Editorial

​Our opinion: What sells, and what that says about us

January 25th, 2017

Music instructor Kris Kitko was recently in the Kirkwood Mall in Bismarck. She saw a

T-shirt in a store, looked again. On the T-shirt, it said “GRAB AMERICA BY THE PUSSY.”

“Kirkwood Mall is often the site for children’s performances,” said Ms. Kitko, “These shirts were in a front aisle and are easy to see as you just walk in.”

Kris filmed the T-shirt display. “One of the reasons I zoomed in so many times was to let people walk by behind me so that I didn't film them. Do…

Read more...


​Put down the device and mobilize

January 11th, 2017

There’s more than one way to agitate the internet, but as of lately the biggest agitator involves Trumplethinskin’s twitter account--ok I apologize.Name calling is probably the wrong way to start the first editorial of the year but it may have made you laugh or motivated you to write us an angry letter. Good. We like to see the passion in your eyes.

Yes, Trump lacks the eloquence of nearly all of his predecessor’s--that’s obvious. It scares the bejeezus out of me, too, but on the…

Read more...


Happy Holidays

December 21st, 2016

Time flies. It was 20 years ago December 26 that the High Plains Reader changed ownership. The two-plus year old bi-weekly in Grand Forks evolved into what you know

HPR to be today, two decades later.

We owe a debt of gratitude to Founders Ian Swanson, Peter Ryan, Len Schmid, Mark Boswell and Jim Johnson. For the record, it was the Flood of ’97 that dislocated the Reader to Fargo.

Many discounted the possibility that HPR would survive even its first few years. We did, however.

Just think…

Read more...


A little more conversation

December 14th, 2016

We can sit and post and kvetch about the commercialization of the holidays until we are blue in the face, but personally, the thing that I appreciate the most is holiday baking -- especially making springerle with my grandma. Springerle are a traditional German Christmas cookie, often made with wooden forms--some of ours are over 100 years old and happen to be family heirlooms. Each cookie is a relief print and an individual edible work of art.

The serious baking begins once she brings…

Read more...


North Dakota Nasty

December 7th, 2016

Dapper by Allison Buecksler

We have a huge public relations problem here in the Peace Garden State. While the world was watching the DAPL pipeline controversy, ND failed abysmally in influencing the narrative telling people about us. What they see casts us in anything but a positive light. We need to acknowledge this.

The movie Fargo gave us an example of how far good PR and branding can go. The film – and subsequently the TV series – put Fargo on the map. Who’d have ever thought that DAPL, NoDAPL, and…

Read more...


With all due respect

November 30th, 2016

By Tom Bixby

tom@hpr1.com

“Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney and Mandan Police Chief Jason Ziegler called pipeline protesters Liz George and Kana Newell over to their table,” wrote HPR reporter C.S. Hagen, “while they were eating at the Chinese restaurant Rice Bowl,” in Mandan.

The two women were leaving the restaurant. The sheriff and the chief didn’t have to call them over.

What followed was not a conversation. Laney lectured George and Newell, and when they didn’t agree with…

Read more...


​After Election Day, a wave of hate crimes against minorities

November 23rd, 2016

By Tom Bixby

tom@hpr1.com

Since the election, attacks on minorities have increased. By frequency: Muslims and people who look like they might be from the Middle East; LGBT people, especially transgender; African Americans; Jews; anyone who looks foreign and dresses distinctly. That’s nationwide; here in North Dakota, Native Americans are also at risk.

The abuse includes shouted insults, death threats, and physical attacks; and in schools, chanting “build the wall” and worse; racist…

Read more...


​Give them the same chance your family had, Commissioner

November 16th, 2016

City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn’s great-great-grandfather, Friedrich Franz Gottlieb Piepkorn (1808-1897), left Revahl, Prussia, now Rewal, Poland, between 1863 and 1870, and lived in Waltham, Mower County, Minnesota.

