(woman) "Prairie Mosaic" is funded by-- the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4th, 2008; the North Dakota Council on the Arts, and by the members of Prairie Public.

Welcome to "Prairie Mosaic," a patchwork of stories about the art, culture, and history in our region.

Hi, I'm Barb Gravel.

And I'm Matt Olien.

On this edition of "Prairie Mosaic," we'll visit a summer camp in northern Minnesota, meet a family who design firepits, and listen to the mellow sounds of a seasoned musician.

♪ Oh man you won't win this crowd ♪ Poetry Out Loud is a high school program that encourages students to learn about poetry while they master public speaking skills and build self-confidence.

Mya Tena, from Bismarck High School, is the 2022 North Dakota State Poetry Out Loud Champion.

"Pues estoy creando spanglish "Bi-cultural systems "Scientific lexicographical "Inter-textual integrations "Two expressions existentially wired I am mostly involved in the music program.

I play tenor saxophone, and my favorite thing to do is jazz because the improvisation that goes with it.

Everyone shows their uniqueness in it.

It's fun because you are really going off the page, and that's what I like, kind of like with poetry, you have to interpret what the author was trying to say.

Poetry Out Loud is a competition where students recite poems that we have to choose from the anthology of poems on the Poetry Out Loud website.

The first stage is the school competition, then it was state competition.

It was similar to the school competition where there is one round of poems, then there's a second round.

The only difference is, they pick 5 finalists, and those finalists have to recite a third poem.

The judges are judging us on a few sets of criteria.

One of the criteria that we are judged on is how accurate we interpret the poem.

We can't be overly dramatic, but they don't want us to be stoic.

They are judging us, of course, on the accuracy.

We also get judged on our voice and how our voice carries the poem into the audience.

"My own dear love, "He is sweet and bold "And he cares not what comes after.

"His words ring sweet as a chime of gold, And his eyes are lit with laughter."

I was definitely nervous as most of us were.

It's just you and the audience and, of course, the judges.

I cannot see anything, I have to wear glasses.

So I took them off while I was on stage so that I couldn't see the audience, and it did help a lot.

I am sure I was making eye contact with people, but I couldn't see any faces to form.

So that made it a lot easier for me.

(woman) Congratulations.

The North Dakota 2022 Poetry Out Loud state champion is Mya Tena, Bismarck High School!

(Mya) From Poetry Out Loud and competing in the competition, I've gotten a lot of support.

I love seeing that my family really cares about me and my friends and my teachers.

My English teacher, Mrs. Lord-Olson, she helped me, she did such a great job of coaching me and guiding me.

She always had something new to contribute that eventually led to me succeeding in the state competition as I did.

"Ay, gaze upon her rose-wreathed hair, "And gaze upon her smile; "Seem as you drank the very air "Her breath perfumed the while: "And wake for her the gifted line, "That wild and witching lay, Before I started critically analyzing the poems for Poetry Out Loud, I didn't pay much attention to poems I didn't realize the amount of critical thinking that has to go into analyzing a poem.

From Poetry Out Loud and participating in the competition I've gotten a greater appreciation for poetry and writers and all that they have to do to put their words artistically onto the page.

It's an art, and I see it as that now.

I fully appreciate what poetry is, and there's a lot of technique that has to be involved.

"Spanglish" is by Tato Laviera.

I chose that poem because there is some Spanish in the poem that you have to recite, and I thought that would be a lot of fun because my parents are from Mexico, and I grew up speaking Spanish; that was my first language.

And I thought it would be a really fun experience to use that in my poem.

"Spanglish," by Tato Laviera.

"Pues estoy creando spanglish "Bi-cultural systems "Scientific lexicographical inter-textual integrations "Two expressions existentially wired "Two dominant languages "Continentally abrazándose "En colloquial combate "En las aceras del soil "Imperio spanglish emerges "Control pandillaje sobre territorio bi-lingual "Las novelas mexicanas mixing with radiorocknroll "Condimented cocina lore "Immigrant/migrant nasal mispronouncements "Baraja chismeteos social club "Hip-hop prieto street salsa "Corner soul enmixturando "Spanish pop farándula "Standard english classroom "With computer technicalities "Spanglish is literally perfect "Spanglish is ethnically snobbish "Spanglish is cara-holy inteligencia Which u.s. slang do you speak?"

