Ruth Suckow--tonight at the DAHM

 

Sometime today, I'll have to try to find out if the Ruth Suckow House in Hawarden survived the flood. I've heard it did, but my own sense of the lay of the land would most certainly fear otherwise. 

Hawarden long ago created a little historical park and called it "Calliope Village," after the very first white settlement in Sioux County, a place along the Big Sioux, which would have been only natural, given that our rivers were our highways. You can make out the outline of the Suckow House in this old picture, but the church is long gone, even though its people are not--they simply gather in a newer place.

But the outline you see on the left is the house that still exists--it's been removed and placed elsewhere--and, some summer weekends is open for tours. To some folks in Hawarden--those who choose to care--Suckow (pronounced Sioux-Ko) is a kind of literary patron saint. But her advocates are slowly passing away, as is the story of the woman who, at one time, put Hawarden on the map.

In the 1930s her work was highly admired and heralded. In the era of Willa Cather and Sinclair Lewis, when Midwestern literature was prospering was the region. Today, her world--and their world--is some indistinguishable place down there in fly-over country.

Suckow's concerns are quintessentially regional, even if she didn't like that word. In addition, those concerns re dated--the limited possibilities of women in a farm society may be just as confining as they were a century ago, but there are vastly fewer farmers and farm wives. Today, some call for a revitalization of Midwestern culture. 'T'would be nice.

If you're anywhere nearby and if you're interested in a thoughtful and funny night, come on down to Orange City's Dutch American Heritage Museum (no, Suckow wasn't a lick Dutch) where a cast of museum board members (and a ringer) will put on a readers theater adaptation of "A Great Mollie," a remarkable short story by Ruth Suckow.

Why should you show up?--why should you care?

Try this. Because knowing your heritage isn't a bad thing or a boring thing. Knowing what once went on on these rolling plains and its sheltered villages is fascinating and helpful in discovering origins. Generally, we believe that people without memories are senile. Those who at least attempt to know their past understand the gift that history gives to all.

Tonight at the DAHM, four amateurs will present the work of a woman who grew up just down the road one hundred years ago, a writer highly regarded in her time, whose work still has life and vitality.

Come on by and judge for yourself--6:30 tonight, September 9, at the DAHM.