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The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver was published in 2005. It is the story of a preacher, Nathan Price, who decides to take his wife and four daughters to the Belgian Congo to “save” the souls of the native people. The story is told in the voices of his wife and four daughters.
Nathan is a rigid “preacher,” not a pastor or minister. He is convinced of his rightness, and his own righteousness.
As a person who knows how others ought to live, he displays his ignorance. He doesn’t understand why the local people refuse to get into the river to be baptized; he doesn’t understand that there are crocodiles in the river. He does not understand that “Pride goeth before a fall.” He becomes a comic figure and a tragic figure, as he becomes more and more unhinged.
This is one contemporary novel worth reading as there are laughs, tears, and many life lessons.
Delcie Danroth Light grew up in Mandan. My paternal family is Swedish and
maternal family is English.
Bill and I moved to Devils Lake in 1967. We built our home we still live in
with our own hands and my grandfather's hammer. We raised three children in
that home, plus many dogs and cats. Each summer grandchildren from
California come and stay to enjoy life in the Lake Region. They are proof
of what son Bill said many years ago: "We grew up in the perfect place."
I have a B.S. From NDSU and M.S. From UND. I administered Early childhood
Education at Fort Totten, taught adult education, and most of my career, I
taught literature and composition for 25 years in the Devils Lake Public
School. Education has long been a value in my family. The first teacher
was the Puritan, Reverend John Cotton (1584-1652), who was the Dean of
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, England; the teacher at Winthrop Colony,
Boston; and one of the founders of Harvard. Maybe teaching is genetic?
I love ND, animals, plants, kids, reading, writing, gardening, traveling,
good conversations, witty people, and genealogical research. I don't know
what boredom means.
Louise Oleson is a 1970 graduate of Devils Lake Central High School and 1975 graduate of UND. She is in her third career having started her professional life as a high school English teacher, then a certified campus minister for the Bismarck Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church and now at the Devils Lake Journal. She has been managing editor for the last seven years.
She enjoys reading, camping, acting, singing, watching action and comedic movies and TV shows and animals of all kinds. Her favorite places in the world (to date) are Sullys Hill National Game Preserve and Disneyland.
A true child of the prairies, she normally prefers to keep both feet firmly planted on the ground, but Oleson recently had her first ride in a Blackhawk helicopter as she photographed the devastating flooding that for nearly 20 years has been steadliy consuming the rich farmland and infrastructure of her home. The flight in the helicopter she says is one of the top ten things she's ever done.
Cats Buddy and BOO allow Oleson to live with them as long as she keeps the litter box cleaned out and the food bowl full.
