Depression baby from dust bowl days!

Count me in among those of you who identify as “Depression babies” (born in the mid-’30s) who are still peering out through somewhat foggy memories clouded by debris left over from the “dust bowl” days. Living through that dusty Depression rehearsed us well for coping with spiraling health care management costs on this ever-warming globe. But cope we did back when dusting off meager possessions; in fact, we thrived psychologically having been fed spiritually in and through physical paucity. It was only through our own innate creativity that as children we made toys out of objects found in the natural world and organized ourselves in games and contest play. But, I do also thoroughly enjoy the fact that my dusty memory highlights the good stuff and dims the lights on discomfort, pain and suffering. 

As a lad in pre-teen years I also recall that our local small-town church used to do a once-each-year “Mission Festival” in early summer when we actually acknowledged some interest in a world beyond parish boundaries. People from miles around would gather bringing foods of their family tradition and we would listen to others from far off lands talk about who they were and what they did back from whence they came. I suppose we could have called the affair an “expo” or even a “convention”!

Some might say that we Senior Federationers are recovering from our own dust bowl Depression era. There is no doubt in our dusty institutional memory that membership numbers and budget numbers have looked more robust in days of yore. But, like good old Depression babies and dust bowl survivors we are discovering lots of innate creativity in meetings to try to reinvent ourselves to fit this hotter, hipper globe. And, now,  we are planning an Expo-Convention  (mission festival, if you will) on  Saturday, May 5, that is like nothing we’ve ever done before. Details are found elsewhere in this publication. We expect possibly more potential members and inquirers into our organization at this event than seen at previous conventions.

Here’s a presidential invitation to folks from all current regions of the state. In the spirit of creatively reaching out, I want to offer each of you your one minute of fame in presenting a skit during lunch time of what makes a member unique in the Brainerd Lakes, Buffalo Ridge, Iron Range, Superior Shores, Mississippi River bluffs, Boundary Waters, or Iowa (corn row) border areas. Create your costumes, write your one-minute script and get a registration in for this really big event. This is the best prescription antidote available to get you out of that dust bowl and rid you of your depression, baby!