When people ask me what it's like moving from Chicago, IL to Minot, ND, I tell them it's like moving to a foreign country. This little town is so far outside the scope of my life experience that many of the things I've partaken in so far, I had only seen previously in movies. For instance, the North Dakota State Fair parade consisted almost entirely of farm implements, a steady trail of skid-steers, tractors, combines, harvesters, and bailers filing through downtown Minot. Never before have I seen these monstrosities. The fair that followed consisted almost entirely of farm animals, more farm implements, 4-H projects, and people selling products like "the last glue you'll ever need" in the commercial buildings. I've now watched barrel-racing, I who had never seen a rodeo or even so much as a ranch.
There's so much about the community that is foreign to me. Yet so many of the people in Minot are so blissfully ignorant of anything outside their happy city and state that I just smile and nod when they tell me of their excitement over Kohl's finally coming to town, the city-wide garage sale where they may be able to find some sewing materials next weekend, and the endless ways they are related to nearly everyone else in town. (Seriously, in some way or another almost all of my coworkers are related and jokes are made frequently about the need for new blood to come to town so as to avoid incest.)
We can safely assume that I'm still very much getting used to the Minot lifestyle. But there's one thing that I am continually shocked at and grateful for that seems to trump these strange attributes on a daily basis: People care for each other here. I mean, they really care. At four-way stops, people wait for others to go first, even if it means going out of order. During my first week at work, person after person streamed into my office to welcome me and learn my name. There is the general responsibility to look out for one another, whether it means keeping an eye on your neighbor's property while they're out of town or getting out of your car when it's 4 below zero to help push a car out of a snowbank. Everyone wants to introduce me to everyone else and they don't get angry when I don't remember their names. The people in Minot are most definitely quirky, but they also are some of the most gracious people I've ever met. When you talk to those who have moved to Minot over the years, you will always hear them say they never thought they'd stay in little old Minot, but then they experienced the community here and were hooked.
Are there things I miss about Chicago? Absolutely.
I miss the culture, the museums, the parks, the music, the excellent standard that everything was held to. I miss the bustle, the CTA, the social events that would fill up our calendar.
I miss the activity, the edginess.
I miss the friendships.
But in Minot, I love going to work each day and talking with people who have time for heartfelt stories.
I love seeing the sun set each night and having time to read a book without distraction.
I love feeling like my mind has space to open up and think.
I love this community that helps each other.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Monday, August 13, 2012
the dewey decimal system gone terribly wrong...
My husband and I moved to Minot two months ago and as of yesterday I had not yet ventured into the venerable Minot Public Library. We had passed the building countless times on the way to and from work and the building's notable size had often caught my eye.
"There must be a decent book supply in such a large library," I thought day after day.
Finally, today, I asked Jon to drop me off at the door, as I wanted to get a few history books on World War II.
(Aside: I am very aware that the general historical overviews provided to me in highschool did not stick, and I am fairly ignorant on huge swaths of world history. For a long time, I've meant to remedy that, so I finally went to Hobby Lobby and purchased a massive spiral-bound sketch book so that, as I read historical nonfiction, I can make scatterplots of the endless characters and hopefully remember the plot lines better. Anyway, back to the library...)
I walked into the library and up the stairs, and relatively quickly found the history & biography section. I walked around the unlabeled shelving units for a minute until I found some WWII titles and biographies and started searching for the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. (Jon and I had listened to the audiobook over Christmas and I knew the story was absolutely fantastic. I'd been wanting to read the hardcopy for some time so I figured that would be a great place to start with my scatterplotting.)
I scanned over the titles in this WWII section and was surprised that Unbroken wasn't there.
"This is a New York Times Bestseller...it'd be absurd if they didn't have it..."
I started walking in circles around this area, feeling like I was missing something. This was the history section. How hard can this be? But the more I walked the more I realized that there was NO rhyme or reason to how the historical periods were organized. Right next to WWII was politics and to the left were books about the American Indians...
So I headed to their online catalog. I typed in "Hillenbrand." Nothing. I typed in "Unbroken." Nothing. I typed in WWII. Four books popped up. I decided to remain undeterred.
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a bent, laminated, clipart-laden sign pointing out that the section for biographies was over to my left. (I guess the biographies in the history section were just bonuses.) My hope renewed, I started walking my way through the dewey decimal system until I got to HIL. Nothing. Just some books about Joe Hill.
"Wait," I thought. "The DDS is supposed to be categorized by author's last name. This isn't right."
I looked through all the HI's and soon realized that some of the titles were indeed categorized by author's last name, as in Joseph Hillcrest. But other books were categorized by the name of the book, as in Hillard: A story of a small American town, by Joseph Steig. I couldn't figure out why they were mixed when each book clearly had an author but I went to the U's anyway. I found three books under the letter U and none of them were my book. At this point, I'm getting pretty distressed.
