Last night I fell asleep angry. This morning I woke up angry. Why? Because of Lino Rulli. As most readers of this blog know I don't get to listen to alot of Lino live. Rather I listen to it at night on my stiletto. Yes, I go to bed with Lino Rulli every night. As I started listening, it was mentioned that it was Priest Appreciation Day. I know the priest would be from North Dakota so I wanted to listen in. So I skipped to that part of the show. One of the blessing of the stiletto. I can be a cafeteria Catholic Guy Fan. BTW, breaking news, my name is not Doug and I'm not from Kansas. How I got that moniker is a blog in itself. I am a cattleman from rural ND.
I thought the interview went well. As all have done. It is a great segment. But after the interview, Lou and Lino began to converse about ND. Lou had a few questions. Such had Lino been to ND? YES........ Some banter between the two. ........ Lou asks," What was the best part about ND?" Lino, "Leaving". Whoa!!!! Now there's a shot .
It felt like back in school when the cool kids laughed at you for no reason. Kind of, what did I do to deserve that. Do I think I'm cool? No, let's face it. I am a 40 year old man who's one hobby is to blog about a lesser known radio talent. A person who I obviously admire. Who's knowledge on Catholicism has aided me in my spiritual growth. But at some point yesterday, Lino should have realized that drinking in a bar that has legalized gambling and popcorn may not be a true indication of what a state has to offer. Once while flying I got some bad food in the Detroit Airport, I never felt this was indicative of Detroit as a whole.
Is there elements of truth to what was discussed about ND? Yeah, I'll give them that. Granted a priest from ND was picked because the previous week's priest said he was going to pick one "from the middle of nowhere". But can't good things come from all places? Didn't questions arise about Jesus's orgins. "What good can come from Bethlem?" is asked in the bible. (Don't ask me where or if that's the exact quote. Remember I'm Catholic. I just know it's there).
I live in a very small town. Population about 800. If you walk the circumference of my town it is roughly a mile. It's where I choose to live. I love it. Why? It is in some ways counter cultural. For instance, I know that half of all marriage in the US fail. I would say in my town it would be less than 5%. My town supposedly is the "vocations" capitol of the US. Having more vocations per capita than any other area. I'm not sure if this is just local myth. I've never seen a written statistic. All I know is that in our church there is a wall with photos of all church members who entered vocations. In the last 50 years, 21 priests or brothers , 22 sisters. Maybe there is something about listen to God's call "in the middle of nowhere".
Small town life is a blessing in other ways. We adopted several years back. And I am still touched by the community support. After being gone for over two weeks we came home to a freezer filled with frozen meals. Additionally for the first week or so home we never had to cook a meal. Someone brought a meal over. It really helped us transition.
On a quirky note, one of our gas stations several years back decided to rent porn. It was a under the counter type of deal. He also put in a condom machine in the restroom. Needless to say, his little business foray did not last long in a town of conservative Catholics. I realize that a condom machine in a bathroom is not a rarity but I proud that my town protested. It is how I am trying to live my life and raise my children. Don't worry about what the rest of the world is doing. Worry about doing what is right.
Today, I hope Lino gets a good long whiff of that urine smell. Me, I'm headed out the door on a beautiful cool, crisp fall day deeply inhaling of the fresh ND air. And contently hearing to the lack of noise around me.
"My name is not Doug and I'm not from Kansas." That line closely mirrors Spider-Man 2, where Peter decides he isn't a hero anymore. :)
Loved the post, made me laugh out loud on numerous occasions. But North Dakota has many great things about it: the Bison football team at NDSU won 17 outright championships at the Division II level, Bonanzaville sounds like a fun museum, and Lou should be ashamed: the great New York Yankee Roger Maris was a native of North Dakota!
Three good things about North Dakota. Oh the ignorant masses.
"On a quirky note, one of our gas stations several years back decided to rent porn."
Hahah! Those post just went into a direction I never expected it t go in.
Like Dustin said, I laughed out loud at your post. I especially love the end where you tell little to take a good whiff of that urine! :-)
no offence to all the contributors on here, but that really was one of the best posts on here in awhile DOUG in ND! And the priest from ND - Fr. Waltz - was really an awesome interview...
You can't be upset with Lino goofing on ND. Look at the goof on him with the Lino-nosed pliers. If you're gonna give it, you have to take it too. Fair is fair--
No worries Book...it's all in good fun :)
To me, the middle of nowhere = heaven!