Humanities Council Friends, Robert Frost, and Dakota Eccentrics

Friday, March 26th, 2004

Words for Today
"The best things and best people rise out of their separateness; I'm against a homogenized society because I want the cream to rise."

​So said Robert Frost, American poet born on this day in 1874, a major poetic voice by the turn of the twentieth century, he lived on to 1963. I was reminded of his hard-won wisdom this glorious beauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuutiful day in Dakota as I was privileged to once again watch the people charged with public humanities in North Dakota in action -- those volunteers who serve on the North Dakota Humanities Council which I have tried to serve for more than thirty years. We had tough decisions – a stiff competition for the five fellowships we award each year for research leading to public presentation; there were nineteen excellent applicants. There were requests for more double would we could judiciously award to public projects asking for matching support – from the Dakota Datebook which runs several times a day on North Dakota Public Radio with three-minute features about people and events from our past to ambitious seminars on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. One of the things that makes my life so precious is coming together with these friends – and there have been nearly two hundred who have served on the governing board of the nonprofit humanities council over the last thirty years. They make our periodic meetings the greatest of days to be alive: I salute them all. All come to subscribe to Frost's philosophy – let us disagree – with civility and good humor, grace and an earnest search for compromise. They have been the very best of kola – that special friend we all treasure, and they continue to teach me the nature of grace, for they have supported me personally far in excess of anything I deserve. Most important is their unyielding commitment to the mission of bringing the humanities to as many North Dakotans as possible and their allegiance to the notion that the humanities belong to all citizens in a social compact, not just a privileged few. Thank you, dear kola, thank you.

Aye, 'tis a grand day – a day to be reminded just how fortunate I am, how much I owe to so many. We North Dakotans are generally folks of considerable independence, people that prize their individuality. In a Frostian sense, we are highly civilized – 'tis Frost who said, "A civilized society is one which tolerates eccentricity to the point of doubtful sanity." No few of those who most enjoy the programs the Humanities Council supports are eccentric – almost crazy in the sanest way – and civil and polite to a fault.

If you want a flavor of North Dakota heritage and culture, I urge you to visit the the online scripts and the sound files -- check it out here. You'll find everything from the origin of lutefisk – considered by the crazier of Dakotans a delicacy (under March 17) to the stories of such the Strasburg Superstar Mylo Hatzenbuhler, the creation of professional musician Clyde Bauman and biographies of native sons and daughters of the ilk of Louis L'Amour and Lawrence Welk. There have been, in the short three months of programs, offered excellent glimpses into the great civilization that thrived here in Dakota long before Lewis and Clark arrived at the center of that great social compact, the Indian village tribes of the Upper Missouri, including the Mandan – for example, the feature on the difficulty of getting the Mandan chief Sheheke home from Washington, D.C. – he went back with Lewis and Clark to visit the nation's capital with wife. 'Tis a grand achievement for a very modest budget – here's a sample from the one on Mylo Hatzenbuhler:

Ladies and Gentlemen... Mylo Hatzenbuhler!
Yesterday was the 10-year anniversary of the debut of “I’m Big-Time Now!” a CD by Mylo Hatzenbuhler – who is known to his followers as the “Strasburg Superstar.”

Mylo is a “fourth-generation fictional farm-boy who lives with his fictional wife and family on a farm – as he puts it, “eight miles east of Strasburg and a half.” Mylo and his wife, Emma, are the creations of Clyde Bauman, a professional musician and entertainer from Bismarck.

Mylo Hatzenbuhler was born on a hot day in August to Alma and Reinie Hatzenbuhler, the second of five children. He says that he grew up just a normal, humble farm kid until that fateful day: “The news came over the school loudspeaker,” Mylo says, “that Elvis Parsley had died. I was only 15 at the time, but I remember like it was yesterday; I turned to my 5th-grade teacher and said, ‘The world needs me.’”

Since that day, Mylo has, as he puts it, “gone on to extinguish myself in the musical world.” He has successfully juggled farming, his rock star career and his marriage to Emma Schwartzenbauer-Hatzenbuhler. So far, the couple has appeared in 17 states and performs throughout the year, except during calving season, when the cows need Emma’s womanly touch.

Mylo says they are both 100% German from Russia. In Mylo’s own words, he says, “In the spring of 1910, my great-grandparents came to this country on a boat, went to the Statue of Liberty and got made natural, then got on another boat and sailed up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, where they bought a covered wagon and went north with the other Germans in the group. They went as far as they could,” Mylo continues, “and when the weather turned that fall, that’s where they stopped and stayed. They turned the wagon upside-down and heaped dirt up around it for insulation (because fiberglass doesn't grow in North Dakota), cut a hole in the floor for the stovepipe, and that was their home their first winter in North Dakota.”

Mylo met Emma at a concert he was giving in Hot Springs, South Dakota.

It was love at first sight, and, as Mylo puts it, “I knew she was the one for me. Now we've been married for twenty years – ten for me, ten for her.”

Of Hatzenbuhler’s daughter, Mylo says, “We named her Beulah, because I gave a concert in Beulah the night she was born. It was good timing, because the night before, I was in Zap.”

Mylo has a very busy schedule, saying, “I'm so busy that wherever I go, someone wants me somewhere else.” At his last event, he said, “The promoters must be anxious to see how I did, because they said they can’t wait for me to get done.”

Now, in celebration of Mylo’s debut 10 years ago, here’s another selection from his CD.

For Mylo’s upcoming performances, go to www.farmboy.com.

There's a marvelous unpretentiousness about Dakotans – our greatest strength, methinks. 'Tis also the finest of places to come visit – I urge you all to get here as soon as possible. In fact, there's been a bit of pause in the enormous pressure of those seeking Frostian civilization storming our borders – so if you're just the weest bit crazy, consider making your visit sooner instead of later.

Do hope you are taking the best possible care of yourselves – and looking out for your neighbors, especially the eccentrics among us.

Ev Albers