But THEN, I notice that while some of the books are categorized by author's last name, and others are shelved by the title, still OTHERS are organized by the name of the main character the book is written about. For instance (speeding back to the HI's) The Story of an American Revolutionary: How Jim HILL brought peace to the Sioux Indians, by Elizabeth Craught
"You have got to be kidding me," I thought. People, I kid you not.
So, I think back to Unbroken and ta-da! remember that the main character of that book is Louis Zamperini. I go with the absurdity and find the Z's. I look down and there! THERE is Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, categorized under Z. The dumbest thing about this is that Louis Zamperini's name doesn't appear in the book title anywhere, so if you didn't know the book was about him, you'd have no clue where to find it. Why Minot Public Library decided to forego the universally acknowledged Dewey Decimal System and forge a new path in library cataloguing, I have no idea. But just as the pioneers in their thinly-covered wagons died in the bitter North Dakota winters as they forged their way slowly to the West Coast, so the lonely reader may die before ever finding the book they need in the MPL.
After 45 minutes of searching, I took my book triumphantly downstairs, checked it out with my new library card, and asked the librarian for a map of their shelving system, to which she shrugged. Afterward, I happily walked the four blocks home and into the kitchen with my prize, at which point Jon took one look at the title and said, "You know my parents have that book in the basement, right?"
"There must be a decent book supply in such a large library," I thought day after day.
Finally, today, I asked Jon to drop me off at the door, as I wanted to get a few history books on World War II.
(Aside: I am very aware that the general historical overviews provided to me in highschool did not stick, and I am fairly ignorant on huge swaths of world history. For a long time, I've meant to remedy that, so I finally went to Hobby Lobby and purchased a massive spiral-bound sketch book so that, as I read historical nonfiction, I can make scatterplots of the endless characters and hopefully remember the plot lines better. Anyway, back to the library...)
I walked into the library and up the stairs, and relatively quickly found the history & biography section. I walked around the unlabeled shelving units for a minute until I found some WWII titles and biographies and started searching for the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. (Jon and I had listened to the audiobook over Christmas and I knew the story was absolutely fantastic. I'd been wanting to read the hardcopy for some time so I figured that would be a great place to start with my scatterplotting.)
I scanned over the titles in this WWII section and was surprised that Unbroken wasn't there.
"This is a New York Times Bestseller...it'd be absurd if they didn't have it..."
I started walking in circles around this area, feeling like I was missing something. This was the history section. How hard can this be? But the more I walked the more I realized that there was NO rhyme or reason to how the historical periods were organized. Right next to WWII was politics and to the left were books about the American Indians...
So I headed to their online catalog. I typed in "Hillenbrand." Nothing. I typed in "Unbroken." Nothing. I typed in WWII. Four books popped up. I decided to remain undeterred.
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a bent, laminated, clipart-laden sign pointing out that the section for biographies was over to my left. (I guess the biographies in the history section were just bonuses.) My hope renewed, I started walking my way through the dewey decimal system until I got to HIL. Nothing. Just some books about Joe Hill.
"Wait," I thought. "The DDS is supposed to be categorized by author's last name. This isn't right."
I looked through all the HI's and soon realized that some of the titles were indeed categorized by author's last name, as in Joseph Hillcrest. But other books were categorized by the name of the book, as in Hillard: A story of a small American town, by Joseph Steig. I couldn't figure out why they were mixed when each book clearly had an author but I went to the U's anyway. I found three books under the letter U and none of them were my book. At this point, I'm getting pretty distressed.
But THEN, I notice that while some of the books are categorized by author's last name, and others are shelved by the title, still OTHERS are organized by the name of the main character the book is written about. For instance (speeding back to the HI's) The Story of an American Revolutionary: How Jim HILL brought peace to the Sioux Indians, by Elizabeth Craught
"You have got to be kidding me," I thought. People, I kid you not.
So, I think back to Unbroken and ta-da! remember that the main character of that book is Louis Zamperini. I go with the absurdity and find the Z's. I look down and there! THERE is Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, categorized under Z. The dumbest thing about this is that Louis Zamperini's name doesn't appear in the book title anywhere, so if you didn't know the book was about him, you'd have no clue where to find it. Why Minot Public Library decided to forego the universally acknowledged Dewey Decimal System and forge a new path in library cataloguing, I have no idea. But just as the pioneers in their thinly-covered wagons died in the bitter North Dakota winters as they forged their way slowly to the West Coast, so the lonely reader may die before ever finding the book they need in the MPL.
After 45 minutes of searching, I took my book triumphantly downstairs, checked it out with my new library card, and asked the librarian for a map of their shelving system, to which she shrugged. Afterward, I happily walked the four blocks home and into the kitchen with my prize, at which point Jon took one look at the title and said, "You know my parents have that book in the basement, right?"
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