Unheralded

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — The Family Gulbranson Piano

It is coming up on three years now since my beloved Mom died. Long before then, she and I were collaborating on an essay about the family piano — and because I think it is a darned good story, I am finally getting around to writing it. The Gulbranson piano was purchased by my great-aunt, Dora, who was a registered nurse. …


Unheralded

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — An Open Letter To N.D. Legislators And Others Who Care About People Living With Disabilities

February 4, 2025 Mary Anderson, ED ABLE Inc. 1951 1st Street West Dickinson, ND 58601 Dear Mary, Thank you for contacting me regarding ABLE’s purchase of the Sullivan Apartments, in which my daughter, Rachel, has lived and thrived for many years now. I applaud ABLE for taking action to secure this, and other buildings in western ND, including The Landing …


LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Prairie Public

I read with dismay the reports that a Fargo legislator has introduced a bill in the 2025 North Dakota legislative session to zero out funding for Prairie Public. I have been listening to Prairie Public Radio and watching programs on Prairie Public TV since the day it launched, when I was a young and broke college student in western North …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — My Knoepfla Recipe

Saute chopped onions (until the onions are soft) and shredded carrots in a little butter. Add small pieces of chicken. Cook a bit, but don’t overcook. Add chicken broth. (I prefer Penzey’s concentrated chicken broth.) Simmer. Add a dash of lemon juice, a few grinds of pepper, parsley and a little bit of tomato paste (for umami). Maybe a little …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Elkhorn Ranch

From the Dana Monroe Wright Collection at the State Historical Society of North Dakota. Dana Monroe Wright was born on Aug. 30, 1878, in Eaton Rapids, Mich. He moved with his parents to farm near Jamestown, N.D., in 1882, and left that area in 1898 to enlist in the North Dakota National Guard. Wright served in the military during the …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Today’s Music I’ve Been Listening

Cat Stevens and Eddie Vedder 2016 And the late great B.B. King (who grew up in the same area in Mississippi as my late father). If you are in the Indianola area, I highly recommend a visit to the B.B. King Museum. And because I was young in the 1970s, there is always the epic Eagles “Hotel California.” Yes, I have watched the …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — More Music, This Time My Daughter, Chelsea Sorenson … And A Little Linda Ronstadt clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axVmpvz6VcQ Chelsea Sorenson, Senior Solo for Vocal Performance Degree at Dickinson State University, 2009 (above). Shot by me, her proud mother (the little coughs are her twin sister sitting next to me in Dorothy Stickney Auditorium). And this is why I describe Chelsea as a bit of a “piano snob” — I’ve known she had perfect pitch since she was …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — On The Hill Of Murdered Scout, St. Peter’s Spring

On finding an old map in the State Historical Society of North Dakota Archives: Somewhere near the Turtle Mountains. By the La Butte Mark, by the “Half Breed Road”. On the Des Lac River. East of the La Roche. Northeast of Strawberry Island on the Missouri River. North of the Little Knife River. North of the White Earth River. North …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — The Crook Siblings Gather For Meatloaf

(Above) Wayne Thomas, son of Mozelle Ellis Thomas, and Garland Crook, son of Lena Bell Ellis Crook, 8 months old, Friendship, Miss., 1925. Lena Bell and Mozelle were sisters. Garland and Wayne were their first babies. Sarah, Thomas, Lillian and Beckie, January 2025 Golly it was fun to have the four of us together for a meal. Jim tolerated us …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Twenty-Five Years Ago

Twenty-five years ago, it was the beginning of a new millennium. When I thought you read books. When I thought you didn’t watch much television. When I thought you hiked. When I thought you watched the stars. When I thought you liked poetry. When I slept on the ground. Before social media. When I was young. Twenty-five years ago I …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — My Dad’s And Mom’s 8mm Films From The 1950s And 1960s

And that’s all folks, that’s the last of the 8mm films my Dad shot in the 1950s and 1960s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ae3Gu33SQo&t=1s My mother bought the 8mm camera and a projector by saving Green Stamps. Remember those? Here are my mother’s annotations. The film is not in chronological order. I don’t care. Don’t watch if the fact that this stuff is out …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — El Monte, California, 1958

This is a homage to California. The humble abode in which my parents lived in El Monte in 1958 before they moved the little house trailer to Ellsworth Air Force Base. When they left California, pulling the trailer, with (then) two little kids and another on the way, they headed across the desert, skirting around the mountains, heading in a …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Pullin’ Calves

This is an original essay by Lillian Crook, Dickinson State College English seminar writing course required submission for Senior Level Course credit (1981). This had been a bad year, lots of snow and ice and that terrible cold wind. More new calves than ever had died, and if he had to watch one more not pull through, Maggie knew she …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Winter

