Friday, April 30, 2021

Lowry to the Rescue

 

Lynn Lundin's Bethel Football Squad

In the  1950's, my Uncle Lynn, married to my Aunt Miriam, was the football coach at Bethel College in St. Paul.  Bethel was scheduled to play Wapehton School of Science on a fall Saturday afternoon. Liederbach Bus Service provided the transportation to Wapehton. Liederbach operated a bus service from the Twin Cities to Fargo on Highway 55 for many years using older, cast-off Greyhound buses.  

The Bethel charter blew an engine in Buffalo - stranded. Along comes Phil Wagner, the Lowry cattle trucker, and sees this group of young men standing by the roadside.  He stops and offers them a ride in the back of his cattle truck as far as Lowry. Having faith, they loaded up their gear and climbed into the back of the truck, not knowing how they might traverse the remaining 100 miles. When the team reached Lowry perhaps aromatic, Dave Nelson & Herman Engebretson organized a car caravan and drove them the rest of the way to Wapehton, just in time.  After all that, I hope they won the game. Liederbach graciously dispatched another bus for the return.

Copyright ©  2021  Dave Hoplin

Saturday, April 24, 2021

Dip Your Hanky in Gasoline

No.  This is not an anarchist handbook, nor is it about some miracle cleaning agent.  This is about a courtship, something for which I am totally unqualified to expound upon, but I can relate a family story.

The story concerns my grandparents. Although I would never have guessed it from my experience with my grandfather when he was in his 60's and 70's, apparently he was quite a man about town in Brandon before the war (WWI), gregarious, fun-loving and considered quite a catch. He was a member of the Brandon Players and often in the lead role - a true thespian. Who knew? I always considered him the stereotypical Scandinavian, reserved and low key, although he did have a flair for humor and the practical joke.  e.g. Hoof Hearted.

The title of this blog comes from a courting technique Ole apparently used or claimed to have used as a young man. The idea was to attend a social event with your hanky dipped in gasoline and find an excuse to pull it out when near a girl you were hankerin' for. The girl would then assume you had a car, a really big separator from the competition in the 1912 dating world. I guess he figured that once the truth was revealed he could rely on his Scandinavian charm to save the day.

In 1914, Ole gave Esther a lovely engraved watch inscribed xmas 1914 Esther.  Esther promptly headed for Minneapolis and a housekeeping job with cousins Martin & Mabel Carlson. But the romance continued by post. I have a number of Esther & Ole's letters during that period - which will not be revealed. But the key factor in reuniting the couple was Esther's mother Sofia. Esther was the only daughter amongst the 7 children.  (A sister died at age 2). Esther and Sofia were very close and they would write frequently (in Swedish). 




Sofia writes in Sept 1914
"Dear Loved Esther ... I shall certainly want you to stay as long as you can but I don't know how we can get through the thrashing without you." ... "Auntie does not want to say whether you should stay or come home to help us. We do not want to hire a girl but will be fine if we stay healthy" ... "Ole was here on Sunday...".   Lovingly, Mama


Gentle coercion. So needless to say Esther returned to Brandon in 1915 to care for her mother and Ole rejoiced. They were married on May 20th, 1916. Interestingly, Ole's family did not attend the wedding. Esther was a Covenanter, not the required Lutheran, so the union was not blessed by the Hoplins. However, Esther won them over with her kindness and gentle spirit. She ultimately had several of the Hoplin objectors living with them in Lowry.

 From the Brandon Forum, June 1916

“At four o’clock, Saturday afternoon of May 20, occurred the wedding of two of our most popular young people, Miss Esther Marie Nelson and Ole Hoplin. {Editor note: The Hoplin farm was on Little Chippewa and the Nelson farm was on Stowe’s Lake, just to the northwest.} The ceremony took place at the house of the bride’s parents in the presence of the immediate families and the nearest neighbors, and was conducted by Rev. Eidsaa, until recently the pastor of the Free Church here. The bride is the only daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Carl Nelson, and has spent the greater part of her life in this vicinity. She is very popular and well known for her kindly disposition and her general ability. The groom has likewise spent most of his life here. He has been for some time manager of the Brandon Farmer’s Grain Co. We are sorry to add that within a few days he has accepted a position as manager of the Lowry Hardware store so that Brandon will be deprived of the society of Mr. & Mrs. Hoplin. Both socially and as a businessman, Mr. Hoplin has been very well known to Brandon. He was one of those taking part in the home talent play recently presented by the Literary Society and gave decided evidence of unusual ability in that direction. Among the guests of the town attending the wedding were Mrs. Carl Aas, a sister of Mrs. Carl Nelson; Gust , Olaf, Sam and John Nelson. The Forum joins with the community wishing happiness to the groom and to the bride and a long and pleasant life to both of them. “ 



Sofia Letter translated from Swedish

I never saw my grandparents hug or kiss, but this was a 65 year love affair - in a decidedly understated sort of way. Their final years were spent in a retirement home where they pulled the single beds together so they could fall asleep holding hands.   


Copyright ©  2021  Dave Hoplin

Monday, April 19, 2021

April 19, 2021

In frustration, I need to share a few of the headlines in the April 19th edition of the Minneapolis StarTribune.  These headlines were all found on the inside pages of the newspaper. 

