New Jersey, New York

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When my friend Chris Alpine and I began planning a visit to New York City I envisioned landing in an exotic sounding airport like La Guardia or JFK. But Chris suggested Newark International Airport as a hub - because Newark is cheaper to fly into. He suggested that we take the New Jersey Transit Authority train from the airport to Penn Station, then the New York subway to lower Manhattan - because it’s much cheaper than a taxi. We’d already agreed to sublet a friend’s apartment - because New York hotels are way too expensive.

But flying into Newark, New Jersey? Isn’t Newark a city populated by people with thick necks, hairy backs and eyebrows? Don’t most of the citizens of Newark exist on a diet of root crops and garlic?

The reality is that Newark is populated mainly by immigrants from Pakistan. The original inhabitants of Newark have all moved to New York City. The shine of the Big Apple has lured them across the Hudson to stake claim to their slice of the Big Apple pie. As for the immigrants from the Pakistan, the industrial wasteland that is Newark probably looks pretty good compared to Lahore.

There is plenty for the tourist to see in New York City - the Empire State Building, Times Square, and the Statue of Liberty. We saw it all. But much of real New York happens below ground in the subway tunnels that web the city– aspiring entertainers singing old Cole Porter tunes and passing the hat, panhandlers telling tales of hard luck and misfortune while shaking plastic cups full of change, the subway rats who seem content to scurry from shadow to shadow searching for bagel crumbs.

Then there was Victor Ramon, Psychic Phenomenon Plus (Extraordinary) or at least that’s what the business card he handed Chris read. He insisted on giving Chris a psychic reading right there at the West 42^nd street subway platform. He wore a battered blue sport coat and gravy stained necktie drawn tightly around his thick neck. He spoke in a heavy New Jersey accent, and paused only briefly to consult the spirits contained in the pint bottle he carried in his hip pocket. The smell of alcohol barely concealed the garlic on his breath.

I’m not sure if Chris received any prophetic messages from beyond. Just the typical stuff you might get from the “Spirits of Fermented Fruit”. When Victor Ramon finished with his reading, he insisted that Chris not pay him for his services since his gift was derived from a higher power. It was a request that Chris was more than happy to honor.

Dale Larsen

The current exhibit at the Sorenson Gallery is entitled "The New Rules of Femininity: A Show for My Daughter." Alice Blessing paints without brushes, using her fingertips and wearing latex gloves. The paintings are intended to present honest portrayals of women.

July at the Arts Center

Summertime is here and with it come lots of exciting new opportunities at the Fosston Community Library Arts Center.
The new display in the Sorenson Gallery, scheduled to open early this month and to be up for the rest of the summer, has paintings by Bemidji artist Alice Blessing. Blessing takes fingerpainting to a whole new level, wearing latex gloves and using acrylic paints to create portraits of people and pets that are nothing short of amazing. Check out her Web site at www.aliceblessing.com and then stop in and see her work.
This year’s summer theater production will be Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker, from which the musical Hello, Dolly!, was adapted. Rehearsals will begin Sunday, July 18, for the August 18th-22nd performances. Anyone interested in having a part in this production, either on stage or behind the scenes, should contact director Whitney Stuckey at 218-230-5507 or e-mail her at whitney@gerla.net
On Tuesday, July 20, at 7 p.m., the film Food, Inc., an Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature, will be shown at the arts center. Learn surprising truths about what we eat and how it’s produced. Free tickets are available, both at the library and at the Fosston Farmers Market.
The “Make a Splash - READ!” summer reading program is continuing with more special programs each Wednesday in July. On July 7, staff from the Headwaters Science Center of Bemidji will do a demonstration on the unique properties of water, and on July 14, Itasca Park staff will present a program about boat building on the Mississippi, then give the kids a chance to build their own boat using natural materials. There will be a movie on July 21, and on July 28, Cheryl Winkelman will be there to help everyone try watermelon sculpting. All these programs are at 1:30 p.m.
Another special program, A Splash of Magic, is scheduled for Thursday, July 22, at 6:30 p.m. Aimed at preschoolers through fifth graders, this 45-minute magic show helps kids explore the wonderful world of water. There is lots of audience participation and you may get a little wet. It should be fun.
Fosston Crazy Days will be July 30-31. During that time, the library will get into the act by having a used book sale in the front entry of the library and on the sidewalk. Stop by - there’s sure to be some great bargains.
Writers’ group continues to meet the fourth Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m. New members are always welcome

