The road from Harness Racing to more baseball is a shirt one for me, but to the matter at hand so is American history.
On the way from Columbus (ironic) Minnesota to Pipestone National monument is a 3 1/2 drive thru rural Minnesota on two lane highways. Now rural Minnesota is prettier than most rural areas where I come from since it has actual forests and dairy land looking fields but its also rural. And where theres rural theres well rural. Small towns with signs galore for some nut named Matt Birk, an ex Viking center with some kind of crazy ideas per his billboards. Ya see hes running for the starter position of lieutenant governor of Minnesota along with some other vanilla white GOPer and the billboards all say that between the Governor guy and Viking guy they "will lower gas prices". Thats it. That's all the billboards say. CTE anyone?
Then came some place called Redwood Falls (everythings a falls up here) and maybe the town is embarrassed about these two houses on the main drag or maybe not. The first one had the Birk sign, no sign for governor whoever, and a large sign with a screed about covid being a hoax. The local Taco Johns had a no mandates sign and then came the house at the light leaving town . A virtual clown house of Trump Won Trump Kept Promises Dont Blame Me I voted for Trump and the always classy Lets Go Brandon signs with a giant Trumubklessp 2024 flag flying on the roof. Oh my gawd maybe they were embarrassed of this family of fools but then on the way back to sanity were Trump Pence signs on the side of an ag business of some sort. Yes rural is rural no matter where you are.
Pipestone National Monument is in western Minnesota and is a spot where Native Americans gathered to do some quarry digging for rocks, make some pipes, make some substances and smoke with each other. It is a sacred ground for many of the indigenous folks and many come yearly to leave prayers and hand made offerings in the trees.
Now though I am as white as white can be per DNA tests, I dont know but since I was a little white kid, Americans original inhabitants have always had a spot in my heart and mind. Though the DNA doesn't lie ( unless you're an asshole prosecutor who denies reality see Beatrice 6) I am somewhere inside of me a guy who admires the life and the spirit as the indigenous do. Walking the trail was as spirited as I've ever felt as opposed to being a mindless robot repeating the same shit in a church. You could see in the rocks if you looked hard, faces of the past, things to worship, gods and creators, saints. Not like white peoples Mount Rushmore where it has to be spelled out for you cuz you have no soul. Blow that thing up as far as I'm concerned but whatever gets ya thinking thats my deal.
Pipestone was my place. A place I know I can go and think. Nature rocks man. Look above, if you don't see faces just go to Rushmore.
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