During the summers of my boyhood, between the ages of 7 and 11, I was sent to stay for a week with my maternal grandmother in Sauk Centre, Minnesota each year. In that small (population about 3000 then; these days, about 4300) town I enjoyed the glorious freedom to wander anywhere, unsupervised, for nothing bad could possibly happen in such a little place in those innocent 1950s. Besides, the local weekly, the Sauk Centre Herald, published a list of who was visiting from out of town each week, so the little boy from Minneapolis was duly noted, and everyone kept their eyes on me, I am sure. The town wasn’t very big, but I had the run of the place. There was a drugstore, hardware store, a movie theatre, a couple of cafes, several bars (I wasn’t allowed in those), two banks and Sauk Lake, right next to downtown, as is the case in s many little lakeside towns of Minnesota.  Across the lake from the beach was the Minnesota Homes School for Girls, the euphemistically...(Read Full Article)