A Brief and Highly Aspirational To-Do List

Quick extension of yesterday’s post.

Reading deeper into Matthew J. Crawford’s Why We Drive, I’m reminded of Annie Dillard’s observation that the way you spend the hours of your life is the way you’re spending your life. Crawford writes, in a dozen different ways, that the things we do become the things we are; our choices shape our brain and train our mind. I just told Miss Teenager about the just absolutely horrible experiment with the paired kittens, for example, which Crawford discusses and extends. What you’re doing today is the foundation of the person you’ll be tomorrow. Action shapes. So does inaction, sadly.

So!

I wrote last summer about A Bolder Humboldt, a highly local effort to revitalize a small town in rural southeastern Kansas. It was interesting work that, despite being absurdly overpraised by the New York Times, didn’t quite seem to be succeeding. They’re flapping their wings, I wrote, but not quite flying.

But I check in on Humboldt, from time to time, and I was thrilled to see this week that they’re up in the air. For years, the rebuilders in Humboldt tried to restore a very old small hotel, and they were constantly promising on social media to open soon, open soon, open soon. And now, it makes me very happy to say, they’ve done it. The Bailey opened for business a couple weeks ago, and looks from here to be just absolutely gorgeous. If you’re anywhere near Humboldt, Kansas, consider a night in town, because they’re doing something exciting.

They started doing that something, by the way, in 2020 (edited: in 2016! I forgot), right into the face of lockdowns and social fear, so the accomplishment suggests considerable persistence and toughness. If you go, also take a look at Base Camp Humboldt, out at the edge of town, which turned an abandoned quarry into a small lake with cabins. They have a barn full of bikes, and they’re next to the Southwind Rail Trail.

I responded to the news about The Bailey by running around the house and announcing that we were driving to Kansas right away, which somehow never seems to work. But we’re headed there this summer, pursuant to a negotiated family settlement. If you make it there before me, send word. Go on the weekend, when the Hitching Post is open.

In other news, I wrote late last year about Sioux Falls and the remarkably pleasant South Dakota Symphony Orchestra. The SDSO is nearing the end of their season, and tonight looks really interesting:

Yarbrough / Honore et laude (World Premiere)

Dorff / Concerto No. 2 for B-flat Clarinet and Orchestra (World Premiere)

Copland / Appalachian Spring Suite

Bernstein / Symphonic Dances from West Side Story

I also ran around the house announcing that we were driving to South Dakota this weekend, with the usual results. But if you’re nearby, go if you can, and then definitely tell us about it.

The SDSO’s last performance of the season is scheduled for April 27:

Delta David Gier, conductor
South Dakota Symphony Orchestra Chorus
Dr. Timothy J. Campbell, chorus director
Angelus Choir
Natalie Campbell, conductor
Margaret Lattimore, mezzo-soprano

Mahler / Symphony No. 3

Would love to be there.