10 Years Ago

This week is the 10th anniversary of the Red River Flood of 1997. This post is for those who were there with us and for those who helped.

We left Grand Forks to stay with relatives in Hinckley, Minnesota until the waters retreated. There are many stories associated with the experience. Some of these stories we tell in the first chapter of the book we wrote about the Internet and education. The connection may not be obvious. The type of web applications we take for granted now were very new 10 years ago, but the opportunities to tell the stories of the flood and to communicate with colleagues and family we may have been forced to abandon in the middle of the night may have been the first time the Internet’s power became concrete for us (try this link – I wrote this content and took these pictures ten years ago).

I do have a little unfinished business. Our “relatives” have given us trouble for years about the way we describe our adventures following the flood in our book. It is true – we did not bother to reveal their names. So – Scott and Denise Ellingson – thanks for being the relatives in Hinckley.