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Minnesota State University
Moorhead
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LIN ENGER’S BREAKOUT NOVEL ‘UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY’ He’d rather have spent his teens hunting, playing his trumpet or ice fishing. Instead, at the age of 17, he was forced to ask himself this monumental question: It’s not unlike similar doubts that plagued one of English literature’s most distraught and tragic figures: Shakespeare’s young Prince Hamlet. And it’s no coincidence, either, that “something’s rotten” in Enger’s fictional northern Minnesota town of Battlepoint: Jesse’s father’s unexpected suicide may have been murder, committed perhaps by his uncle Clay, who’s become way too intimate with Jesse’s widowed mother. “Shakespeare di Although there are similarities between “Hamlet” and “Undiscovered Country,” it’s more framework than substance. The story soon takes on a unique Midwestern flavor, transforming a pensive 17th Century drama into a gritty 21st century piece of literary realism. Enger’s novel will be released this summer by Little, Brown and Company, one of the major publishing houses in the country, which also publishes the novels of James Patterson, David Baldacci, Ian Rankin and Nelson DeMille. Books on Tape has already bought audio rights, and so far it’s scheduled for translation into Italian and Spanish. To Enger’s credit, Little, Brown typically takes on only one or two new authors a year. It’s been a dozen years since Enger, sitting in a deer stand in northern Minnesota, hunting with his brothers, came up with the opening scene for “Undiscovered Country”—the apparent deer-stand suicide of Jesse’s father, the town’s mayor. “It was just a little spark, an idea I thought might turn into something,” said Enger. “It was like a film clip playing in my head.” At the time, he and his brother Leif (both MSUM graduates), writing under the pseudonym L.L. Enger, had just finished “Sinner’s League,” their fifth in a series of mystery novels about a 6’6”-tall ex-Detroit Tiger slugger Gun Pederson who retreats to Minnesota’s north woods to escape a tragic past. “They were mid-level successes and the publisher (Pocket Book for the first four, Simon & Schuster for the last) eventually dropped us,” Enger said. “I think we were both pretty much worn out on the series. But we did write a sixth book, which I think is the best of the lot. It’s still sitting in my desk, unpublished.” Leif went on to write “Peace Like a River,” which won the 2001 Booksense Book of the Year and Amazon.com Best Novel awards, and was named one of the year’s best by the LA Times, Christian Science Monitor and Time Magazine. Lin, meanwhile, continued teaching and toying with story ideas. But his brother’s success, he admits, “raised the bar.” That’s when Lin finally sat down to write “Undiscovered Country,” in pencil, in spiral bound notebooks, usually between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. when the house was quiet and his classroom preparations were done. “I wrote off an on, sometimes not writing a thing for a month or so,” he said. Seven years and 1,200 handwritten pages later, the book was almost done. The final touch: editing out 900 of those pages along the way. “That hurt,” he said, “because I not only loved writing this book, I fell in love with the characters. I was so wrapped up in the story I didn’t know how it would end until I got there.” The result: a taut, 304-page, plain-spoken tale set among the towering pines and icy landscape of northern Minnesota, filled with small-town characters, prejudices and indiscretions. The plot, Enger explains, surrounds Jesse, who is stripped of every support, abandoned or betrayed by those closest to him, then burdened with the terrible truth of his father’s death. Will be break or cave? Or if he fights back, will he be shrewd enough to pull it off? It’s a classic psychological battle between forgiveness and revenge, action and indecision, hope and despair. Meanwhile, the fictional town of Battlepoint is turned upside down with rumors, doubt and death. The characters range from segregated immigrants and a savant musician to a social hero (Jesse’s dad Harold, the town’s mayor), whose ghost torments Jesse. There’s also sparks of romance, gunfire and, well, a grizzly scene or two. “We’ll see what happens,” Enger said about his book’s potential to find an audience. “It’s kind of a hybrid, a mix between a mystery novel and a literary thriller.” He’s not waiting for the results. Enger has nearly filled another spiral notebook, in longhand, with pencil, with the beginnings of his next novel. (“Undiscovered