This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
Cheerful tough love and the burden of stiff upper lip
A personal essay traces a Midwest family’s legacy of resilience and blunt optimism. The narrator recalls harsh upbringing by hard, caring farmers who believed in cheering others, even in pain, while acknowledging that cries for help and sorrow deserve space. A divorce and illnesses test the stance, revealing limits of relentless cheer. The piece weighs cultural duty against empathy, urging balanced response to suffering.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
North Dakota
Ethiopia
Eve