Dancing has a long history and ranges from simple folk rituals to dramatic ballet. It seem very natural to engage body movement, story and movement to express everything from tragedy to comedy. Too often those with physical disability are only able to sit on the sidelines and watch others participate.
Ann Ungs, daughter of Jon and Elaine Lindgren trained as a physical therapist. settled in Des Moines with her husband, Marty, also a physical therapist. Ann specialized in pediatric care and worked with children with spinal injury. Many of these young people observed dancing and wished they could participate. Ann and a dance teacher began to see opportunity where opportunity had been missing. They formed a dance school for all and called it Dance Without Limits.
Since beginnings 14 years ago they have worked with many children to preserve opportunity. Ann and Marty’s three daughters, Madeline, Juliette and Lily were all dancers and able to help as teachers and all around helping support for the school.
Twice a year the dance instruction culminates with a recital at the Urbandale, IA high school or another suitable site, where dancers can perform and an audience can appreciate and applaud the wonderful efforts and interpretations that flow across a stage recognizing that dance is auniversal way to move the human spirit to new heights, and do so without limit.
Below you can enjoy photos from recent recital and practice. .
Dance Without Limits Julianne Ungs with a dancer. Madeline Ungs communicating in American Sign Language with a dancerAnn Ungs with dancer.
I greatly appreciate the wonderful work of Ann and her daughters to enhance lives in Des Moines, IA.
Fostering Family Connections
Friday, 10 March 2023
Greetings
Language is a necessary but troubling challenge to exchange ideas. I have found the use of “liberal” to be confusing and often mistaken for both political and economic discourse or conversation. Last Wednesday evening I found and related a quote from Francis Fukuyama, professor emeritus at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Here is what he said in a Harper's interview.
I would start by saying what I don’t mean by liberalism. If you call someone liberal in the United States, you mean that person is left of center, prioritizes equality, and wants government to do more to promote it. If you call someone liberal in Europe, you mean that person is right of center, prioritizes liberty, wants free markets and less government intervention. I don’t think these economic definitions are the essence of the thing. To me, liberalism revolves around a presumption of basic equality of dignity that applies to all of us as members of our species, and the idea that this dignity is ultimately based on our moral autonomy, our ability to make moral choices. You institutionalize liberalism through a rule of law that puts constraints on the use of political power such that the government does not interfere with this basic autonomy.
Since its beginnings in the seventeenth century, liberalism has also been closely associated with a certain cognitive mode—that of modern natural science, with its belief that there is an objective reality beyond our subjective consciousnesses, a reality that we can come to know through the scientific method. We can then use the resulting knowledge to manipulate that reality, moving from science to technology, and finally to the engineering of economic and social life.
If you use the term this way, Sweden, Denmark, and other big social democratic states qualify as liberal, but so do the United States, Japan, and other countries that have smaller welfare states. Liberalism has much more to do with this fundamental recognition of individual rights.
The highlights coincide with mental models I have held since my undergraduate days.
JOTTINGS:
AFIB or Atrial Fibrillation was discussed last Wednesday and Dick Lindgren used an illustration of an EKG to explain how diagnosis of AFIB may be made and how it can be fraught. He had found the $100 portable devices attached to an iPhone to be of questionable value. Drugs to treat AFIB can be expensive, so Dick has some recommendations on reducing costs.
Dave Lindgren was finally able to tell us about his findings regarding Swedish Coffee. He presented a nice slide show to explain how he used the recipe. I'll be editing the video and posting it on the website along with Aunt Hazel;s recipe for Apple Cake.
Snow (and weather) is always close to mind on our Zoom calls and this week the Minnesota Mafia was ranting about the record setting snowfalls (approaching the tenth highest historically) in Minnesota.
Jon and Elaine Lindgren are planning a drive to New York City to see granddaughter Lily perform for her ballet studies at Fordham University.
My daughter, Erika Rivers, is anticipating a trip to Hawaii and the Volcano National Park on Maui. She will be leading a group sponsored by Wilderness Inquiry.
