February 1st, 2017
A friend in Washington DC, a high-level Senate staffer who doesn’t wish to be identified, gave us some good advice.
There are two things that all Democrats should be doing all the time right now, and they're by far the most important things.
You should NOT be bothering with online petitions or emailing.
The best thing you can do to be heard and get your congressperson to pay attention is to have face-to-face time. If they have townhalls, go to them. Go to their local offices. If you're…
February 1st, 2017
My little sister, Gretchen Kaye Carlson Kost, died Monday, January 30, 2017. A dearly cherished daughter and sibling, wife and mother, cousin and conspirator, she was a friend first, a friend often, and a friend always.
She was also a displayer of dimples, which as a kid she often labored to hide, scowling in photographs when not in the mood or of the inclination to be told what to do, which was pretty much always. But when the grownups were smart enough not to push, that smile was…
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…
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…
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…
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…
December 7th, 2016
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…
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…
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…
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…
__293px-wide.jpg)
_(1)__293px-wide.jpg)
_(1)_(1)_(1)_(1)__293px-wide.jpg)
By Bryce Vincent Haugen More than 300 people gathered at Trinity Lutheran Church in central Moorhead on Jan. 27 for “constitutional observer” training. Led by the Immigrant Defense Network and supported locally by the West Area…
By Kooper Shagena Just off of I-94 and Highway 83 on State Street in Bismarck, an abandoned Kmart sits behind an empty parking lot, watching the cars roll on and off the interstate exchange. It has been standing there quietly since…
Saturday, January 31, mingling at 6:15 p.m. and program at 7 p.m.Fine Arts Club, 601 4th St. S., FargoThe FM Symphony is getting intimate by launching a “Small Stages” chamber music series and it's bringing folks together via…
By John Strand If you are reading this editorial and you too are worried sick about the state of our country, keep reading. Maybe we can inspire each other. It was near closing time. We were discussing our values crisis. So this…
By Ed RaymondA mind that snapped, cracked, and popped at one hundredI wasn’t going to read a long column called “Centenarian: A Diary of a Hundredth Year” by Calvin Tomkins celebrating his birthday on December 17 of 2025…
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 GionSince the much-dreaded Covid years, there has been much ebb and flow in the Fargo-Moorhead restaurant scene. In 2025, that trend continued with some major additions and closings. Let’s start the New Year on a positive…
Saturday, January 17, doors at 7:30 p.m.The Aquarium above Dempsey’s, 226 N. Broadway, FargoThe Slow Death is a punk supergroup led by Jesse Thorson, with members and collaborators that include members of The Ergs!, Dillinger…
By Greg Carlson The versatile Nia DaCosta follows her underseen and underappreciated “Hedda” (one of my 2025 favorites) with the first female-helmed entry in the 28 Days/Weeks/Years Later series, a fascinating and grisly…
By Jacinta ZensThe Guerrilla Girls, an internationally renowned anonymous feminist art collective, have been bringing attention to the gender and racial imbalances in contemporary art institutions for the last 40 years. They have…
Saturday, January 31, 6:30-9 p.m.Transfiguration Fitness, 764 34th St. N., Unit P, FargoAn enchanting evening celebrating movement and creativity in a staff-student showcase. This is a family-friendly event showcasing pole, aerial…
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 Ellie Liveranieli.liverani.ra@gmail.com At the beginning of the movie “How the Grinch Stole Christmas," the Grinch is introduced as having a smaller than average heart, but as the movie progresses, his heart increases three…
January 31, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.Viking Ship Park, 202 1st Ave. N., Moorhead2026 marks 10 years of frosty fun! Enjoy sauna sessions with Log the Sauna, try Snowga (yoga in the snow), take a guided snowshoe nature hike, listen to live…
By Vern Thompson Benjamin Franklin offered one of the most sobering warnings in American history. When asked what kind of government the framers had created in 1787, he replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Few words…
