Visiting Deadwood

I first became fascinated by Deadwood when I watched David Milch's terrific HBO series of the same name. With its blend of superb acting, gorgeous photography, and truly extraordinary writing, it was one of the few perfect shows that I’d ever seen. Every episode would take my breath away.

I get down Deadwood every couple of years or so, usually when the South Dakota Festival of Books is in town. This year’s festival was this past weekend, so that’s when I was able to visit. Luckily (and it's important to have good luck in Deadwood—just ask Wild Bill Hickok), the weather was gorgeous, with highs around 70 and not a cloud in the sky.

In between strolls around the gulch, I took in many events over the two days. On Friday, I caught a joint appearance by Poet Laureate Ted Kooser and book critic Michael Dirda at the public library. This event was really more an informal “meet & greet” than anything else, but the library provided a tasty lunch of spicy shrimp (“free gratis,” as Al Swearengen would say).

Ted Kooser & Michael Dirda

Later in the day, at the new Deadwood Mountain Grand, the main location for the festival, I heard Brian Fagan deliver a bleak assessment about the future of the planet (global warming is going to swamp us with an unstoppable rise in the oceans) and Bill Heavey give a hilarious reading about catching frogs by hand at night in Louisiana. One of the keys, Heavey explained, was remembering not to grab for any red eyes reflected in the headlamp, for those eyes would belong to a ‘gator. I also sauntered through the book displays, but I successfully resisted the impulse to add to my already sagging shelves back home.

On Saturday, with my friend and colleague Deb Dragseth, I attended a presentation by Peter Heller, who read some excerpts from his novel Dog Stars and then talked about his experiences as a journalist on whitewater rafting trips and as a bush-pilot trainee. He was a dynamic, entertaining storyteller, so I know I'll be reading him in the future. Deb and I then took in a panel about the future of newspapers in America, but the panelists' forecast was so bleak that this ex-journalist would prefer to forget about it. As one panelist, NPR's Bob Garfield, said, not jokingly, journalism students today are like lab rats: They are raised only so they can be sacrificed.

Finally, that evening I was a patron at the Poetry Cafe, with Kooser, Naomi Shihab Nye, Christine Stewart-Nunez, and Heid Erdrich. The four read from their works and also talked about their careers and influences. The mood was light, helped (perhaps) by the beer available at the bar.