Because of feedback I received by eMail and a question about how to contact the entire distribution list, I will post Roots & Shoots on the LONet website each week. This will provide readers with a way to comment. If you have anything by way of rebuttal or additional information, please post your comments there.
Steve Lindgren has been monitoring the proposed merger of our Minnesota-based Fairview Health System with the Sanford Health operating out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Because University of Minnesota physicians associate with the UMN Medical School are opposed t the merger, it has attracted a great deal of attention in the TC area.
ZOOMING
Our NEW SCHEDULE for Zooming begins nest Tuesday, March 14th at 7:30PM. We're not abandoning Wednesday evening but want to try out other days and shorten the time. Our tentative scheule for the rest of March is posted below. Days and starting times are going to move around, with hope that it will be easier for some to join that have not found Wednesday a good fit for participating. We have found over hte many months of doing these Zoom sessions, that no matter how big or small the group, we always have fun. We always hope you will be able to join us.
Here is connection information for TUESDAY. :
You are warmly invited to join our Zoom meeting on TUESDAY.
Topic: Family Zoom Conversation ... Steve Lindgren will facilitate a discussion focusing on our accomplishments as we approach 150 Zoom sessions.
Time: Mar 14, 2023 07:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6531363825
Meeting ID: 653 136 3825
For the remainder of March our Zoom sessions will be as follows:
Sunday, March 19th, 3:30 PM Tentative pending availability of a presenter.)
Thursday, March 24th, 7:30 PM
Wednesday March 29th, 7:30 PM
Let's Keep in Touch!
Warmest regards,
Bruce
(218) 348-3325 or bflind@cheqnet.net
Fostering Family Connections
Saturday, 4 March2023
Greetings
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now roaring at us with the newest upgrades from Microsoft and their Windows OS. You may have experienced the seemingly big distance between your iPhone and your PC with some workaround to get pictures from your iPhone. Mine is to locate the photo on the iPhone, and then send it to my PC using eMail. A little clumsy but it works OK for an occasional photo or two. But it would be much easier if my PC simply opened the photo files on my iPhone and iCloud. Although that is currently doable now with Windows 10, it, along with other clever additions, will be easily automated with Windows 11.
Unfortunately the upgrade to Windows 11 with way too many current Windows 10 computers is blocked by hardware deficiencies. Which apparently for most of us means shelling out to buy a new computer and that is too steep a price for my Swedish soul. A quick check on Amazon for a Windows 11 PC equivalent to my current desktop would cost around a $1,000 or more. Since I prefer Open Source software, much of which will not likely run in the Windows 11 environment, I would be hanging on the horns of a dilemma. If I choose to upgrade, I will also face more expense finding and buying (or renting indefinitely) equivalent software, some of which I only use occasionally. All of this could easily add another $1,000 or more to may cost of upgrade.
But, there is a powerful incentive with Windows 11, and that is to gain access to the future; tools of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML). I have often said that if I was 20 years younger, I would take off my socks, roll up my pants and wade into the waters of AI/ML developing requisite skills with one of the compatible programming languages such as Python. With Windows 11 and recent upgrades, there is much of AI/ML that is reachable without writing a single line of code. What ever you may want to do—write an essay, calculate future value of an asset, reduce or expand a recipe for a Swedish version of Norwegian krumkake—first try talking to your PC with a request (in any language) that the PC do it for you. Some of that is currently free but don't expect that to pertain indefinitely; a pay plan will be ready for you sometime soon. Microsoft has not been known for its charity, the Gates Foundation notwithstanding. (If you want something from the Gates Foundation, make a detailed proposal and don't even think about asking for anything less that a couple million dollars.)
But Microsoft is not the only game in AI/ML. Google (YouTube), Meta (Facebook), Apple and Amazon are actually wagging the tail of the AI/ML dog. Not that we should be misled into thinking that a dog with a wagging tail is always friendly. These dogs are clever and know where your thoughts and money are kept. Beware offers that seem too good to be true. Hey SERI, what should I do?
