| Summary: | CONCORDIAN FEATURES NOVEMBER 21, 20085 the ‘In the Lands Where the Vikings Settled’ Snow fall and fi erce wind didn’t keep 24 se-nior citizens from traveling to the Northtown Grill in Fargo last Tuesday to hear Veryln An-derson’s F-M Communiversity presentation, “In the Lands Where the Vikings Settled: Ice-land, Greenland and Newfoundland.” Anderson, who graduated from Concordia in 1956, also worked at the college for 26 years as both the library director and as a professor. He received a doctorate degree in Scandinavian Studies from the University of Minnesota, and in 1975 helped resurrect the Norwegian depart-ment at Concordia, after it had been closed for 10 years. During his presentation, Anderson talked in detail about the histories of Iceland and Greenland, and explained how the two coun-tries became settled and inhabited. Anderson then showed many pictures that he took on a trip to Iceland with his wife, Evon-nee (a 1958 Concordia graduate) and eight oth-er people. He told the audience stories about his trip, the culture of Iceland and gave details about where they stayed and what they ate dur-ing their trip. Anderson’s presentation was both inter-esting and entertaining for his audience, who remained extremely engaged, constantly inter-acting with what he was teaching them. At one point during the session, Anderson even explained why Catholic priests in Iceland weren’t required to be celibate. “It’s too cold up here for the priests to sleep alone,” he said. Anderson then went on to tell the story of the last Catho-lic Bishop in Iceland who had the choice to ei-ther become a Lutheran or be executed. When Anderson revealed that the Bishop chose to be executed, there was a loud exclamation of “oohs” and “aahs” from the ladies in the audi-ence, who were shocked that he chose the lat-ter. “I would have loved to take classes from him,” one audience member said. “What a sense of humor.” Linda Fiocchi is a Fargo-Moorhead commu-nity member whose mother was born in Ice-land. Because of her background and heritage, Fiocchi found that the presentation held a spe-cial meaning for her. “That makes me a Viking,” she said. “I’m completely a Viking.” Carol Brooks, 69, was also an eager atten-dant of the event. Brooks has heard Anderson speak at her nursing home before, and tries her hardest to attend every presentation of his that she can. On the day of Anderson’s presentation about Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland, Brooks traveled by a wheelchair-lift bus in or-der to get there “I love history,” Brooks said. “Anything about history.” While Anderson’s session about these Scan-dinavian countries was clearly of interest to se-nior citizens of the Fargo-Moorhead commu-nity, the histories that Anderson discussed also hold a special place in the heart of Concordia as well. Concordia College was founded by a group of pas-tors and immi-grants from Nor-way that wanted to create a place for Norwegian young people to learn in a community set-ting that catered to their faith. Because of their shared back-ground, most stu-dents at Concor-dia spoke freely in Norwegian until the early 1920s, when it was suddenly considered un- American to do so. C o n c o r-dia’s mascot, the Cobber, also comes from its Nor-wegian heri-tage. The Cobber was adopted in r e s p o n s e to a mock cheer that was made (in Norwe-gian) by Con-cordia’s then-rival Hope Academy. Some other mascots that were considered for Concordia were the Norwegians, the Vikings, and the Lutefi sks. Norwegian royalty also make sure to visit the campus at least once every couple of years. Tyler Moe-Slepika, a 2008 Concordia alumni who did an extensive class project on Norwegian Concordia College and Scandina-vian Moorhead during his senior year, found many ways in which the Scandinavian tradi-tion lives on at Concordia. Moe-Slepika explained how Concordia plays football against sister Norwegian- Lutheran St. Olaf College every year in the “Lefse Bowl” for the prize of a Norwegian Troll. Considering Concordia’s Norwegian background as an especially important part of its heritage, Moe-Slepika made sure to keep some traditions to honor it when he helped create Cobber Nation during his freshman year. “Cobber Nation never leaves home without a Norwegian fl ag in hand, and [ i t ] is always the fi rst fl ag out on the fi eld at football games,” Moe-Slepika said. “And there’s always lefse at the Homecoming game, thanks to Scandinavian Klubb.” F-M Communiversity, which is a part of Concordia College, off ers many classes like Anderson’s throughout the year. F-M Com-muniversity coordinator Jacki Knapp-Raaen estimates that the program off ers around 75 diff erent learning opportunities for communi-ty members throughout the year. Topics of the presentations range from religion, theology, liberal arts and creative living to music, food and learning diff erent languages. Classes are off ered to the general public, and events are published in eight week sched-ules in the fall, winter and spring. Knapp-Raaen is passionate about making learning opportuni-ties available and interesting for all the mem-bers of the Fargo-Moorhead community. “Part of Concordia’s mission is to foster life-long learning among undergraduate students,” Knapp-Raaen said. “We are just expanding that into the community.” BY KARLA TETREAULT Staff Writer PHOTOS BY JACKI KNAPP-RAAEN
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