Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Managing in times of uncertainty February 6, 2025

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This mandala, a centering circle, was created by and gifted to Randy and me by our son. He laser cut the design from seven layers of plywood, stained and glued it together. It presents a calming, meditative visual on our living room wall. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo February 2025)

FEELING CALM and at peace these days seems elusive. Stress, worry and anxiety layer into my thoughts as I consider all that’s happening in this country. Each day brings a new concern. And if you don’t feel unsettled, then good for you. But in my circle of friends, many are feeling hopeless, helpless and beyond worried.

So how do we overcome negative thinking? Perhaps that’s the wrong question to ask. Rather, I should ask, “How do we manage the angst we’re feeling in these days of unprecedented uncertainty and upheaval?”

It’s a difficult question to answer. What works for one person may not work for another. For example, if you suggest I stop listening to and reading media reports, I won’t. With a journalism background, I need to, want to, be informed. I do, though, limit my information sources to what I consider trusted and reliable media outlets. I’d rather hear/read the news, whether good or bad, than be uninformed.

IN & OUT OF THE SAND

Sticking our heads in the sand does no one any good. We need to care enough to be aware and informed.

But sticking your toes in the sand, if you can afford that option, is certainly one way to deal with the stressors of life today. So, yeah, fly away from it all to a warm location, although I might avoid the riviera.

ESCAPE

I find peace simply in being outdoors, even in the cold and grey of a Minnesota winter. Last Sunday Randy and I walked the trails at River Bend Nature Center, where we watched a bald eagle soar high above the Straight River. We watched two guys and a young girl maneuver remote control vehicles over limestone steps. I noticed the sun spotlighting through the bare woods. All distracted me from the realities of life for a bit.

Reading helps, too, whether a devotional, a book or an email from Edina-based Vote Common Good with its encouraging messages of faith, hope and love.

CONNECTING WITH FRIENDS & FAMILY

Connecting with friends to vent and then uplift one another helps me manage my stress, too. We remind each other to stay strong. It’s not unlike a support group I’ve attended. We share a commonality of concern and talking about that with people who “get it” proves therapeutic.

Perhaps the best therapy is family. While my core loved ones are scattered from Minnesota to Wisconsin to the East Coast, we are only a text or a phone call away. There’s nothing like a call from my son, a photo of my 3-week-old grandson or a funny story about my other grandchildren to shift my focus to happiness. I wish I could gather my family in, bring them physically close to me, all of us under one roof for the next 1,443 days.

In the meantime, I forge onward, trying to remain hopeful even when hope seems particularly elusive.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

From Faribault: Words worth considering January 8, 2021

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Posted at the Congregational Church, UCC, located at 227 Third Street Northwest, Faribault, Minnesota. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo June 2020.

AS I PONDERED TODAY’S POST, even considered not writing one because I feel overwhelmed and emotionally drained from the events of January 6 inside our nation’s Capitol, I remembered messages I photographed back in June.

These messages, in the light of recent events in America (this week and in the past year, especially), seem more important than ever. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo June 2020.

The messages, posted on the side of the historic Congregational Church of Faribault United Church of Christ, are worth our focus. They are a reminder that we, as human beings, can strive to protect, care for, forgive, share, embrace and love.

We all need to look within ourselves but also look through the windows of others. Here I aim my camera up at the historic UCC in Faribault. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo June 2020.

We can choose those actions over destruction, neglect, animosity, selfishness, separation and hate.

We can open the doors to better days by the choices we make. Some day I want to tour this church, to see the beauty therein in stained glass and more. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo June 2020.
The many facets of this window create a beautiful piece of art, a metaphor as it applies to people. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo June 2020.
The historic steeple of Faribault’s UCC. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo June 2020.

I feel such sadness, mixed with hope, over all that has transpired in recent days. I sense that most Americans, including me, will now hold a deeper appreciation for democracy. For freedom. Perhaps we (or at least I) have become too complacent.

A historic marker tells the history of this aged church. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo June 2020.

It would do us all good to review the suggestions posted at Faribault’s Congregational Church. To reflect. And then to put into practice those very basic principles of common decency and kindness. And to remember that what we think, say and write, and how we act, matters. Just like it did in 1776.

The impressive Congregational Church, Faribault United Church of Christ. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo June 2020.

