Mankato Magazine, September 2019

Technically speaking, it’s

ANNETTE PARKER also in this issue: In Mankato, we’ve got PRIDE Getting artsy with GREG WILKINS BACK TO SCHOOL, the GED way Annette Parker SEPTEMBER 2019

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FEATURE S SEPTEMBER 2019 Volume 14, Issue 9

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It’s Annette Parker’s time Annette Parker was raised in a humble home, was on the business end of a school’s desegregation efforts as a first grader, helped build cars in a GM plant in Michigan, and is now president of South Central College. It’s been quite a ride.

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True non-trads

In the Name of Love ...

During this, the month of “back to school,” some people are giving thanks for the opportunity to earn a diploma long after their teen years were over.

If it’s September in Mankato, that means it’s time for South Central Minnesota Pridefest. This year, with the LGBTQ community still mourning the loss of Jessica Flatequal, the event takes on heavier meaning.

ABOUT THE COVER Annette Parker poses nicely for this month’s Mankato Magazine cover.

She was photographed by Prof. Pat Christman.

MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 3

DEPARTMENTS 6 From the Editor 8 Faces & Places 12 This Day in History 13 Avant Guardians Luke Splinter

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14 Beyond the Margin

Back to school musings

16 Familiar Faces Greg Wilkins

18 Day Trip Destinations Iowa City book festival

34 Deep Valley Book Festival

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38 Wine

Climate change

39 Beer

Hard seltzers

40 That’s Life

The weekend we were cool

42 Garden Chat

Greenhouse goodness

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44 Coming Attractions 46 Community Draws

Minnesota Valley Chorale

48 From This Valley

Lessons of a Master Gardener

Coming in October Friday night lights!

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jzimmerman@mankatofreepress.com MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 5

FROM THE ASSOCIATE EDITOR

By Robb Murray

SEPTEMBER 2019 • VOLUME 14, ISSUE 9 PUBLISHER Steve Jameson EDITOR Joe Spear ASSOCIATE Robb Murray EDITOR CONTRIBUTORS Bert Mattson Diana Rojo-Garcia Grace Brandt James Figy Jean Lundquist Kat Baumann Leigh Pomeroy Nell Musolf Pete Steiner PHOTOGRAPHERS Pat Christman Jackson Forderer

PAGE DESIGNER Christina Sankey ADVERTISING Danny Creel SALES Joan Streit Jordan Greer-Friesz Josh Zimmerman Marianne Carlson Theresa Haefner ADVERTISING Barb Wass ASSISTANT ADVERTISING Sue Hammar DESIGNERS Christina Sankey CIRCULATION Justin Niles DIRECTOR

Mankato Magazine is published by The Free Press Media monthly at 418 South Second St., Mankato MN 56001.

To subscribe, call 1-800-657-4662 or 507-625-4451. $35.40 for 12 issues.

For editorial inquiries, call Robb Murray at 344-6386, or e-mail rmurray@mankatofreepress.com.

For advertising, call 344-6364, or e-mail advertising@mankatofreepress.com.

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Back to school — with Pride S everal years ago I covered the higher education beat for the Mankato Free Press. Loved covering that beat. If you like energy, new ideas and optimism, a college campus is the best place to be.

Newsroom managers like for reporters to be out in the community, meeting new people, cultivating new sources, digging up great stories and generally providing the kind of coverage that makes the newspaper better, lively and vibrant. And doing all those things was a ton of fun on the higher education beat. I covered my share of budget cuts and tuition hikes, but I spent most of my time being impressed by the work of students and faculty from around the world.

I c o v e re d M i n n e s o t a S t a t e University, South Central College, Gustavus Adolphus College, Bethany Lutheran College and Rasmussen College. Occasionally I’d get out to Martin Luther College in New Ulm, too. (Though, truth be told, they got kind of mad at me when I covered the unveiling of chapel renovations; guess my language in that piece was a little too creative for their tastes.

Sorry guys!)

This month in Mankato Magazine, we celebrate education. And we do it from several fronts. We kick it off with our cover story on Annette Parker, president of South Central College.

Parker came to Mankato with big plans after being recruited. Her earlier years were met with some frustrations, but by all accounts now Parker is moving the institution forward. And if donations and partnerships with industry are any measure, things are heading in the right direction.

Parker was a pioneer of sorts. She was among the first three students bussed to a different school when hers was desegregated. She worked in a General Motors plant out of high school instead of going straight to college. She was the first woman

to compete at the national level in an automotive manufacturing skills competition, taking the silver medal. And today, a woman who saw racism first-hand as a child is in the top position at one of the state’s largest technical and community colleges.

Also in this issue, writer Grace Brandt sat down with a few fellows who earned their high school diploma the nontraditional way: through a community education GED program.

These guys have a story that is every bit as inspiring as Parker’s. It takes a lot of courage to go back and finish what you started. These guys deserve a pat on the back.

Finally, there’s a bittersweet story by writer Diana Rojo-Garcia I’d like to draw your attention to. Whereas most of the country celebrates Pride in July, Mankato does it in September. The annual celebration, which has grown dramatically in recent years, will take place for the first time in a long time without the charismatic Jessica Flatequal.

Jessica was a friend of mine, and I remember calling her every year to interview her about Pridefest.

She never let a chance to help people or improve the lives of those who needed help pass her by. She was truly one of our community’s greatest champions, and someone we could all be proud of. The LGBTQ community will continue with Pridefest this year, but it will be without their bowtie-wearing, always-smiling, fearless and fiercely kind leader. Diana sat down with Flatequal’s wife, Maria Bevacqua, who is carrying on without her.

You don’t want to miss that one.

Robb Murray is associate editor of Mankato Magazine. Contact him at 344-6386 or rmurray@ mankatofreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @freepressRobb.

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FACES & PLACES: Photos By SPX Sports

YWCA Ultimate Amazing Race

This event is a fundraiser for the YWCA in which teams of four compete in a series of location-based challenges.

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1. A team works together to build a sand castle for one of the race challenges.

2. The ISG team “Weapons of Mass Creation” solves a puzzle.

3. Zack Kolars after the “makeover” challenge at Liv Aveda Salon & Spa. 4. Sandy Treanor volunteers on the finish line at Atomic Star Tavern.

5. The SPX Graphics team, dressed as Moondogs, launches water balloons for a challenge.

6. The Community Bank team finished first in this year’s YWCA Amazing Race.

7. B.Stark & Co. team “The B Squad” completing the final puzzle of the race.

8. The MRCI Team completing a challenge at Hiniker Pond.

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FACES & PLACES: Photos By SPX Sports

Leep Legends 2019 This “celebrity” softball game is a fundraiser for Leisure Education for Exceptional People (LEEP)

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1. (From left) Umpires John Bulcock, Rene’ Maes and Jared Day pose for a photo.

2. GSW donated $5,033 to LEEP. 3. Kelly Wood slides into home plate to make a run for Weelborg Chevrolet.

4. About $53,500 was raised for LEEP during the fundraiser.

5. Ryan Stangl, team CCF Bank, launches the ball to first base.

6. Carter Marshall’s cap falls off his head as he sprints to first base.

7. Both teams, Weelborg Chevrolet and CCF Bank, pose for a team photo after CCF Bank won this year’s softball game.

8. Kim Brunmeier hugs Sara Stow as she makes it to third base.

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FACES & PLACES: Photos By SPX Sports

Fun Days Parade

1. Jim Whitlock, council member of North Mankato, throws candy to the crowd.

2. Kids took a break from collecting candy to pose for a photo.

3. Danielle Haigh, Color Guard of the Mankato 77 Lancers, throws her rifle into the air.

4. Kids watch a Mankato Area Shrine Club T-Bird driver perform a stunt during the parade.

5. Alex, from Hot 96.7, poses for a quick photo before continuing with the parade.

6. Austin Link, General Manager of the Mankato Moondogs, points to the camera as some of the players and staff participate in the parade.

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FACES & PLACES: Photos By SPX Sports

Blue Earth County Relay for Life

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This annual event is a fundraiser for cancer research 1. Luminaria honor lives touched by cancer. As the sun goes down each one is lit.

2. Dancers from Dance Express entertained the crowds.

3. Cancer survivors and their family members walk through Sibley Park.

4. Hy-Vee donated the food that was available for a good-will donation.

5. All funds raised at the event benefit local programs and cancer research.

6. St. Clair 6th grade girls hosted a bake sale for their fundraiser for the Blue Earth County Relay for Life.

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 11

THIS DAY IN HISTORY Compiled by Jean Lundquist

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Farmfest buzzing with varied activity Friday, Sept. 10, 1976 The Bicentennial Salute to American Agriculture was about to begin. In its fifth year, Farmfest was ready to make a splash near Lake Crystal. There were 1,000 acres for the 900 exhibitors, and with a budget of $2 million, over a million visitors were expected. Future Farmers of America members from every state in the country came to prepare for and staff the extravaganza. All forms of marketing were employed, including selling soda pop in Farmfest ’76-labeled bottles. Presidential hopefuls, and later, President Jimmy Carter attended. But one thing the organizers had not planned for was the nonstop rain and the mud. Some estimates put attendance at 300,000, others at 175,000. Either way, the attendance was far from the million people that organizers had hoped for. Bankruptcy followed. New owners hoisted the festival from the ashes, and the event continues to this day.

Mini skirt out in city schools Tuesday, Sept. 6, 1966 “The mini skirt may have its place in the fashion world, but in the classroom, never.” Mankato High School Principal M.I. Wolverton declared all students’ dress had to meet the basic requirement of good judgment. That meant, in 1966, blouses or sweaters with skirts for girls, and the length was to be appropriate for “ease and comfort.” He also outlawed shorts, slacks, culottes or “any type of costume.” Boys’ dress was also regulated. Trousers with belts, shirts tucked in, and no boots or sandals. Socks were to be worn at all times.

Similar requirements existed for students at Wilson Campus School and Immanuel High School; 6,800 students were enrolled in all District 77 schools.

Stevenson’s furrier ad Friday, Sept., 4, 1936 A quarter-page advertisement for Stevenson’s, 405 S. Front St., heralded fur coats affordable for all. In particular, the ad touted $77 coats, but others were on sale in a price range from $66 to $389. Among the furs available were Krimmer caraculs, Siberian squirrel, raccoon, civit cat and Seal skins.

Many others were also available, including mink. “Every Coat is a New 1937 Fashion.” Buyers were encouraged to “Bring Just A Small Deposit” to step out in furry style.

Blackbirds wend course southward In a most poetic fashion, a writer in the Mankato Free Press told of the change of seasons like this: “Blackbirds in their own peculiar manner declared that summer is over, autumn is at hand and winter is not far ahead. They told it in signs of southern migration. Late yesterday afternoon the largest flock of these birds ever seen in the city flew over the town … Wiseacres declared that the blackbird flock heading south means that in spite of hopes, summer is over and the eventide of the year is at hand.”