Laketrails Base Camp has been hosting wilderness canoeing and camping adventures since 1952.

Located on beautiful Oak Island in Lake of the Woods, the heart of this experience lies within building friendships that last a lifetime.

[campers singing; bell rings] (Sue Lemm) We are at Laketrails Base Camp located on the very southern tip of Oak Island.

Technically we're called Oak Point.

[campers singing] My name is Sue Lemm, and I am the Camp Director, have been for the past 10 years now.

Everybody lookin' good.

Yeah.

Laketrails began in 1952.

It was a vision of Father Bill Mehrkens.

He wanted to start a camp for teenagers where they could go and explore the wilderness and just really have fun.

Of course, because of his love of boats, that was always part of the vision as well.

They got permission from the Diocese of Crookston to start a camp.

So Father Bill and Father Jerry rented a boat, and they started going around to all the little islands exploring.

They decided that this was a pretty good spot, and they started doing really very similar to what we're doing today, they went out on canoe trips and just started exploring the area.

In the very beginning it was a Catholic boys camp.

After a couple years, they started thinking about why should the boys have all the fun?

So a girls camp was started, and in the '70s the decision was made to just go coed.

The current mission of Laketrails is built off of Father Bill's vision of what he called the Laketrails idea.

We want kids to learn really to appreciate themselves, to appreciate nature, to become a positive member of their community.

I can remember Father Bill many times using the phrase "unconditional acceptance."

That was just drilled into us through his sermons and just in his everyday life-- forgive readily and be part of the community that we're building and have a wilderness adventure.

That was all part of the Laketrails idea.

Watch over us as our 5 days on the trail help us bond, create memories, and hopefully bring us back a little bit more in touch with nature.

(Sue Lemm) It's a pretty intense 9 days.

But the real magic, the real heart of it all happens when they're out on trail.

So the first day is mostly getting here, get them out to the island, and they check in.

You check in your phone, you check in your electronics.

We don't want them to be staring at a screen, we want them to interact with one another.

That's how real friendships are formed, really, it's your human face-to-face contact.

They have a big supper that night, big campfire that kind of sets the stage for the week.

A lot of crazy skits; the guides are amazing, they are funny and imaginative and creative they really start out on a fun note.

The second day is kind of a crash course in everything we want them to learn on their canoe trip.

So we teach them everything from how to set up a tent to how to paddle, to how to poop in the woods.

[laughs] Some kids have to know.

They spend the rest of that day just packing their gear, deciding what their menu is going to be for the week.

And at some point during the day the group will go paddling and really get that experience of being on the water and pushing the water around with your paddle The real heart of the program starts on day three.

That's when I start to see kind of some nervousness, sometimes some excitement, a little apprehension once in a while, especially for kids that have never been here before.

They are not necessarily sure what they've gotten themselves into, which I think is great-- a little uncertainty is good for a person sometimes.

Again, I think this is a little unusual that Laketrails allows campers to choose their own canoe trip.

That was one of the things early on that father Bill wanted to have happen.

So we still today try to have the kids very involved with the planning of the canoe trip.

A lot of camps, it goes by age or by your grade in school, and we don't really care about that.

From the moment they leave the beach, we just call it trail magic or the Laketrails magic.

It's just amazing what happens when they're out on trail.

My very favorite part is watching them leave, then fast-forward 5 days and watching them return, and the transformation is amazing.

Be good to each other, work as a team.

Woo-hoo!

(Sue Lemm) And the real magic is that that whole time this lovely community is forming.

They learn about each other, and they make new friends, they learn about kids who come from different circumstances than their own.

Every trip has at least two guides, and they're traveling from island to island.

They learn how to start fires, they learn to do a little cooking over the campfire, they learn how to set up tents.

They learn that they're way more capable than they probably gave themselves credit for.

Then they come back from trail, and oh my gosh, the celebration is just crazy.

The stories begin immediately when they get out of the canoes.

(camper) Woo-hoo!

(Sue) There will be a lot of tears at the end of the summer when we all go our separate ways because you just get so close.

This is the best-kept secret in Minnesota, people just don't know about us.

