Editorial

How do we satisfy our thirst for oil?

August 24th, 2016

There’s something to be said about our cover story this week. To say that the people’s fight against the pipeline is inspiring would be the understatement of the decade. The people versus Big Oil, youths making a 2,000 mile relay from North Dakota to DC to raise awareness of what’s going on and make their voices heard. That’s what we call true grit folks, and that is hard to find.

We think the rest of North Dakota could learn from this: multiple generations and races banding…

Breaking new ground

August 19th, 2016

By Tom Bixby

tom@hpr1.com

Malvina Massey kept a house of prostitution in Fargo from about 1891 to 1905. She was the main madam, the most successful, then and now the most famous. Partly because she was black and barred from other professions, she’s a monumental personage in the history of Fargo-Moorhead.

Her house, the Crystal Palace, was in the neighborhood called The Hollow, a low spot now filled in, below what used to be the City Hall parking lot, on the northwest corner of Third…

It’s my job

August 3rd, 2016

It may be a cliché to say it, but time flies when you are having fun--it’s true. I’ve been your humble--okay, maybe not so humble editor--for a little over a year now, and to say that it has been rewarding would be the understatement of the year.

I started writing for the Reader nearly a year and a half before I came on as editor, because I wanted to enhance my résumé and make a contribution to the art community. In doing so I killed two birds with one stone.

I returned to my…

More productive less destructive

July 20th, 2016

As clichéd as it is to say that you learn something new everyday, it always seems to hold true, though some things have a lot more intellectual value than others.

This week the High Plains Reader had the privilege of interviewing Mud Morganfield, bluesman and son of blues legend Muddy Waters. We also spoke to Canned Heat drummer Adolfo “Fito” de la Parra, prior to their appearance at the 2016 Fargo Blues Festival.

Both provided unique perspectives on the genre. Morganfield spoke of…

Summertime Splendor

July 14th, 2016

Winnipeg Folk Fest

Last weekend we ventured way up north to the great Winnipeg Folk Festival. It was my first outdoor festival camping experience and what an experience it was. The acts were a lively mixture of folk (obviously), rock, electronic, gypsy punk, indie, and anything else one can imagine.

Acts that caught our eye included The Wainright Sisters, Loudon Wainright III, Milky Chance, Ben Caplan and the Casual Smokers, The Funk Bandits, The Lemon Bucket Orchestra, and Ryan Adams.

The…

We’re not so different you and I

July 6th, 2016

It’s been about a week since we returned from Norway. The experience itself was life changing. While Raul and I were there for ten days, the students had a month to immerse themselves in the culture of Oslo and dig their fingers deep into the underground dirt of what makes the city truly unique.

Three people out of 11 had the opportunity to meet up with their Norwegian relatives, while your editor had an opportunity to reunite with her German cousin. Exploring a foreign city with two…

Norwegian Firearm Legislation

June 23rd, 2016

By Tom Bixby

On July 22, 2011, Anders Breivik murdered 77 young people on the island of Utoya, in Norway. Norwegians call it 22 juli, July 22nd, and it’s as familiar to them as 9/11 is to us.

In Norway, to own a gun, you apply to the police authority in your district for an acquisition permit (ervervstillatelsen). You specify the firearms for which you will be responsible. The permit to buy is valid for a year.

The dealer selling the gun sends the original permit to buy to the police,…

Apotheosis

June 15th, 2016

Words will not do justice to what’s on my mind. This will not be a traditional editorial. Rather, it’s a personal communication to HPR’s readers and others in our community.

I’ve had many titles over the years, here at HPR and elsewhere. There is nothing I’m more proud of than being part of The Little Newspaper That Could’s storied journey for two-plus decades. The bond with thousands of readers is not easily explained, yet it is real and heartfelt.

This week something big…

HPR skips across the pond for our first international issue

June 9th, 2016

It’s time to let the cat out of the bag. We will be working with ieiMedia, Valley City State University journalism instructor Steve Listopad and eight journalism students from across the nation and Canada. They have been overseas since the end of May. Their intent is to imbed themselves in Norwegian musical and cultural events as part of their “Oslo Rocks!” Project. And Rock it does..On June 12 Raul and I will be skipping across the pond to Oslo Norway to join them.

This particular…

Where do we go from here?

June 1st, 2016

By Tom Bixby

tom@hpr1.com

We’ve read Grace Lyden’s timely and thorough “9 things to know about Block 9, Fargo’s future high-rise,” in the Forum. One of the nine things is that there will be 20 condominiums on floors 13 to 17, purchase prices in the million dollar range.

She goes on: “While this is described in proposals as a ‘high-end condominium,’ Kilbourne Group says Block 9 will not gentrify Downtown.”

Lyden quotes from another document. “Kilbourne Group projects,…