Disc Golf in Albert Lea

Before Albert Lea’s new 18-hole course came along, thanks to a host of Shinefest volunteers and a few die hard disc golfers, disc golf was moderately popular in Albert Lea. With the addition of the new course, however, disc golf in our area has enjoyed a sizable wave of increased participation.

In addition to the 9 holes in the upper portion of Bancroft Bay Park, there are also 18 holes in the lower part of the park. Most of the disc golf club outings happen on the lower part of the club, but club members do occasionally play the “upper” as well.

The Flying Lea Disc Golf Club didn’t even exist before the new course was formed. Now it has close to 80 members. And on Sundays when the mosquitoes aren’t in full force, the parking lot of the new course is absolutely packed with cars.

Most importantly, a person doesn’t need to be a member of the Flying Lea Disc Golf Club to play the course. It is free and available to anyone who has a desire to play…at any time of the day. The club is very inclusive and enjoys members of all skill levels, which is apparent in their choice to play host a handicap league on Sundays. Players are rewarded for the amount they improve off their handicap, not how good they are.

If you have even a mild interest in disc golf, come on out and play! You won’t regret it. (And you may even get hooked.)

Ron Holtan Realty

Ron Holtan Realty, Inc. now has what I consider to be the best site for viewing property listings in Albert Lea. (For the sake of full disclosure, I did develop this site myself, but that’s beside the point. )

Not only does Ron Holtan Realty, Inc. get data directly from the region’s Multiple Listing Service for their own listings, but they provide a way to search listings for all listings in Albert Lea and the surrounding area. But what’s most incredible is the new listing interface provided by flexMLS.

Basically, everything a home buyer would want to know before looking at a home is included in this interface: maps, details, pictures, and in some cases virtual home tours, along with a host of other great features. And if you’re looking for specific features in a home, the search capabilities are outstanding.

Healthy Freeborn County

As part of SHIP (Statewide Health Improvement Project) in Minnesota, Freeborn County was chosen as one of nine counties to receive grant money to help make folks who live in our county healthier lives.

Part of the project includes educating people and giving them resources that will help them learn more about improving their health and the health of others.

The new healthyfreeborncounty.org, is a one stop shop for SHIP information in Freeborn County, featuring resources, links, and event listings. Over time it will possibly feature videos and more photos, as well as lists of mini-grant award winners and champions of healthy initiatives in the workplace, at home, at school, and in various community groups.

Check it out!

Interview with Joan Claire Graham

Joan Claire Graham is an author, editor, and publisher who resides in Albert Lea, Minnesota. Among other literary projects and artistic endeavors, she’s compiled seven volumes of Minnesota Memories. Each book in the seven volume set contains a collection of short stories written by Minnesotans, and a large number of those who have contributed to Joan’s collections are fascinating folks who may not have considered themselves writers before contributing to one of her projects. They do now! Her perspectives on this project and her own life’s stories are quite remarkable. I hope other folks enjoy this interview as much as I did. Enjoy!

Jeshua: You’ve published seven volumes of Minnesota Memories books. Are there more to come? Why or why not?

Joan Claire Graham: I have collected enough material for one or two more volumes, but the publishing and bookstore businesses have been hit hard by the current economic situation. Independent bookstores have closed, and big chain book stores like Barnes and Noble have closed several of their locations. People who once felt they had discretionary income to spend on things like books have seen their investment money shrink, and they have reacted (as well they should) by buying only what they need. In order to publish books, I need to sell them. Every week people contact me about the publication Minnesota Memories 8, and I tell them that I must ride out the current economic crisis.

Jeshua: What do you think is unique about the type of work you do? Are there other historians in Minnesota who collect stories from ordinary folks and publish them in volumes?

Joan Claire Graham: As far as I know, I am the only person doing exactly what I do. There are people who publish anthologies of stories by famous writers, some who publish their own stories, some who publish anthologies gathered from writers’ groups or workshop participants, and there are a few who publish “The Best of” material that has been published elsewhere, but I believe I am the only person who travels all over Minnesota soliciting previously unpublished non-fiction material from anyone who thinks he or she has a great true story to tell, and then actually publishes these stories in anthologies. If there is another person out there with an approach that is as egalitarian as mine, I am not aware of him or her. Some of my best stories have come from the most unexpected people. Editors who wanted to use some of my published material as part of their own anthologies have approached me, but even though I signed release forms and contract agreements, none of those anthologies actually made it to press.