JOTTINGS:
The Bowl (Amy's Wooden Bowl) is safely on the way to Ames. Laura Gardner will pass it along to daughter Grace for safekeeping for another generation and hopefully more. I have recently revised the Editors Note on the Post provided by Linnae on the provenance of the bowl.
I just did my taxes for 2022—full disclosure, Patti assembled everything for our CPA—and again found that none of my computer expenses are deductible as they were when my consulting business was active. Zoom and lindgrensonline does not qualify as charity either. Fortunately all costs are manageable.
My latest listen (Audible Book) as mentioned last week is The Song of the Cell by Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, PhD. He is a wonderful storyteller and highlights so many things about cell biology that I taught for many years, yet he bring almost poetic writing to his descriptions and stories of the people who made the important discoveries of the past decades.
Brave New Workshop, an improv theater in Minneapolis has a current show entitled “Smelling Elon's Musk.” The subtitle: The Future is Now, but Does It Include Us?will not likely engender a love story with the oligarchs taking control of our economy, technologies and democracy.
Holding your breath for Republicans to criticise either Fox News or its darling Marjorie Taylor Green is going to deprive you and our democracy of much needed oxygen. It is impossible to imagine the angst of Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell when Green calls for all Red States, presumably the contiguous states of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee to form a new nation. Whew!
ZOOMING
We keep going with hope that others will join us. It is time to begin trying something new. Accordingly this will be the last of the routine, two-hour Wednesday evening sessions. Here is a (tentative) schedule for the month of March: Wednesday, 8th 7:00-9:00 PM; Tuesday, 14th 7:30-8:30 PM; Sunday, 19th, Thursday, 23rd 7:30-8:30; and Wednesday, 29th, 7:30-8:30. Let me know how you feel about this change.
My hope is that by adding some flexibility to the Zooming schedule, it will easier for some family members to join. We know other obligations on Wednesday evening have made participation difficult. I have always said, and this is still true, you can always jump on and jump off at any time.
I will continue to send Roots & Shoots each week with connection information and a bold reminder of the the times and dates. I continue to hope to raise topics of interest to stimulate fun and interesting conversations about our family history, connections and the world writ large. Without being intrusive or snoopy, it is great to hear about travel and toil among our connected and extended family.
We will continue to highlight Questions of Interest, along with some special topics that may bubble up in the course of our conversations. Special presentations are encouraged on virtually any topic you find of interest. Feel free to be formal or casual at what ever is your comfort level.
You are warmly invited to join this upcoming Zoom Conversation:
Bruce Lindgren is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Family Zoom Conversation
Time: Mar 8, 2023 07:00-9:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting by Clicking the Link Below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6531363825
The Meeting ID is: 653 136 3825 (This is usually not needed, except when joining for the first time and when you dont have the Zoom application installed on your personal computer or device (iPhone, etc.)
Let's Keep in Touch!
Warm regards,
Bruce
(218) 348-3325 or bflind@cheqnet.net
My mother had a small polished wooden bowl in her house for many years, which had belonged to her mother, Amy Johnson Lindgren. The bowl has a matching removeable lid with an inscription in Swedish burned into the underside, “Till Amy från Ida, 14/10/1919” (date written European style: day/month/year). Translation: “To Amy from Ida, October 14, 1919”
Ida was Frank Lindgren’s sister-in-law. Frank Lindgren was one of six children, all born in Sweden. Four of the six – Frank and his older brother John (the sons of Peter Magnusson) – and their sisters Selma and Jenny – emigrated to America in the 1890s. The other two sisters – Ida and Amanda – remained in Sweden with their elderly parents Peter Magnusson and wife Ingrid. The four who emigrated took the last name of Lindgren in America. In May 1913, the year before World War I began, they received word that their mother Ingrid had died. Frank and John planned to make the long trip back to Sweden after the war ended to visit their still-living father and other relatives.
