Blog for September 24, 2019
By Rev. Enno K. Limvere
The Chautauqua went off well. We had 8 speakers and almost 50 in attendance. Good weather, good food, and good music capped off the day. I had on our schedule for 5 speakers for each about 25 minutes, but most were brief so we are able to squeeze a couple more in. Dan Cleberg shared a little of his story of the Red Rooster Coffee House and the Fallout Creative Community. Margaret James talked about the Easton Castle, their urban forest, and the health benefits of being waking, sitting, or hiking in the trees. Sister Kathleen talked about the Presentation Sisters and their ministry in our community, the history and now, and then a little about the Aberdeen Diversity Coalition. Cory Heidelberger talked about his two petitions concerning gerrymandering and ballot measures. We had some students from Presentation College who are a part of their environmental club sharing a little of what they were doing. I put on my pastor’s hat and talked about taking time for silence will help us come up with better solutions for our problems. Leslie Barbour talked about building her tiny home here in Aberdeen. We then had Lawrence Diggs who finished up our time talking about building community and purpose in the state prison down in Sioux Falls.
There were may who enjoyed themselves, learned a little, and it’s always good to get together, especially outdoors, and we can’t wait until next year to see what we can do. Cory Heidelberger, Dakota Free Press, recorded a couple of the speakers and has posted them on his website: http://dakotafreepress.com/2019/09/22/neighbor-tells-aberdeen-chautauqua-about-building-tiny-house/?fbclid=IwAR09VX4o4nBfKf_8b8rbAKtgS6j_qSbMI5242aqgrC_4XnqkhRLmpHbunYk
While we were focused on that over the weekend, the world was showing it is waking up with climate strikes around the world. 4,500 communities around the world and 1,000 in our country. If you haven’t seen any of the testimony or the speech from Greta Thunberg, you need to Google her. She is pulling no punches and showing no fear for a young woman of 16 years old, but she is absolutely focused on saving our future.
Our next General Meeting is October 7th, Monday, 6:00 pm at K.O. Lee Library. Come and join us as we start planning for next year.
Peace