Country” is scheduled for release July 3, 2008) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 OUT OF 3 AIN’T BAD FOR MSUM That was 61 years ago. “I’ve been absolutely in love with horses since that ride,” he said from his 630-acre Monticule farm in Lexington, Ky., where he now owns a thoroughbred breeding operation. Knapp cheered, whooped and hollered as Big Brown, a horse born on his farm three years ago, tried to win the 140th running of the Belmont Stakes along with the prized Triple Crown. Despite all the international hoopla surrounding the favored horse, Big Brown just didn’t have it that day. Knapp was one of about 120,000 spectators at The Championship Track who watched the historic race live in 90-plus degree weather. Trainers, owners and even the jockey were perplexed by the lost. “It’s still the best horse I’ve ever ridden,” said Racing Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux, a three-time Kentucky Derby winner with more than 4,000 wins under his belt, who rode Big Brown on all three legs of the Triple Crown. The big bay colt, sometimes described as “freakishly” talented, won its first five starts by a combined total of 39 lengths. “In the hundred plus years of the Triple Crown, only 11 horses have won all three races,” Knapp said. “The loss at Belmont was certainly disappointing, but Big Brown now joins 19 other horses who’ve won the first two legs of the crown. That’s not bad. He’s one of history’s top 30 horses.” It’s been quite a ride for Knapp, who sold Big Brown as a yearling to a Florida pinhooker (a trader who buys young horses to train and re-sell) named Eddie Woods, a former jockey, for $60,000. “It was a very good price for a yearling then,” Knapp said. “In fact, it was the highest paid that year for a Boundary-sired one year old. I just never would have imagined how successful the colt would become.” Knapp––a former college professor, securities consultant and media owner––said there was nothing exceptional about Big Brown when he was born April 10, 2005. “Except he had this interesting white spot about the size of a quarter behind his left elbow,” he said. “It’s now about the size of a baseball. Some people say it’s a kiss from the racing gods. Maybe so. But the first thing racing people think when they see a white spot like that is an injury. If a horse is cut or scrapped or hurt, when the hair grows back it’s usually completely white. Big Brown, however, was born with that mark.” Other than that, Knapp said, the young colt was well put together physically and had the kind of calm demeanor that would make him very trainable. “It had an even balance of power, stride and body weight. Lots of potential.” Six months after buying Knapp’s yearling, Woods sold it to New York trucking company owner Paul Pompa Jr. for a reported $190,000, who then named the horse Big Brown in honor of his business relationship with UPS. “I knew Monticule had good breeding stock,” Pompa’s trainer Patrick Reynolds told The Blood-Horse magazine. “Monticule is a very interesting outfit. The guy behind it (Knapp) is a genius, I think.” Said Knapp, laughing at the quote: “Nobody ever called me that during my undergraduate years at Moorhead State.” (Knapp graduated from MSUM in 1965 with a business administration and management degree and later earned a doctorate in marketing and applied statistics from the University of Kentucky.) But genius might be a good bet––win, place or show. Pompa later sold a 75 percent interest in the promising colt to IEAH Stables for a reported $3 million after Big Brown rocketed to an 11 1/4-length victory in his two-year-old debut on the turf at Saratoga. That’s when the colorful IEAH trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. stepped in and the wins kept mounting up. Before the Belmont, IEAH had already locked up an estimated $50 million deal for breeding rights for Big Brown. It was Knapp who matched a pedigree stallion named Boundary (a descendent of Kentucky Derby winner Northern Dancer) and one of his 21 blue-blood broodmares, Mien, who foaled Big Brown. Knapp is a proponent of using biomechanical sciences in breeding race horses. So much so that he acquired a majority interest in Equix Biomechanics, a company that evaluates a horse’s potential athletic ability by measuring body length, heart capacity, hip size, length of stride and several other characteristics for his clients. Knapp used Equix’ OptiMatch mating system to produce not only Big Brown, but also a Danzig-colt that sold for an astonishing $9.2 million last year, putting Monticule on the map. “We’re trying to bring more science into thoroughbred breeding,” he said, falling back on