Bismarck, North Dakota News

" I've spent almost half of my life in North Dakota. I love it here. And frankly, I hope that every other person out there misses the point because if people see how great it is here they'll come flocking and all will be lost. And what I Iove most about North Dakota is it's deadness, the empty houses, the small ponds, grey sky, brown grass, flat land. I love it here for the prairie. Empty Prarie. And I hope those people never capture the meaning of it 'cause they'll come and take it all away. "

" I must disagree with Hal that there is no way of knowing what agenda "he" had in mind, "he" being the writer(s) Charles Bowden and photojournalist Eugene Richards. It is Richards who has built his reputation on topics such as Poverty in America, chronic illness, and old age. As he is quoted in American Photo Magazine, "I want people to look at my images and get angry". His agenda is to promote social change by exposing misfortune, a deliberate attempt to elicit an emotional response. His first job out of college was with "VISTA", taking pictures of poor people in Arkansas. That was his protest against the Vietnam war. Since then he has befriended Charles Bowden of Tucson, Arizona. This hit-piece in the National Geographic is just their latest collaborative effort to show the darkest, least eye-friendly glimpses of the nation's hinterland. It could just as easily have been Texas or at least a dozen other states, but North Dakota is the weakest kid on the playground, the easiest target, the fish in the bucket. The only difference is that Texas hardly ever gets any snow. "

" I live in the state of Washington but go back to North Dalota, the heartland, I remember stopping at a motel in eastern North Dakota and seeing a easterner taking a picture of the sunset, then locking he auto and going inside his room. A person that lived in the town said to me I wonder why he took a picture and why lock your car. The people that live in North Dakota are still the best with warm hearts and I hope they never change. "

" To NYxND: you are right. I have to say that in my decade+ of living here, that your observation is spot on about North Dakotans. They do not enjoy or engage in self-promotion... shameless or otherwise! "

" The dichotomy of Mr. Neff's article: Clearly he feels there are other stories to be told about ND. In opposition to that, no one I have ever known ND would even consider wanting to make a big deal out of their own personal histories of frontier hardships or life on the plains. That would go against every sense of pride and socially accepted behavior in ND. People there are proud of their humble backrounds and those who want to talk it up face the most pleasant ostracizing that our nation has to offer. Am I wrong, people? This is the story of ND now. It encompasses the past and our ancestors struggles and successes. Maybe Mr. Neff needs to watch some re-run of LIttle House on the Prairie. Simple times... "

" I was born in Iowa and studied why dad took us west. He had been a lineman when the country was being wired. Others had paved the roads of this large country. Dad learned to repair the new transportation, automobiles. He loved cars dearly and would never walk in the snow again. Mom described riding to town in the wagon behind the old horse. Years later my oldest sister married a man who was drafted into the Marine Corp. After the war for the pacific islands he was stationed in California. He came back to take my big sister to California two weeks before the A-bomb dropped on Japan. When doing genealogy I joked with her that perhaps she was on the same train as the A-Bomb. Those days are gone. Someone should write another story. Why people like National Geographic Photographers come here? Obviously half of North Dakota’s peoples are still in small towns. Obviously it is the perfect scenery for a photographer. All the small towns and barns within 100 miles of big coastal cities have been swallowed up by urban sprawl. Everywhere an old barn once was, a new housing project now sits. So the photographer was able to make a few bucks by coming here. The grass he photographed might have been “hayed-off” the next day (if I spelled that right). I remember being very surprised to learn that people here cut the grass and save it for winter animal feed. And being surprised by the tall green summer grass. The big reason farms get bigger is the invention of the tractor. The other reason towns get bigger is the automobile. With cars people can travel further and faster and can live in the town with the school or hospital. People on the farms no longer need a town real close. Towns change, my previous town went from gold, to apples, to dairy and logging, finally retirement and tourism. "

" Is "Buffalo Commons" that far in the future? I think not. It has already arrived! "

" Oh, Hal - you're such a downer all the time. If you want to write the success stories of ND, then why don't YOU do it? This writer and photographer chose this angle. They didn't say there weren't other stories. I thought it was a great piece and I was proud that my state's elders were remembered & honored through the words and amazing photography of Nat'l Geo. My favorite line in the piece, and the one that I think encompasses my life in ND is:

"North Dakota is a rarely visited state and surely one of the loveliest and most moving. The land swallows anyone who walks out into it." "

" Thank you Mr. Neff for alerting me to the National Geographic article. I didn't know it is apparently a propaganda tool of the anti-god america-hating lefty liberals. I guess I better do my duty and subscribe. I found it to be a beautiful photo essay that tells many stories of life in rural ND. I have to disagree with Mr. Neff. The photos and text do provide the real story of the immigration arc of ND. They tell the story of proud and strong people who came here for opportunities for themselves and their children. How Mr. Neff doesn't see that in the NG piece is a bit baffling. And the contemporary story is that towns like Corinth and Hank are barely holding on with near zero populations. Is Mr. Neff saying that isn't true? "

" http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2008-01/emptied-north-dakota/bowden-text.html

I don't understand the purpose of this article. And I agree with Mr. Neff that they missed a LOT of real stories. "

" At one time, the real story was the immigration of people from Europe to the prairies and them making a life for themselves. But the real story now is that of people moving away from the praiires to the big cities and the reversal of that trend. People are now, slowly, moving back to the prairies and small towns. They have realized that the big city life with all it's smog, traffic, stress, and crime is no way to live. They have realized what those of us who have been here all our lives, have known all along. That living in uncrowded, quiet, prairie landscaped towns is truly living. "

" Mr. Neff, what else can you expect from a periodical whose only substance is the quality of their photography? Their penchant for gloom and doom- as evidenced in everything from global cooling (1987) to now-global warming to overpopulation to acid rain to deforestation- stretches way back to a 1985 feature of ND claiming the future of this state is "bleak." Well, here we are, 23 years later, and while business evolution has thinned out the agricultural herd, I'd hardly say life in ND is bleak for the vast majority of it's increasing populace. "

" apparently the left wing national geographic continues to lie about people places and things; apparently they think this is "journalism". but, they aren't the only organization that lies to us on a daily basis and calls it "journalism". what i find interesting is that the "fighters for north dakota", our congressional deligation has been silent on this issue. several months ago senators conrad and dorgan signed a letter that tried to silence rush limbaugh, but when a story from national geographic hits the streets, our senators and representative are mute. especially since mott is 15 miles from dorgan's home town of regent. amazing, simply amazing.

coffee's brewin can you smell it? "