Sandman's Journal

Spring has arrived in Dunn County. My friend Jan flew in from Philadelphia to go on a three-day safari with me across the breaks and plains of western North Dakota. Among other activities, we stopped at a lot of thrift stores. I bought a vintage movie screen and a large aluminum bowl for mixing bread dough. Jan found a silk scarf and some boots. I got a Jonathan Richman cassette. She purchased a Sarah Vaughn record. The weather was warm. We ate out a few times. We explored abandoned houses and found secret treasures. All in all, 'twas vacationland on the prairie. She flew back to Philly yesterday.

Tonight I went to a Dunn Center City Hall meeting to learn about one of our town's last remaining old buildings--The Dvorak Center. It's a huge theater/dance hall with an equally large basement. The wood floors are awesome. Unfortunately, its roof leaks and needs immediate repair; this is an estimated $20,000 job. Other repairs are imminent, and the building itself would cost about $20,000. The city can't afford to buy it, and many think it's soon to be a goner--just like all the other great old buildings that have been bulldozed and brought down like Cheney gunblast victims. This one is too beautiful and soulful, though. It's no doubt a money pit, but I want to buy it. I want to bring back the old sock hops and country oprys. I want to see variety shows, and listen to ranch-inspired poetry, and play in half-court basketball games there. I want to buy pie from Adeline T. or jam from Emogene S. at some worthy auction.

As a youth I ran across those magic floors shooting hoops and hiding behind the gigantic velvet curtain. I once threw a rock from its outside porch at a high school kid's car and cracked his windshield. He and his brothers caught me and hung me from a nail by my belt loop until a local mechanic found me there twenty minutes later with a Wrangler wedgie. How can I not love the place? It needs to be saved, right?