his academic interest in applied statistics. “It’s a mathematical and statistical approach in determining a horse’s racing potential.” Knapp apparently comes from a pretty good stock himself. His late father, C. Harry Knapp, was not only a good steward of the land, according to his son, but he was also a progressive farmer, always seeking out the newest innovations in agriculture. “He was the first in our area to buy a tractor,” Knapp said of his father. Knapp’s brother, Gordon, owns Knapp Seed Farm near Foxhome, one of the largest privately owned seed and bagging operations in the country. Their mother, Gertrude Knapp, is 93 and lives in the Pioneer Retirement Community in Fergus Falls. Knapp, Gordon, along with a third brother Jerry (who died of cancer in 1987), each attended high school in Morris, Minn., graduating from the West Central School of Agriculture. “I almost bought a dairy farm then,” Knapp said. “But I decided to go to college, becoming the first person in my family to pursue an education beyond high school.” He spent two years at North Dakota State College of Science before transferring to MSU Moorhead for his undergraduate degree. “I just got bit by the education bug,” he said. “And watching the lifestyle of college professors, I thought that looked pretty good. And it was.” After earning his master’s degree and teaching at Minnesota State University, Mankato, he was accepted into the doctoral program at the University of Kentucky School of Business in 1973, the same year Secretariat won the Triple Crown. “That’s when I became captivated by the thoroughbred industry,” he said. “What a glorious way to make a living. But it’s a fairly capital intensive business, and I didn’t have the resources at the time.” Meanwhile, Knapp began his career as a marketing professor in 1977 at the University of Houston and soon after started a consulting business that specialized in mortgage-backed securities. “But I always kept in touch with the industry by subscribing to ‘The Blood-Horse,’ the principle publication of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association,” he said. “And I also started to play a lot of tournament polo in Houston, which seemed to satisfy my competitive drive.” In 1989, following his dream, Knapp purchased the first 200 acres in Lexington, Ky., of what would become Monticule, a French term referring to a large hill or small mountain. “Central Kentucky is where the largest concentration of the best sires in the world are, and that’s where I wanted to be,” he said. “I was at a point where I could make that commitment, so I decided to get started.” In between, he and a South Carolina businessman acquired media giant Park Communications, which included more than 100 newspapers, 22 radio stations and nine television channels. Knapp chaired the company for about two years until Media General bought them out in 1997. That same year he decided to devote his full attention to the farm and began buying broodmares. Today much of Monticule farm is used for pasture and a nursery where Knapp cultivates more than 10,000 trees he uses for landscaping the property. “We have 20 employees on the farm, probably more per horse than most farms this size,” he said. “Much of what they do in the winter is take care of the nursery when the grass stops growing. It’s not unusual for us to transplant 1,000 trees over the winter.” Knapp is a hands-on owner and manager, spending most of his time walking or riding horseback across his property, monitoring the health, care, training and breeding of his 21 broodmares and their 16 or so weanlings, and overseeing the development of his nursery. Knapp also owns Case the Race, a company that provides handicapping data to people who wager on horse races based on Equix Biomechanics analyses; and Goose Creek Thoroughbreds, a business he created, like a mutual fund, to allow people to share in the ownership of a horse. “The problem now,” Knapp said, “is what are we going to do for an encore after Big Brown. He was quite a horse. And for me, this is quite a life.”
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DRAGON ATHLETES CONTINUE According to figures released today (June 23) by MSUM Associate Athletic Directory Sylvia Barnier, MSUM student-athletes compiled a composite grade point average of 3.10 in 2007-08, eclipsing the overall university undergraduate average. The women’s basketball team compiled the highest average of 3.60, followed by women’s track and field/cross-country, 3.55, women’s tennis, 3.51, and women’s soccer, 3.46. The Dragons placed 104 athletes on the Dean’s List for spring semester and 30 student-athletes fashioned perfect 4.0 GPAs.
