"Who is Harley Refsal?", several of you asked, after reading
the poem I posted in April. I will tell you!
Harley Refsal is a native Minnesotan, who was kidnapped
by the fraudulent Vikings who carved the Kensington Runestone,
and left in Hoffman, Minnesota, to be discovered by naive historians,
who pronounced him to be a genuine Norwegian, probably descended
from mountain stock somewhere in the middle of Norway.
When he entered public school--the first time Harley had met
anyone not in the family--his teacher said: "I see by your utfit
dat yew vas a Skvarehead!". She hid him from the authorities
who wanted to deport him because he could not speak English,
and taught him English and Palestinian myths of creation.
Young Harley went to college somewhere, presumably--
there is no actual record from that era--and on to Luther Seminary
in St. Paul, where Harley meditated on creation myths
and the war in Vietnam, after which he did some other things,
including becoming an assistant, or associate, or something campus
pastor at Luther College. When he found the English language
his first grade teacher had taught him begin to slip away,
Harley did whatever was necessary to prove that he could
speak the language he was speaking, and taught Norwegian.
The turning point in Harley's career, which has no turning points--
only forks--happened when he was building a campfire in his
living room, while whittling kindling with his pocket knife,
and he cut his finger. "Look at that!" he said to Norma.
"That little piece of kindling there looks just like my cousin,
Sverre, except for the details!" And that is how Harley
invented flat-plane wood carving, which he convinced
the Dean of the College and two guys in Norway was an
ancient and unforgettable art form, which had been forgotten
everywhere except in Hoffman, Minnesota, and Rauland,
Norway. He went to Rauland, and they were astounded
to learn that they had forgotten it, too. Harley pointed out
that the faded blood stains on his cousin, Sverre, were
very typical of how he carved kindling.
Anyway, that is who Harley Refsal is. He is retiring, now,
from Luther College, after having become famous, both in
Scandinavia and America for preserving and teaching
a very old form of wood carving. He is a very nice man,
a most surprising man, a person who has quietly and eloquently
epitomized what it is to make a quiet life matter; a lot!
the poem I posted in April. I will tell you!
Harley Refsal is a native Minnesotan, who was kidnapped
by the fraudulent Vikings who carved the Kensington Runestone,
and left in Hoffman, Minnesota, to be discovered by naive historians,
who pronounced him to be a genuine Norwegian, probably descended
from mountain stock somewhere in the middle of Norway.
When he entered public school--the first time Harley had met
anyone not in the family--his teacher said: "I see by your utfit
dat yew vas a Skvarehead!". She hid him from the authorities
who wanted to deport him because he could not speak English,
and taught him English and Palestinian myths of creation.
Young Harley went to college somewhere, presumably--
there is no actual record from that era--and on to Luther Seminary
in St. Paul, where Harley meditated on creation myths
and the war in Vietnam, after which he did some other things,
including becoming an assistant, or associate, or something campus
pastor at Luther College. When he found the English language
his first grade teacher had taught him begin to slip away,
Harley did whatever was necessary to prove that he could
speak the language he was speaking, and taught Norwegian.
The turning point in Harley's career, which has no turning points--
only forks--happened when he was building a campfire in his
living room, while whittling kindling with his pocket knife,
and he cut his finger. "Look at that!" he said to Norma.
"That little piece of kindling there looks just like my cousin,
Sverre, except for the details!" And that is how Harley
invented flat-plane wood carving, which he convinced
the Dean of the College and two guys in Norway was an
ancient and unforgettable art form, which had been forgotten
everywhere except in Hoffman, Minnesota, and Rauland,
Norway. He went to Rauland, and they were astounded
to learn that they had forgotten it, too. Harley pointed out
that the faded blood stains on his cousin, Sverre, were
very typical of how he carved kindling.
Anyway, that is who Harley Refsal is. He is retiring, now,
from Luther College, after having become famous, both in
Scandinavia and America for preserving and teaching
a very old form of wood carving. He is a very nice man,
a most surprising man, a person who has quietly and eloquently
epitomized what it is to make a quiet life matter; a lot!
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