Jeshua: Have you written a biography of your own?

Joan Claire Graham: I publish a few of my stories in each volume, but Minnesota Memories, the first edition, contains 15 of my stories. My publishing partner and I had been trying to get our friends and acquaintances to contribute material for this book for at least two years, and we learned that, to a friend, the word “deadline” has very little importance. You might as well be talking about a tan line or a smile line because using the word “deadline” just doesn’t pack any punch with the average person unless you’re the IRS. After readjusting our “deadline” at least three times, we decided to publish the handful of stories we had collected, plus the ones we had written, and try to get people’s attention by going on the road with the first book as an example of the type of stories we were looking for. We read stories at programs and invited people to send their best true story for volume 2. We only had seven contributors to Minnesota Memories, but we had 34 contributors to Minnesota Memories 2. I think people read the stories and thought, “I can do that.” By example, we finally got the ball rolling.

Jeshua: Say a little something about the setting of your childhood. What negative or positive childhood memories would you be willing to share that have shaped you as a writer and a purveyor of memories?

Joan Claire Graham: Growing up in a packinghouse town after World War II was a stimulating experience for a kid. We didn’t have a lot of material things, but we were comfortable. Albert Lea was thriving, with the expansion of new housing developments, downtown businesses, manufacturing and schools. Our parents had survived the Great Depression and were happy to be able to work a secure union job that put food on the table and a roof over their heads. My dad was a union guy at Wilson’s, and my mom, a teacher, was one of the pioneers in special education of children who had previously been institutionalized. Although they felt satisfied with being able to make ends meet, they were a transitional generation who felt happy to sacrifice some personal fulfillment and work hard at what may not have been their dream job so that their kids could do even better than they had done. Education was very important, and neither the schools nor the families accepted excuses for not trying your best to maximize your educational opportunities. When I was in junior high, the Russians launched Sputnik, and American education became an even bigger priority. President Kennedy initiated a physical fitness program. Albert Lea High School added a new science wing and offered five foreign languages: Russian, Spanish, German, French and Latin. Our humanities program attracted statewide and national attention, and our journalism program received top national honors. We had twelve National Merit finalists or commended scholars in our graduating class of 363. I point this out to prove how important and effective education was in Albert Lea a half century ago.

Small town kids in the 1950s learned personal independence at a young age. Since most families didn’t have two cars, the breadwinner usually drove his car to work, and the rest of the family traveled to school and to recreational activities by bicycle or by foot. I didn’t hear the word “carpool” until decades after I grew up. Children were encouraged to play outside and walk to the playground or ice skating rink, to meet up with other kids in sandlots and play ballgames that were not regulated by or attended by adults. We were like the kids in the “Peanuts” cartoon. We had parents, but you didn’t see them that much, and they certainly did not manage our playtime. Because of our education and independence, many of my generation felt confident going out into the world after graduating from high school, and that helped contribute to the demise of several of these small southern Minnesota towns. Both Albert Lea and Austin have had negative growth for many years.

As a writer, I always felt like a fly on the wall, whose job it was to watch and listen, take mental notes and write about it afterwards. I have spoken to other writers who felt the same way. Many people cannot remember the name of their third grade teacher or the kid who got killed by a train, but I can. When I get together with other people from my era who remember and like to reminisce, it’s always hard to keep the session short because one remembrance leads to another, and we build on what the other person had to say–with lots of side-tracking and excited interruptions. But that memory of detail is only part of what compels me to write the kind of non-fiction I write. Time erodes sharp edges from experiences so that the written story becomes more of an impressionistic painting than a photograph. The writer takes advantage of this accepted convention and chooses what to focus on. Another writer might tell the story differently, with a different focal point. That’s what makes storytelling different from news reporting. You are not expected to merely tell the story objectively because it is your emotional involvement that makes your written story what it is.