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AVANT GUARDIANS

By Leticia Gonzales

Artisic installation Luke Splinter draws inspiration from ritual spaces

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hen Luke Splinter isn’t working at the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota as the lead fabricator, the Mankato resident is busy creating sculptures to share with the community.

“I tend to do full gallery installation,” Splinter said.

“These installations are made up of repeated forms laid out following a pattern I have come up with for the space.”

Having studied carpentry and cabinet making at South Central College in Faribault, Splinter worked a few years before returning to school. He earned both a bachelor of fine arts and master of arts in sculpture from Minnesota State University.

“I have always been interested in art,” he said. “It started with drawing, but I didn’t start thinking about it seriously until I was looking to change careers, from shingling to almost anything else.”

Splinter said he receives a lot of his inspiration from monuments created by ancient man.

“The large scale and precision are what draw me to sites like this.”

Ritual sites such as Stonehenge and classic churches and temples also find their way into Splinter’s work.

“All of these places were laid out with a logic and a set geometric plan that you can see in almost every example of these structures.”

Having displayed his work at a few shows at the Carnegie Art Center, Splinter has received an Award of Excellence from a Carnegie juried show, along with some honorable mentions in juried shows while he was in school.

“When I first started to draw inspiration from ritual space, I was pretty heavy-handed about it,” he said. “For a show I did, I created my own saint and all of the relics associated with him. Now, I have turned to ritual spaces in a more abstract way using simple forms and material.

I have improved my abilities to cast concrete and resin.

My eye for patterns and ratios has also greatly improved since I started digging deeper into it.”

One of his most recent installations, “Pathways,” was shown at the 410 Project in downtown Mankato last month, where he decided to push himself and the viewer by “limiting the floor space and just giving them paths to walk rather than the usual open floor plan layouts that galleries usually have.”

MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 13

BEYOND THE MARGIN

By Joe Spear

The opportunity of fall Back-to-school has meaning for community

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ith the back-to-school season upon us, it’s worth recognizing how big a role education plays in the Greater Mankato area.

Education is the cornerstone of what makes a community great. It directly feeds a community’s economic success and cultural growth. Education serves as a safeguard to preserving the natural environment and fuels physical and mental well-being.

These are things that can be taken for granted, so it’s worth turning up the volume.

Communities that have an educational culture seem different even when just meeting people on the street.

This struck me when I was touring Northwestern University with my daughter in Evanston, Illinois.

Everywhere you went people were noticing you were not from there, but they were willing to help you get where you were going without asking.

It was a welcoming feeling. People didn’t just “go about their business” if they saw you needed something.

I also have been in places that were not supported by an educational culture. Suburban Philadelphia for example. I remember being in a Fed Ex line and the guy ahead of me was just short of funds for this

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package. He was maybe $1 short.

Being a Minnesota Nice type of person, I offered the dollar so we could all get our business done. The clerk was in a state of shock and said something like, “I wish all my customers were from Minnesota.”

Minnesotans are generous because they were “taught” through education the value of generosity.

Back in the mid-1980s, Minnesota was famously called the “brainpower” state by former DFL Gov. Rudy Perpich. Think about that for a moment. Of all the things a politician might call a state — for example, the “Empire” state as in New York or the “Show Me” state like Missouri — the Minnesota governor goes with Brainpower.

It may be a small thing, but it resonated with people and became an underlying theme with which we came to identify.

Our state not only touts education, it supports it in real ways. We have one of the biggest and most extensive systems of state colleges and universities.

While some have criticized this system as duplicative in some cases, you have to appreciate the unfettered and robust access it affords.

If you can’t find an affordable post-secondary

education in Minnesota, you’re not trying very hard.

And importantly, Minnesota is moving to marketbased educational systems. Schools are listening to what employers and students need to garner wellpaying and sustainable careers.

A recent local case is a good example of that.

South Central College recently expanded its welding program that will double the number of students they can train. It was a remarkable event that this move was met with all manner of recognition on social media and in the public discussion.

Business and education partnerships are promoted here. Each year, Greater Mankato Growth gives an award to a business partnership with education that has shown great success for economic vitality.

Our educational infrastructure is also a plus.

There are likely fewer regional centers the size of Mankato that can count three four-year institutions and two two-year schools within 12 minutes of each other.

We’ve seen the studies that show the economic impact of MSU alone is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, but the wealth generated by the education delivered to students far exceeds the measurable monetary value of the institutions’ payouts.

A community becomes stronger and greater when more of its members are well-educated. The Mankato area has a population where 70 percent of the residents have some post-secondary education.

That’s slightly higher than the Minnesota average of 65 percent.

When it comes to college degrees, we also are above average. Mankato has 37 percent with a bachelor’s degree or higher compared to a state average of 34 percent.

But education also offers softer benefits perhaps not easily monetized into an economy but, nonetheless,

have an impact on the quality of life.

Education allows people to understand other cultures. We would not be able to overcome prejudices, racial or other, without education.

Education fosters creative solutions to problems because critical thinking has to be taught.

Education shines light on the environment. The importance of the relationship between the physical world and human existence doesn’t happen without education.

Education promotes understanding of the human body and the human condition.

Education fosters working together.

Education creates understanding that is the basis for compromise.

Educational institutions are the biggest promoters of science, languages and arts.

Education also has been called the great equalizer.

People are born with different skills and talents that the market doesn’t automatically recognize. But education can help people discover those innate skills and talents and develop new ones.

And public education is mostly free and available to all without exception.

Our country still faces inequalities and racial divides, but just think where we would be without public educational infrastructure that was based on the “educational theory” that “all men are created equal.”

Joe Spear is editor of Mankato Magazine.

Contact him at jspear@mankatofreepress.com or 344-6382. Follow on Twitter @jfspear.

MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 15

Familiar Faces

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Photos by Pat Christman

Name:

Greg Wilkins City of residence: Mankato

Job title: Associate director of student activities

Education:

Undergrad degree from Warren Wilson College; Did graduate work at Miami (Ohio) University and earned master’s degree at Florida International University in educational leadership; Pursuing Ph.D. (ABD) at Florida International University in university administration.

Family:

Single — never married. I am one of seven children, one of which is my twin sister.

I also have an adopted African-American brother, and two foster siblings from Taiwan.

Brief work history:

Child Actor 1976-1985; Warren Wilson College 1985-90; Smithsonian Institution American Art Museum, Human Rights Campaign, Whitman Walker Clinic, Shakespeare Theatre, 1990-92; Miami (Ohio) University 1992-94 ; Florida International University 1994-2002; American University in Washington, D.C. 2002-04; University of California-San Diego 2004-06 ; Washington State University-Pullman 2007-08; Minnesota State University 2009–present.

16 • SEPTEMBER 2019 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

emember those commercials for Dos Equis beer, the ones that featured “the most interesting man in the world”? At the end of every commercial, after a lengthy and humorous list of the guy’s “accomplishments” is read over footage of him looking debonair and suave, he’d say, “Stay thirsty my friends.”

Well, if there were a competition for “most interesting man in Mankato,” Greg Wilkins would definitely be in the running.

Wilkins works at Minnesota State University and is an artist who regularly shows his work at galleries around the country. And with school starting back up at area colleges and universities, we thought it’d be a good chance to check in with a most interesting individual who can provide some career and artistic inspiration to anyone willing to listen.

Mankato Magazine: We understand you’ve had quite a varied work history. Can you briefly tell us where around the world you’ve worked and what you did there?

Greg Wilkins: I have worked on over one third of planet Earth with indigenous people. Collaborating with elders and NGOs, I listen to how my talents and skill sets might be of use to find creative solutions and opportunities within the communities I have been invited to live and serve. Areas of particular interest have been: rainforest and cloud forest reforestation, HIV/AIDS education, landmine proliferation, human sex trafficking, teaching English, clean water and water rights, art/craft as income and empowerment, and refugee rights.

MM: When did you first know you wanted to be an artist?

GW: I never knew I wanted to be an artist. It has always been a part of me. It’s like asking, “When did you know you wanted to walk?” We all have a creative spirit. The real question is, “When was your creative self nourished, embraced, and celebrated?”

Alan Ashley-Pitt stated, “Creativity in living is not without its attendant difficulties, for peculiarity breeds contempt.” Communities honor and celebrate athleticism; creatives are often times cast out as other and expendable.

An example is in education. What area gets the budget cut first, athletics or the fine and performing arts? When we put on a pedestal one or the other, it becomes evident what a community honors. We are all creative; we are all athletes. It’s about discovering strength within and embracing the many talents we bestow.

MM: Your current job puts you in daily contact with college students. What about this work appealed to you and why did you come to Mankato after such an amazing work history?

GW: I left home when I was 16. My town was suffocating, and I needed to find a place where I could thrive. Life is about living, and I felt I was surviving. Leaving home was a difficult decision, and it had significant impact on my development.

At 18, I attended Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, NC. It is one of nine institutions of higher learning where undergraduates are required to work to support their education. Warren Wilson has a curricular foundation of academics, work and service. This experience woke within me a sense of responsibility as an engaged member of a community to help shape the world around me.

I graduated with a triple major in intercultural studies, history, and political science. This lead me to work at the Smithsonian Institution during the NEA Cultural Wars in Washington, D.C., LGBTQ activism with ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) during the HIV/AIDS pandemic, volunteerism with Whitman Walker Health and Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center, interning with the Human Rights Campaign, as well as philanthropy and education with the Shakespeare Theatre under the direction of Michael Kahn. These experiences were transformative.

Two years later, I attended graduate school at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The mascot at the time was an American-Indian moniker, the Miami Redskins. As a white man who grew up in a multicultural and multinational family, I was appalled and offended. I was invited by Miami elders in Oklahoma to visit and see what life was like on the reservation. Returning to Ohio, I organized a grassroots campaign with other undergraduate activists to end the moniker. It was met with opposition and anger from alumni and the university administration. We were told by the university that the mascot was steeped in tradition, and I replied, “Your tradition is steeped in hate and must end.”

I spoke in front of Armstrong Student Union, and conservative media broadcasted and published my words.

I received death threats at my residence hall and had to be escorted back and forth to my classes by plain clothes police. I considered leaving higher education because I did not feel supported and safe.

In the summer of 1993, I received an invitation to teach at the University of California, Berkeley. I discovered student activism at Berkeley was the foundation of the student rights movement in the 1960s. Energized, I returned to Miami of Ohio to continue to fight for social justice. Long story short, Miami University changed its mascot in 1997 to Miami RedHawks.