That has always been a challenge, is to let people know because there is truly life-changing things that are happening here for the better, and people don't know that we even exist.

[bell rings] Fireball Firepits is a family owned company in Audubon, Minnesota specializing in custom made firepits.

Eva Asplin and her daughter Melissa enjoy the challenge of creating these works of art for people all over the world.

[crackling of the fire] (Eva) People like the sound and the smell of a real fire.

There's a bond to fire I think, maybe biologically.

It's the whole camaraderie, having family and friends gathering around.

This little business that I started on accident.

I wanted to make an earth type firepit for my sister for her birthday.

She needed a new firepit.

So we decided to make 3 firepits, and as we were doing that, people started just pulling up in the driveway saying they wanted the next one.

After we made a few that way, we started kind of going to a few trade shows, then people would say yeah, that's cool, but could you make something with horses, but could you make something with M-- It just grew.

I think it's something really cool that there's not a lot of in this area.

So having something around here that is unique tells a story is something that I think should be popular in this area.

I help with the initial deciding what should go where, then the fine-tuning of how big something should be.

[electronic music plays] She does have great ideas, and she still helps to say, no, do it this way, or do it that way.

We had a customer that wanted the most unusual thing.

She wanted unicorns in a night sky, skulls, butterflies, and a mermaid.

How do you combine those things?

Right?

The concept was totally Melissa's.

We made skull pillars with the butterflies feeding on them, then the night sky on one side and day sky on the other, and it was amazing.

Initially we had a pretty limited supply of standard designs.

Now we maybe have 20 different designs that we have on our Etsy site and on our website.

Even still, like someone wanted our wild firepit with deer and whatnot.

He said I fish a lot, could you put a sailfish on it and a marlin on it.

A lot of people want them more customized.

They have their own ideas, so we'll do either, and I really, I love customized work, I love doing brand-new designs.

Typically our firepits are wood-burning.

We make them to burn wood.

So you would put a bunch of wood in it and light it and burn it.

The thing about the ball shape is, it burns really hot and really clean.

You would probably never have to clean it out.

And the ball itself holds a lot of radiant heat, so it's just better for heat.

We also do insert gas burners into them.

We either have the design or we'll come up with the design.

A lot of them; I just completely draw by hand.

People sort of want the same thing, they want to know what they're getting.

So we have stencils for something like a deer or an eagle.

So then we'll just draw it out on the ball, plasma cut it.

We'll rub the ball together, rub the base on, and then we clean it all up, grind it.

We clean it and get rid of all the slag.

Then because the ball won't stay shiny looking, it will rust eventually when you have a fire in it.

So we rust them ahead of time, ahead of shipping, and we just wrap them up and ship them out.

We buy all American-made steel, and we buy the product new now.

We used to do a lot more repurposing, recycling, but now it's almost all new, and we can buy balls in hemispheres, or we can buy them in segments, pieces as many as 14, and we have to weld them together and form a ball that way.

Typically a 3-foot ball is about $2000.

I think Japan would be our farthest shipment.

We've shipped a few to Canada, Alaska, we've had inquiries in Spain, Australia, London, France.

I think they bring you full circle back to who you are.

Creative people just have to do creative things.

A lot of days I hate that we can't eat.

[laughs] But every day when I drive away from this place, and I look at what I've done, I say, man I love this job!

It's so much fun sort of making people's dreams become a reality for custom work like that.

I really love seeing all the designs come together and have a kind of tell a story once they're finished.

If somebody comes with a specific design in mind, you can kind of tell it's something they brought to the table themselves, not just a standard ways design; it has a meaning to them in some way.

It tells that story they wanted, and they can share that story without even having to think about it.

They are sitting around the fire, it's kind of a nice campfire story, except the ball is telling it for them.

Jeff James of Blaine, Minnesota appreciates every aspect of entertaining after spending time as a working musician in Nashville.

His favorite styles of music include folk, blues, country, and gospel.

My name is Jeff James, I'm from a small town called New London in Minnesota.

We are now currently with my family in the Twin Cities area.

Currently I'm doing a live looping show that incorporates rock, blues, country, folk, and some Christian music as well.

I've been a full-time musician since I was 19; got my start in St.

Cloud.

I was with a band at that point who started touring for about 3 years or so, and at the end of the night, most people would just sit at the bar and party, and I would go home or go back to my hotel room.