Jeshua: What life lessons have you learned from putting together your seven Minnesota Memories volumes, Albert Lea Remembers and Austin Remembers?

Joan Claire Graham: Good question! I’ve learned so much. From a practical standpoint, I’ve traveled all over the state, from Two Harbors to Adrian, Hallock to Mabel, and everywhere in between, and there’s no better way to learn about a place than to visit it. I’ve met thousands of people. I’ve learned that listening to people is the best way to see the best of what they have to offer because there’s nothing more gratifying and encouraging than for someone to give you respectful, complete attention. I’ve learned that everybody has a good story to tell and that everybody enjoys listening to a good story. When I go out and give talks, I read a few stories aloud, and audience response usually elicits new anecdotes and stories that remind them of the ones I’ve read.

Jeshua: How did you select which stories you published?

Joan Claire Graham: I try to mix it up in each volume, according to subject matter, tone of the story, diversity of contributors, and point of origin. Sometimes I go out looking for stories from under-represented areas, and sometimes I put stories away for future consideration. If a story is not suitable to be read aloud in the same room with your grandchild and grandmother, it is probably not appropriate material for Minnesota Memories. Occasionally I receive a story that has nothing to do with Minnesota. One time I selected a terrific story for one of the books, and spent time editing it and checking facts. When I could not find the name of a river the author mentioned in any Minnesota atlas I called and asked him about it, and he told me it was in Nebraska. He had never lived in Minnesota, so I had to drop his story (and wonder why the title of the book series had confused this guy). I have worked with dozens of contributors to improve their stories, always making sure to maintain the voice of the contributor and not impose my personal writing style. I have turned unreadable stories into terrific stories, but I have rejected stories that were too violent, too mean spirited, or that didn’t have a story line. If the story sounds more like a timeline with no complicating incident or dramatic content, I will either reject it or contact the contributor to see if he can fix it. I was particularly hard on one contributor who kept sending back more and more linear material after I asked for a story arc, and then I felt terrible when I learned that he was suffering from a brain tumor, and he was just not capable of doing what I was asking him to do. This experience provided another lesson about patience and tact.

Jeshua: Do you know of people who started writing a whole lot more as a result of getting a story published in one of your collections?

Joan Claire Graham: It’s pretty hard to know my writers that well, but there have been quite a few repeat contributors. My website, MinnesotaMemories.com, lists all contributors, their hometowns, and the volumes that contain their stories. Quite a few have more than one volume listed after their names. I have had relatives contact me after the death of a contributor and express gratitude that the published story exists. So many of us have nothing like that to hang on to after the death of a loved one. Many genealogists are happy to find names and dates carved on a headstone. Imagine how fun it must be to find a published, true story. This is what genealogists dream about, and this is where historians can find the meat and muscle that goes on the skeleton of their historical timelines. In past generations, people wrote personal letters that were often saved and re-read. When Ken Burns told his story about the Civil War, it was his use of personal letters that made his documentary soar above all previously produced war documentaries. But people now are more inclined to pick up a phone or send an e-mail, so the personal letter has become rare. When you look at the short lives of audio or video recording technology, the failure of computer hard drives and temporariness of electronically produced media, ink on paper is the most archival medium we have. And a book is a safe place to keep that ink and paper because people tend to take good care of books.

Jeshua: What other details would you like to share about your work as a publisher, editor and writer?

Joan Claire Graham: After many years of teaching, where I often felt like a worker on an assembly line as I evaluated the work of 150 kids every day, it feels good to take time to produce and promote work of my own. Kathy Megyeri and I unsuccessfully proposed Minnesota Memories to several publishers back in 2000 before we decided to form our own micro press, Graham Megyeri Books. I had not previously aspired to start a publishing company, but we believed in the project and felt that if we were going to be able carry it out, we would have to take control.