More than 21, 300 local children help choose…. The awards program is administered by the staff of the Minnesota State University Moorhead library’s Curriculum Materials Center, which holds a large collection of children’s books and resource materials for teachers. “At the beginning of the year, we asked publish Twenty regional teachers and librarians, along with about 180 MSUM elementary and early childhood education majors, read these books aloud to nearly 21,300 children this past year. To determine the winners and honor books, the Read Aloud committee examined feedback from each reader and the responses of the children. The winner of the preschool to eight year old category: “Wolf’s Coming,” written and illustrated by Joe Kulka and published by Carolrhoda Books, received the Wanda Gág Book Award for the best read aloud picture book for younger children (preschool to age 8). It’s named in honor of Wanda Gág, a children’s book author, illustrator and artist who grew up in New Ulm, Minn. She’s best known for “Millions of Cats” (published in 1928), considered the first American picture book. About the book: Rhyming text and cartoon style illustrations tell the story of animals hurrying through the woods repeatedly calling out: “Wolf’s Coming!” A dapper, but sinister-looking wolf with yellow piercing eyes follows the animals through the woods. Illustrations become darker and darker as the suspense mounts. Finally, the animals run into a brightly lit home in a tree trunk as wolf creeps closer. When wolf opens the front door, they all yell “Surprise!” It’s wolf’s birthday. “Children howled through this story,” Sibley said. “While some readers thought it might be too scary, young children had their eyes glued to the book and wanted it read again and again. Listeners enjoyed the rhyming words, loved the pictures, and liked the surprising twist at the end. The large illustrations and text make this a good choice for group reading.” Kulka resides in Quakertown, Pa., with his wife and children. This is the first book he has both written and illustrated. Honor books in the Wanda Gág category: The winner of the age 8 to12 year old category: “The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians” by Carla Morris, illustrated by Brad Sneed, and published by Peachtree Publishers, received the Comstock Book Award for the best read aloud picture book for older children (ages 8-12). The award is named in recognition of the pioneering Moorhead family headed by Solomon G. Comstock, a Moorhead State Senator and U.S. Congressman who’s considered the father of the Moorhead Normal School (now MSUM.) About the book: Melvin loves the Livingston Public Library, which he visits every day after school. There he befriends reference librarians Marge, Betty, and Leeola, who answer his many questions and help him with school projects and contests. This homage to librarians, Sibley said, is brought to life with Brad Sneed’s detailed and humorous watercolor and gouache illustrations. Each librarian, along with Melvin, age appropriately as Melvin grows up to finally join them at the Livingston Public Library. “Students in grades three and four were great fans of this story,” Sibley added. “They enjoyed the humor, the interesting characters, and the detailed illustrations. The topic of libraries was a popular theme. The children liked learning how librarians find all kinds of information.” Carla Morris, the children’s librarian at the Provo City Library in Utah, got the idea for this book from a real boy who blossomed under the wings of Provo’s librarians. She lives with her husband and three children in Springville, Utah. It was her first children’s book. Illustrator Brad Sneed lives near Kansas City, Kan., with his wife and daughter. Honor books in Comstock Award category: Comstock Memorial Fund of the Minneapolis Foundation and MSUM’s Wanda Gág Book Award Fund. What makes a good children’s picture book based on this year's feedback? Here are some tips from MSUM curriculum librarian Sibley: EDNA SZYMANSKI NAMED MSUM'S 10TH PRESIDENT Szymanski, 56, is senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Maine, Orono, a She holds a doctorate in special education from the University of Texas, Austin; a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling from the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania; and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. "Dr. Szymanski’s enthusiasm and passion about the opportunity to serve Minnesota State University Moorhead is impressive," McCormick said. "Her commitment to student-centered education is a good fit with the university’s mission and philosophy." The new president is replacing Roland Barden, who is retiring after 14 years at the helm of the university.
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d it all the time, using older stories or literary sources for new work,” said Enger, an English professor at Minnesota State University Moorhead. “It’s part of a long literary tradition. I taught the play for years and came to appreciate how raw and elemental it is. Shakespeare knew how to fashion a plot that would plumb the depths of his characters, and I guess it occurred to me that ‘Hamlet’ would serve me well in the story.”
ers to send us copies of picture books published in 2007 that they’d like to nominate for the awards,” says Carol Sibley, MSUM’s curriculum librarian. “We received about 500 titles, which our committee first screened, then selected 315 to be field tested.” 
position she has held since 2006. She was one of three finalists recommended to the chancellor by a search committee chaired by Jon Quistgaard, president of Bemidji State University.