Editorial

Last winter HPR grieved with Gary and Madeline Krapu of Valley City over the unexpected and untimely death of their daughter Anne Krapu. Anne, 31 had been a contributor to HPR and Valley City Times Record for nearly half of her life covering popular culture, politics, and social justice issues. She traveled the world as an educator and worked tirelessly as a political campaign staffer. It may be fair to say that during her brief time here, she lived more than most.

In her memory HPR is…

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As midwesterners, I like to think we’re the masters of small talk and with our ever changing weather patterns there’s plenty to talk about. Winter blues are running rampant this time of year but morale is relatively high here at the HPR office. While record-breaking cold temperatures sweep through the midwest thanks to that pesky polar vortex we’re trying our best to stay positive.

I once had a neighbor who moved from Portland (Portland, Oregon not to be confused with Portland,…

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A couple of days before Christmas, a video of “Virgin Island Vicky,” went viral. Her real name is irrelevant, but she’s a Minot native. The video shows her going on multiple public racist rants while she and her beau were on vacation in the Virgin Islands. The video shows that he tried to shush her multiple times to no avail. The situation eventually escalated to the point where the police were called and escorted her from the island, according to the UK-based publication The…

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by Ryan Janke
ryan.janke78@gmail.com

Some readers will remember a Reba McEntire music video from the 1990s called, Is There Life Out There. They played it on CMT back when music television stations actually played music videos. Anyway, the story of the video followed a woman (McEntire) as she was getting set to graduate from college. She had a paper on her desk that she had been working on for, “three weeks,” and her children wound up spilling coffee on it. When she got the paper back…

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I’m a big fan of sharing and collecting oral histories, and then again I can’t think of a single person who doesn’t enjoy a good story. As we prepare to make our holiday treks, now is the time to share our stories as we prepare to surround ourselves with generations of friends and family.

Full disclosure: this is coming from a sentimental wannabe folklorist, but at least story sharing keeps our minds off of our gadgets and off of politics for the time being.

To quote my grandpa,…

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by Josh Boschee
joshua.boschee@yahoo.com
photo courtesy of Mitch Marr

Eight words that perfectly describe the beautiful spirit of Kim Winnegge.

"I have given my whole life to words."

Those of us who knew her remember these words as a prominent tattoo she proudly wore on her upper arm. But to Kim, this was a statement of the power that words have in the mundane and the extraordinary moments of our lives.

The web of friends that Kim made and introduced to each other was reconnected with texts,…

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Title X was established in 1970 and is the only federal family planning program that provides grants to a number of providers of family planning and related health services. It was designed to provide information, supplies and access to contraceptive services to those who want or need them. Priority is given to low-income individuals by law. In fact, Title X provides affordable birth control for over four million individuals.

Keep in mind that these family planning services provide…

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by Ed Gruchalla
egruch@aol.com

With substantial evidence indicating the negative consequences of burning fossil fuels, why is it we have so much trouble in North Dakota moving on to cleaner forms of energy?

Most of us are not ignorant of the consequences of dirty energy sources: changing weather patterns, increasing temperatures, melting glaciers, shrinking biodiversity, and increasing storm intensities. We learn the Arctic is slated to be ice-free by the year 2035, a first in over 5…

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It's that time of the year when we’ve finally finished up our Halloween candy and started to deck the halls... but who’s rushing the season when it’s the season of the holiday rush?

Here at HPR we’ve had shopping and holiday menus on the brain for the past couple weeks in preparation for our first-ever holiday edition of HPR. With all of this holiday chatter around the office we’re starting to think that this year just might be the year that we finally send out the holiday…

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On Monday Dan Larson, a film student from Montana State University in Bozeman, swung by the office for an interview. This time I was on the other side of the questioning. Larson is currently working on a documentary about the geographical center of North America and the communities that have been trying to claim it. As a result, much of our conversation surrounded the topic of North Dakota’s identity.

It was the same topic that came up multiple times this weekend, upon sharing an…

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