In addition to the Minnesota Memories series, Austin Remembers and Albert Lea Remembers, I have done editing, layout and publishing for A Boy From C-11, Crackers and Milk, Going Viking, Time Lines, and several other books ranging from a self-help book used by a motivational speaker to a book of short stories. I enjoy interacting with people when I am pulling projects together, giving talks, promoting sales, and encouraging folks to write their own stories–either to submit to Minnesota Memories or to share with their families. When editing and writing, I particularly enjoy getting into that zone, where time flies because it doesn’t feel like time. When I reach the point where all of this ceases to be fun, I will put down my tools and look for something else to do, knowing that the 20-some books that I published will continue to enlighten, educate and amuse readers.

More info about Joan Claire Graham: She was born on November 21, 1945 and graduated from Winona State University. She was Co-director, playwright and songwriter for the Children’s Musical Theatre Production Workshop in Los Angeles from 1987-1992 and a teacher in Minnesota, California and Maryland from 1967-2003

WordPress and the City of Albert Lea

I recently customized a WordPress CMS template for the City of Albert Lea. We started with a theme by Brian Gardner called “Revolution City,” which I’m not sure he is distributing at the moment. Anyway, Gardner provided us with an excellent starting point. We also used the Suckerfish plugin for our dropdown menus.

The city requested that, in addition to navigation across the top of the site, they wanted navigation down the left side as well. This was a feature that was especially important to a few of the departments who had a number of pages that they wanted to make available for viewing. The side navigation is visible on all pages except the home page.

It was tricky to get this side navigation because some sections had far too many children pages, and it was important to present only the children who were descendants of a very specific parent. I figured the best way to do this was to create a template for each section that both required their own side navigation and that had a good number of children and grandchildren. (I realize I’m sounding more like a genealogist than a web developer.)

We ended up with a site that appears to be fairly easy to navigate. And the real upside to using WordPress as a content management system is that the administrative interface is remarkably easy to use. Furthermore, WordPress released version 2.7, which allows upgrades to be made automatically. To whomever did the work to get automatic upgrades working, I say, “Thank you!” WordPress rules.

Here’s an article about the project in the Albert Lea Tribune.

Albert Lea’s walkable future

A week from last Friday I attended a day long gathering at the Ramada Inn here in Albert Lea. Dan Burden, founder of Walkable Communities, spoke for a couple hours about why making towns and cities more walkable makes property values go up, fosters better health for citizens, and helps businesses succeed. Burden has helped over 2500 communities improve their quality of life simply by helping city planners understand which roadway and walkway features prove most beneficial in the long-run development of their community.

(Photo: Dan Burden, Walkabilty Expert)

Dan Burden is considered the foremost expert in this area of city planning. The day before our Friday meeting, he and a group of city officials and townsfolk took part in a walking audit of Albert Lea, with wintry temperatures well below zero. Burden explained this was the coldest walking audit he’d ever done. The group walked all over town while Burden explained the advantages and disadvantages current city planning practices already in place in Albert Lea.

Among my favorite of his considerations is that our much discussed Bridge Ave. expansion should actually be more of a remodel than an expansion. He argues that turning Bridge Ave. into a four lane speedway will make our town less walkable. He also said that property values along four lane roads tend to decrease. And businesses along four lane routes actually see fewer customers than if those routes became two lane roads with speeds between 25 and 35 mph, not 45 mph. At 45 mph fewer cars can actually move through town because each speedy car requires more of a margin for slowing down. And a car traveling 35 mph is more likely to stop than one traveling at 45 mph.

Visiting communities like ours is Mr. Burden’s life’s work and I’m so excited that he came to Albert Lea to share his wisdom with us. It’s part of our Blue Zone City Makeover, which I’ll write more about in my next entry.

Here’s a link to Dan Burden’s site:
www.walkable.org

A Trip to the Dentist

It’s nearly been two years since my last trip to the dentist. Growing up, I went every six months. I also had braces twice. So I spent a lot of time and energy on my teeth—and my parents spent a lot of money. After Jen went a couple times, I figured it was time for me to get back on a regular 6-month check-up routine.

Turns out I did, in fact, have a cavity. I also had part of a filling that had come out. (Nothing like sharing the status of one’s teeth in front of God and everybody.) Not only did I get my teeth cleaned, but I also got both of those cavities filled. Hurray! I’m happy to be back on track.

