"It's a blustery day, and I'm thumbing through Susan Miller's county fair photos, and suddenly-it's summer. The sun is baking my shoulders, and I'm eating my annual corn dog. I can smell French fries and hay, and I can hear kids squealing with delight as they're flung around on the Tilt-a-Whirl. Flipping through these pages, the best days of the season come back to me." -from the foreword by Shannon Olson
In 2016, award-winning Minnesota-based photographer R. J. Kern made portraits of youth contestants at Minnesota county fairs. Each participant—some as young as four years old—had spent a year raising an animal, which they had then entered into a 4-H livestock competition. None of the youths who sat for him had succeeded in winning an award, despite the obvious care they had given to their animals. The Unchosen Ones depicts the bloom of youth and the mettle of the kids who grow up on farms, reminding us how resilient children can be when confronted with life's inevitable disappointments. The formal qualities of the lighting and setting endow these young people with a gravitas beyond their years, revealing self-directed dedication in some, and in others, perhaps, the pressures of traditions imposed upon them. Kern's beautiful portraits capture a particular America, a rural world, and a time in life when the layered emotions of youth are laid bare. Four years later, in 2020, Kern returned to photograph his young subjects. The most recent photographs show how the children have grown into adolescence or young adulthood: some of them have continued to pursue animal husbandry, while others have developed other interests. It is likely that some of these kids will not choose to continue running their family farms—an unpredictable and demanding way to make a living. These diptychs are punctuated by lush landscapes of the farms that are their homes. As Kern made the second group of photographs, he asked his young subjects what they had carried forward from their previous experience. What were their thoughts, their dreams, and their goals for the future? How would they fit into the future of agricultural America?
In its 114th year, Billboard remains the world's premier weekly music publication and a diverse digital, events, brand, content and data licensing platform. Billboard publishes the most trusted charts and offers unrivaled reporting about the latest music, video, gaming, media, digital and mobile entertainment issues and trends.
This fun and colorful title explains what a county fair is and all of the exciting games, foods, and more that can be found at one. This title is at a Level 3 and is specifically written for transitional readers. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Dash! is an imprint of Abdo Zoom, a division of ABDO.
In the land where Paul Bunyan statues are big and Bigfoot tales are even bigger, the Jolly Green Giant overlooks the North Star State of Minnesota. 100 Things to Do in Minnesota Before You Die helps you navigate from Grand Portage on our northern border to Winona in the south while enticing you to try new outdoor activities, eat unusual foods, and sip flavorful beverages. Visit the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame, order popcorn from a 120-year-old popcorn wagon, and walk across the Mississippi headwaters at Itasca State Park. Explore the state by skis or by zip-line. Visit an underground state park or look to the sky to watch the Northern Lights. This is the Land of 10,000 Lakes, untouched wilderness, awesome music, exceptional restaurants, and the Mall of America. Minnesota truly has something for everyone to enjoy. There is no shortage of activities in this book to keep readers aged anywhere two to ninety-nine busy 365 days a year. Whether you use this book as a bucket list, guidebook, or cure for cabin fever, local author Julie Jo Larson has got you covered. Grab a friend or two, a copy of this book, and experience four seasons of great adventures where the journey is as meaningful as the destination.
In its 114th year, Billboard remains the world's premier weekly music publication and a diverse digital, events, brand, content and data licensing platform. Billboard publishes the most trusted charts and offers unrivaled reporting about the latest music, video, gaming, media, digital and mobile entertainment issues and trends.
More than a century and a half after its founding, the Iowa State Fair is the state's central institution, event, and symbol. During its annual run each August, the fair attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors who make the pilgrimage to the fairground to see the iconic butter cow, to ride the Old Mill, to walk through the livestock barns, and to people-watch. At the same time that they enjoy fried candy bars and roller coasters, Iowans also compete to raise the best corn and zucchinis, to make the best jams and jellies, to rear the finest sheep and goats, the largest cattle and hogs, and the handsomest horses. This tension between entertainment and agriculture goes back all the way to the fair's founding in the mid-1800s, as historian Chris Rasmussen shows in this thought-provoking history. The fair's founders had lofty aims: they sought to improve agriculture and foster a distinctively democratic American civilization. But from the start these noble intentions jostled up against people's desire to have fun and make money, honestly or otherwise--not least because the fair had to pay for itself. In short, the Iowa State Fair has as much to tell us about human nature and American history as it does about growing corn.
In its 114th year, Billboard remains the world's premier weekly music publication and a diverse digital, events, brand, content and data licensing platform. Billboard publishes the most trusted charts and offers unrivaled reporting about the latest music, video, gaming, media, digital and mobile entertainment issues and trends.
In its 114th year, Billboard remains the world's premier weekly music publication and a diverse digital, events, brand, content and data licensing platform. Billboard publishes the most trusted charts and offers unrivaled reporting about the latest music, video, gaming, media, digital and mobile entertainment issues and trends.