April 19th, 2021, page 2, StarTribune 
   
3 fatally shot at Wisconsin tavern; suspect in custody

Fugitive is sought after deaths of three people in Texas capital

There have been a 147 true mass shootings in the US in 2021.  The above 2 headlines don't count towards that total.  There were only 3 dead and the "mass shooting" requirement is 4.  

And deeper within the inside pages ...

FedEx shooter bought rifles despite law

Burnsville police shoot armed carjacking suspect

Domestic dispute ends in man’s death

Guard tightens grip on metro

This comes to mind: 

dys·to·pi·an

/disˈtōpēən/
adjective
  1. relating to or denoting an imagined state or society where there is great suffering or injustice.
    "the dystopian future of a society bereft of reason"

Where is the outrage?  Have we become numb to it all?

Copyright ©  2021  Dave Hoplin

Monday, April 12, 2021

Baloney Detector


Somewhere along the line, we have become muddle-headed. We seem to passively accept most anything as true and rarely seem able to reject the arguments even in the face of overwhelming evidence.  To use technical jargon, this is bassackwards. We should expect claims to be supported by facts and evidence. We seem to have surrendered our baloney (my father would have used an earthier term) detection apparatus to the gospel of the internet. It's not simply gullibility. It's a world view that rejects any authority except ourselves. We have witnessed on live TV how widespread conspiracy acceptance can become a national security issue and a threat to our democracy. 

There have been conspiracy theories and hoaxes throughout history.  Virtually every assassination or mysterious death (Lincoln, Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Epstein, 9/11, death of Nero, Mozart, Elvis ...) generates a conspiracy cult. In the 1820's, when polar exploration was "heating up",  John Symnes promulgated a "hollow earth" theory that drew a sizable following claiming that the earth was hollow and had openings at each pole and hid away entire civilizations. The Denver Airport covers an underground city that serves as the headquarters to the new world order. The moon landing was staged in Hollywood.  A tracking chip in a vaccine. Orson Welles terrified the country with his War of the Worlds radio broadcast. Alien crop circles. Paul is dead. The 60 volume Hitler Diaries, an adept forgery of Hitler's handwriting, was proven to be fake shortly before publication in Der Stern. 

The list could go on and on. These examples are really just curious blips on the radar with adherents recognized as being well outside the mainstream. Today we have a much different world.  Even the craziest notions can go viral in a matter of hours, with people mindlessly sharing across the globe. 

How can we reactivate our baloney detectors? Here are some thoughts.

Information vs. disinformation can be tricky to parse. Best practice is never share or repeat anything unless you can verify from a trusted source. Be skeptical. If something sounds too good to be true or too crazy to be true, your instincts are probably correct. If you're still wondering, use fact checking sites like Snopes or FactCheck.org or Google Fact Check Tools  ... 

Check your emotions before you respond. Take a few deep breaths and assess the consequences - the risk reward of a response. Knee jerk reactions have destroyed many a career, friendship, life.

If what you are reading/hearing is a personal attack on someone and not addressing an issue, it is an appeal to your emotions. See above.

Beware of declarations of authority without any other substance. This is an attempt to gain your trust and support without providing good reason. "I have a secret plan to end the war".  See "be skeptical" above.

Beware of the slippery slope argument, one that warns of one thing and threatens dire consequences, which if examined rationally have no basis in reality. "If you allow background checks, the next step will be confiscation". These arguments push you to believe what you want to believe, not reality. We all have the inclination to paint the world as we want to see it, not as it really is.

Beware of an application of "statistics", cherry-picking data to support questionable conclusions. "There were only 1500 deaths today, we're in the clear."  Mark Twain once said: "Lies, damned lies and statistics." Numbers can be used to falsely imply rigor in an argument and frequently tell half-truths. "Fully half of Americans have below average intelligence" is not a slander.

Fractured logic.
A non-sequitur is a conclusion that does not logically follow the premise. God is on our side, we have nothing to fear.  The German army's motto was Gott mit uns.  These declarations are attempts to give you assurance that your views are unassailable. The world is not that simple. 

Irrational conclusions. "The Vikings have never won a Super Bowl because they traded Fran Tarkenton." The "Curse of the Bambino'". Use of the word "must". "I must get into Harvard or my family will disown me". Musts are rarely must.

Either/Or declarations.  "We cannot feed undernourished children and fund pre-school programs". This is a good example of when to apply the Socratic Method.  Ask Why. And then ask Why again of the response. At some point in the chain of whys you reach a point where the statement is justified or obviously false.

Deception, euphemism, weasel words and propaganda. Talleyrand said "An important art of politicians is to find new names for things that have become odious to the public."The "Cute Puppy Act", regardless of its content, can be weaponized against opponents. "What? You oppose cute puppies!". Operation Just Cause. Patriot Act. Enhanced interrogation. un-American. Ethnic cleansing. Laid off ...

Half truths. Quotes out of context. Cherry picking evidence or statements.  Sound bites. Spin doctors. Just be aware of when you might be being manipulated.

Hopefully, your baloney detector will cause you to think critically about claims being made, but its true value is to evaluate whether the things you might say/write fall into the baloney category.

Be careful out there.

Copyright ©  2021  Dave Hoplin