Meanwhile, on the ground....

True tales from Western Nebraska to West Africa and other exotic places

Hi, My name is Dan Nagengast. I have spent time in places that have disappeared or are disappearing. As I’ve gotten older, it has become clear that this is true of everywhere. “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.” is a quote from a novel by someone named L.P. Hartley, and now he is firmly in a foreign place. But his quote lingers, doesn’t it. It has wormed its way and meaning into the present, and has value even now.

Anyway, I have recollections. Boy do I have recollections. Some are funny, others are ominous, and if you start to identify with me, you might become a little worried. But never fear, I got through it. Perhaps I’ll drop dead in the mid

Just kidding, my lovely spouse will finish any sentence like that before posting.

I tell a lot of stories, and I still have friends. As they’ve gotten older they forget the stories I have already told them, which makes my life easier. But sometime, I won’t be here to tell the same stories, and I thought it would be nice to trust this brittle and fragile, far-flung network of digital electronic information sharing, (completely out of my control) to guard my most precious memories and pass them on to those who come after us, who also might be able to read.

I have written many words. Generally they are short, a couple of pages, suitable for the bathroom or other leisure activity. Maybe you can put the car on autopilot and knock one off before something happens. But there are also some longer recollections, lets call them memoirs. One is about my childhood on a farm in the rolling prairies of Western Nebraska. You would think nothing ever happened there. Ha!

I have other collections of stories about village life in four West African countries. Some of these places aren’t flyover country, because nothing ever flies over. Yet you might find them to be so rich in social complexity and human interaction that you start to question what is gained by living in the glamorous place where you pass your days.

Finally, there are essays about things I’ve found interesting. I’m old. I’m educated. I’ve seen a lot. There are things I come across everyday that boggle my mind, whatever a boggled mind is. Sometimes I make observations about widely diverse cultures and how they manage similar problems. Sometimes I try to explain why and how people without money or resources deal with problems we don’t even think about. There are observations of greater Nature, like how places without electricity sound, and to what rhythms they move.

I have to say, people I respect have prodded me to do this. They’ve read my posts and asked me to put them somewhere where they can read them again. As if anybody reads anything twice these days! But what a flattering complement!

When I’ve posted on facebook, or elsewhere, it often jogs my readers own recollections, and it turns into a fine conversation. It is my hope that this might happen here.

I will populate this stacked sub with things I’ve already written, and then just keep adding as the new things occur. Don’t expect regularity, but do expect some frequency. I don’t require any money for this, but I don’t expect any grief either. If you find you are moved by anything, just ask and I will send you a list of fantastic, grassroots non-profit organizations who I know and work with. The surest sig

n of doing good work in this world is scanty funding.

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