The Armistice was signed in November 1918, the war was over, and the brothers planned to go back in 1919. But at the last minute, Frank felt he had to cancel, because his daughter Ruth (my mother), then 6, had become ill (according to Irene). This was at the time of the great world-wide “Spanish” flu pandemic of 1918-1919, brought home to America and other countries by returning troops. It killed millions worldwide. The whole Frank Lindgren household except for daughter Gene had had the flu in early 1918. They all recovered, but when 6-year-old Ruth got sick again the following year, Frank probably feared this was another bout of the flu, and that he would go to Sweden only to find that his little daughter Ruth had died while he was away. So John went on to Sweden alone.
It turned out that Ruth had scarlet fever (according to Roy), which was also a dangerous disease in those days. Probably Ida meant to give this little bowl to Frank to carry home to Amy, but Frank’s brother John took it back to Amy instead. Ida probably had to plan a year ahead as the bowl was especially made, turned on a lathe and polished, and prepared with the inscription and date burned into the removable lid. The date says 1919, but John may not have gone until 1920. This was Frank’s only chance to go back to Sweden, as he began to establish a new life in America, and then his father died in 1924, so he never did go back.
Editor’s Note:
Photographs below were provided by Linnae and her neighbor Lana Tyssen. Linnae’s hand provides perspective on the size of the bowl.
With recent communications, Linnae is sending the bowl to Laura Gardner in Ames, IA. Laura will pass it along to her daughter, Grace, for safekeeping for another generation. Thanks to all for preserving this important artifact.
We all mourn the passing of Ted Lindgren but in spite of hope and some sense that he would live forever, we understand that all life ends with death and that our existence ends … The existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sarte was wrong in one sense because every life, like Ted’s, lives on with something, that is not nothing. Memories are living things and our memories of Ted are of amazement and wonder; his accomplishments are unforgettable and will remain an example for all who follow. Those who follow may not match his accomplishments academically and those parts of life that brought him joy. Because of his disability from a stroke, over nearly two decades, much of his mindfulness may be fragmentary and left with those who were closest to him across those years. We saw Ted on Zoom calls from his nursing home bed and always felt joy with his smile and wave to us.
I for one regret that so much passed across time between my brief encounters with Ted as a teenager, playing ball with a younger cousin on the lawn in front of the big porch of the Lanyon farm house, and the life-changing event his stroke. During those nearly 60 years, I was too busy with my life and struggle to put into place a structure for living, working and enjoyment of what was closest to me. In those missing years, I knew that Ted graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in engineering, that he and his brother Carleton had moved beyond Ames, living and working on the east coast, but there was too little that passed from the RR to me through my parents other than as small talk that could be recognized but passed off in favor or more immediate matters of mind. I knew that Ted went on to more advanced study and degrees, as it turned out a PhD in electrical engineering and inventions of brushless motors that led to patents and probably issues of what are now known as technology transfer matters involving the financial exploitation of intellectual property.
That story is important to our family and my hope is that Anne, John and Lisa will write about it for all of us to learn and reflect on Ted’s accomplishments and struggles. Those years must have had enormous meaning for Ted and Bet as well as their children’s lives—family life in Texas, Up state New York and Florida was undoubtedly impacted in too many ways to count. We always know far too little about the life of another. That applies most directly to the physical part of life; when and where events occurred, what happened, what changed. We can create timelines — our physical chronology — of those physical event of birth, death, marriages, children, divorces, attending schools and college, hobbies and recreations, memberships in organizations and employment in place and time; but our access to the cognitive and even emotion (unless these may have physical manifestations) is often at best elusive. The cognitive may have physical manifestations such as writing and recording, with drawing (sketches or meticulously detailed, artistically executed, beautiful paintings), photographs and movies or video, and especially writing of notes, journals, letters, or formal papers and applications are important artifacts to sustain memories of a life.
