Honoring Hemingway

Today is Ernest Hemingway’s 100^th birthday.

Scholars have scoured the world to probe the psyche and writing of the quintessential American writer, as if to plumb those depths would produce a blueprint of greatness, or better, an explanation of what life is really all about.

Much has been written about whence he came, his early life and influences. Personal conversations have been recounted, anecdotes retold, biographies written, plays acted. Journeys have been undertaken with the thought that to follow in his footsteps would reveal clues to what made the man and drove the artisMany places in the world claim him as their own, even though he was born in Oak Park, Ill. Yet, after all of his adventures--Spain, Paris, Cuba, Africa, Italy—Blaine County, Idaho, is where he sought peace and found friendship.

To live in Blaine County is, perhaps, to understand Hemingway and his work. People who choose this place as their home seem to have an inexorable attraction to wild lands and an unshakeable bond with the outdoors. They tend to have itchy feet and love to travel—even if travel extends no farther than the county line. They love to explore not just the safe nooks and crannies, but the aeries and the wild waters.

In honoring Hemingway’s birthday today, we salute his passion for life and are thankful for his written legacy, his bequest to all generations.