What does any of this have to do with the initial question? These experiences taught me that education is a lifelong experience. Finding the power within to be courageous — strength in the face of pain and grief — shapes a better tomorrow for all people despite the naysayers that surround you. Education should be stimulating and not regulating, while the power of one, and the many, can be transformative. Live as if you were to die tomorrow; learn as if you were to live forever.

MM: What are you currently working on artistically?

GW: I am currently working on a series called “Color of Water.”

The act of sewing is stitched throughout my work.

Historically, sewing has been labeled as “women’s work.”

As a man, I encourage the viewer to question privilege, what is “valued” work and how does it fit in a global context?

In my “Color of Water” series, I explore water’s power and the sovereignty of women in community. Water is life.

Women create life. And yet, we devalue water and women.

They are the core to humanity’s existence. Without them, we are all at risk.

MM: Tell us about the installation piece of yours in Old Town.

GW: Local artists were invited to submit artist proposals to create work within Old Town Mankato focused on the alleyway off Riverfront Drive. Mankato’s City Center received a $10,000 Artists on Main Street grant via the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota in partnership with Springboard for the Arts and with assistance from the Bush Foundation to support this initiative. I received

additional financial sponsorship from Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council with an appropriation from the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the State’s general fund as well as support from Frost Enterprises to make this project possible.

My proposal was to create a work of art at Frost Plaza that would include an original piece of poetry written in English and translated into Dakota that would honor the original inhabitants of Mankato. The piece would be forged and cut into steel that would include original art in collaboration with Dakota youth, elders, and other Mankato creatives. The final piece would honor Dakota and non-Dakota communities through the preservation and sharing of Dakota culture, history, and traditions.

I was blessed work with Dakota youth and elders on this project, particularly Dave Brave Heart, Glenn Wasicuna, Gwenn Westerman, and Gerald Veaux. It is important to note that this project received generous support of time, talent, and resources of other Mankato creatives, namely: Dustin Swiers as project lead and Mark Hall, Stained Glass Expert. Special thanks to Julie Dempster with CNC Design, Doug Zrust with CNC Plasma Fabrication, Marty Walgenbach with Guaranteed Electric, graphic designer Austin Hossenbroek, Frost Enterprises as the host for work of art, and Minnesota Makers & Artists Guild.

MM: You’ve also been an outspoken advocate on LGBTQ issues. How well do you think Mankato is doing in terms of being a safe place for LGBTQ people?

GW: 2019 marked the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising in New York City and reverberated across the globe and throughout the United States as a half century of LGBTQIA+ liberation. In that same regard, Mankato has come a long way with regards to LGBTQ visibility over the decades. The work is not yet over; there is much still to do to create a welcoming and safe place for all people, abilities, nationalities, and identities. The work of Mankato modern, Queer pioneers such as Jim Chalgren and Jessica Flatequal created a legacy of support and recognition on the campus of Minnesota State Mankato and the greater community. Courageous visibility and resilience in the face of adversity has impacted our lives. Mark your calendars for the weekend of Sept. 6 for Mankato Pridefest 2019.

MM: What’s on your Netflix “Recently Watched” tab?

GW: Netflix — “Grand Designs,” “The Iron Lady,” “Black Mirror,” “Queer Eye,” “NOVA: Prediction by the Numbers,” “The Last Czars,” “The Casketeers,” “Outlander.” And on HULU — “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

MM: Tell us something about you that would surprise people.

GW: I sang back-up for Dionne Warwick with Burt Bacharach at the piano for the 25th Annual Kennedy Center Honors celebrating Elizabeth Taylor, James Earl Jones, James Levine, Paul Simon and Chita Rivera.

I was part of the 1988 and 1996 Olympics – In 1988, I helped manage the U.S. Equestrian Team, and in 1996, I was the Assistant Director of the Olympic Village at South Florida World Soccer Village.

I was the Personal Assistant for (actor) Joel Grey during his 2002 South Florida Winter Tour.

I lobbied the U.S. White House and Congress to pass the Ryan White CARE Act. Compiled by Robb Murray MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 17

DAY TRIP DESTINATIONS: Iowa City Book Festival

By James Figy

Iowa City, Iowa, became a UNESCO City of Literature in 2008, largely due to the creative writing programs at the University of Iowa. (© Tom Jorgensen for the University of Iowa)

This Festival Is Lit Iowa City Book Festival offers events for writers and readers in a renowned city of books

O

n occasion writers have come together serendipitously in a particular place and time, creating an epicenter of groundbreaking literature.

Think Shakespeare and other poets and playwrights’ London around the early 1600s. Or the Lost Generation’s Paris in the 1920s. Or the Beatniks’ Greenwich Village in the 1950s.

Now add to that list Iowa City, Iowa, which has been a haven for writers and readers for nearly a century and became the third UNESCO City of Literature in 2008.

This, in large part, is due to the famed University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the myriad emerging and established creative writers who have studied and taught there.

The 11th annual Iowa City Book Festival will celebrate the city’s literary history and accomplishments. The festival will host author readings, book signings, a large book fair and other events from October 1-6 at area 18 • SEPTEMBER 2019 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

libraries, theaters, the university and Prairie Lights Books.

The festival has been dedicated to treasuring and preserving books since the beginning, according to Rachael Carlson, director of operations at the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature organization.

“The Iowa City Book Festival was created in 2008 by the University of Iowa Libraries to highlight the city’s new UNESCO designation and to celebrate the library’s 5 millionth book acquisition,” Carlson said. “As you may know, 2008 was also a year of devastating floods in Iowa.

When the river surged over its banks, hundreds of people raced to the main library to help save the books. After the flood waters receded the book festival took on new significance as a way to thank the community for saving the collection.”

This year, the weeklong celebration will include visits by “Bloody Genius” author John Sandford, “A History of the World in 7 Cheap Things” author Raj Patel, and “The

Far Away Brothers” author Lauren Markham, as well as many others.

“Attendees enjoy meeting and hearing from the authors, visiting the book fair and learning about the many resources and opportunities for readers and writers in Iowa City,” Carlson said. “Each year we host a live, week-long public reading of a classic book. This year it’s ‘War and Peace.’”

The 2019 recipient of the Paul Engle Literary Prize will be announced and accept the award. The award honors Engle as a poet, playwright, essayist and scholar. He was one of the first students to receive an M.A. in creative writing from the University of Iowa and later founded its International Writing Program and served for many years as director of the Writers’ Workshop.

The Writers’ Workshop was founded in 1936 as the first degree-granting program for creative writing. Many universities have followed suit — including Minnesota State University, which boasts a well-known Master of Fine Arts in creative writing program here in Mankato.

But with its storied history, Iowa remains one of the most prestigious. Over the years, Writers’ Workshop faculty have included Robert Frost, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Claudia Rankine and Marilynne Robinson. Notable alumni include the prose writers Flannery O’Connor, Raymond Carver and Sandra Cisneros and poets Rita Dove, Robert Bly and Joy Harjo — though these, like many writers, often work in multiple genres.

Beyond the Workshop and the festival, Iowa City promotes literature for visitors year-round. “Visitors can go to live readings at Prairie Lights Bookstore almost every day of the year. One can stroll along the Iowa Ave. Lit Walk, featuring plaques and statues honoring famous authors with ties to Iowa,” Carlson said.

These are all reasons why UNESCO — the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — named Iowa City the third City of Literature in the world after Edinburgh, Scotland, and Melbourne, Australia. It was the only city in the U.S. until Seattle received the honor in 2017. There are now 28 UNESCO Cities of Literature on six continents.

Iowa City is very different from the London, Paris and New York — three cities that, interestingly enough, don’t have the UNESCO designation. However, Carlson said people aren’t surprised to learn that it received this honor.

To explain this, she points to the city’s 2008 application for the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, which clearly spells out why a place that some might see as a midwest college town ranks among the world’s top literary locales.

“Iowa City, for its size, may be the most literary city on earth. We have a unique set of influential literary institutions, which explore new ways to teach and support writers,” the application states. “At the same time, Iowa City has long been, quite simply, a place for writers: a haven, a destination, a proving ground and a nursery.”

IF YOU GO:

IOWA CITY BOOK FESTIVAL When: Oct. 1-6 Where: Multiple sites in Iowa City Admission: FREE Visit iowacitybookfestival.org for more information

Top: Numerous author readings and panels occur during the week of the Iowa City Book Festival. Middle: Economist Robert B. Reich signs copy of “Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few” at the 2018 festival. Bottom: Journalist Art Cullen, who won the Pulitzer Prize for editorials on agribusiness abuses in Iowa, visited the festival in 2018. (Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature) MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 19

South Central College President Annette Parker visits with Bob Hoffman during a donation ceremony at the college.

Paging President Parker!

SCC’s president, finally on steady ground, is guiding the college to new heights

I

Story by Robb Murray | Photos by Pat Christman

t’s a big day at South Central College. There aren’t a lot students around, but the student lounge is packed with people … and money.

Rugged men in blue jeans and company-logo polos mingle with college administrators. Company executives are here to see the results of their

20 • SEPTEMBER 2019 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

generosity. Boxes with turkey and roast beef sandwiches wait along the wall next to tubs of chilled soda and bottled water. There is a classic podium with a microphone, an easel with what looks to be a construction project, and in a few moments, there will be a speech to thank the companies that have

contributed roughly $200,000 to an expansion and upgrade to SCC’s welding lab.

But first, the schmoozing.

Presiding over this event is SCC President Annette Parker. And while pointing this out may drift us toward cliche, it bears noting there was a time when this scene may have seemed impossible to her, when uttering the phrase “President Parker” would have seemed as impossible as a trip to Mars. But there she is, giving out her trademark firm handshake, smiling bright, explaining the project, thanking people. She’s the center of attention. This is her show.

Parker defies many stereotypes in her current occupation. She’s a female president of a college; most college presidents are men. She’s a female president of a technical college; technical education remains a maledominated field. She’s a black female president of a technical college; that is a rarity, indeed.

So as she works the room, shaking the hands of area business leaders, thanking them for coming today and appreciating their generous donations to the welding lab, it’s impossible to not marvel at how far she’s come — from the desegregation of her first-grade class where kids were bussed across town, to listening and being inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the radio, to eschewing college at first because she had poor grades and couldn’t afford it anyway, to driving a forklift for General Motors, to enrolling in a community college to avoid layoffs, to excelling in college, then industry, then being nominated to apply for a college presidency in a very white community, then being greeted with controversy and distrust, and then finally moving beyond it and into days of six-figure donations and rising retention rates.

It’s been a long and impressive journey for President Parker.

‘I have a dream …’

Parker was born and raised in Jackson, Michigan, not far from the Ohio border and about 30 miles south of Lansing. When Parker was in first grade, the country’s racial discord — and its attempts to address the worst of the divide — came to her school. Parker was among the first of three children to be “desegregated.”

