This morning I woke up in my old apartment, located in downtown Cambridge, MA. The apartment is quiet and empty. Looking around my room, it is as if the pandemic never really happened. There are sticky notes with my to-do list on my mirror. Meetings that never happened, work that was canceled, and a grocery list long overdue. My stand table has an unfinished novel that I had started, a glass of aged water, and tickets to the Peabody museum for March 19th.
I didn’t realize the extent of the isolated lifestyle we were livin’ here on the prairie until they issued the shelter in place rule and our basic day to day lives never changed.
Hunter and Lexi Uhland of Haswell, Colorado are proud to announce the birth of their twins LAILA ROSE UHLAND and MACE WESTON UHLAND born on March 28, 2020. Laila Rose was born at 12:00 am weighing 5 lbs. and 2 oz. and was 17 in. length. Mace Weston was born at 2:26 am weighing 6 lbs. and 7 oz. and measured 18 in. in length. The twins were welcomed home by two big brothers Sage and Creed.
NOLAN HAEDYN MARQUEZ was born on April 17, 2020 to proud parents Traegon and Kiri Marquez of Granada, Colorado. The beautiful little boy arrived at 6:39 pm at the Arkansas Valley Regional Medical Center in La Junta, Colorado weighing in at 7 lbs. 1 oz. and was 19.5 in. long. Dr. Kasza was the attending physician. Maternal grandparents are Mark and Christa Ricker of Springfield, Colorado. Maternal great-grandparents include Clark and Danetta Schreiber of Cheyenne Wells, Colorado; Nelson and Nancy Ricker of Walsh, Colorado; and Ron and Pam Masterson of Springfield, Colorado. Paternal grandmother is Michelle Marquez of Granada, Colorado. Paternal great-grandparents are Richard and Roselia Marquez of Granada, Colorado. Baby Nolan was welcomed home by his proud big sister Paetyn Marquez.
As restrictions from the COVIC-19 pandemic have required parents to homeschool their children, it’s natural to reflect on the role schools—and, more specifically, schoolhouses—played in the history of the High Plains. Often the first building constructed in the small communities that sprung to life in the late 1800s and early 1900s, schoolhouses often served a multitude of purposes from the meeting hall and polling place to the location of the widely attended dances held every weekend.
Many of the schoolhouses were modest, single room buildings, constructed with whatever materials were available to accommodate a small group of students and one, maybe two, young teachers. But, sometimes, the schoolhouses—not unlike the communities where they were built—aspired to something grander and perhaps more reflective of the importance placed on education.
One such building is the schoolhouse located in what is now known as Arlington. For years, this graceful, two story structure has caught the attention of those traveling down Highway 96. And one such person is Ashley Doty, as the article credits below.