Lifestyle

Lakeview's Future Farmers of America group hosted a pancake breakfast Sunday morning at the school. PHOTOS BY KAREN BERG .

According to American Legion Adjutant John Jones the proceeds from the Echo American Legion Post 204 chili feed fundraiser held Saturday made over $3,000 for the Echo First Responders. Jones said that they sold out with over 100 meals being served. Jones, front far right, is pictured with the kitchen serving crew at the Echo Community Center where the feed was held. TRUDI SWANSON

King Miguel Facio Garcia and Queen Bradlyn Gniffke. KAREN BERG Snow Week royalty Candidates: (FRONT ROW) Mallory Ebnet, Faith Torke, Brooklyn Sogge, King Miguel Facio Garcia, Queen Bradlyn Gniffke, Madison Smith, McKenzy Grunewald, Alba Martinez.

The Lakeview Class of 2033 gathered for a photograph recently. KAREN BERG .

Doug Bengtson says he was never good at English classes in school, however, when he decided to take a writing class at Senior College at SMSU, he found he quite enjoyed writing poetry. “I found I really liked to write. I had always kind of fiddled with poems, and once I learned about poetry in part of that class, I knew I was on the right track,” Bengtson says. That newfound interest eventually led to the publication of his first poetry book in 2016, followed by the publication of four more books, with his most recent book being currently published, titled Barns and Farms. He says the rhyming aspect of poetry is what led him to it, mostly practicing poetry as a four-stanza rhyming poet. “If you look through every one of my books, ninetynine percent of it is rhyme. But I do want to learn more. There are a million different types of poems, and I’m hoping to find more classes to learn. I’m never satisfied with what I learned and always want more,” Bengtson says.

Storytelling has always been a part of Walter LaBatte Jr.’s life. Growing up in the Upper Sioux Community, Walter says that there were many childhood evenings spent listening to his father’s stories. “When I grew up, we didn’t have electricity, and so the only entertainment we had was my dad telling us stories,” Walter recalls. “We have a mythical creature called Unktomi, which means spider, and he’s a trickster. There are tons and tons of stories and he would tell us those Unktomi stories at night. These stories had morals in them. Because he was a trickster, he would do bad things, and through telling those stories they were sending a message how to act, how to behave.”