A taste of the world in the American interior

The flavor of the world in the American interior

Howard Fineman, American Exchange Magazine/Issue 4, 2002; Academic Exchange Network/Review of American Issues/Forwarded on March 9, 2004

Many Americans often use the adjective "white bread" when referring to the interior of the United States. It refers both to the majority of the population being white and to the bland dishes symbolized by their preference for white bread. However, as a recent trip by the reporter writing this article revealed, the American interior is not all that “white bread”!

You might ask why Newsweek's chief political correspondent traveled from South Dakota to the central Missouri River on a warm midsummer night. Write an article for you about a small town on the east bank of the Missouri River? The answer is simple: I'm traveling with Senator Tom Daschle. Daschle is a savvy Democrat who is now President Bush's main political opponent.

While I learned more about Daschle (a man with a benevolent and righteous ambition), I also learned (or remembered) more things about the United States. Here it is: Our blessed country is fueled by the hopes and dreams of people around the world and gives them a noble character.

According to written materials, South Dakota is one of the most remote places: 98% white, most native-born (especially the many local Sioux Indians1 [Sioux]). But going from town to town, Dashile and I met immigrants. They represent the arduous struggle of the Germans who came to pioneer this rugged plain land a hundred years ago. As my job requires me to travel around this country, I realize that the events of 9/11 have traumatized the American psyche far more deeply than we have hitherto acknowledged. But for newcomers, this is the best place, and their optimism will rub off on us.

Small size, big determination

Dashile is a tough guy to deal with, as Bush has already learned. He was a small but determined man, the kind of man who stored away in computer files the wisdom gleaned from countless history books and biographies. He seems interested in running for president but hasn't made a decision yet, saying he's not sure whether he wants his lovely wife, Linda, to suffer on her way to the White House. The ordeal of the road. But in the meantime, he took care of his home base in South Dakota as doggedly as he did everything else. Each year he drives himself (now with a security team, in the wake of the anthrax) to counties across the state, stopping at roadside cafes, livestock auctions and weekly newspaper offices to listen, learn and show solidarity with people.

In early August, he and I set out from his hometown of Aberdeen, where he grew up, and headed west. I don't want to bore you with the entire schedule, but I'll just mention three places. The first was Roscoe, where we visited Adee's family's multi-acre apiary. As we entered the tall, machinery-filled barn, I noticed that all the signs were in two languages: English and Spanish. Then I realized why: All the workers cleaning the empty hive shelves were from Bakersfield, California. Mexican immigrants. It turns out that they migrate with bees. The bees spend the summer gathering nectar in alfalfa and sunflower fields in South Dakota before being transported back to California's almond groves in the winter. Bees and immigrants travel in semitrailers between South Dakota and the West Coast. People from Mexico tell me they enjoy being here. The wages are good and the housing is decent. There's even a Mexican restaurant opening in Aberdeen at the moment.

Visit Bowdle

Further west, we stopped at Bowdle

This is a struggling town with a glorious history history, as it was once the western terminus of the Northern Interstate Railroad, albeit not for a long time.

As a sign of the town's resilience, Bowdle still has a hospital, and one of the keys to its survival is a local resident doctor. He was inspired to come here by a program at the hospital that attracts newly graduated immigrant doctors to rural areas. This doctor's name is Khurram Ali. He was born in Karachi, Pakistan. He studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the State University of New York in Syracuse. Health Sciences Center (State

University of New York Health Sciences Center of Syracuse)

Educated. The people of the town cherished and respected him and wished there was a way to keep him. After the "9.11" incident, it was more difficult for Pakistani immigrants to obtain visas than before, but Dahil successfully made it smooth sailing for Dr. Ali -

All politics are local politics.

