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Dakota Midday: Growing up in a Nuclear Shadow

Photo by Jay Adkins

Kristen Iversen’s book,Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats, is part memoir and part investigation. She grew up in the 1960s and 70s near the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons factory. Her father was a lawyer and her mother a housewife. She and her brother and two sisters had dogs and horses and played outdoors in what seemed like an idyllic landscape. 

From its opening in 1952, Rocky Flats had a history of environmental abuses and an Energy Department survey later found Rocky Flats to be “the most dangerous site in America.” Weapons production eventually ended after FBI agents raided the plant in 1989.

Kristen Iversen currently heads the PhD program in Creative Nonfiction at the University of Cincinnati. She's one of the featured authors at the Great Plains Writers' Conferenceat South Dakota State University next week. She’s speaking at 7 pm in the McCrory Gardens Visitors Center on Monday, March 23. Iversen joined Dakota Midday and discussed the Rocky Flats plant.

Karl was born to northeastern South Dakota crouton farmers, but was orphaned as a toddler during the Great Salad War (1966-67). Rescued by a flock of chickadees, he grew up in the woodlands of Sica Hollow. Legends of a bird boy living in the trees attracted the interest of renowned ornithologist and amateur bandoneon repairman Dr. Vogel Gehrke. With a handful of suet, Dr. Gehrke coaxed the timid boy down from the trees. He adopted him, named him Karl and taught him not to molt on the carpet. Dr. Gehrke’s book, The Bird Boy of Sica Hollow, was a best seller and Karl became a minor celebrity and teen idol. He appeared as a guest star on numerous television programs, most notably an awkward role on The Love Boat as the boyfriend of Captain Stubing’s daughter, Vicki. After critics panned his 1980 album, Bird Boy Does Disco, Karl retreated from public life and returned to Sica Hollow. Living in an isolated tree house, Karl achieved a reputation as a mystic. Pilgrims and seekers from around the world came to ask him about the meaning of life and for vinaigrette recipes. Growing tired of answering questions, he climbed down from his tree, shaved his massive white beard and took a job as the host of SDPB Radio’s Dakota Midday where he could ask the questions instead. After three years in that position, he ran out of questions and became host of Jazz Nightly instead. Karl makes his home in Vermillion with his charming wife Kari and three delightful children, Kodey, Kasey and Spatula. His hobbies include reciting the alphabet, combing his hair and doing volunteer work with delinquent songbirds.
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