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Agriculture.com Staff 06/06/2007 @ 8:22am  In an effort to help
educate my urban brethren about life in rural areas, I was asked
to write an occasional article for a political Web site.  I can
do that -- I'm kind of bilingual. I can explain the political
repercussions of living in a county of 5,000 people 180 miles
from the capitol -- and the consequential loss of any political
power -- to city people. I can write about any number of issues
that begin on the prairie and ultimately affect the cities. But
in a larger sense, I doubt that I can ever serve as an effective
conduit of real knowledge.  I thought about this on Memorial
Day. Truthfully, no one does Memorial Day like a small town. The
details change with the location, but some things are constant.
About one third to one half of the town's population gathers in
the school gym or at the cemetery. (Now, how big would the venue
have to be to do that in Minneapolis, or even Woodbury?) A band
plays, a