From My WindowIssue Date: July 15, 2021 Small Town North Dakota
By Jane Thibodeau Martin,
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One more reflection on our trip through the west. We stopped overnight at a tiny village in North Dakota. This little place is near a tourist attraction, but not one of the extremely popular ones. So it draws some tourist traffic in the warmer months, but tourism is not a mainstay economic driver there.
This village has two campgrounds, and the one we stayed at was, as the camper reviews said, â€Årun down.†It was on flat, dry ground with not much to recommend it except the view of a peak not too far away. Rundown can be tolerated for a single night and it was at a convenient stopping point, so we put down the anchor. Mike briefly tried to get me to go see the tourist attraction or at least drive through some of it. It was as hot as an incinerator outside, and we had just gotten out of the truck so my â€Åthanks but no thanks†didn't meet with any pushback.
I was less than delighted to see that right next to our designated camping spot, only a dozen feet away, was an aged, boarded-up mobile home/house trailer. Interesting neighbor for the dogs, who loved sniffing around the skirting covering the base of the trailer. â€ÅDog prey species live under here,†their noses said.
I got curious about this community. The village proper was listed at 132 inhabitants on what looked like a single street in the middle of the Badlands. There were a few restaurants, bars, and trinket stores, catering to the tourist trade and interstate traffic. Of course, there was the ubiquitous â€Åconvenience store/gas station†but I didn't see the usual small-town companion, a dollar store.
At first, I was surprised at the three active-looking churches, but no doubt they draw from a 20 or 30-mile radius of sparsely settled lands. I checked to see how far it was to the nearest grocery store. A drive of 38 miles. The nearest urgent care/hospital? Almost 70 miles, but of course with an 80 mph speed limit, â€Åonly†an hour away.
The local school serves students in pre-kindergarten through 8th grade. Total student population? 48 kids. Student to teacher ratio of 7 to 1. I couldn't find a reference to a high school but I assume one exists, just not in the online universe I was exploring. Access to technical or other post-secondary education must require a move, or be completed online….and it is hard to imagine too many jobs would await a high school graduate who wanted to stay in this little hometown.
I marveled at what life must be like in this tiny place in the winter. The three churches are probably an activity hub, given the sparse options available. I didn't find any reference to a community center, pool, or any other recreational asset. I imagine in a place like this even a piano lesson would be difficult to find. There are people who are drawn to such places, and there may be a thriving social network here. But to an outsider like me, it wasn't apparent. If you cherish stillness, solitude, and a relaxed, family-centered life, it might be heaven.
I am very, very good at entertaining myself. But there is absolutely no way I'd ever live there if I had any other option at all.
But the place provoked one of my â€Åblinding glimpses of the obvious.†The people in a place like this would have totally different expectations than I do for what government should be and should do. Our basic values might be the same, but our views of culture would be vastly different. I think we'd be aligned on broadband access to all citizens since they so obviously would benefit in such a remote location. But other governmental initiatives would probably seem frivolous or wasteful to such self-sufficient people, who do without so many of the things I take for granted. If I lived there, I'd probably resent tax money flowing to address the issues like mass transit in huge cities like New York, Miami, or Dallas. The worries some of us have about climate change impacts to Texas, Florida, and New Jersey with storms increasing in both fury and frequency; the risk to coastal cities as sea levels rise; or the wildfires in the Pacific Northwest and California fueled by relentless drought do not directly impact the residents here.
But the potential threat to curtail the fossil fuel industry, a major employer in North Dakota, is real for them.
It is good to experience just a tiny snippet of what life is like for others. What is really needed is a little more empathy flowing back and forth between us. All of us. And of course, it starts with me. Most people are good people, they are just coming from a different place.
In this case, a really different place.
You can reach me for commentary, alternative viewpoints, or ideas at this e-mail address: JanieTMartin@gmail.com.
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