When Maria Lyndoe was growing up in a poor family in Mexico, gift giving and receiving were not a part of her Christmas, but she looked forward to the holiday nevertheless.
About 175 people filled Carver’s Cafe at Mount Rushmore Memorial to pay tribute to Donald L. “Nick” Clifford. The memorial service featured patriotic songs from the Shrine of Democracy Chorus.
“Nick loved patriotic songs. There were times that I would see Nick coming through the basement areas or the terrace just walking along and they’d be on the speaker playing patriotic songs and Nick would walk just a little bit faster after hearing that music,” said Maureen McGee-Ballinger, chief of interpretation and education at the monument.
Most South Dakota residents and visitors are familiar with the massive carving of Oglala Lakota leader Crazy Horse taking shape in the Black Hills, which honors Native Americans throughout North America. Not everyone, however, is aware that the Crazy Horse Memorial also hosts The Indian Museum of North America, which is undergoing a dramatic transformation.
The livestock industry in South Dakota — among the state’s largest economic engines — is undergoing a fundamental transformation that may alter farms, farmers and rural communities for generations to come.
Despite a rising wave of grassroots opposition, South Dakota is seeing a steady increase in the development of livestock operations known as CAFOs, concentrated animal feeding operations, in which thousands and sometimes more than a million animals are bred, housed and fed in a confined space.
According to the calendar, the Pringle United Methodist Church at the corner of Antelope and Buffalo streets should be observing its 121st anniversary this year. But in a small church in a small community, things often don’t happen exactly according to the calendar, so over the weekend the congregation celebrated the church’s centennial with a special worship service and open house. Along with the anniversary, the church is also celebrating a season of new growth in recent days.
In America where Christmas is the major national holiday celebrated by Christians and non-Christians alike, we tend to think everyone around the world celebrates the birth of Christ as we do. However, for a 17-year old Thai foreign exchange student at Custer High School, her first American celebration of Christmas could cause a bit of a culture shock.
Her full name is Kanlayaporn Udomwoothiwong (Yes, her full name contains fully 25 letters: one less than the entire English alphabet), but in school she is known simply as My.