Why? Like most Prussians, Franz was stuck in the situation he was born into, and told what to do. Most farmers were tied to large estates and virtually owned by great landowners. They performed forced labor. The royal bureaucracy and landowners controlled everything, from…

Read more...


No morning after pill

November 9th, 2016

Despite what many feared, the sun rose again Wednesday. And it will again, daily.

The shockwaves of a Trump presidential victory reverberated around the world. Many people fell into a state of despondency, a pall cast over their world. Others were jubilant, a victory in hand for Americans who had simply had it with big government’s dysfunction.

At this early point, there really is no prognosticating exactly what it will mean to American policy and the body politic with a Republican…

Read more...


Trumpeteers

October 27th, 2016

By John Strand jas@hpr1.com

Last week, HPR published “Trumpeteers,” an interview with several Republican candidates and leaders in North Dakota, to ascertain whether they support Donald Trump for president.

Perhaps not surprisingly, stalwart Republicans towed the GOP line, continued their endorsements of Trump and defended some absolutely – in our opinion – outlandish and unsettling planks in their party’s national platform.

Things like protections for women with regard to…

Read more...


Tracker Pixel for Entry Nicholes Tracker Pixel for Entry Blackbird Tracker Pixel for Entry Bismarck1 Tracker Pixel for Entry Hjemkomst Tracker Pixel for Entry VisitStCloud Tracker Pixel for Entry VisitStCloud

Recently in:

By Vanessa Jugarap Clarkvanessajugarapclark@gmail.com "I lived in Gaza, Palestine from 2003 to 2017 and 2020 to 2021. From water cuts, to the electricity schedule of 6-on/12-off (on a good day), every day was a reminder of the…

By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com As an elementary school kid in the early 2000s, Kristy Tran didn’t start her day the way most kids do. Instead of rolling out of bed to go straight to school, Tran and her parents went…

March 19-23Fargo Theatre314 Broadway N, FargoCheck out luncheon panel discussions, pre-parties, a 2-minute movie contest, local, international and award-winning films for your viewing pleasure. Producer Will Greenfield will be…

By John Strandjas@hpr1.com What’s that you just said? “Tell somebody who gives a shit”? Stop reading this now if you don’t care about anyone else. Don’t waste your time. You’ll only get mad. Vocal. Obstinate.…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comThe Catacombs under Paris Contain the Bones of Millions of FeudalistsSixty-five feet below the Paris streets are about 170 miles of tunnels that go through stone quarries, galleries, and ossuaries…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com In this land of hotdish and ham, the knoephla soup of German-Russian heritage seems to reign supreme. In my opinion though, the French have the superior soup. With a cheesy top layer, toasted baguette…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.com It is not unheard of for bands to go on hiatus. However, as the old saying goes, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” That is why when a local group like STILL comes back to…

Now playing at the Fargo Theatre.By Greg Carlson gregcarlson1@gmail.comPalme d’Or recipient “Anatomy of a Fall” is now enjoying an award-season victory tour, recently picking up Golden Globe wins for both screenplay and…

In the 20th and 21st centuries, the pursuit of knowledge has directed humankind to new horizons – the ocean depths, the infinite reach of space, and the hidden secrets of cells and microbes…or to Artificial Intelligence, which…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.comHigh Plains Reader had the opportunity to interview two mysterious new game show hosts named Milt and Bradley Barker about an upcoming event they will be putting on at Brewhalla. What…

By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…

By John Showalter  john.d.showalter@gmail.comThey sell fentanyl test strips and kits to harm-reduction organizations and…

JANUARY 19, 1967– MARCH 8, 2023 Brittney Leigh Goodman, 56, of Fargo, N.D., passed away unexpectedly at her home on March 8, 2023. Brittney was born January 19, 1967, to Ruth Wilson Pollock and Donald Ray Goodman, in Hardinsburg,…

By William Cooperwcooper11@gmail.com When people look at political questions through a partisan lens, they apply their own personal gloss to the world. They reflexively interpret events in favor of their own tribe and against the…