THOUGHTS?

© Copyright 2021 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Please note that I monitor all comments on this, my personal blog, and will not publish anything I deem false, inflammatory, etc.

 

Take two: A second look at the film “Sweet Land” & immigration issues February 6, 2017

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The letter Inge received from Olaf, in the fictional film Sweet Land.

She is not one of us. We speak a common language. We have a common background, a common culture. She is not one of us.
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We have to be careful about this sort of thing…German nationals. German nationals engage in prostitution. They harbor dangerous political convictions. Are you aware of the Espionage Act of 1916?
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English only in the church. English.
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You’re German. It’s a bad influence. You’re German. It’s a disruption to my community. You make coffee that’s too black.

She makes good coffee, not like the women in church.
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I was fearful of her differences, but I was hopeful she could join us on our path….Do not allow your good lives to be poisoned by these two.
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This is German food?

No, just food.
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You don’t have the papers.

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Promotional from Sweet Land website.

LAST WEEK I REWATCHED Sweet Land, an award-winning independent film released in 2005. The movie, based on Minnesota writer Will Weaver’s short story, “A Gravestone Made of Wheat,” and filmed on my native southwestern Minnesota prairie, rates as a favorite of mine.

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Olaf Torvik’s home on the prairie. The film was shot in and around Montevideo, Minnesota.

I appreciate the early 1920s setting, the music, the story and, now, its relevancy to today. The above dialogue comes from Sweet Land, which focuses on the challenges faced by Inge Altenberg, summoned to America by Norwegian farmer Olaf Torvik. He expects a Norwegian mail order bride as do others in the community. But Inge is not Norwegian; she is German.

Thereafter, the conflict begins with “She is not one of us.”

The land and love shape the story.

The land and love weave into this story. Here Inge and Olaf dance on the prairie.

I won’t give away the plot, which includes a love story. But I will tell you that I watched the movie this time from a much different perspective, in the context of current day immigration issues in our country. Sadness swept over me.

Please watch this thought-provoking, conversation-starting film. It’s a must-see whether you make coffee that’s good, judged as too black or you don’t brew coffee at all. It’s still coffee.

FYI: Sweet Land, the musical opens April 29 at History Theatre in St. Paul. It runs for five weeks, Thursday – Sunday, until May 28. Will I go? I’d love to…

RELATED: Saturday afternoon a sizable crowd gathered on the Rice County Courthouse grounds in my community for a peaceful protest. Please click here to watch the video, Faribault, Minnesota Immigration Ban Protest 2-4-17, posted by Terry Pounds. Faribault is home to many immigrants and refugees, including from Somalia.

A photographic exhibit of refugee children who fled Syria, leaving everything behind, is showing at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis. Photos for Where the Children Sleep were taken by award-winning Swedish photojournalist Magnus Wennman. In order to increase community access to the exhibit, the ASI is providing free admission on Wednesdays in February. The exhibit runs through March 5. Where the Children Sleep launches the Institute’s 2017 “Migration, Identity and Belonging Programming.”

Review © Copyright 2017 by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Thoughts on the latest conflict in Korea November 23, 2010

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WHEN I HEARD this morning of the North Korean attack on South Korea over contested waters, I thought instantly of my dad. He fought on the front lines during the Korean War and was wounded at Heartbreak Ridge.

My father, Elvern Kletscher, left, with two of his soldier-buddies in Korea.

He, like so many other Americans, gave of themselves in Korea and, still, 60 years later, the conflict between the north and the south remains. Were the Americans’ efforts six decades ago worth the personal losses given nothing was ever truly resolved?

I know what my dad sacrificed for his country. He gave up a certain sense of inner peace. He was forever haunted by the horrors of war. That affected many facets of his life and impacted his family too. Me. My mom. My siblings. Life was sometimes a struggle for him.

But my dad was lucky. He survived. He did not die, like his buddy Ray, who was blown apart the day before he was to leave Korea. My father saw his friend die. You never forget something like that. I heard the horrible, wrenching story many times.

All of these thoughts passed through my mind today. I miss my dad, who died in 2003. I wonder how different he may have been had he never been called upon to defend South Korea, to kill North Koreans, to see his friends die upon the mountains of Korea.

I wonder. And, yes, today, with the news of the escalating tension, my heart breaks.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling