TheBanyanTree: History Lesson

[Margaret R. Kramer]

Yesterday started out cool, but humid, cloudy with a few spits of rain here
and there.  Then the cold front pushed through and the skies cleared out,
but the wind picked up while the temperatures dropped.  It’s not bitter
cold, but coolish for the first weekend of summer.  The sun is out, however,
in full force this morning and has probably scared away the moon.

It’s too cold to go to the beach this weekend, so I offered a compromise for
my summer-loving grandson, that is if his mother wants to meet with a
membership advisor at my club, she’ll get a free guest pass (otherwise a
guest pass is $20), and we can use the pool and gym during family time
today.

We still have two garden beds to finish, but it won’t be this weekend.  I
got my basic garden in, so I’ll wait for a couple of weeks when all the
plants go on sale and then finish up the beds.

Since Ray and I were on top of our things to lists, we had some free time,
and decided to spend a Saturday afternoon at the Minnesota Historical
Society History Center.  I haven’t been there since they built the new
building several years ago.  What a fascinating place!

They had several exhibits from the history of the Minnesota territory to
Indian history to transportation to an exhibit featuring music.  They had a
great exhibit on Minnesota weather.  There was a tornado presentation where
the audience sits in a basement and listens to the radio while the storms
rage outside.  It’s a replay of the 1965 tornados which ripped through the
northern suburbs of the Twin Cities.

I remember that day so well.  It was hot and muggy and back then, there were
few places which were air conditioned.  Our school certainly was not.  I
remember after getting home from school, spending most of the evening
huddled in the basement with my family.  My dad stayed late at work and his
workplace was hit by TWO tornados.  His car’s windows were blown out and
most of the body paint was chipped off.  I have pictures of that car in my
photo albums.  He was able to drive it home and insurance money replaced the
car.

My other favorite exhibit was one that featured a 118 year old house and had
scenarios set up showing the some of the 50 families who lived in that house
over that time span.  It was originally built by prosperous middle class
German immigrants and now one of the current families is a Hmong family.
The house has gone from a large single family home to a triplex.  It’s been
through a fire, a beer making operation, children and death, and many
immigrant families.

The rooms set up from the 50s, 60s, and 70s brought back many memories, as
my family furnished and decorated their home with the same pictures, dishes,
and furniture.

I’m learning to appreciate history as I’m getting older.  Who are we?  Why
are we here?  Where did we come from?  And it seems as much as things
change, they still are the same.  Minnesota once was an Indian land and then
came the Germans, Scandinavians, Italians, and Irish.  Now we’re hosting
Asians and East Africans.  And each immigrant group faces hostility and
prejudice and the struggle to make a living in a strange place.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
margaret.kramer at polarispublications.com

Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide forever
to have your heart go walking around outside your body.
~Elizabeth Stone