“It was traumatic to be bussed, and to be bussed to a different community,” she said. “This was the ‘60s. …

We used to listen to Dr. King on the radio every night, and to me he was like peace in a noisy world.”

In a speech she gave the year she was recognized by the Mankato YWCA as a Woman of Distinction, Parker said: “I remember missing the bus one day and I had to walk, as my mother did not yet have a car. A little white girl came to her front door and called me the N-word.

When her mother came, I thought certain she would be in trouble, but her mother repeated the phrase and closed their front door. … As I reached my teenage years, I grew even more angry about racial tensions.

As many other young African-American students protested, I rebelled in high school.”

She attended Parkside High School (same as former Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Tony Dungy) where she was a stellar hitter on the softball team but a very average to below-average student academically.

At that time, the only class she loved was art.

“I was pretty good at still-life art,” she said. “I’d get lost in my drawings.”

Because of her grades, and because she didn’t think

her family could afford to send her to college, Parker opted instead to enter the workforce. And that choice couldn’t have come at a better time.

Time to work

When Parker graduated from high school, General Motors was ramping up production at its Michigan plants. To meet consumer demand, they needed workers right away, so they added roughly 5,000 employees.

Parker got in line one day to apply for a job at GM and was hired a few weeks later.

“Me and my husband were hired at around the same time. They were bringing in new employees at a rate of 100 per hour. When we were there, things were just booming!” she said. “We were working overtime, seven days a week, celebrating building their millionth car.”

Parker started out at GM driving a forklift, then moved to the production line. It was a physically demanding job, but she said she enjoyed building cars.

But even as bright as the situation seemed for GM when she started, the writing was on the wall about the company’s future: It wasn’t going to be as bright as it was the day they hired her.

“I saw the changes going on, and we were getting laid off intermittently,” she said. “So we decided we needed to do something.”

That “something” ended up being one of the pivotal moments in her life: She chose to go back to school.

LCC: #GoStars!

One of the great things about working for GM, she said, was the fact they offered a tuition-assistance program. In other words, GM paid for her to get an education that would allow her to leave GM. She chose to study drafting at Lansing Community College (a community and technical college), an area of study that spoke to her love of drawing and which was at least partially encouraged by her parents; her mom was a graphic designer and dad a machine tool technician.

(Marketing Director Shelly Megaw said that background manifests itself at SCC today: “Sometimes we have a hard time keeping her out of the machine tool technology lab!”)

Parker had figured a degree in drafting might allow her to get a different, more skilled and perhaps more lucrative position at GM, but it didn’t work out that way. She said the administrators at LCC understood the value of having a female of color on staff who excelled in one of their technical programs. So they offered her a job — two jobs, actually — and she took one.

“At LCC, they wanted me to be somebody that would inspire other girls or other minorities,” she said. “I was the first female to be hired as a faculty, first to be hired as an administrator, first person of color hired. … My classes were mostly young white males. I felt like they were coming in from surrounding areas in to Lansing, and that it was a good experience for them to have interactions with me. The problem we have is we don’t know each other. I took really good care of my kids — they loved me and I loved them.”

Being the first woman in a faculty position, especially the first woman of color, came with some pushback from both students and faculty. They’d test her knowledge about her discipline, a challenge she said she encouraged and invited. Eventually, the pushback MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 21

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subsided when no one questioned her competency.

“Over time I became dean of faculty that were my instructors,” she said. “They were so proud of me. They saw me come in as this pretty rough auto worker, and then watched my success.”

She broke ground in one other area, too. She’d learned about the SkillsUSA competition happening on other technical college campuses (at the time it was actually called Vocational Industrial Clubs of America Inc.) and she wanted to bring it to LCC. So they wrote up a constitution, got the approval of the Student Senate, became a recognized student organization, established themselves as officers and began competing.

Parker would become the first female to compete nationally in a competition to measure skills in automated manufacturing technology. She’s got the silver medal she won in her SCC office to prove it.

Minnesota bound

After seeing much success at LCC and earning a bachelor’s degree from Ferris State University, Parker transitioned into administrative roles. Ironically, one of the projects she worked on was helping develop a new campus for General Motors.

She had actually just finished her doctorate at Western Kentucky University when she learned from a search firm that she’d been nominated to succeed former SCC President Keith Stover. She actually interviewed for two jobs in the MnSCU system and was offered her choice of the Albert Lea technical college presidency or SCC. Her arrival in Mankato was met with some resistance. n A group of faculty was unhappy with her management style and decisions she’d made as president and accused her of directing contract services to businesses or firms with whom she had personal relationships.

They also claimed Parker was hired to help facilitate a master strategic plan being developed by a consulting firm with whom she’d worked for or with while in Kentucky. Parker said the claims were false, though a Free Press analysis at the time did find inconsistencies and

Parker is shown here as part of a panel that included Gov. Tim Walz. irregularities in how contracts were awarded. n The group accused her of plagiarism in her Western Kentucky University dissertation. WKU investigated and cleared her of wrongdoing. n She was also criticized for largely replacing the SCC leadership team with her own, but college presidents are typically given latitude to assemble a cabinet of their choosing. n In a particularly dark chapter of this row, one of the websites launched to document faculty grievances posted a short video that included what appeared to be surreptitiously recorded comments by Parker — comments for which the context was left out. n She was criticized for eliminating too many classes, though a Free Press analysis of those cuts showed 81 percent of the classes eliminated had five or fewer students enrolled.

One of the blogs that was documenting the issues for the faculty hasn’t been updated for several years.

Another has been pulled down. The Kickstarter remains viewable, but is seemingly inactive and hasn’t collected funds for several years. Why was money being raised?

It was a difficult first year for Parker. It was also a difficult one for SCC: Enrollment dipped 12.5% after that year, a dip Parker attributes to the bad publicity generated by the faculty.

Still, Parker admits she could have handled some aspects of that period in a better way. She said she could have been a better listener and believes she’s gotten better at that aspect of leadership. She’s firm on one thing, though. She believes the complaints about her personal leadership style were not valid.

“The people that were upset still don’t know me,” she said. “I think if they knew me as a person, if we could start over, if there was some disagreement about a decision I made that upset them and we could talk about it, it might be different.”

She thought about leaving but ultimately stayed, she said, because the support she got from most of the

faculty and staff far outweighed the grievances.

Big dreams, bigger donations When asked what her biggest success at SCC is, Parker doesn’t hesitate: Becoming one of America’s “Achieving the Dream” schools.

ATD is a national program to help community colleges close achievement gaps and help students finish the degree programs they started. It addresses access, retention and other issues. There are 277 ATD community colleges in the nation.

But Parker also is proud of the partnerships developed between SCC and southern Minnesota industries.

Let’s get back to that welding lab upgrade. That particular project was made possible by a big donation from Jones Metal, a company that needs trained welders.

The college also has received a recent gift of more than $100,000 from Crystal Valley for the college’s Agribusiness Experiential Learning Lab. And last May, the Mankato Clinic donated $350,000 to upgrade nursing labs. That donation piggybacked on more than $9 million in sorely needed campus upgrades, which she also counts as a major achievement.

“This building hasn’t had a significant advancement in years,” she said. “We can and will do more.”

She hopes the donations and upgrades continue. The students deserve top-quality facilities, and the faculty can better serve the students if the tools they’re given are modern and up to industry standards, she said.

“We want to be recognized for being an institution that has closed the achievement gap, closed retention rates, continue to be seen as a contributor to our communities from a civic and economic standpoint,” Parker said. “I think we can and we will do some amazing work in those arenas in the next couple of years … But that’s not me. It’s the talent in this building — and there’s some amazing talent in this building — and I’m excited about the work that we’ve agreed to do together.”

MM MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 23

REFLECTIONS

By Pat Christman

I

t’s not always easy to see the beautiful things in the world when the news is dominated by angry politicians, shootings and disasters — both natural and man made. It can take effort to find something beautiful.

But once in a while, beauty can be found in the most unlikely places.

Somehow it pushes through the cracks and shines out anyway. You just have to look for it.

MM

24 • SEPTEMBER 2019 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 25

With thousands of students heading back to school the traditional way this month, we thought it’d be good to remind you that not every diploma journey ends with a smiling teen in a cap and gown ...

I

Story by Grace Brandt | Photos by Pat Christman

n schools across America, students are told the same template for success: graduate high school, earn a four-year degree and find a well-paying job.

But while this model is the standard for the majority of high school students, it doesn’t work for everyone.

About 6.1 percent of students dropped out of high school without earning their diploma, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s 2018 report on high school dropout rates. But just because these students didn’t take the normal route doesn’t mean they can’t still find academic success. Mankato’s Adult Basic Education services help people study to pass the General Education Development exams and earn their high school certification.

Lonnie Jaeger

For Minnesota Lake resident Lonnie Jaeger, dropping out of high school was something he kind of “faded into.”

Jaeger, 40, grew up in Glencoe, but always loved being out on his grandparents’ 400-acre farm outside of Mapleton. Around his sophomore year of high school, he began running with “the wrong crowd,” and eventually after 10th grade, he dropped out of class completely to move in with his grandparents.

“Between wanting to be down there on the farm and hanging with the wrong crowd, I just faded away from school,” Jaeger said.

Besides helping his grandfather on the farm, Jaeger started working for a landscaping company for a few years, then moved on to carpentry work in Mapleton.

26 • SEPTEMBER 2019 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

Along the way, his grandparents encouraged him to pursue a GED so that he could go on to more schooling, and he did start taking classes to prepare for the test. But Jaeger said he was still involved with the wrong crowd and never found the motivation to keep pursuing it.

Things changed, though, when Jaeger “got into a bunch of trouble” and ended up in drug court. There, he was encouraged to once more pursue his GED. “At first, I was very upset with that,” he said. “I thought, ‘That shouldn’t be a recommendation.’ I didn’t care for school. In my head, I was like, ‘I can’t do this.

I’m not smart enough to do this.’”

But Jaeger was determined to turn his life around, and he started taking classes through Lincoln Community Education Center in Mankato. It was a slow process; he had three children, plus his full-time job, which meant he wasn’t always able to attend classes. Instead, he did much of his studying and preparing online, with his Mankato teachers pointing him to resources he could use on his own schedule.

When Jaeger was able to make it to class, he said his teachers were instrumental in helping him truly understand the material.

“The staff here was amazing,” he said. “If I had any struggles or if I needed anything, they were there to help me, even talk about other things. Before class started, I could talk to them. They’d ask, ‘How’s it going? How’s your day? How is it going at home?’

They were just so comforting.”

Jaeger began working toward his GED in January

Lonnie Jaeger turned his life around by pursuing the GED he never got in high school.

2017 and completed his last test in June 2018, taking about a year and a half to complete the program.

“If I’d have come more, it would have been sooner.

But I just worked at my pace, and it worked out,” he said.

