Sorry about the puns, I can’t help myself.  Anyway, hard to believe my time in SD is almost done!  I pack up and head out first thing this coming Sat… Seems so odd how quickly the time here went by, not to mention how much I learned and produced (I know you all haven’t seen [...]

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Blandeur
by Kay Ryan
If it please God,
let less happen.
Even out Earth’s
rondure, flatten
Eiger, blanden
the Grand Canyon.
Make valleys
slightly higher,
widen fissures
to arable land,
remand your
terrible glaciers
and silence
their calving,
halving or doubling
all geographical features
toward the mean.
Unlean against our hearts.
Withdraw your grandeur
from these parts.
From Kay Ryan, “Blandeur,” Say Uncle. Grove/Atlantic, Inc. 2000. found via the Poetry Foundation’s website.

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SD is full of beautiful vinage signs.  I’ve started photographing them but know that I’m only just scratching the surface.  Today I’m posting a few of my favorites.

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Don’t judge me for buying souvenirs!  I love Americana kitsch and sending care packages and souvenirs are always so cheap that they make great components to care packages and and and… yeah, I have a problem.  To be fair, though, most of this is going to go into care packages and/or become gifts for some [...]

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Now for something completely different, or perhaps I should introduce it as a nice break from the relentless beauty of SD?  Anyway, above is my second video for StandUpSD’s website.  I spent some time with the Campaign for Healthy Families last week and sat down with their regional field director to find out where volunteers [...]

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Today, the fun(ny) stuff in SD: Wall Drug, the Corn Palace, Deadwood/Bike week, etc.  I love that SD has been able to embrace the absurd without falling into kind of sad.

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I thought I’d be able to sum up my 56 tour of “South Dakota’s Greatest Hits” in one post.  I was amazed, however, at how SD manages to be alternately beautiful and funny.  Today I’ll show you some of the natural or “serious” beauty and save the photos from Wall Drug and the Corn Palace [...]

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“Moth and Brush” by Brian Hathcock on Flickr. Licensed under
Creative Commons.
Photographing the Moths
Paula Bohince
Eruption at the flash: shattered light
swarming the screen door. Whitetail musk behind me,
scent of rhubarb spiked through. Ripped
wings like rag curlers the aunties wore
in girlish sleep, inheriting the hard, day-lit hours.
On the pillow, against the lens, questions [...]

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