Harmon’s Handwriting
Many years ago while browsing the bookstore, I ran across a book which contained the addresses of famous sports legends. Well! It was the middle of winter and I had nothing better to do, so I bought...
View ArticleHahn-Bin
Provocative Korean-born violinist Hahn-bin pranced and preened his way across the wood floor of the North Dakota Museum of Art in Grand Forks last Sunday as a part of the NDMA’s annual concert series....
View ArticleAn Exotic Ecology
As the swamp in front of my house in Minnesota springs back to life, I think back to the truly odd history of wildlife in New Zealand. Completely isolated for eons of time, New Zealand developed a...
View ArticleA Little Revival
About 20 years ago, I reached a fork in the road. It was time to either commit to the small town, join the family business and try to make a go of it, or use my education to find a career in the...
View ArticleIn Defense of Nursing Homes: Too Much Welfare!
According to some in the business, Minnesota’s nursing home system is in financial trouble in large part because people seem to think that no matter what their net worth, when it comes time for...
View ArticleWho Me?
As a notorious abuser of children is put away in Pennsylvania, many turn their rage towards those who must have known kids were being hurt, but who did little or nothing to help. It is at this stage in...
View ArticleH.L. Gaylord
As my hometown of Fertile, Minnesota celebrated its 125th anniversary last weekend, I found myself in a goofy outfit out in the cemetery playing the role of one of the town’s old pioneers, H.L....
View ArticleThe Fair
The tradition of a fair goes back to Roman times, when the authorities would declare an intermission of labor and tradesmen from afar sold their wares. In the Middle Ages, fairs were tied to religious...
View ArticleGeorge McGovern, RIP
Former South Dakota Sen. George McGovern died this week at age 90. My first political memory is of the 1972 presidential election season. Democrat George McGovern challenged the Republican incumbent,...
View ArticleWorld War I, Lost In The Mist
November 11 is celebrated as Veteran’s Day in the United States today. The date originally was known as Armistice Day to mark the end of hostilities on the Western Front during World War I. Why do we...
View ArticleOld Apache Trail
To the east of the Phoenix megalopolis runs the Old Apache Trail, which starts out harmlessly enough as Highway 87. As you wind your way through ravines and red cliffs, the road gets narrower a until a...
View ArticleMore Miserables
On Christmas Day, several new movies hit the big screen. The most notable this year was the latest version of Les Miserables, which opened to critical acclaim. I sat in seat K2 at the 10am showing in...
View ArticleFrank Lloyd Wright
As he approached his 70th year, the great architect Frank Lloyd Wright endured a bout of pneumonia during a Wisconsin winter. “You could add 20 years to his life,” his doctor told Wright’s wife, “if...
View ArticleSuperbowl
The Super Bowl rendered the usually crowded freeways of Phoenix, Arizona, as quiet as I-29 during a blizzard. Even Christmas can’t command such a complete shutdown of the American automobile as the...
View ArticleSpring Training
With fifteen major league baseball teams training in the Phoenix area, you would think that a baseball fan would be in heaven, racing from ballfield to ballfield collecting autographs and taking in the...
View ArticleBorder Crossing
Crossed into Canada and back last week, which required that I go through the checkpoints at the border, a process that undoes me every time. When I encounter people who have absolute power over the...
View ArticleDia De Los Muertos
Twenty-four years ago, Tucson artist Susan Kay Johnson decided to honor her recently-deceased father by organizing a small procession of her friends down 4th Avenue on Dia de los Muertos, otherwise...
View ArticleSenility Etiquette
A question of manners: What is the proper way to inform a friend that you have already heard the story they have started to tell for the 53rd time? Equally vexing: What is the proper thing to do when...
View ArticleThe California Coast
Yes, a person can get homesick every now and then when gone south for the winter. But there is a cure: call home. Doesn’t matter who. Just call any number in the 218 or 701 area code. Listen to the...
View ArticleBalboa Park
Downtown San Diego is so clean it sparkles. Its crown jewel is Balboa Park, a 1200-acre complex which includes fifteen museums, at least 18 gardens, and the world-renowned San Diego Zoo. Balboa Park...
View ArticleOpening Day
Another baseball season begins with nobody, including myself, expecting much of our Minnesota Twins. The satellite dish company sends a nice letter every three days urging me to hook the dish back up...
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