed earlier this month?

May is equal opportunity, apparently.

Free car washes

The morning commute included a pressurized car wash complete with an undercarriage flush. That was some rain.

Here’s the view under my umbrella.

No child would ever graduate if they waited for real education reform

By the time the state and nation figure out what qualifies as good school reform, a kid could complete its K-12 education.
I know because mine will have done exactly that.
He entered kindergarten in 2002, just after President George W. Bush signed No Child Left Behind reforms into law (Jan. 8, 2002), with goals that as predicted included measurements that were not statistically attainable. Sure, there was progress and some things about NCLB were good, especially the mind-set that all children deserve teaching that will help them be proficient and that no one should ever discount any child.
In any case, NCLB didn’t get rave reviews.
When my child graduates in 2015, the state and federal government won’t quite have all of the new reforms in place to make a difference to him. While some standards likely will be different, he won’t be tested on any of them.
I think constant talk of education reform has made me realize that it is all a pendulum that swings this way and that, sometimes with jerky movements. It might be simplistic, but I wonder if we need all the reform efforts.
It’s not really about students. That’s left to schools and teachers who are mostly asked to do their best with what resources they have. Sometimes, miracles happen; other times, systems fail.
In either case, it’s important that parents are advocates for their children and keep a strong, non-threatening line of communication open with their child’s school. It doesn’t solve all problems, but I have to believe it helps.
What’s the most important part of education? I’m having a hard time believing its reform.

My co-worker Josh Verges covers education and writes regularly about this stuff. See his blogs: http://notdistrictdialogue.tumblr.com/post/49785713323/s-d-schools-wont-get-paid-for-high-test-scores

Duck Dynasty turns me into trend setter

I generally do not watch TV. No hard feelings, but I’d rather do other things.
There are a couple of exceptions: I tune in once in a while to Cupcake Wars and Prairie Woman Cooks, and if I have trouble falling asleep I watch House Hunters. On most people’s scale, I have horrible tastes.
That was it until sometime last year when my kids started watching Duck Dynasty. One look and I knew it was a stupid premise based on a family of hicks that made millions selling Duck Calls, grew scraggy beards, had beautiful wives and lived in mansions. Yeah, right! And then I was hooked.
Come to find out, the show isn’t really about that at all. It’s hilarious, clean fun and easy to fall in love with. It seems that lots of other folks are finally figuring out it’s a great show too. It’s nice to feel ahead of the curve once in awhile.
And my favorite scene? It’s hard to pick but I’ll go with two. It’s a tie between the time when Willie went shopping for a dress with his daughter because the first dress she brought home was flawed: It didn’t have enough material; and the scene where Willie and Korie go to their high school reunion and he finally fits into his new leather jacket, except Korie exchanged it without him knowing for a bigger size. Now that’s love.

Tuba tunes may be this family’s future

As a parent, there are just some activities that you want your children to stick with.
For me, it’s band. I’m admittedly an adult band geek.
My band days learning to play French horn weren’t always smooth. I started a year later than my classmates and remember crying at one of my lessons, although I’m not sure what it was over. I played well enough but wasn’t very confident, and when you blow into a brass mouthpiece, quivering doesn’t help the sound much.
But the important lessons of band have stuck with me, especially the appreciation of music. I love the smell of a brass instrument, that sort of valve grease-saliva corroding metal combination that you get a whiff of every time you open your case. See, that’s what geeks are like.
I love the musical range that great musicians can master and the dynamics that can go from a whisper to a roar. I’m transformed through melodic sections of a song and my heart rate increases with a good march or a big, dramatic ending.
Music provides a range of emotional expression that is hard to match. That’s true of band music, even though there are no words.
That’s why I am pleased to announce that my two sons in middle school and high school are signed up for band for another year. It’s a huge step after hearing complaints most of this school year and vows from both of them that they were quitting.
It has taken the addition of new opportunities on their own instruments or even an entirely new instrument to keep them interested. It’s maybe not a director’s dream to have an eighth grader switch from baritone sax to tuba, for example, but I’m confident that it will work if that is what my kid chooses. And there’s nothing wrong with having the skills to play both.
Anyone know a patient tuba teacher?