We also visited Eureka

’s pastry shop. Daschle's grandparents arrived in South Dakota via Ukraine, so he has a great admiration for the hard-working German culture his ancestors brought with them, and Eureka is the traditional center of his people. (Media tycoon Al Neuharth

[Al Neuharth]

is a native of South Dakota with German and Russian ancestry and established a pioneer museum in the town). A custard-filled sweet called kucken is part of German tradition. Its main manufacturer is Eureka Kuchen Factory

(Eureka Kuchen Factory).

Chocolate Bean Kukan Cake

We walked in without saying hello. They were busy pouring batter and baking a batch of chocolate chip kooky cakes. We met one of the bosses. She was very knowledgeable and showed a high level of professionalism. She had a thick accent and I struggled to guess where in Germany she was from. Later I felt that she didn't look German and didn't have a Germanic accent. Her name is Maria Luz Alandy

(Maria Luz Alandy), from the Philippines. She moved here from New York with her husband, another immigrant rural doctor.

It turns out that she is also a doctor. She was once a physician for the New York City government and the deputy director of the Department of Forensic Medicine during the administration of Rudy Giuliani

Because her husband wanted to practice medicine in rural areas, they came to the west 11 years ago. A few years ago, she and several other women started a pastry business. Now they ship Keuken cakes for sale throughout eastern South Dakota, continuing the German tradition started in this small town hundreds of years before she arrived.

Now she has found her life's work, or at least a side hustle. She has mastered all the ins and outs of Kukan cake making, including the dough and custard. "I realized at some point that I was going to spend the rest of my life in Eureka. This is my town. My life," she said as she served us a piece of piping hot Chocolate Bean Kueken cake. That's my mission too. We have a wonderful town, a wonderful place, and I want people to know we exist." And now people know. ◇

Selected from Newsweek, August 7, 2002. Copyright 2002 Newsweek, Inc.. All rights reserved.

The Sioux are Indians, the Dakota, who live in the southern United States and northern Canada. — Translation Note

The Morrill Act of 1862

Looking back at American history, agriculture has played an unexpected role in the development of higher education. In 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act of 1862. Under this law, the federal government gave land to states to create colleges that taught agriculture and mechanics.

Vermont Rep. Justin Morrill introduced the bill because he believes existing colleges fail to educate America’s farmers and workers. Providing realistic education with the belief that productivity will improve if "useful knowledge" is widely disseminated. According to the provision of 12,000 hectares for each member of Congress, the federal government grants corresponding areas of land to the states. Proceeds from the sale of land will be permanently donated to "at least one college whose main subjects are not exclusive of other sciences and classical subjects, but whose main subjects are related to agriculture and mechanical majors."

Major American universities that can trace their roots to the Morrill Act include Iowa State University, Kansas State University, Michigan State University, Rutgers University University), Pennsylvania State University, University of Vermont, University of Minnesota, University of Missouri Missouri), the University of Massachusetts, the University of Wisconsin and the University of Kentucky.

At least two private schools also benefited. In Massachusetts, Morrill Act funds also went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, even though it was a private school; in New York, Conn. Cornell

University assumes the responsibility of using proceeds from the sale of federal lands to operate the New York State College of

Agriculture and the New York State College of Veterinary Medicine (New York State College of Veterinary Medicine). York State Veterinary College) mission.

It is generally believed that the Morrill Act had a profound impact on American higher education. It deepened the importance of realistic teaching, encouraged the public to support higher education by urging governments to establish institutions of higher learning and financially support their growth, and fostered a mechanism for agricultural education, research and dissemination that imparted useful knowledge to farmers. . In addition, it helped bring educational opportunities to blacks who were suffering from racial segregation at the time, and made school administrators realize that if farmers and workers were to benefit from the schools, tuition had to be affordable. The Morrill Act helped Americans form a unique concept of college, as Ezra Cornell1

1

(Ezra Cornell) described: "College is anyone in any discipline An institution where everyone in China can get education”

Academic Exchange Network (www.annian.net)/Review on American Issues/Reposted on March 9, 2004