Many thanks to the folks at Dr. Hoffman’s office! If you’re looking for a dentist and are new to Albert Lea, or have lived in Albert Lea for a while, but haven’t been to the dentist in a while, I recommend making an appointment there.

Craig A. Hoffman D.D.S.
146 W. Clark Street
Albert Lea, MN 56007
Telephone: (507) 373-3323

Teeth are pretty important. If you neglect them, you might wind up in a world of hurt down the road. (THIS HAS BEEN A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT BY ALBERTLEAJOURNAL.COM.)

Memories and Metaphors

This afternoon I rode my bike to the Albert Lea Public Library in search of a book recommended to me by my friend, Sara Aeikens. She told me she’d written an article in “Albert Lea Remembers” about Mitch’s Gas Station, a once popular hangout that had been left to vandals and had become an eyesore in her neighborhood.

Sara, with the help of others, prepared the small station for auction, but not before meeting some measure of resistance. In addition, two tanks in the ground in front of the store had to be removed. Once this was done, it was finally auctioned off and sold to Family Treasures Estate Sales, who then fixed it up to be the beautiful building it is today.

Continue reading Memories and Metaphors…

Albert Lea Farmers Market

Looking for jams, jellies, breat, meat, eggs, green beans, flowers, and a host of other fine produce? Go no further than Albert Lea’s very own farmers market!

My wife and I visit this farmers market at least once a week. In fact, even when it shuts down for the off season, we continue to get meat, bread and eggs from folks we met here!

For more information about the Albert Lea Farmers Market. Visit the Local Harvest website.

Don’t Miss SPBGMA’s 8th Annual Fall Bluegrass Weekend!!

By Jeshua Erickson, Managing Editor

If you’re a fan of good bluegrass music or at least curious about the bluegrass experience, SPBGMA’s (The Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass of America) 8th Annual Fall Bluegrass Weekend, look no further than Albert Lea’s Freeborn County Fairgrounds this September 23-25. (MAP)

SPGBMA expects as many as five hundred attendees this year, many of whom make the trip to the fairgrounds from Wisconsin and Northern Iowa, bringing their campers and motor homes to stay for the weekend.

Endless hours go into bringing SPBGMA events to places like Albert Lea.

“My total time: it’s 26 hours a day; it’s on-going — every day almost, we have three thousand members and we put out a publication, festival guide, band directories and a quarterly newsletter,” said Chuck Stearman, SPBGMA’s president.

And for anyone who’s attended a live bluegrass festival like the one SPBGMA is putting on in September, there’s no question why people like Stearman and bluegrass promoters across the country are as dedicated as he is. Traditional bluegrass harmonies and instrumentation make for a musical experience unlike any other.

SPBGMA’s taken some risks in order to provide high quality traditional bluegrass music year after year.

“Basically, what we’ve set out to do as a preservation type society is to maintain traditional instrumentation. We don’t allow any electric instruments,” said Stearman.

In SPBGMA’s international band competitions, held in Nashville every year, they limit it to the six basic instruments known to bluegrass: bass fiddle (upright bass), five-stringed banjo, mandolin, guitar, fiddle (violin), and Dobro (resonator guitar).

“We’ve stuck to it; we got a lot of criticism early on, especially with the electric bass,” said Stearman.

At one time, there was a significant number of bands wanting to use the electric bass, said Stearman, but because organizations like SPBGMA have consistently requested only bands who use traditional instrumentation, many bluegrass groups started using the bass fiddle instead of the electric bass.

“There are very few groups using electric bass any more,” he explained.

In addition to instrumentation and harmonies, many early traditional bluegrass bands were also ‘family bands’.

“Right now there’s just an explosion of families wantin’ to get into bluegrass,” said Stearman. “It’s one of the greatest things that families can do together.”

There are are at least two gifted musical families coming to Albert Lea this fall.

“The Anderson’s [pictured right] and then the Bistodeau family, you really want to take note of those two family groups,” said Stearman.

Other notable groups at the festival include the following: String Fever, The McPunk Brothers, Bob & Sheila Everhart, Bluegrass Addiction, and Drive Time.