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- Jaybird in reply to Michael Cain on Open Mic for the week of 9/30/2024He's America's Dickens. Also, apparently, America's Simpsons. I don't know anybody who read anything…
- Michael Cain in reply to Jaybird on Open Mic for the week of 9/30/2024Early on during the years where I made an annual week-long trip to my Mom's south of Omaha to do all…
- Jaybird in reply to Michael Cain on Open Mic for the week of 9/30/2024I can't believe that I was terrified by Christine. "A haunted car? Ooooh! *SCARY*!" I joked. "No won…
- LeeEsq in reply to Philip H on Open Mic for the week of 9/30/2024This is almost a rightist statement from you. The entire honor culture thing is considered a big shi…
- LeeEsq in reply to Dark Matter on Open Mic for the week of 9/30/2024I suspect that Israel knows that most Iranian citizens do not like the military adventurism of their…
- LeeEsq in reply to Chip Daniels on Open Mic for the week of 9/30/2024This is absolutely correct and something that a lot of people refuse to accept, especially a certain…
- Jaybird in reply to Chip Daniels on Open Mic for the week of 9/30/2024This but unironically.
- Chip Daniels in reply to Jaybird on Open Mic for the week of 9/30/2024The loudest yelps for tolerance come from those who give none.
- Jaybird in reply to Chip Daniels on Open Mic for the week of 9/30/2024Sounds like they've done a good enough job of doing that to the point where they're left with the on…
- Michael Cain in reply to Jaybird on Open Mic for the week of 9/30/2024Overheard granddaughter #1 (fifth grade) telling granddaughter #2 (second grade) the other day: "You…
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Those outfits!Report
Everyone has some sort of “meet the family” story, right? The one I remember was back in the 1960s in Storm Lake, IA and I was about 14. At that time, Storm Lake’s population was completely dominated by vikings: descendants of Danes and Swedes and Dutch who had largely been recruited by the Great Northern Railway from northern Europe. I had a play rehearsal* on a Wednesday evening. I was supposed to pick up one of the Lund sisters, who was also in the play, to walk to rehearsal, then walk her back home since it would after dark by then. When I got to the Lunds’ house, I was greeted by the sister I was supposed to escort, who told me that Grandma Lund was visiting and I was required to come in and talk with her. I did my best 14-year-old talking with a grandma shtick. I thought it went well. We went to the rehearsal, I walked her home.
Necessary background… The Lunds were Dutch, all with hair so blond it verged on white. I was a minority Anglo-Saxon kid in town with brown hair and light brown eyes. I was almost always the shortest kid in class, even when you included the girls.
The next day at school the Lund sister stopped me. “It was so cool. You know what Grandma said when I got home? ‘He seems like a nice boy, but he’s so dark.’ You and me, we’re going to the movies on Friday. Pick me up at 6:30. I’ve got to know what Grandma is going to say if you ‘take me out’ twice.”
* That ninth-grade play is story worth its own space.Report