Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn. | Reading the posts here reminded me of an incident back in 1984 when a friend and I took a trip to England to see his brother and family who were there on a Fulbright Scholarship. Incidentally the brother who was a professor at Penn State continued to do very well. Today he is the President! Yes, my old college roommate is now President of Penn State and I'm back on the family farm where I grew up.
Anyway while riding on a train I struck up a conversation with a local in the seat beside me. It was quite apparent to him that I was not a local, probably because I was butchering the Good King's English. He asked what I did for employment here in the States. I replied that I was a Math teacher. He then started in on how the teachers there didn't do any work and just lived off the government. To redeem myself I mentioned that I farmed also. To this he replied, "That's even worse yet". He obviously had a problem with farmers also. I didn't stand a chance.
But back to the old roommate. After his appointment as President, he was asked to write an article for the local newspaper. He mentioned his grassroots (came from a Wisconsin dairy farm originally) and how he had worked for his brother in the farm machinery business while he was around here. He was proud of his farm background and continues to do a little farming after hours on the place where he lives. I believe this was some land he bought many years ago where potato research for the School had been done. |
Don't call yourself a farmer.