Jaeger said at first, he didn’t plan to attend this year’s graduation ceremony, but he ended up coming with his kids and the rest of his family.

“When I got my GED, I came in here and put the cap and gown on and took some pictures and stuff, and at first I was like, ‘OK, that’s good enough for me,’” he said. “I wasn’t going to (attend the celebration).

“As it got closer, and I got the email about graduation coming up, something inside me was like …

It was a tickle feeling, like, ‘I want to do this. This is important.’ I just felt that it was really important because of what I went through and the people here. It made me feel good that I got my GED, and I could actually go up on stage and actually do it. As the time came, it just felt right. All my family members were here. My kids were here. It felt really good.”

Jaeger said he isn’t sure what’s next now that he has his GED, but he knows his options are plentiful.

“There’s more job options out there now that I have my GED,” he said. “I’m so happy I came here, and the people who helped me here, it’s so amazing. I never thought I’d get it in my life. I never did. And here I am today, and I got my GED, and I’m so happy. My family is so proud of me, and it’s just a great feeling to have.”

Pedro Ledesma

When Pedro Ledesma, 49, was attending high school in southern Texas, he had two goals: become a U.S. Marine and then a state trooper.

But life didn’t turn out the way Ledesma had planned. Instead, he dropped out of high school and attended a vocational school to become a diesel mechanic. After earning his certification, he did “almost everything out there except diesel work,” from construction to farming to fencing. Eventually, he moved up to Minnesota to give himself the space for a fresh start.

Ledesma settled in Courtland, raising his family and starting a job at the Taylor Corporation. From there, he moved on to Westman Freightliners (now Harrison Truck Centers), to use his diesel skills. He stayed there for about 10 years but then decided he wanted to find something new. The only thing holding him back was his lack of a GED. “I said, ‘You know, I’m going to go back to school and finish what I’ve always wanted—getting a diploma,’” he said.

Ledesma enrolled at Lincoln Community Center and started taking classes, but he said it was difficult to find time since he worked so much. In the beginning, he talked to his superiors about blocking off time to attend the center’s Tuesday and Thursday classes, and he was able to complete three of the four necessary tests within the first year, leaving only math to finish.

“Then I stopped because of work,” he said. “It was just too demanding. I didn’t have the time to come in.”

MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 27

A

Helping adults earn their GED

ccording to Angie Blackstad, diploma program supervisor for Mankato Public Schools’ Adult Basic Education Department, her department offers several programs, from English language learner classes to employment preparations. However, ABE’s high school completion programs are by far the most utilized. The department serves more than 850 students annually, with 65 earning their high school equivalency last year.

Mankato ABE employs 40 staff members, who teach at the Lincoln Community Center, Blue Earth County Jail and Brown County Jail.

Lincoln Community Center also serves as an official GED testing site, where people from across Minnesota can come to take their exams. Students don’t need to take every exam at once and can go to any site to take any exam.

There are three ways for people to earn high school equivalency: passing the official GED exam, a high school credit recovery program or earning a Minnesota state diploma (which has only been offered since 2014). Of these three, the GED exam is consistently the most popular; only eight students in Mankato opted to recover high school credits last year to earn their diploma instead of taking the GED exam.

Blackstad said Mankato GED classes follow the district school year, with classes offered both in the morning and in the evening in hopes of fitting into students’ work schedules. During the school year, free day care is also provided to students who qualify for “full time” status by attending enough classes.

Classes aren’t mandatory, and students can drop in whenever they feel the need. There are also online options for students to study at home.

“It’s all up to them how much they want to participate and to attend and to work toward their own goals,” Blackstad said. “You come in and get as much assistance as you need.”

Blackstad said in recent years, not as many people have approached her about earning their GED

because unemployment is so low and many jobs are available. But Blackstad stresses how helpful a GED can be for future goals.

“You’re just opening up so many more doors and so many more opportunities to choose something that you like,” she said. “A GED is your very first stepping stone.

What are you going to use that diploma as a ticket for?”

Once students earn their GEDs, Blackstad and her colleagues can help them find the next step, offering resources and guidance if students want to pursue more job training, earn a two-year degree or enroll in a four-year program.

“Some people don’t realize that they’re even capable of the next step,” she said. “We’re really good at pumping people up. It’s a very safe space… It’s a place to grow and see other people like you in the world who don’t fit into that typical, traditional box. Everyone’s individual. They all have different backgrounds, different skills, a past that has made them who they are today. I have seen the most dedicated people in my life working here.”

For Blackstad, the highlight of the program is always graduation night. Every May, Mankato ABE hosts a graduation ceremony and invites students who earned their high school diplomas throughout the previous school year. The event includes gowns, caps, a color guard and a speech from the Mankato Area Public Schools superintendent. This year, about 20 students participated.

“It’s the real deal,” Blackstad said.

“It’s wonderful. The best part of it is the student speakers, (hearing) their struggles and then what they’re going to use their diplomas for and how much it really means to them and their families.”

28 • SEPTEMBER 2019 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

But Ledesma was determined to finish that last test — so determined he quit his job and found another one that offered more flexible hours.

“I talked to my boss at the time and said, ‘I’m going back to school.

I’m going to finish that math test,’” he said. “I stood firm on what I said I was going to do. I came to class. I studied. I bought books on math, even if they were a fifth-grade level.”

Overall, it took Ledesma three years to complete the four tests. He gives a lot of the credit to the teachers at Lincoln.

“It’s good to know that there’s people out there who are willing to help,” he said. “They can only do so much, but that encouragement just gets you a long way. It’s never too late. You just have to be willing to do it and put in the time. There’s people out there who are willing to help (you) fulfill your dream of getting your GED and seeing a brighter future.”

Ledesma said he originally didn’t plan on inviting his family to attend this year’s graduation ceremony but decided to at the last minute.

He was one of four speakers, and he said his speech was about how he was able to get his life back on track despite what had happened earlier.

“The only regret I’ve ever had in my life was not finishing school,” he said. “It felt really good to get back on track and finish it. I may not ever be a state trooper or a Marine, but it feels good getting that piece of paper.”

Ledesma said he isn’t sure what he wants to do next, but he does know he wants to continue on with his education. He’s looking at possible two-year schools and hoping to choose one soon. He also would be interested in working at the local police department in some capacity.

“Even now, I still can’t believe it,” he said. “It’s something that I always regretted, and now it’s been done. I’m looking forward to what’s up ahead. (My kids) were really proud of me. It was nice to hear them say, ‘Hey Dad, you did it.

Congratulations!’”

Robert Cowell

When Robert Cowell, 40, was a senior at Janesville High School, he was called into the office and informed he couldn’t graduate.

“I said, ‘You know, I’m going to go back to school and finish what I’ve always wanted—getting a diploma.’”— Pedro Ledesma Cowell had moved around several times in the last few years with his family, and during the shuffle, he ended up one credit short of what he needed to earn his diploma.

“They pulled me into the office to say I needed to do summer school or come back the next year,” Cowell recalled. “And I was like, ‘Nope, I’m not. I’m going to work.’”

So Cowell dropped out of high school to start work at Brown Printing in Waseca before bouncing around to other jobs. He never needed higher education where he worked, so he didn’t see the point of finishing his diploma.

He also started experimenting with drugs and alcohol, which eventually landed him in drug court. As he got to know the counselors there, they encouraged him to become a licensed alcohol and drug counselor, or LADC, as well because he showed empathy and listening skills. He appreciated how much they had helped him and was interested in helping others the same way—but to start training to become a LADC, he needed his diploma.

So Cowell enrolled at Lincoln Community Center and began working toward his GED. He managed to complete the program in only seven months, partly because he was dedicated to always attending class.

“Every time I need to be there, I was there,” he said. “(My teachers) were like, ‘You’re really dedicated to this.’ I’m like, ‘Yes, I want this. I want to go to college and get a degree.’ I wanted to have a successful future.

With me now having that GED, I feel like I can do stuff like that. I’m really excited that I was able to go get it.

It’s really nice to have these programs here to help people achieve what they want to achieve in life.”

Cowell breezed through the math section but said it took him three tries to pass language arts — but he did.

He graduated in August 2018 and was one of the speakers at this year’s graduation ceremony.

“My topic was, ‘Have you ever wanted to change and thought it was impossible?’” he said. “I could relate to it because during my addiction, I wanted to change so much and I could not change, until I got into family drug court (and) was actually willing to make the changes. Now the lifestyle I live is way better than what I had before.”

Cowell said he is still interested in becoming an LADC, but he’s waiting until his daughter is a little older so that it won’t be as difficult for her when they’re apart. But even though he has to wait to fulfill that dream, he said he’s still optimistic about where his life is headed.

“I’m still kind of like, ‘Wow, really? I really got this?’” he said. “In a way, I’m still excited about it, especially when I fill out applications and can actually put down, ‘completed school.’ I keep completing things and moving forward.” MM

MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 29

Maria Bevacqua is shown here with her Shih Tzu, Sebastian.

30 • SEPTEMBER 2019 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

This photo of Jessica Flatequal was taken during a Pridefest parade several years ago.

UNITE Remembering LGBT Center’s leader, Jessica Flatequal

By Diana Rojo-Garcia | Photos by Pat Christman

T

he living room in Maria Bevacqua’s home fills with brilliant light, seemingly putting a spotlight on Sebastian, her 1-year-old Shih Tzu and 6-year- old cat, Jackson, as they rustled around on the ground.

Jackson, in fact, was a gift given to Bevacqua by her wife, Jessica Flatequal. Sebastian had also recently been adopted from BENCHS. Among the energy of the rescued pets, the walls are adorned with Flatequal’s art — as vibrant, distinct and powerful as Flatequal.

Flatequal had quick-whip intelligence, creativity and passion for social justice, Bevacqua said. She was a person with good instincts and a great troubleshooter

in any aspect of her life — a natural and dynamic leader.

“Everyone has kind of a ‘work persona,’ a ‘home persona’ and maybe more personas than that. But Jessica? There was a really good integration of her various roles that she played,” Bevacqua said. “And so she didn’t really ever stop being one thing when she had to be another thing. That is probably something people could emulate.”

Flatequal died of liver disease in early April at age 46. “A loss” is an understatement for the iconic leader in Mankato as a strong face for the LGBTQ community. A celebration of life took place a few days later at the Mankato Civic Center’s Grand Hall, full MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 31

with live music and food and great friends met along the way in her journey.

Though this will be the first year without Flatequal at the South Central Minnesota Pride festival in Mankato, her presence will not be unfelt. Her efforts to bring forth a safe space for the LGBTQ community, its allies and community members are apparent in the long-awaited festival.

