Editorial

From the mouths of octogenarians

May 16th, 2018

The tin man of Edgeley - photograph by Sabrina HornungTime and aging is weird. It flies, it fleets, it stands still and all too often it passes us by. I lose track of time too easily and it seems like when the years meld themselves together I’m reminded how much has gone by once I see my friends’ children. Instead of thinking, “Oh, that was only five years ago,” I realize that that is an entire lifetime for a Kindergartner.

My little sister was born right before my Freshman year in high school, I remember thinking to myself how old…

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​The city mouse vs. the country mouse

May 9th, 2018

Photograph by Sabrina HornungI was working on a project in a small town in the south central part of the state this week and one of the women I was working with showed me some of the local hot spots and made mention of how many of those buildings and businesses were for sale, because the business owners were planning to retire. Along with these storefronts a slew of beautiful, reasonably sized homes were also on the market.

Then John Prine’s song “Spanish Pipedream” got stuck in my head and has been echoing…

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​What does it mean to leave a legacy?

May 2nd, 2018

Aberdeen artists Nick and Nichole Fischer with collaborative murals - photograph by Sabrina HornungThe older I get the more I think about what we leave behind and I’m not just talking about material objects. What kind of wisdom are we leaving behind and what kind of stories, traditions and pearls of wisdom can we collect from our elders before it’s too late?

I learned the art of scherenschnitte through a grant from the NDCA called “The folk art and traditional art apprenticeship program.” The intent of the grant is to keep the tradition of these arts alive. I learned…

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​What are you going to do when the robots take over?

April 25th, 2018

Photograph by Cindy NicholsThere’s something to be said about the art of listening. Effective communication is like playing a game of catch, you need to bounce the conversation ball back and forth to keep it going. I never was one much for sports-ball but I’m in the communications field and that’s about as close as I get. Plus conversation doesn’t really require a lot of coordination so we’re golden. In a day and age where we can publish our opinion by the minute and pick and choose the causes and…

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​Spring? We won’t bank on it, if you get our drift…

April 18th, 2018


A winter 2017 scene in Grand Forks - photograph by C.S. Hagen
According to Greek mythology Hades is to blame for the Earth’s mournful state of winter. The story involves Persephone the goddess of nature and Hades the god of the underworld in a classic caper of obsession, abduction, and Stockholm syndrome. Hades had become obsessed with Persephone and captured her as she was picking flowers by the river and hanging out with some river nymphs of questionable repute. According to the tale, she fell through a fissure in the earth and Hades himself…

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​We need to rethink how we’re treating each other

April 11th, 2018

On March 31, 2018 a young transgender person took their life in Bismarck. Chance Houle was 12 years old, a seventh grader, a child in Bismarck, North Dakota.

According to the obituary, “Throughout the last 6 months of her life, she experienced continual transition and intense bullying at school.”

Everything about this is heartbreaking. Cherish “Chance” Houle’s obituary and story are going viral. Another sad thought, Chance came out as transgender this year and every media outlet…

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​The tastes they are a’changin’

April 4th, 2018

Art by Jacob Bloomquist, gold key winnerA couple of weeks ago an article in The Washington Post called ‘Grandma’s food’: How changing tastes are killing German restaurants outlined just that. It acknowledged the loss of established German restaurants throughout the nation that have been around for generations.

Why the a decline in German restaurants? One reason -- we’re losing our German restaurantiers and along with them we’ve lost their establishments. Another is that the new generation’s palates are changing as…

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Finding Roky

March 28th, 2018

Photograph by Sabrina HornungThe weeks prior to our trek to Austin were spent poring over pages of RSVPs, combing through emails trying to find out how to connect and make the most of our venture, and if the time allowed, digging through the list of bands that would be playing each event. Full disclosure: It’s overwhelming but oh so worth it. With so much going on, it’s easy to overlook or double book important events.

As part of my preparation for the trip, I watched a documentary called, “Dirt Road to…

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Keeping calm in an age of uncertainty

March 21st, 2018

Tommy McLoughlin of the SlothsAs we eke out our final hours in Austin, the quiet is almost stifling. It’s the combination of a collective citywide sigh of relief after the storm that was SXSW and the anxiety and uncertainty of the anonymous package bombings that have been rocking Austin for the past three weeks, killing two and injuring four.

One package exploded early this morning (Tuesday morning) in a Fedex facility located in Schertz, Texas, near San Antonio and was believed to be Austin-bound.

As festival…

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Someone to pull us out of a ditch

March 7th, 2018

Why We Had to Be Apart, oil painting Scholastic gold key portfolio winner - Janessa GraveThere’s nothing really quite as unifying as a good snow day. The calm before the storm gives us something to small talk about. It’s one thing everyone can relate to and add on to. Whether you casually comment on how much snow there is out there to “too bad ‘ol Norbert Schultz isn’t around to read the pig spleen..”

Both of which I’ve reiterated; but in my defense Schultz was an older gentleman who lived near Pingree, who would butcher a hog and predict the outcome of the…

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