Our hope is that Ted’s life is remembered through those physical artifacts that he left with his children and now his grandchildren who remember better than his more distant relatives ever could. We are reminded of our questions that were not or could not be asked of our parents, grandparents, great grandparents. These questions not asked don’t linger well, but nevertheless are points of importance for the future because they represent a part of our gaps, our ignorance most which cannot be recovered.
With death there is always a loss. Love lingers and is now represented in memories, only memories and the special thoughts that arise when we encounter the artifacts of a life once lived and now gone for eternity. From earthly eternity. Earthly life goes on and an important part of what remains are memories, which are fleeting but supported by the physical artifacts. I hope we all rededicate our efforts to capture those memories and artifacts of our ancestors; parents remembered by children and recorded … digital recording and the analogue film and vocal files are ephemeral or potentially ephemeral. We can capture our moments for the future now with written records of what we remember. It is hard but important to take a blank page and begin simply; “I remember …”.
Gathering memories and artifacts are certainly for us but should be mostly for our offspring who otherwise will never know of the amazing accomplishments that surround our lives … no matter how big or small … no mater of impact … no matter how seemingly mundane or how stimulating. We are not judges but only recorders for some future time that we cannot fully appreciate or even contemplate. What we have missed may bring tears—but our hope that all of those tears are of joy aid not overwhelmed by our notable sadness at the moment of passing. Life is amazing. Ted’s life was certainly amazing and we will cherish our memories of his life and accomplishments and his family.
The reunion in 1999 was the first that was intentionally devoted to bringing cousins into the Lindgren’s family sibling’s practice of getting together. Reunions has been a long standing tradition among the children of Amy and Frank Lindgren. Many of most of the early reunions were held in the Lanyon-Ft Dodge area. However, by 1999 both Frank and Amy had passed annd Roy Lindgren recognized that continuing reunions would depend upon gathering at other alternative locations. Roy was, at the time living in Silver Springs, MD and he encouraged the meeting in Denver. He recognized that this was an important occasion to engage the cousins in family reunions. Other organizers of the Denver meeting were, no doubt, involved, and it seems clear the Irene was another important leader of the reunion effort. However, our records of how others may have contributed to the organization are incomplete.
The 1999 reunion was held at a State Park that may have been Cherry Hills State Park. Steve Lindgren has raised some doubt as to the accuracy of this location, as he also cites a famous Golf Course of similar name, that he and his son Stuart visited at the time of the reunion.
Attendees
A photograph provided by Linnae (below in the Gallery) confirms that siblings Obed, Ruth, Emory, Irene and Roy were present. Other photographs will be used to compile a list of attendees …
Vilhelm Moberg was a Swedish journalist, playwright, and novelist, who lived 1898-1973. During the 1950s, he wrote a series of four novels – “The Emigrants,” “Unto a Good Land,” “The Settlers,” and “The Last Letter Home”— telling the fictional story of a family that emigrated from Sweden to America. The series is so rich and detailed that I can only scratch the surface.
In the early 1970s, Swedish director Jan Troell turned the first two books into one film, “The Emigrants,” and the last two books into another film, “The New Land.” Two famous Swedish actors lead the cast: Max von Sydow as Karl Oskar Nilsson and Liv Ullman as his wife Kristina. Von Sydow appeared in “The Seventh Seal,” “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” “The Exorcist,” and “Game of Thrones.” Liv Ullman appeared in many films directed by Ingmar Bergman.
You can’t get the first film online due to copyrights, but the second film is available free at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hqg2hI2Taw. (Note: It runs 3 hours, 22 minutes.)
Poster for the first movie
The story begins in Sweden. In the late 1840s, Karl Oskar Nilsson is a strong-willed young man who lives with his parents, his younger brother and sister. They live on a small stony farm in Småland, like our own Lindgren ancestors, John and Frank Petersson and their sisters Selma and Jenny Petersdotter. (The four siblings dropped their traditional Swedish names and took the name “Lindgren” after they arrived in America.) Karl Oskar marries Kristina Johansdotter and they start a family. Hardships come soon. Heavy rains ruin the wheat crop, the potatoes go rotten, livestock must be sold to pay the mortgage, and they sink deep into debt.