She and Bevacqua became involved with the organization in 2004, a few years after it had begun in 2002. The same year, Flatequal had been hired as the first director of the LGBTQ center at MSU. In fewer than two decades, the festival grew from a small event with few vendors and attendees to a festival with more than 3,000 attendees and more than 60 vendors last year. Flatequal and Bevacqua, along with the other volunteers in the organization, took on the work to make the festival what it is now.

The first couple of years came with challenges, such as people who were afraid of being outed by going to the festival and pride didn’t have the support from the entire community.

“It was a small but dedicated team who started the first festivals, and then it progressively got larger with more involvement of people on the committee with more and growing support within the community,” Bevacqua said. “The university, churches, community organizations, schools and so on. And that took work. A real concerted effort that Jessica was proud to lead, and as a lifelong

32 • SEPTEMBER 2019 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

resident of Mankato, she was in a good position to know how to do that.”

And what was a small dedicated group of volunteers in SCMN Pride grew into a bigger committee of roughly 10 people who volunteered their time and talents in between their day jobs, much like Flatequal, who was a consistent force in the organization.

“Jessica felt like that was never her option to kind of transition off of the committee,” Bevacqua said. “Part of it was as kind of an offshoot of her work with the LGBT Center on campus. And part of it was the dedication to have a vibrant, visible and affirming pride festival in Mankato, her hometown. So she did that work.”

A big part of her work was to incorporate the organization as a nonprofit with the state of Minnesota and with the IRS. The organization has never had an employee.

“The entire committee is volunteer. Jessica, the entire time that she served in the executive director role, did so as a volunteer in her spare time,” Bevacqua said. “The board is entirely volunteer. You can’t underestimate the importance of that because that’s all the time that’s valuable: time, energy, skills, brainpower, physical labor and so on.”

Similarly, the interim executive director of SCMN Pride, Jeni Kolstad, has been involved in the committee for a decade, working hand in hand with Flatequal. Kolstad mentioned they’d often call each other their “right-hand ladies.”

Each year, the organization dedicates Pride to a person. This year Flatequal will be honored and celebrated. The T-shirt designs feature a bowtie, Flatequal’s signature fashion choice, and also features the word “unite” written in her handwriting. The theme was in the works before Flatequal’s death, but Kolstad believes that, now more than ever, it’s time to unite and be strong.

“We’re there for each other. We want to keep this thing we call Pride in Mankato moving forward. It’s a huge loss, but we do need to keep it going for everybody that is looking for us for that support,” Kolstad said.

Honoring Flatequal this year is a way to keep that Pride movement going, especially with the diligent and incessant work Flatequal put into her social work with Pride and the LGBT Center at MSU. “We will be honoring her as someone who was super integral in getting this going,” she said.

Kolstad said she hopes the future of Pride will be a vibrant one, even if that task seems difficult without the vivacious and fearless woman who led the charge for so many years.

“It’s such a huge loss to lose someone like Jessica because she’s very much a public figure.

She’s very inspiring,” Kolstad said. “Jessica would want us to keep going.”

When Kolstad had met with Flatequal in the hospital a few weeks before her death, Flatequal insisted on Pride continuing.

“She’s just like, ‘Jeni, you have to keep this thing going. There is no other option. We have to keep having Pride,’” Kolstad recalled.

As challenging as it can be with planning purposes and with high emotions within the committee and community, Kolstad believes they’re doing the right thing by continuing with the festival and in Flatequal’s honor. This year serves as a transitional period for the organization, but the festival, like every year, will continue, she said.

“She would be so mad if we stopped,” Kolstad said. She hopes people will come to the festival to celebrate in Flatequal’s spirit.

Because Pride is vital in the community. Where at once LGBT in Mankato might have not been received well because some saw the area as conservative, Flatequal didn’t accept that as the end of the story.

“She was absolutely instrumental in bringing people together and provided firm, but gentle, education to invite everyone along a journey of compassion and understanding,” Bevacqua said.

“She invested her time, talent and energy in making it the kind of community that we can all benefit from now.”

Flatequal’s presence will be felt at Pride this year. Her work persists with her spirit with those who believed in her mission.

“We’re going to have to hope that we have the gusto that it will take to continue in her absence, and doing this is important,” Bevacqua said.

“While sometimes Jessica seemed larger than life, this organization is determined to continue that work and be stronger and better for her influence.”

MM

to want in e W . r he de ach ot we call Pri huge e r o f e g a e therep this thin rward. It’s going t “We’r i o e f k g ep movin need to keg for us for o t a k Man ut we do is lookin stad said. loss, bybody that port,” Kol up er that s for ev

Jim Chalgren, 1951-2000: Southern MN LGBT pioneer

W

hile Southern Minnesota Pride’s annual festival has become a bustling, positive event every September, there was a time when acceptance was still the first order of business. And one of the Mankato area’s first warriors on that front was Jim Chalgren, the man who helped then-Mankato State University in 1977 open just the second center of its kind in the country focused on LGBT issues. It was the first in Minnesota.

Chalgren founded the center which, at that time, was known as the Alternative Lifestyles office. He transferred from Prescott College in Arizona to MSU where he earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology. He then pursued and earned his master’s in counseling and student personnel at MSU. Chalgren also served as the director of the center until he was too sick to continue the position. In 2004, Jessica Flatequal was named as the director of the LGBT Center at MSU. In 2008, MSU named the LGBT Center “Jim Chalgren LGBT Resource Center” in honor of Chalgren.

Later, in 2013, the LGBT Issues Committee of the Interfaculty Organization created an annual award in remembrance of Chalgren. The award, known as the James Eric Chalgren Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Advancement of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues, recognizes any MnSCU facutly member who has improved the lives of LGBT members in the school system.

He was a strong activist in the LGBT community, having co-founded The Aliveness Project in 1985, which is a program of those afflicted with HIV/ AIDS. Chalgren also penned poems and articles to “The GLC Voice,” “Gaze” and “Lavender Magazine.” He also wrote “Small Town Gay: Mankato Poems.”

On what would have been Chalgren’s 68th birthday, the LGBT Center shared one of his poems via Facebook “Alternative Lifestyles.” man to man woman to woman men loving men women loving women roses picnics walks along the beach to know oneself to accept oneself to affirm oneself and others hand in hand heart to heart MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 33

Deep Valley Book Festival featured artists never gave up

By Rachael Hanel

est, W e n i l e u q c Ja of the New ing author award winn bestselling series York Times f Elsewhere The Books o

34 • SEPTEMBER 2019 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

Allen Eskens,

bestselling author and 2017 DVBF headliner, returns in 2019

Derek Ande rson, New York Tim

es bestsell author and artist behin ing d than 25 boo ks for chil more dren

B

oth Jacqueline West and Derek Anderson knew from young ages that they wanted to create books.

West, a middle-grade and young-adult author, says she was a “secret writer,” the kid who wrote then hid the manuscript in a sock drawer.

Anderson, a children’s book author and illustrator, created a drawing in kindergarten and gave it to his principal. The principal hung it in his office.

“That’s when I realized I was going to be an artist,” he says.

West and Anderson are the featured artists at this year’s Deep Valley Book Festival, held 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5, at the Loose Moose Conference Center. The event is free and open to the public.

West is the author of nine books for kids (as well as a poetry collection) with her 10th book coming out this fall. Anderson has written and/or illustrated 30 books.

At the surface, it looks like they struck publishing gold with their first attempts. West’s first book “The Books of Elsewhere: The Shadows,” landed on the New York Times’ bestseller list. Anderson’s second book that he illustrated, “Little Quack,” did the same thing.

Lest kids and adults get the impression that the first thing you write or draw magically gets published, both West and Anderson put in years of effort before their successes.

West wrote for years before she submitted her manuscript to a literary agent. She’s trained as an opera singer so is familiar with the thousands of hours of practice that feed into an art. She prefers to practice in privacy, which is why she never wanted to share her writing as a kid or young adult.

It’s that aspect of practicing that she tries to emphasize to kids when she does school visits.

“When you first learn an instrument, you don’t expect to sit down and learn a song and then give a concert,” she says.

Anderson always thought he’d be a cartoonist, drawing comic strips and selling them to syndicates to get published in newspapers. In college, though, he became reacquainted with picture books.

He remembers thinking, “I can’t wait until the day I can do this, but my skills are nowhere where they need to be.”

So he, too, practiced, putting in hours at night and on weekends when he wasn’t working his fulltime job.

“I drew a lot of bad pictures and wrote a lot of bad stories for years,” he says.

In those early years, he sent his work to literary agents and publishers only to be rejected. One day, he decided to make a separate file folder for rejections and gave himself a challenge: could he receive the most rejections anyone has ever received?

The thing was: In order to be rejected, he had to first submit. And the more he submitted, the better the chances were that something would be accepted.

“I started doing things I wanted to do.

After that I started getting [acceptance] letters from publishers,” he says. He was in his 30s when his first book was published, and after that his career took off.

West and Anderson have done hundreds of school and book festival visits between them, so they often get to talk to children. They meet a lot of kids who like to write and draw and who want to publish books someday.

West stresses the importance of sharing work with others and tells kids to start a writing club at school.

Anderson says he recognizes the pressure that creative kids can face, especially when they get to high school and college. Sometimes the artistic fields aren’t seen as productive or valuable as other fields.

“If this is something you want, something you believe, you have to be all in and go after it,” he says. “If you give up along the way I can only promise you that you won’t do it in your life.”

At events like the Deep Valley Book Festival, Anderson likes to show the audience pictures he drew as a kid. He talks about how he creates a character and a book cover. He always “hides” something in each illustration, so he shows kids some of the hidden images. He also does a drawing demonstration and leaves time for questions.

West says she likes to address commonly asked questions when she’s at events. One question that comes up repeatedly: “How do you become a published author?”

To that, West says: “You have to read like crazy and write like crazy. You need to love to do it.”

For more information, go to www.deepvalleybookfestival.com or search for @ DeepValleyBookFestival on Facebook.

MM

IF YOU GO

What: Deep Valley Book Festival – 4th Edition

When: Saturday, October 5, 2019 Where: Loose Moose Saloon & Conference Center, 119 So. Front Street in Mankato.

More information:

www.deepvalleybookfestival.com or find us on Facebook Dozens of authors and hundreds of books, a FREE family event features full day of programs, speakers, children’s activities, food, drawings and door prizes, YWAC awards, and more! Free parking.

MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 35

Jacqueline West

Jacqueline will present her program,

“The Story Collector” at 2:30 pm at the Deep Valley Book Festival.

Jacqueline West is the author of the NYT-bestselling series The Books of Elsewhere, the middle grade fantasy The Collectors, and the middle grade mystery Digging Up Danger, as well as the YA novels Dreamers Often Lie and Last Things.

Her debut, The Shadows (The Books of Elsewhere, Volume One), garnered multiple starred reviews, was named a Publishers Weekly Flying Start and a Junior Library Guild Selection, and received the 2010 CYBILS Award for fantasy/ science fiction. An award-winning poet and occasional actress, Jacqueline lives with her family in Red Wing, Minnesota.