1977. 1978. Spring Lake ice fishing (southwest of Rhame, N.D.), 1971. Earl and Lena Belle Crook visit the Slope County farm, 1973. El Paso, Texas (Marian, Sarah, Thomas, and The White Cat.) Garland Crook and his son, Thomas, visiting Vaiden, Miss. Garland Crook, back in South Korea for the second time. The Crook kids in El Paso, Texas. Jasper Earl …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Penance Playlist 2025

Penance Playlist 2025 Mother Maybelle Carter. Nanci Griffith (everything she ever wrote and sang and recorded and performed). Sara Watkins. Lucinda Williams. Brandi Carlisle. Gillian Welch. Phoebe Snow. Carly Simon. Tanya Savory. Joni Mitchell. Patty Loveless. Katie Lee. Celeste Krenz. Lucy Kaplansky. Sarah Jarosz. Janis Ian. Tanya Tucker. Billie Holiday. Loretta Lynn. Tish Hinojosa. Iris DeMent. Shawn Colvin. Dolly Parton. …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Lillian’s Swedish Meatballs

Although the Grandma for whom I’m named was Norwegian, I love to make these Swedish meatballs. Swedish Meatballs Meatballs: Two large leeks (the white portion, grated) 2 teaspoons of butter (I use good butter, preferably Irish butter) ⅔ cup of milk 4 to 5 slices of bread, crusts removed (I use a grain bread when I have it on hand.) …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Leeks

On Saurday, I went to a Bismarck grocery store to buy leeks. Nice man from India working in the produce section had not heard of leeks, so I described leeks, and he found leeks under the loose carrots. He asked me how I cook leeks and said he will try that. We both smiled. I found some Greek yogurt. Paid …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — ‘The Moon Comes Walking On With Me’ By Paul Southworth Bliss And Other Christmas Memories

“The Moon Comes Walking On with Me,” by Colonel Paul Southworth Bliss,December 21, 1931. Original woodcuts by Harold J. Matthews. From an inscribed copy of “The Arch of Spring.” And some Christmas memories of my own. While I watch the neighborhood kids sledding today in the sunshine, I was taken back to a thousand memories of sledding and skiing and …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — The Journey of the Magi

The Journey of the Magi by T.S. Eliot A cold coming we had of it, Just the worst time of the year For a journey, and such a long journey: The ways deep and the weather sharp, The very dead of winter.’ And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory, Lying down in the melting snow. There were times we regretted The …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Maah Daah Hey National Monument Proposal

My December 2024 Letter to the Editors of North Dakota newspapers Yes, the president can designate a national monument with the stroke of a pen, using the Antiquities Act. Thank you, Theodore Roosevelt, for creating that act. Famously, TR arrived on a train and lived and ranched in the North Dakota Badlands. (Later his wife, Edith, and his sister would …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — A Poem

Enter the North Dakota Librarian by Gary Gildner Paris Review Spring 2002 whose eyes are a fair, spiky green I only see on my hands and knees at spring’s initial offerings, how can she help me? I say I seek the bloom clarity achieves fending off confusion’s weedy waylays upon rich indirection, I hope I won’t be much trouble. Her lips forming …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — ‘Winter Rainbow’

“Winter Rainbow,” by Paul Southworth Bliss, from his book of poetry Cirrus From the West published in 1935. Out of the oakland, Out of the pineland, Near the time of sunset, I came to the un-treed plains. On the frost-struck air There lay two segments Of a mighty wheel, Sunk to the sun-hub In the glistening prairie. The inner ring …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Voting For President My First Time: 44 Years Ago Today

On this date 44 years ago, I cast my first vote for president of the United States. I had eagerly awaited this date, having listened to discussions about civic duties within my own family and extended families, having read newspapers and Life magazines and more while growing up — I was an “early reader” — having listened to my elders …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Red Oak House Autumn Notes And A Zany Codiwample To Eastern North Dakota 2024

After about sixty years of being curious about “Buffalo Alice North Dakota” (thanks L. Ray Wheeler), we wandered into Buffalo, North Dakota and then onto Old Highway Ten. Home with a load of new books to read and autumn chores to complete before snowfall. For further reading see Towns Named Buffalo.

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Lillian’s Variations On Marinara

I use either Lynne Rossetto Kasper’s recipe as a start but sometimes use my Marcella Hazan’s “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking” recipes from my hardcover copy purchased in 1999. The SECRET is good ingredients, fresh whenever possible, and patience. One must taste a little as one goes along. My SECRET ingredient is cloves (in an amount depending upon one using the patience …