Summer Theater Production

The FCLAA is pleased to announce this year’s summer theater production will be The Matchmaker by Thorton Wilder. The performance dates will be August 18-22 with rehearsals to begin Sunday, July 18. Whitney Stuckey, who directed last year’s successful 1940’s Radio Hour, is coming back to work with this summer’s play as well.
The Matchmaker is a comedy, and if you’re not familiar with it, you may remember the musical adapted from it. It was called Hello, Dolly! and it ran on Broadway for years, as well as being made into a movie. The cast requires eight men and six women.
If you are interested in acting in the play or helping out with sets, costumes, lighting, etc., please contact Whitney Stuckey at 218-230-5507 or whitney@gerla.net as soon as possible.

Writers' Group

Ephemera
Spring is the season for flowering bushes and trees.
The lilacs’ sweet, perfumed blossoms linger
for a bit,
But the blooms of apple trees - and cherries, too, I’m told-
Open and fall all too quickly.
In a brief burst of beauty, the flowering crab
Becomes a pink cloud that takes one’s breath away.
A few days and the flowers are gone
To be replaced by fruit that grows no larger than a marble
And can be found still littering the sidewalk
When next year’s blooms appear.
Why must that beauty be so fleeting?
Couldn’t it last a little longer?
Perhaps if it did, it might not be as precious,
Nor would it be a reminder of our own mortality.
- Kay Carlsen

Writers' Group

The Library Ghost

There’s a ghost in the library.
I hear it sometimes.
It sounds as if books are being shuffled around
Right there on the shelves.
There’s no one there and nothing to see,
Only that sound --
As if someone were sliding books out
And shoving them back in.
But who could it be?
Some long-dead librarian unable to rest
Until every shelf is in perfect order?
Or perhaps a disgruntled library patron,
Who after death is still trying to prove that an overdue book
Really has been returned and truly is back on the shelves,
Not hidden under a sofa cushion or
Gathering dust under a bed somewhere.
I don’t really know, but I will tell you this:
There is a ghost in the library.

--Kay Carlsen

June at the Fosston Library Arts Center

June is here. Let’s hope it’s as beautiful as the last two week of May have been.
The big news at the Fosston Library is the summer reading program. Kids of all ages are invited to “Make a Splash - READ!” with the splash-off week beginning Tuesday, June 1, and ending Friday, June 4, A special splash beach party bash was scheduled for Wednesday, June 2, at 1:30 p.m. at the library.
Every child who reads 15 hours or completes 15 books and submits a completed reading log will receive a prize and will be eligible for weekly prize drawings, as well as the grand prize drawings to be held in August. Preschoolers can participate in the Read-to-Me portion of the program. There will also be a Sizzlin’ Summer Reads program for adults, so don’t feel left out if you’ve left your childhood behind.
In conjunction with the summer reading program, there will be special events every Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.
On June 9, Cheryl Winkelmann will help kids make soap and play with bubbles in a tub. Cheryl does some type of activity for the reading program almost every summer, and everyone always has fun.
Children’s author Patrick Mader will do a presentation and book signing on June 16. Mader, who is an elementary teacher in south central Minnesota, grew up on a dairy farm near St. Bonifacius. His books, Opa & Oma, Oma Finds a Miracle, and Big Brother Has Wheels, have rural settings and positive messages..
June 23’s program will be Make a Splash with MinnAqua. Interns with the DNR’s MinnAqua program will help the kids learn about Minnesota’s fish and fish habitats.
Emily Giese, intern at the Rydell National Wildlife Refuge, will be at the library on June 30. She will be talking about animal homes on water with a hands-on presentation allowing the kids to examine various building materials and feel the pelts of some of Minnesota’s wetland creatures.
Not part of the summer reading program, but a special treat nonetheless, on Friday, June 25, at 2 p.m., Dr. Dawn Duncan, a Concordia College professor, will perform her one-woman show, “Clara Dillon Darrow: Pioneering Woman,” about an historical Red River Valley region woman in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Duncan will follow the half-hour play with a discussion of that era and will also discuss how to use the library to research material for inclusion in writing.
Speaking of writing - remember the writers’ group continues to meet the fourth Thursday each month at 7:30 p.m.