They are reduced to eating “famine bread,” a mixture of flour, chaff, and ground up acorns. The ruling class does nothing to help. Kristina screams at Karl Oskar’s blasphemy when he throws a pitiful handful of wheat in the air and asks God to take it all. After their daughter dies a horrible death and lightning strikes their barn, they are ready to leave Sweden.
The priest and sheriff govern the parish, and the peasant farmers are expected to obey their masters who own the land, without complaint. Karl Oskar and his brother Robert make plans to go to America. Kristina’s Uncle Daniel preaches to a small communal religious group that meets illegally in his house. (Lutheranism is the State religion.) After suffering repeated persecution, Daniel throws in his lot with Karl Oskar. Daniel is inspired by the Biblical story of the Jewish exodus out of Egypt.
Karl Oskar’s decision to emigrate is seen as an insult to the parish. The parish community has lived on the same land for generations. His neighbors think he thinks himself better than they are. He feels shamed by the parish priest for having to ask hat in hand for permission to leave and having his decision announced publicly in church.
Moberg shows the deep faith of the emigrants, as well as their connection to the earth. Jonas Petter leaves his wife behind and takes every opportunity to tell bawdy stories. Daniel’s follower Ulrika is a profane former prostitute who eventually becomes Kristina’s best friend.
The emigrants bound for America
In the year 1850, Karl Oskar and his family and Uncle Daniel’s group travel to the seaport of Karlshamn to board a small, crowded sailing ship. (Ocean-going steamships came later.) Their Atlantic passage is like that of Amy Johnson Lindgren’s parents, J.P. Johnson and Johanna Dorothea Burman. Diseases like cholera, dysentery, small pox, and typhus run rampant, and there’s no doctor on board. Several emigrants, including Daniel’s wife, die at sea – their bodies wrapped in sailcloth. Each gets a funeral service by Daniel and a scoop of Swedish earth before dropping into the sea. Ten weeks pass before land is sighted. (By 1870 a steamship passage took less than two weeks.)
For the second book, “Unto a Good Land,” Moberg took his title from the Bible: “For the Lord thy God bringeth thee unto a good land.” Karl Oskar and his group travel by railroad and steamboat from New York to Chicago. (By the late 1860s, when J.P. Johnson and Johanna Dorothea Burman left, emigrants could take trains that connected all the way to Chicago.)
After they reach Chicago, Karl Oskar’s group make their way to Minnesota by steamboat and horse-and-wagon. Karl Oskar insists on walking for miles until he finds the best spot to settle on, about forty miles northeast of Minneapolis, where the topsoil is three feet deep.
Karl Oskar (Max von Sydow) marks his claim
In the third book, “The Settlers,” Karl Oskar builds a cabin for his family, clears land, and plants wheat. Kristina is sometimes overcome with homesickness. The nearest town is far away and the weather changes quickly. One day Karl Oskar takes his son Johan to town with him to sell grain, but gets caught in a blizzard. How to save his freezing son’s life? Karl Oskar kills the ox that pulled their wagon. He guts the ox and puts his unconscious boy in the warm carcass, leaving a breathing hole near the boy’s mouth.
Storm scene from “The New Land”
This scene is based on a true story Moberg found in his research. In “The Empire Strikes Back,” George Lucas has Han Solo kill a “tauntaun” creature in the same way to save Luke Skywalker. More recently, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character guts a dead horse and gets inside the carcass to survive a blizzard in “The Revenant.” It has become a Hollywood “trope.”
“The Settlers” tells the story of the younger brother Robert and his friend Arvid, who leave Karl Oskar to join the California Gold Rush. The naive boys go to St. Joseph and travel overland going west. They drive donkeys for a Mexican who gives them his gold coins before dying from yellow fever. Director Jan Troell shows them struggling under a blazing sun, accompanied by an eerie soundtrack. Arvid dies and Robert falls in with a dishonest Swede who swindles him. Robert returns to Karl Oskar and Kristina emaciated with saddle bags full of worthless banknotes.
