Land Circle: Writings Collected from the Land Book

I recognize that I'm a 'tourist' when visiting new places and that comes with a bit of a strained smile for both the guest and host. Yes, the place I'm visiting wants my tourism dollars in their state, but they also don't really care for the crowds, the trash, or the disregard to the folks who live there year-round. So I realize I only see a surface level view of what it's really like to live in my travel destination. Therefore I make it a point to visit a local independent bookstore to purchase an essay collection by a local author.

Mitzi's Books is an independent bookstore in Rapid City, South Dakota. While there a very nice bookseller pulled different essay collections from local authors for my perusal. A couple of the books were by the same author, Linda Hasselstrom. The bookseller explained this author has a nearby writing workshop. That sounded interesting. Some of Hasselstrom's titles to choose from included a diary of a year, a collection of poems, and an essay collection about being a rancher. I chose the 1991 essay collection with poetry called Land Circle: Writings Collected from the Land. And bonus it was a signed copy!

Land Circle is broken into three parts. Part I "Where Neighbor is a Verb", Part II "George: In Beauty Walk" and Part III "A Woman's Covenant". Before each essay, Hasselstrom begins with a poem that usually sets the tone or introduces the topic the following essay will explore.

All three parts offer a different look at Hasselstrom's life. Even though the first part has the word 'neighbor' in the title I felt like it was more about her relationship to the land. Blizzards and calves, skunks and buffalo berries, wildfires, attending a 'Rendezvous' (the renaissance fair's 1840s mountain cousin), rocks and bones. I really enjoyed the essay "The Cowboy and the Ride" where the author, her husband, and her stepson ride seventy-five miles in three days through the mountains. Sounds like quite the experience. The second part focused on the author's second husband who died from complications of Hodgkin's disease. This section was heartbreaking and beautiful at once. Hasselstrom's emotions bleed through each essay whether she's angry, frustrated, scared, bereaved, etc., we feel it all. The final section feels charged and opinionated. This section is where I sometimes felt at odds with Hasselstrom. She has very opinionated feelings about rural vs city folks. I can imagine her looking down her nose and glaring at me. The dust jacket blurb uses the word "provocative" and I can understand the word choice. Hasselstrom is an environmentalist and activist for ranchers and the land she occupies in South Dakota. She discusses several issues including the burial of nuclear waste in the area, oil pipelines, sustainability, eating beef, carrying a gun, and more. There were several essays that I marked so I could return to her ideas. I am curious if her opinions are the same or different today as well as her thoughts on the current climate crisis.

Some things I took away from reading this collection that I just didn't get while visiting the area is how strong the concern for fire is. I do remember this was written in 1991, almost thirty years ago, but according to the blog Great Plains Fire there are still fires occurring all the time. I gave little thought to fires while visiting the area that is until I saw brush piles the size of small hills and the scorched trees or hillsides. While I visited it rained or threatened to rain. I got the impression it was like Colorado where there's a bit of rain every afternoon, but reading Land Circle, Hasselstrom made it sound like South Dakota is in constant drought. Another quick Google search confirms that 41% of the state is "abnormally dry". I also thought more about my own sustainability in the products I choose to buy and use, and growing some of my own food. I would love to see a movement to stop watering lawns and use that plot of land to grow food. My sister is already on board and leading the way.

Hasselstrom really doesn't mention Custer State Park, which is where my husband and I spent the bulk of our time completing the park's trail challenge. The author and her family seemed to go to Wyoming or non-touristy places which I can relate to.

I'm always grateful for these snapshots into the lives of people in the area. If nothing else it just reminds me that while I'm visiting and falling in love with an incomplete notion of an area, ordinary people live there, and just like my home state, there's beauty and warts and issues.

Meet Linda.

The author connects Indian culture (circle of life), nature (the land), and her unique life experiences in essays, memoirs, and poetry. More information can be found at Land Circle Lessons (lj)