I had brought my portable recording studio, so I'd sit there until the sun came up just playing guitar, just because I was very passionate about it.

At the end of about 3 years I was kind of tired of being away, I was away from my wife, girlfriend back then.

This was looking to further my career in music.

So we decided to move to Nashville.

Nashville is where everything kind of skyrocketed forward.

I was able to do 6 albums there, get connected, play downtown.

I found a great club downtown, part of their house band there.

That was just an amazing experience.

I think that just pushed me to a new level, and after 7 years we ended up moving back to Minneapolis where I've been doing solo shows ever since.

♪ Play something good ♪ ♪ Play something loud ♪ "Play Something Good," it's kind of autobiographical based on events that may or may not have happened at some point, but as a cover artist, I do a lot of covers where I play.

You try to please everybody, but you can't always please everybody.

I remember this one instance where this kind of big guy came up to me.

I was a little concerned about it.

Then he said "Play something good."

But he said it a little more gruffly "Hey, play something good!"

So the song kind of came out of that experience and maybe a couple of experiences along the way too, just trying to get everybody involved in the music that you play.

♪ Well I stepped onto a stage in Minnesota ♪ [playing a blues riff] ♪ And every eye was turned to a man I didn't know ♪ ♪ He looked grumpy he looked mad ♪ ♪ It took everything I had ♪ ♪ Not to pack right up and just to walk ♪ ♪ Back out the door ♪ ♪ At the moment he came up to criticize me ♪ ♪ I had the feeling there was nothing I could do ♪ ♪ For to soothe this savage beast took more than music ♪ ♪ And in a less than kind demeanor he said it too ♪ ♪ Play something good ♪ ♪ Play something loud ♪ ♪ Mister you won't make us happy ♪ ♪ Oh man you won't win this crowd ♪ ♪ If you don't play something we all can sing ♪ ♪ Dance to cry to anything ♪ ♪ Mister you won't make us happy ♪ ♪ Unless you play us something good ♪ [playing rhythmic rock/blues] ♪ ♪ ♪ At the second table to the left ♪ ♪ I saw her ♪ ♪ Hiding out behind a glass of Chardonnay ♪ ♪ The sadness in her eyes sent me the message ♪ ♪ And the empty chair beside her gave it away ♪ ♪ Play something good ♪ ♪ Play something loud ♪ ♪ Mister you won't make us happy ♪ ♪ Oh man you won't win this crowd ♪ ♪ If you don't play something we all can sing ♪ ♪ Dance to cry to anything ♪ ♪ Mister you won't make us happy ♪ ♪ Unless you play us something good ♪ Ouw!

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Well I played them every song you could imagine ♪ ♪ From the king of rock and roll to a man named Hank ♪ ♪ When even Jimmy Buffett wasn't workin' ♪ ♪ Every last ambition in me sank ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ When all at once the thought occurred ♪ ♪ They said they'd had enough ♪ ♪ I sang a song about a boy named Jackie ♪ ♪ And a dragon they called Puff ♪ ♪ A twinkle came to those angry eyes ♪ ♪ And her tears were kept at bay ♪ ♪ But from the corner a rowdy crowd ♪ ♪ I thought I heard them say ♪ ♪ Play something good ♪ ♪ Play something loud ♪ ♪ Mister you won't make us happy ♪ ♪ Oh man you won't win this crowd ♪ ♪ If you don't play something we all can sing ♪ ♪ Dance to cry to anything ♪ ♪ Mister you won't make us happy ♪ ♪ Unless you play us something good ♪ ♪ Mister you won't make us happy ♪ ♪ Unless you play us something good ♪ ♪ ♪ If you know of an artist, topic, or organization in our region that you think might make for an interesting segment please contact us at... (Barb) You can watch this and other episodes of "Prairie Mosaic" on Prairie Public's YouTube channel and please follow Prairie Public on social media as well.

I'm Barb Gravel.

And I'm Matt Olien, thanks for joining us for another edition of "Prairie Mosaic."

[guitar, bass, & drums play in bright country rhythm] (woman) "Prairie Mosaic" is funded by-- the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4th, 2008; the North Dakota Council on the Arts, and by the members of Prairie Public.