National Geographic on North Dakota: A ‘Giant Skeleton of Abandoned Human Desire’
Travel Blog • Joanna Kakissis • 01.15.08 | 2:33 PM ET
And not surprisingly, North Dakotans are livid. Charles Bowden’s beautifully written but wholly depressing The Emptied Prairie about the flat, wind-whipped, lonely state has so disturbed residents that they are writing to the magazine in protest, calling the article, among other things, “the babbling of a delusional mind.”
Gov. John Hoeven even sent a letter to National Geographic editor-in-chief Chris Johns asking the magazine to take a “broader look at our state.”
Photo by Too Ticky via Flickr (Creative Commons).
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Jennifer 01.15.08 | 5:45 PM ET
I grew up in South Dakota, traveled and lived elsewhere and moved back to the Dakotas willing to dig ditches in order to be here. Yes, there is an incredible amount of vast openness; however we prefer to appreciate the beauty of being able to see so much without buildings or trees getting in the way. In complement to the openness of the prairie, the people of the Dakotas are open, giving and the friendliest people I have ever come across. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and North Dakotas appreciate the true simple beauty that God created.
MacDonald 01.16.08 | 4:30 AM ET
It looks like a picture created by a human, not by nature!
Marilyn Terrell 01.16.08 | 1:22 PM ET
Yes, the article has attracted much negative comment, but here’s one person who’s not offended by it:
http://www.areavoices.com/mcfeely/index.cfm?blog=19284
J J 01.18.08 | 8:12 PM ET
I lived in ND for 23 years and the best thing I ever did was move away. There is a lot more out there than farming and talkind like your from Canada A.
Brit 01.22.08 | 5:57 PM ET
not all of us talk like were from canada o and jj maybe you should learn how to spell. i don’t think living in nd is great but i dont go as far as bashing the state. i used to live in conneticut until my mom sister and i moved here its no conneticut but its not that bad!!!!
Sarah 05.14.08 | 1:21 AM ET
I think the article was a well written article. That doesnt excuse the fact that the writer pretty much said the entire state of North Dakota is nothing and would be nothing if it werent for the cities of fargo, bis, mandan, and gf. What about Dickinson, Devils Lake, Williston, Medora, Minot….etc the list could go on. How much oil did the Bakken area around Williston produce this laster year? How many people travel accross the country to paddlefish here, and hunt and fish on our “deserted” and “ghost towns?” Exactly! I understand what the writer was trying to writeabout, but he didnt have to make us sound like an empty state full of “nobodys” And to those that have “finally moved out of North Dakota” I bet 90% of you will be back!