Do you need reminding of this void?

Here's the hub of our once-grand Prairie Pioneer Days, always held about the second weekend in July. Our current mayor liked PPD because it propped up Morris at a time when things could get really slow. Well, things are arguably pretty slow right now, July of 2024. I was on the same page with Mayor Wohlers. We lost. So the old summer Prairie Pioneer Days is confined to our memories. For those of you not here then, you should know it was really quite grand and glorious. That's coming from yours truly who tends skeptical a lot. A sign that the end was coming was when the Morris Community Band was not even invited to perform at the park stage, a stage designed precisely for this kind of musical group. And what the hell is the stage used for now? Can anyone help me out on this? There are aluminum bleachers in front of the stage. What is their purpose? Last fall when the "welcome UMM" picnic was held, couldn't someone have taken the trouble to find someone who could maybe put on a guitar and sing or something? No, nothing. UMM and its future are an issue in itself, and if we don't hear soon about the new U president coming out here to give the predictable speech about how wonderful we are with our liberal arts commitment, that could spell trouble. "Jewel in the crown?" Does that expression have any currency anymore? Our museum should have a whole exhibit on the summer run of PPD with its hub at East Side Park. It was considered a huge step forward by this community when it was created. I was there. Now, nothing. (Photo at top by B.W.)

 

Times surely change. Quite the prevailing truism. It has always been true but is probably more so today. Well surely it is more so today because of the effects of the digital world through the years. The change process is far from complete. 

We have seen change in Morris with the phasing out of our once-ambitious Prairie Pioneer Days. 

When I say PPD is gone, I am referring to the event's longstanding run with its headquarters at East Side Park. Is the coming weekend the one when it would have been held? Morris will wake up tomorrow and Sunday with the expected atmosphere of being quiet, almost in a suspended state. We are not like the lakes communities that are close by, within routine driving distance. I could visit a public swimming beach in Alexandria if I wanted to. I'm not motivated at the present time. 

 

"Miss Lobster"

More on the theme of "change": My generation when young - well we did a lot of unwise things - thought it important in summer to get the "deep dark tan." Were we to visit a beach in the Alex area, it would be primarily to "lay out in the sun" on a large towel. Today we would want something like an umbrella overhead to protect us. Not in the 1970s - the objective was to look really dark. You might be considered a "nerd" if you didn't. 

And there's a big change too: the fact we don't bother characterizing some in our ranks as "nerds." Or let's put it another way: the nerds won. To the extent there was a culture clash, the nerds won totally. So the term itself has faded into obsolescence. 

I remember my high school band director had a daughter who thought it important to get "roasted" under the sun in summer. We gathered for one of our summer marching band rehearsals one evening and the director jokingly referred to her as "Miss Lobster." Amusing of course. And being this dark was a model thing, by the standards of my peers. 

Today it's so different: we know that a deep tan actually represents damage to the skin. We know it is something to be avoided. People who do hard labor outdoors cannot avoid it. The people who can avoid it ought to. 

People smoked cigarettes totally freely through the 1970s and beyond. That is truly incredible to reflect upon. 

Summer with its tanning faded. Then fall came. We saw state colleges get flooded by pretty wild young people in the fall.

 

Choosing college or "tech"

I remember that when I graduated from Morris High School in 1973, going to college was sort of "the thing to do." We looked at "future plans" in the spring edition of the high school newspaper. We saw an assortment of colleges. "Tech schools" became big with time too. 

It was easy to think the tech schools were a more responsible choice because, well, they prepared you for something practical. I think that was an over-simplistic conclusion. There is much to be said for entering the workforce and learning from there. A tech-based education has a liability: kids complete their studies and then think they are experts, "know-it-alls." Employers in many cases are not going to welcome that attitude. 

I wonder even if the employers of today welcome the hiring of FFA graduates. For the same reason I just cited. They might not wish to admit it, but the employers probably like hiring people "cold" and then training them in, to do the work exactly as the company would want. They might hesitate to admit that because we here in America are supposed to think so highly of post-high school studies. We still have an inclination to hold it up as an ideal. 

Realistically the ideal is not so firm or reliable. My goodness, look at the debacle that St. Cloud State is going through. It's not even fair to poke fun at the place any more. Tempting but not fair. You could not have scripted worse headlines about the place. Did we really need another new batch of really bad headlines recently? Well we surely got them. 

And my jaw dropped as I did some research and learned of significant buildings that are closed and set for actual demolition. Sherburne Hall? Say it isn't so. The education building? I can't believe it. There are others.

A few years back I linked to a video that showed the implosion of the old freshmen girls dorm at St. Cloud State. That was just the beginning.

 

What to do?

The SCSU president now is someone last name of Dietz. I'm sure he's a good person who wants to do good. Surely he at present is going to want to "spin" things optimistically, somehow. Well, one of the things he is saying is that the demolition of some buildings will create new "open space" that will. . . 

Well, it will enhance the campus atmosphere? Nice try, Mr. Dietz, but "open space" by itself does not confer any benefits that can be appreciated on an economic basis. And like it or not, Mr. Dietz, it is your job to make sure this campus, if it is going to continue to be a campus, confers some benefits that the state legislature can appreciate. 

I have argued for a while now that the legislators themselves need to roll up their sleeves and take more responsibility with our publicly-funded education institutions. Are the institutions fading to where they are anachronistic? 

We know the factors at play, such as fewer kids out there. And I would emphasize, our digital revolution that renders brick and mortar assets of all kinds less important. A brick and mortar campus for the imparting of knowledge? In a new age where you can teach yourself trigonometry on YouTube? 

And the legislature should not be fooled by the people with a vested interest in the old ways. Maybe a campus like SCSU really needs to be considered for closure. 

 

Our UMM in Morris MN

And what about here?

This brings the inconvenient question for those of us in Morris MN: what about our state-subsidized campus here? I walk through the edge of campus nearly every day. I see lots of activity for maintaining the physical campus. But what all goes on at UMM in summer? All the maintenance costs, a lot of $ I'm sure, so is it worth it? And if not, whither the campus itself? Might it be gone with the wind just like our old summer Prairie Pioneer Days?

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com