Mount Rushmore at Faulkton, SD

April has been busy!  Author visit to schools in Chamberlain and Plankinton, South Dakota, and a SD Humanities Council book discussion with the wonderful women in De Smet, South Dakota.  And yes, there was that side trip to Purdue and the additional side trip to the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa.

Yesterday, I returned from Faulkton, South Dakota, where I spoke to the Faulk County Historical Society and to the students at Faulkton Elementary School.

One of the gentlemen at the historical society remembered Gutzon Borglum.  His father had been in charge of the lumber during the carving, and he (the father) and Gutzon met regularly.  This gentleman, as a boy, often accompanied his dad to those meetings. "He was big, and he was rough," he said of Borglum.

The gentleman was 87 years old.  When I showed him my drill bit from Mount Rushmore, he told me that he had one that Borglum had given to him.  "It was about 3 1/2 feet long," he explained.  "Do you still have it?" I asked.  "Probably out in one of the sheds," he said, laughing.

The organizer of the event, Jody Moritz, said that her mom went to the 1936 dedication of Thomas Jefferson.  This was the dedication at which FDR spoke, but her mom didn't remember the president.  She was excited about eating buffalo burgers.

But the star of Faulkton was 102-year-old Irene C.  On Monday morning (after I spoke to the schoolkids), she was honored for her contributions as a teacher and for the 1,000 piece framed jigsaw puzzle she was donating to the school.

Very cool. But I was just as interested in her memories.  When she was teaching at a rural school in Faulk County during the 1930s, she helped the kids collect pennies for Mount Rushmore.

For more than ten years, I've been researching and writing about Mount Rushmore. But there's nothing -- nothing -- that matches the thrill of talking with people who have firsthand memories of the carving.

Artists in the Schools & Communities - South Dakota Arts Council

My plans for the day were to run errands early and get to the library by 10:00 for a serious day of writing.  Yet with the sun streaming in the south window (the best part of winter!), I've spent the morning at home.

For the last few hours, I've been sending out emails to schools and community organizations to let them know that I'm available for the Artist-in-Residency program. 

Back when the kids were little, I could never dream of being away from the house for a week or more.  But now that I'm an empty-nester, I'm excited to be in the schools for extended amounts of time. 

Anyway, it should have been a quick process.  I mean, how hard can it be to send out a mass email?  But as I went down the list of schools from the South Dakota Arts Council, I realized that I've been to many of them. As a result, I found myself writing personal notes instead.

As we speak, I'm as far as the Bison, SD, school district.  I remember being there in 2005 or so.  The people were incredible...and the kids were voracious readers!

In case you'd like information about the South Dakota Arts Council's "Artists in the Schools and Communities" (AISC) program, here's the link:  http://www.artscouncil.sd.gov/aisc/index.aspx

Ideally, applications for the 2014-15 school year should be completed by March 1. (From what I hear, it's a simple, online process.) The link can be found at http://www.artscouncil.sd.gov/aisc/residency.aspx

If you have any questions or would like information about other options for author visits, please visit my website or send me an email.  Thanks!