Derek Anderson

Derek will present his program,

“The World is Yours” at 1 pm at the Deep Valley Book Festival.

Derek Anderson is the New York Times bestselling artist behind more than twentyfive books for children. He is the award-winning illustrator of Little Quack by Lauren Thompson, Hot Rod Hamster by Cynthia Lord and his own Ten Pigs: An Epic Bath Adventure. Derek’s Croc and Ally books center around a grumpy crocodile, a happygo-lucky alligator and the friendship they share. His newest picture book What About Harry? is about two bears that do everything together. When Sam builds bigger, swings higher and gets more attention, Harry no longer wants to play. But he soon realizes playing isn’t nearly as much fun without his best friend, Sam. Derek lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife, Cheryl, and their dog, Louie.

Allen Eskens Allen Eskens is the bestselling author of The Life We Bury, The Guise of Another, The Heavens May Fall, The Deep Dark Descending, and The Shadows We Hide. He is the recipient of the Barry Award, Minnesota Book Award, Rosebud Award (Left Coast Crime), and Silver Falchion Award and has been a finalist for the Edgar Award, Thriller Award, Anthony Award, and Audie Award.

His books have been translated into 20 languages and his novel, The Life We Bury is in development for a feature film.

Allen was the 2017 DVBF headline author in 2017 and we’re thrilled to have him return this year!

36 • SEPTEMBER 2019 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

Toll Free 877.625.6412 | SchmidtMankato.com MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 37

Wine & Beer

wines

By Leigh Pomeroy

Wine and climate change T

southern mn style

hose who know me know about my interest in — actually, concern about — climate change.

Human civilization, which has only developed over the last 12,000 years, has had a huge impact on the land and waters. Now we know that civilization also has changed the delicate chemical balance of the atmosphere and the oceans — so much so that a growing number of scientists are saying that, unless we act quickly, our very civilization is in danger of collapsing.

In other words, should a cataclysm arrive as a result of climate change, humans will survive, but civilization as we know it will not. Which means byebye $200-per-bottle Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, lavish cruises to the Caribbean and even your gas-guzzling SUV. Wine is hardly necessary for human survival, although some people may think so. (And yes, I’ve been accused of such a belief.)

While in some cultures it’s part of the meal, it is for the most part an add-on, a luxury, or at least a lubricant for the human social experience.

That said, how in fact is the warming and changing climate affecting the growing and production of wine?

I have certainly seen this from personal experience. When I started in the wine business in 1972, it was nearly unthinkable to grow grapes in Oregon’s northern Willamette Valley and in the hills west of Portland. “Too cold,” the experts said. “Too rainy.” Yet today almost 300 wineries exist in this area alone. And in some years now the vintners complain the weather is too hot.

Also in the early 1970s, only a few vineyards existed in the cool Carneros region abutting San Francisco Bay in southern Napa and Sonoma counties. The thought was that the land was only useful for grazing cows. Today the area is wall-to-wall grapes interspersed with dozens of wineries.

Ditto with the newer Sonoma

Coast AVA. Like the Willamette Valley and Carneros, much of that area had been considered too cool for grape growing. Not anymore.

Admittedly, much of this expansion has been fueled by America’s passion for varietal and sparkling wines made from pinot noir and chardonnay, both coolclimate grapes. Still, those areas have grown noticeably warmer.

Europe has seen similar changes. Where once red wine from the warm Rhône Valley was trucked north to augment weaker Burgundy in off years, today the pinot noir of Burgundy is able to stand on its own, unless there is a rain deluge in September.

Prior to the 1970s, Bordeaux on average would have in a decade two catastrophic years and two great years with six of varying quality. But today we see good-togreat years (quality wise) almost every year, including every vintage since 2008, except for perhaps 2011, 2012 and 2013, all of which, according to wine guru Robert Parker, are only “above average” (like Minnesotans).

Alcohol levels are also rising because of the warming climate.

Except in extraordinary years, Bordeaux used to be 12%-13%; now it’s a full percent higher.

Napa Valley Cabernet used to be 13%-14%. Now I see them in the 14%-15% range, with some even at 16%. California Chardonnays, once in the 12%-13% range, now regularly list at 14%. And I’ve seen Châteauneuf-du-Papes from the amazing 2016 vintage in the 16% range as well. Yikes!

38 • SEPTEMBER 2019 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

On top of all this, harvests begin earlier. In Napa Valley, for instance, grape picking used to start at the beginning of September. Now the harvest starts halfway through August, with some grapes for sparkling wines picked as early as late July.

Yet the changing climate does not just mean warmer weather.

It can also mean more freakish weather, such as unexpected hail and rainstorms that can damage vineyards during flowering and harvest.

But in the future, it might also mean colder weather. Yes, you heard me right. The reason why Europe can grow cold-sensitive Vitis vinifera grapes that Minnesota cannot, even though Minneapolis and Bordeaux are the same latitude, is because of the warm North Atlantic Current, an extension of the Gulf Stream. Scientists have been predicting for some time that the freshwater melt from Greenland will slow down and even reverse that current, throwing Europe into a much colder climate pattern.

So, it is possible that one day in the not-too-distant future, a warmer Minnesota will be able to grow prized vinifera grapes while Europe, in order to save its wine industry, may have to turn to the cold-tolerant French-American hybrids that Minnesota now grows.

Cabernet Sauvignon from Minnesota? I wouldn’t bet against it.

Leigh Pomeroy is a Mankato-based writer and wine lover.

BEER

By Bert Mattson

Craft Beer:

Minny’s Frothy Sensibilities

A

s summer ebbs, it’s difficult to ignore the presence of hard seltzer this season. As its popularity waxes, craft brewers increasingly enter the frothy

fray.

It’s tempting to dismiss seltzer as something of little substance — just another twist on boozy pop, perhaps.

In fairness, pop was once hand-crafted at soda fountains — shot of syrup pumped into a tulip, covered with carbonated water. Soda jerks forever changed the American beverage landscape.

Business eggheads argue hard seltzer is here to stay, not fated to fizzle in the line of hard root beer, lemonade, etc. Why? Indeed. Evidently, the answer is rooted in a robust sparkling water market.

Sparkling water sales are up in the U.S., pop sales down.

Folks are shying away from the empty calories for which soft drinks are famous. Hard seltzer is the alcoholic analog. Bonus: few allergens. These changing tastes may be codified by the Brewers Association lifting the requirement that a majority of a brewery’s output must be based on traditional beer ingredients in order to de identified as “craft.”

Maybe it’s the old chef in me, but I like a hint of alchemy. I like to imagine a brewer surfing the elements, setting out on the adventure of fermentation.

Turning his back at the pivotal point to mask the secret, or

Eat...Drink...Be Mary!

secret ingredient, like a grandmother unready to reveal the keystone to some signature recipe. Seltzer seems sort of insipid by contrast. To be fair once more, I do suppose there is the potential for romance in the ingredients.

Consider again that drugstore soda jerk, as-likely-asnot poaching from the apothecary’s wares to assemble aromatic elixirs to make magic in his carbonated water.

Of course the carbonation itself increases pressure in the stomach expediting the release of his elixir’s active ingredients into the bloodstream.

In contrast to all that, the allure of modern soft drink production is as cloying as the products themselves. But ... and I shade you not ... I had a blue cheese pop at Blue Sun Soda Shop up in Spring Lake Park that set me straight.

It was surprisingly good. It sounds absurd, I realize.

Such a feat should be impossible. There were other, less audacious, achievements as well, but this is another story. Point being: There is craftsmanship to be found here, even as you strip away the sugar. That revelation leased me a little latitude for brewers branching into hard seltzer. It’s understandable that tap rooms would choose to offer this alternative — and that it should catch on.

I appreciate Fair State Co-op’s approach with their Hard Water Brewed Seltzer, selecting whole ingredients that harken back to a time the design might’ve been to settle the stomach rather than strip tooth enamel. Lemongrass Ginger Lemon is a clean, dry and subtle reflection of its ingredients. Some will want something sweeter and overtly fruity. Lift Bridge’s St. Croix Berries brings that. I wouldn’t hesitate to have the former with Thai. The latter, maybe red sauce. Both are local breweries.

Bert Mattson is a chef and writer based in St. Paul.

He is the manager of the iconic Mickey’s Diner. bertsbackburner.com

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 39

THAT’S LIFE

By Nell Musolf

That weekend

I

we were cool

sometimes wonder if cool people always knew they were cool. Did Steve McQueen sense at an early age that he didn’t have to answer to anyone because he was so completely cool? How about Lady Gaga — when did she realize she could pretty much write her own code and no one would say a word? I think they probably did know because, speaking as an extremely uncool person, I’ve always been completely aware of the fact that I don’t have a cool bone in my body.

My uncoolness used to bother me and I spent umpteen years and far too much money trying to create a cool illusion. Such as back in the 1980s when perms were all the rage and I jumped on the bandwagon only to emerge from the beauty parlor looking like a long-haired poodle that had gotten a toenail caught in an electric outlet. Not only was my perm particularly unflattering, it also smelled like my head had been doused with a fire bucket from a chemical factory, an odor that seemed to last longer than my perm.

As I grew older, I cared less and less about trying to appear cool as it increasingly became a losing battle. As I let my true nerd self emerge, life became a whole lot simpler, not to mention more comfortable.

Fortunately for me, my choice for a mate never paid much attention to labels like “cool” and “uncool.”

40 • SEPTEMBER 2019 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

Mark always did exactly what he wanted to do without worrying about what other people thought, and we’ve gone through our marriage accepting that we’re never going to be on the cover of People magazine sans committing a major felony or becoming movie stars.

So it was sweet indeed when recently, for one brief weekend, we were cool.

Our chance at coolness came about after we decided to rent a car to drive to Illinois for the weekend. I reserved a standard (AKA boring) vehicle but when we went to pick the rental up, we were informed they’d run out of standards so he’d upgraded us.

“I didn’t think you two looked like the kind who’d mind a free upgrade,” he said as he led us across the parking lot to a gun metal grey behemoth of a car that looked dangerous even while parked.

“What kind of car is that?” I asked.

“It’s a Challenger,” Mark informed me.

“And it’s yours for the weekend,” the clerk said.

Mark and I exchanged quick smiles. Was it possible that the two of us were actually going to be cool for a few days? Not only was it possible, it was actually happening.

I drove the Challenger back to our house and quickly learned something during the brief five-minute trip: When you’re in a cool car, you become acutely aware that

your outfit of capris and a Minnesota Lottery T-shirt brand you not only as un-chic but also a slob. I also learned that a Challenger is a very fast ride indeed. Although Mark left the rental car parking lot before I did, I beat him home.

