This piece could be confusing, being interviewed by the Glasgow Courier, though I live 1300 miles away from Glasgow, Montana. However, my mom is from Glasgow (Hinsdale actually, but part of Valley County). Most of her family has scattered across the country, but my grandfather, her dad, still lives on his farm in Valley County.
A short story about how this interview came into being: In World War II, my granddad was a belly gunner in a B-17 bomber. Though two of his planes went down, he recalls his service somewhat fondly. While visiting him at his farm in Saco, Montana in August 2009, I went on a mission to make a color copy of a B-17 for my grandfather. It was a model actually, assembled by a family in Hungary (all of that is part of the much longer story that I am curtailing for now). I wanted to print out the email from the Hungarian family, and the enclosed picture of their assembled plane. The only place I could find, in a 30 miles radius from the farm, was the Glasgow Courier, the local newspaper, that had access to the internet and to color copying.
The Courier staff was more than generous as I struggled with the jpeg attachment, trying to format the picture to be printed. I left my card, with a note scribbled on the back, thanking them for their help. Back at the farm the next day, my grandfather hollered up to the guest room, saying “Phone’s for you Lauren.” Which was strange. I had brought my cell phone, and who would even have my grandfather’s number? When I picked up the line, I discovered that is was Shawn Newton from the Courier. He had looked at my card and had visited my website. He had some questions for me, if I had time.
The article below my interview is one that Shawn Newton did as a companion piece about Aphasia in Montana. My grandmother moved to Los Angeles a decade ago, now living with my folks, but she still has the Courier sent to her every week, and she couldn’t have been happier if I had graced the cover of Time.