May 19th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
How many cardinals in red look at Michelangelo’s sexy ceiling?
Michelangelo finished painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in 1512. It is examined and admired by millions every year. The first conclave to elect a pope in the chapel took place in 1492, and since 1878, every conclave to elect a new pope has been held in its beautiful confines. He returned in 1536 to paint the altar wall and finished it in 1541. Michelangelo painted his famous Last…
May 15th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
Perhaps it was by IVF — the Know-Nothings are “concepting” notzees
In the middle of the 19th century the Republican Party morphed to the Know-Nothing Party for a short time. Members quickly threw off STUPID and were “born-again” to the Republican Party. It remained so until the rise of the second Trump, which is an attempt to emulate the rise of the Third Reich by Hitler. In a very short time, Trumusklicans are morphing to the Notzee Party,…
May 12th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
In which century would you love to live, the 14th or the 22nd?
History tells me we are in a period where Americans are fighting for their choice. Just 48 hours after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany in 1933, several trade agreements were about to expire. With large lumber imports from Austria and a 200 million Reichsmark trade deal with Russia pending, Hitler’s finance minister Count Johann Ludwig Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, was told an…
May 5th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
What age has been determined to be the worst in world history?
Historians have estimated about one third of the population of Europe died of the bubonic plague, also known as the black plague, from the fifth century through the 15th century of the Middle Ages. The early years of this era are also often called the Dark Ages by historians. During this disastrous time, the Roman Catholic Church (with its denizens and popes in the Vatican) burned thousands…
April 27th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
There is a big difference between ears and legs
Our English language adds words to dictionaries every year because there are more than 6,000 languages on earth and we do communicate with friends and enemies. We now have more than 600,000 words in the most complete dictionary, the Oxford English Dictionary. This year we added 42 words from other languages as well as words created by new developments in many scientific fields. The dictionary added the…
April 7th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
The wizards and kleagles in whites now wear blue suits and red ties
A hundred years ago, more than 30,000 members of the Ku Klux Klan from virtually every state in the Union wearing their white sheets and pointy hoods marched by the White House and down to the capitol before thousands of cheering Americans. They came by foot, horse, steamboat, train, bus, car, taxi and perhaps plane. Rumor was the New Jersey KKK wanted to have a plane carry a huge…
March 31st, 2025
By Ed Raymond
A column on How Trumusklicans are trying to change history
It took William L. Shirer a couple decades to write and then publish “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany,” but it took a very short time to become the 1,599-page explosion that “shook the conscience of the world” after it was published in 1959. I still treasure my paperback copy I paid $1.65 for when I was teaching English literature and history to Fargo…
March 29th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
A description of “Big Boss” King Donald and his Trumplican mob
Our new Health and Human Services Dictator Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who has sold and been addicted to heroin and other drugs and suffers from worms eating his brain, has a solution for people who have been addicted because of anxiety, depression, diabetes, and other “conditions” he has suffered. He would sentence those people to labor camps called “Wellness Farms” where they would…
February 28th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
Lennon: “Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can!”
On January 8, 2025, Timothy W. Rybeck of “The Atlantic" magazine published “How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days” with the opening line: “He used the constitution to shatter the constitution.” What immediately leaped into my mind? King Donald Trump. He is going to try to do what Hitler did, so I’m going to insert Trump’s name and some appropriate facts in Rybeck’s opening…
February 10th, 2025
By Ed Raymond
Homo Sapiens are now old enough to know better
According to fossil experts — so far, Homo sapiens have been around for about 300,000 years, evolving slowly from a few other Homos, until most of the Neanderthals met our Maker — if there is One. Homo sapiens have been left “alone” at that point, although it seems some Neanderthals have been hiding in political parties for thousands of years. Notice the high cheek bones and the bellicose larynx on…
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By Alicia Underlee NelsonMore than 1,000 pro-worker events are planned for Thursday, May 1 across the country, including rallies in Fargo-Moorhead, Grand Forks, Minot and Jamestown. East Grand Forks and Bismarck will host protests…
From concerts and car shows to Japanese art and Juneteenth celebrations, there's so much going on around the region this summer. This year's High Plains Reader Summer Events Calendar is back and bigger than ever. It's packed with…
May 24-25, 1-4 p.m.Yunker Farm & Dog Park, 1201 28th Avenue N., Fargo.Who’s ready for a fun filled family friendly day of enchantment and imagination ignition? Kids of all ages file in for kite flying, a fairy parade, scavenger…
By John Strandjas@hpr1.com One description that perhaps aptly describes the mental state of many lately is that they feel they are attached to a string. Or several strings. Call it the notion that people are played like puppets,…
By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comHow many cardinals in red look at Michelangelo’s sexy ceiling?Michelangelo finished painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in 1512. It is examined and admired by millions every year. The…
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 After a very inspiring conversation with Kayla Houchin of Sonder Bakehouse a few weeks ago, I decided that it’s an appropriate time to write a column about some of the sweet people who are involved…
Mooncats and Pert Near Sandstone play Empire TheatreBy Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comThe MoonCats describe themselves as “Americonscious Campfire Folk.” They have a clear acoustic folk sound with a sense of whimsy — think…
By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com In a Sundance profile for feature debut “The Ugly Stepsister,” which opened the festival’s 2025 Midnight section, filmmaker Emilie Blichfeldt described growing up “in a tiny village…
By Raul Gomezraul@hpr1.com Minutes before Modern’s Celebration of Life opened its door at the Sons of Norway, I was fiddling with the bar computer, trying to pull up the playlists of Modern’s work I had set aside for the…
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 Ellie Liveranieli.liverani.ra@gmail.com There appear to be differences in the incidence of mental illnesses between men and women. For example, women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression, post-traumatic stress…
By Alicia Underlee NelsonProtests against President Trump’s policies and the cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are planned across North Dakota and western Minnesota Friday, April 4 and…
By Vern Thompsonvern.thompson.nd7@gmail.com Our trucking business has me driving almost daily from gas plants in western North Dakota's oil patch to Canada. I haul natural gas liquids (NGLs) products we used to see flared off at…