In the fourth and last book, “The Last Letter Home,” Kristina has had increasingly difficult pregnancies. A doctor warns that her next child could cause her death. Nevertheless, she decides to conceive another child with Karl Oskar and subsequently dies in childbirth. A sub-plot of this last book is the Sioux uprising during the Civil War, followed by the horrible mass hangings of Indians in Minnesota.
Karl Oskar grows old and visits Kristina’s grave often. He sits in his cabin, vividly remembering Kristina walking down a path to him, when she agreed to marry him. The film ends with the voice-over of a letter written to his sister in Sweden, telling of his death. The camera then shows Karl Oskar dressed formally and pulls back to reveal a large photograph of the extended family – Karl Oskar and Kristina, their children, in-laws, and many grandchildren.
A remake of Jan Troell’s first film, “The Emigrants,” will open in Swedish movie theaters on Christmas Day, 2021. There’s no word yet about a release date for the U.S. To see the trailer, click on https://cineuropa.org/en/video/411614/
Actors Gustaf Skarsgård and Lisa Carlehed star in the 2021 remake, directed by Erik Poppe
From Bruce Lindgren (Son of Obed and Verona Lindgren)
Greetings to all.
Thank you for taking a few minutes to click links and read some of the newsletter copy that has been embedded in our family website. While the Roots & Shoots newsletter is an attempt to find a new direction for family communications after our legacy of 90 years of the Round Robin, it is my hope that we will also forge new directions. It may be too much to hope or too ambitions to find a path forward that engages new generations, but here are a few thoughts that take a different tack.
Our World is HOT! Elizabeth Kolbert wrote in The New Yorker about the IPCC Report that was issued earlier this month. She lamented that this report comes after 30 years of inadequate attention to recognize and do enough about the problem of our changing planetary climate. The International Panel on Climate Change report required sign-off from most of the 162 member countries of the IPCC. This report, unlike its predecessors, is not optimistic about human intervention preventing regionally dangerous and economically devastating weather events that will cause tornadoes, cyclones, hurricanes and other storm events. Rising ocean levels are already wreaking havoc with coastal regions. Replacements for fossil fuels have been so slow in coming, the report says, that it is no longer possible to prevent more damage including losses of life and further impoverishment.
Minneapolis after George Floyd … is still struggling with the appropriate response for the Minneapolis Police Department. Proposals to “defund police” are too far beyond the pale but there is no decent clarity as to what should be done to reform a department that has relied too much on violence in dealing with situations that too easily get out of control. Defusing tensions … too many guns on the street and police can’t take chances guessing who may or may not have one. Black people do have a legitimate complaint about profiling, but their protests are too often lacking in details of the specific changes and action that need not be implemented. Solutions will require a joint effort. Perhaps a neighborhood-based initiative to begin removing guns from people displaying belligerent and irresponsible behaviors would be a step forward. But we are not about to see instant solutions that are satisfying. A world without police is not likely to be a world in which we want to live.
COVID-19 and the Delta variant. Hope you are all vaccinated and doing your part to testify on behalf of vaccination. The new Delta variant is causing a new round of concern and need for caution. This pandemic is still far from over, even though we have a little better chance of avoiding hospitalization and death from the virus. But we are all in this together and for a long stretch of time. Your influence is important to those you love and find your self involved with contacts where you are able to influence someone on getting vaccinated. A third booster shot will be in the offing soon.
Our collection of family information comes through personal communication and the conversations on Zoom every Wednesday evening. What follows are a few jottings. Our hope is that all newsletter readers will keep us posted about what is happening in your part of the universe.