“How’d you get ahead of me?” he asked after he pulled in our driveway behind me.

“It’s that car. It flies.”

Mark’s eyes lit up. “Let’s get going.

I want to hit the highway.”

After changing into a more Challenger appropriate outfit (nicer capris and logo free T-shirt), we left.

Mark took to the Challenger like a duck to water, and before we knew it, we were zooming down the highway faster than we’d ever zoomed before.

While it was definitely a comfortable ride, there were some features of our fancy rented hot rod that took some getting used to. Like the low seats, high hood and much smaller windows, all of which made me feel like Mrs. Magoo peering over the edge of a cliff. Climbing out of the car was also different. After years of family friendly minivan and SUV ownership, we both practically fell on our knees as we struggled out of the Challenger, a car obviously designed with younger, more supple bodies in mind.

But the perks definitely made up for any discomfort. And the biggest perk of all was the frank admiration we got from other people who saw that big freaking car and said, “Wow!” “Sweet ride,” a young man told me at a Kwik Trip in Sparta, Wisconsin.

“Great wheels,” a much older man said outside another Kwik Trip farther south.

“Thank you,” I replied, smug in the knowledge nowhere on the car were the words RENTED VEHICLE! THESE PEOPLE OBVIOUSLY WOULD NEVER BUY A CHALLENGER! It was a little sad when we had to return our weekend car and go back to our own perfectly fine Honda.

“We were cool for a while,” Mark said after we dropped the Challenger’s keys off. “It was kind of nice.”

It really was but in the long run comfort really does beat cool.

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Nell Musolf is a mom and freelance writer from Mankato. She blogs at: nellmusolf.com MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 41

GARDEN CHAT

By Jean Lundquist

goodness

Greenhouse I

t has happened: There is a 9-foot-by-12-foot Julianna Junior greenhouse in the side yard at our house! I took a couple of late summer naps in it when it was raining, and it worked perfectly. It has a few leaks, but a little more caulk will fix that.

I chose the polycarbonate panels rather than the glass.

It’s not as pretty, but it has better insulation qualities and it was less expensive. I did opt to purchase two automatic openers for roof vents, and I kept two manual vents.

I originally intended to put a cement base under it, but that would have cost more than the greenhouse itself. I also was warned against cement due to shifting, cracking and water-ponding issues.

So with the help of some friends, I had the site excavated to a depth of about 8 inches. Then, I had sand delivered and spread 2 inches over the site. A couple of inches of river rock went on top of that. I discovered that sand is as heavy as river rock to move.

Though I had originally hoped to erect the thing by myself with help when necessary, I read the instructions — and called a professional.

Then, bags of river pebbles were added to go around the base to close up the gaps between the base and the river rock. River pebbles are as heavy as river rock and sand.

I listed my old plastic greenhouse for sale on Craigslist 42 • SEPTEMBER 2019 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

and traded it for some Jack in the pulpit plants. We were both happy.

I may be overly optimistic, as I have been before, but I hope to put a milk house heater out there this winter and grow greens, radishes and other cold-loving plants.

I heated my chicken coop like that for years, so this should be no more expensive than that.

The key to this plan is to see where the snowdrifts form around the greenhouse. I will need to be able to open the door, after all. The coop was on running gear, so I could always open the door, but first I needed to traverse the hills and valleys of the drifts to get there that some years were nearly impassable. I’m 6 feet tall, and some of those drifts were taller than me. nnnn Over half my garden veggies this year were grown in grow bags. And all of my tomatoes were affected by blight.

Blight can be carried on the wind and thrives in wet weather. It lands in the soil and splashes up on the leaves of the tomatoes, eventually killing them. I had hoped by using grow bags, I would be immune from that.

When I saw the first signs, I foolishly thought the plants just needed a little more sunlight and moved the bags.

By the time I realized I was wrong, it was too late. I intend to continue to use the grow bags, but need a better plan for that.

The plan is to empty all of the bags of soil this fall. The soil will need to be sterilized before I use it again — IF I use it again. Soil can be sterilized in the oven, but the process stinks.

That stink can also be toxic. Because I don’t have an outdoor oven, I will probably not be sterilizing the soil, although a small, cheap microwave might be useful.

The bags also need to be sterilized.

Washing them with OxiClean, peroxide or bleach are options, then let them dry in the sun.

I have a couple of dozen grow bags that are in use, and at the price I paid for them, I will go the distance to reuse them. I bought another bunch of bags to use next year, so I need to get this process down pat.

I’m not giving up on my bags, but I am a bit discouraged. But like all gardeners, I know there’s always next year!

Not sure where to begin?

Whether you’re just starting to consider senior living or ready to tour, our team at Old Main Village is ready to walk through this important process with you.

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Jean Lundquist is a Master Gardener who lives near Good Thunder. gardenchatkato@gmail.com

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5-6

Minnesota Shorts Festival Mankato West High School — The 11th Annual Minnesota Shorts Festival brings you two nights of frolicking frivolity, demonstrative drama, and captivating comedy. With 7 different shows each night there is something for everyone. Visit merelyplayers.com for ticket info.

7-8

Rock Bend Folk Festival Minnesota Square Park in St. Peter — The Rock Bend Folk Festival is a free, all-ages music festival held annually the weekend after Labor Day. Join us in celebrating southern Minnesota with original arts and crafts; local and national musical performances; food; and fun.

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44 • SEPTEMBER 2019 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

13

Theatre Physics Bethany Lutheran College — This exercise in creative energy features a variety of short scenes of original material by Bethany students and theatre faculty written, rehearsed, and readied in three weeks. The five shows are extremely popular for all ages and fill quickly, so advance reservations are strongly encouraged — Tickets available at theatre.blc.edu, and at the Bethany Box Office starting Sept. 3.

14

10th Annual Grape Stomp and Vendor Show Indian Island Winery, rural Janesville — Come and shop from tons of local vendors from small area businesses. Get entered to win door prizes. Sign up to stomp for a chance to win wine prizes. Wear a costume to be entered in the costume contest. Online registration is now available — $2 admission for the entire day.

Live music by Andy Tackett from 1-3:30, Amy Manette from 3:30-6 and then Relativity from 6-8:30!

15

Auto Restorers Car Show and Swap 6 a.m.-3:30 p.m. — Nicollet County Fairgrounds, St. Peter — 43rd annual Car Show and Swap Meet. Event happens rain or shine.

17

Don’t Let Go of Summer Dance 2:30-4:30 p.m. — VINE Adult Community Center — The calendar got away from us and we didn’t have a summer dance. But now that autumn is on its way let’s come together and push it away. VINE Garage Band will perform.

Cost: No charge for members; $5 for nonmembers. Call the VACC at (507) 386-5586 by 9/16 to register.

26-28

‘Newsies’ 7:30 p.m. — Ted Paul Theatre, Earley Center for Performing Arts, Minnesota State University — A musical based on the New York City newsboy strike of 1899. When young newspaper sellers are exploited beyond reason by their bosses they set out to enact change and are met by the ruthlessness of big business.

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 45

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46 • SEPTEMBER 2019 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 47

FROM THIS VALLEY

By Pete Steiner

Lessons of a Master Gardener T

here’s a sign posted near the metal racks in his heated garage — the garage where Harvey Hesse will soon be hauling many of the perennial plants that have been growing in the nine different garden plots spread across his spacious backyard. The sign lists “Garden Rules,” including: n Get Dirty n Relax and Pull Weeds n Listen to the Birds n Enjoy the Beauty These are rules Harvey has followed to create a satisfying life, with gardening and family and friends at the center.

At 80, Harvey is one of just six men in the 30-member Minnesota River Valley Master Gardeners group. He took up gardening at the urging of his late wife, Beverly, well before persistent back problems forced him to give up his dairy operation nearly three decades ago.

Despite using a walker, Harvey has devised a system that still enables him to “get dirty and pull weeds.” As for “listen to the birds and enjoy the beauty” — all he has to do is walk outside his cozy house and take in what lies before him. But sometimes, he will go farther.

I profiled Harvey and his personal “Eden” in a July 28 Free Press article with photographs of the “park” that lies beyond the garden plots. The park is a 65-acre nature area Harvey and his friend Ron Winter have created adjacent to his homestead. It includes forested stands along the Le Sueur River and restored native prairie.

When Harvey really wants to get away, he simply hops on his lawn tractor and drives a hundred yards or so down into the park. Then he shuts down the tractor: “I go for the quiet,” he smiles.

“The Quiet.” Sometimes it seems, these days, it’s hard to find the Quiet. nnnn For me, maybe for you, too, fall is a season of contemplation and reflection. Time to seek the Quiet.

Especially after the first frost, I like to go out on our deck, observe the changing colors, sniff the crisp air, listen to our walnut tree — Autumn’s drummer, I call it — as it intermittently drops all its heavy green fruit to the ground. Pum-pum-pum, pum-pum-pum, they thud softly 48 • SEPTEMBER 2019 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

onto the grass. (I have complained in previous articles about having to pick up bushels full of walnuts for the compost.)

The catbirds and mourning doves will have flown, but hopefully the cardinals and chickadees will stay. Of course, the sparrows will remain. As I become wistful for the fading season and wonder how much snow and brutal cold the coming winter will bring, I will say I am sorry that I complained in mid-July when it was 90 and the dew point was 80 and the heat index was 110.

I also will hopefully contemplate another thing that Harvey Hesse told me and my wife, Jeanne, in July as we sat at his dining room table after several hours of touring his gardens and park. He said how happy he has been with his life, a life more rich in beauty than in possessions, and that he lives by his own version of the Golden Rule: Treat people like you want them to treat you. nnnn New studies have indicated there are great mental health benefits associated with simple gratefulness.

Those of us living in greater Mankato do have plenty to be grateful for — a pleasantly livable community, with a diverse economy and plentiful cultural opportunities (silo painting, anyone? Rock Bend Folk Festival, anyone?).

And while winter can be harsh, somehow, I believe it’s a factor in repeated studies that list Minnesota as one of the healthiest states. (Perhaps exercise due to snow shoveling helps!)

So along with skiers and skaters and snowmobilers and those who sell shovels and snowblowers, I need to cultivate a gratefulness for winter: Let’s see, we seem to pull together more to help one another in winter ... It enforces time spent in a cozy place reading a good book ... Hmm, let me work a little on gratefulness for winter!

Meanwhile, while summer endures, I’ll be heeding some of those gardening maxims I jotted down in Harvey’s garage. I’ll be heading out to listen to the birds and enjoy the beauty. I may not have my own park like Harvey’s, but there’s lovely public spaces like Sibley and Rasmussen and Williams Nature Center. Still time for a walk in the woods.

Longtime radio guy Pete Steiner is now a free lance writer in Mankato.

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2019 • 49

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