New Rochelle News
Jonathan Coss has been providing a multitude of great materials for our website and Zoom calls for several months. Recently he sent along a series of email notes about his contact with a Lutheran Minister, Rev. Tim Anderson, from Altona, IL. The contact uncovered marriage records of the Johnson’s & Burma’s in the late 1800. J. P. Johnson and Johanna Dorothea Burman lived in Altona, were married there and had three children, Easter, Lizzie and Frank I. before moving to Lanyon where Amy, Obed and Nellie were born. This fills in important gaps for the John and Lizzie Lindgren side of our relationships.
Jonathan, also recently. sent along really great information about his grandfather, Jam,es A. Coss, who was a professor of chemistry at Morningside College and published a paper in 1920 with co-author William A, Noyes who was a preeminent chemist and chemistry department chair at the University of Illinois,
Jonathan has become our go-to person when we are seeking archival information about family members and history. Recently we asked Jonathan to look into the history of rural schools particularly in Iowa. Last week he provided an outstanding list of sources to help us better understand the rural schools in Iowa, such as those our ancestors attended. Two of our correspondents, Dick Lindgren and Ann Dunnigan, attended one-room schools. Let us know about other relatives who may have attended a rural one-room school.
Atlanta Angles
Anne Blitch, Ted Lindgren’s daughter, has helped her father join several of our Wednesday evening Zoom conversations. We’ve missed Ted and Anne’s presence over the past few weeks because Ted had an unfortunate accident and fell from his wheelchair suffering a broken hip. Fortunately the hip was surgically repaired and we all hope for Ted’s continued improvement. Anne is a corporate attorney and finds time to provide support for Ted, who is now well into his 80s.
Denver Dispatches
Jay Lindgren celebrated the marriage of his daughter in June.
He has limbered his big cruiser BMW Motorcycle and enjoyed a recent trip to see the great landslide that caused problems along I-70.
Jay surprised all of us on Zoom when he appeared clean shaven after all the months of the pandemic where he cultivated a monumental beard.
Jay has also been involved in development of Wikipedia pages. Two you may want to see are: Jon Lindgren and Obed Simon Johnson.
Heart of San Francisco
John William Johnson who prefers to be called JJ is the grandson of Obed Simon Johnson. He spent the first half of his life in Europe. He is a collector of historic and unusual guitars and told a story of being engaged in ballet in his youth while living in France. One of his brothers still lives in Switzerland where he teaches music. JJ’s daughter lives on a Mediterranean island off the coast of Spain. JJ looks forward to visiting her annually but travel has been curtailed by COVID-19 travel restrictions.
JJ has also been actively researching the life of his father, James Waldemar Johnson. He has compiled details that we hope to add to his father’s website page soon.
Des Moines Developments
Jon and Elaine were wonderful hosts for JJ when he traveled from San Francisco to meet family members at Dick’s 90th Birthday in June. Dave and Bruce Lindgren joined JJ, Elaine and Jon for dinner and a great conversation the evening before the birthday. Jon and Elaine’s granddaughter is busy writing applications for medical school admission. Jon’s brother Dick has been providing encouragement and tips about medical schools with maybe a little bias for his alma matter, the University of Iowa Medical School.
Madison Memo
Dick continues to keep track of family connections inside and outside of the Frank and Amy lineage. Dick keeps a wealth of information about ancestors and ancestors lives, work and offspring. He and his children have made several trips to Sweden to find the birthplaces, memorials, homes and churches of both Johnson and Lindgren ancestors. In June, Dick’s daughter Laura read to several of us from a wonderful journal she kept about their first trip when she was 19yo. Every so often Dick puts together interesting document packets and pops them in postal mail to keep our records complete and safely disbursed. This is important because it provides redundancy of family artifacts, which we expect will provide security and safe-keeping.
Tulsa Talk
Pat Heath and husband Jim are very regular participants in our Zoom conversations. Steve Lindgren and Jim frequently keep us informed about their respective golf pursuits. A few week ago we received the sad news of the untimely death in a motorcycle accident of her nephew Scott Dickerson, son of Pat’s brother, Jim Dickerson. Scott’s daughter Sarah has participated in Zoom conversations and has also provided photographs which we hope to use soon in a web-page memorial for Scott.
