September 18th, 2019
It Takes More Than Money To Remain Unequal
One Percenters are complaining. It takes dedication, perseverance, innumerable hours, and a helluva lot of money to stay elite. The toil starts in early childhood. It is normal for the rich living in big cities to apply to at least ten kindergartens for a spot for their elite young, often exposed to writing essays, revealing interviews and nosy appraisals in order to pay at least $50,000 for a kindergarten year.
After that year it’s arranging…
September 11th, 2019
Am I Left-Handed Because Of Genes? Am I Heterosexual Because Of Genes?
I celebrated International Left-Handers Day in the middle of August. I entered First Grade at District #54 in Morrison County as a lefty and left it as one after defeating a teacher who tried to turn me into a right-hander. About two percent of the populace was left-handed in the 1940’s. In high school, baseball coaches were always looking for left-handed pitchers because we were tricky, devious, and threw funny…
September 4th, 2019
Should Tourists Pay An Entrance Fee Just To See Venice?
Back in 1807 English poet William Wordsworth was so fed up with his fellow humans and their activities he wrote these famous lines in his poem “The World Is Too Much With Us”:
“The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;--
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!”
When he wrote this analysis of his world there were less than one…
August 28th, 2019
Race, Slavery, And American Capitalism
Even a small liberal Midwestern city like Bloomington, Indiana can’t escape the division caused by racial demons led by Donald Trump and his Republican minions who both promote white nationalism. Relations among vendors at the farmer’s market in the city of 85,000 and the University of Indiana grew so bad over the subject of white nationalism the mayor suspended the market in July over public safety concerns. This from the city that survived the…
August 21st, 2019
Basing Gun Control On Militia Muskets Is Nuts
There was a picture of hundreds of colorful backpacks in the Fargo Forum that were distributed to children at the Fargodome a couple of days ago. It was part of the 21st Annual 2019 United Way School Supply Drive. I wonder if any of them will end up having a “bullet-proof” insert placed in the backpack. I also wonder how many metro area parents have purchased a “bullet-proof” or “bullet-resistant” backpack for their children to…
August 14th, 2019
Is The Bottom Going To Fall Out?
The story about the Fargo man who died in his storage unit who remains unclaimed by any family reminds me of thousands of Irish funerals conducted during the Great Potato Famine. Because of the numbers of deaths during those trying times, the Irish held the cost of funerals down by recycling coffins. Everything looked normal while the coffin was lowered into the grave but when it reached the bottom of the grave the bottom of the coffin was fixed to drop…
August 7th, 2019
Humanity has always been on the move. The new science of paleogenetics proves it. Humans have been crossing lands since Lucy decided to climb down from a tree on the African savanna. Every human should read “A World On The Move” in the July National Geographic. We humans don’t have family trees. We are all tiny branches and leaves on the same gigantic single human bush growing out of mother continent Africa.
Genetic scientists can now take a thousandth of an ounce of a…
July 31st, 2019
Hungry Kids, Expensive Views, and A Nutcase In The Oval Office
We are in serious trouble. America is suffering from a world-wide pandemic that has been the downfall of most empires. It’s called greed. One of our numerous billionaires, Howard Schultz, who convinced people that drinking $5 cups of coffee is a great physical and mental boost, wrote this prescient paragraph about money in his book ‘From the Ground Up’: “Money is never about money. It’s about dignity, autonomy, the…
July 24th, 2019
Let’s Send Our Best To Mars
In the first place, women live about six years longer than men. There are 43 people in the world known to be at least 110 years old. This may come as a shock, but 42 are women, according to the Global Gerontology Research Group. The University of Southern Denmark’s Institute of Public Health has studied the life expectancy records of many societies and countries as far back as 250 years and has determined that the difference between man and woman is due to…
July 17th, 2019
There Seems To Be A Lot Of Confusion About What Freedom Is!
At a recent conference of the evangelical Christian’s Faith and Freedom Coalition, Chairman Ralph Reed, long a hard worker for the Moral Majority’s Jerry Falwell, had the freedom to proclaim this about our president, the Manhattan Village Idiot: “We have had some great leaders! There has never been anyone who has defended us and fought for us, who we have loved more that Donald J. Trump. We have seen his heart and he is…
__293px-wide.jpg)
_(1)__293px-wide.jpg)
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…
June 21, 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.Fargo Theatre, 314 Broadway N., Fargo“We Watch Shudder,” Fargo’s favorite horror podcasters, bring on the darkness during the longest day of the year. The Darkest Day of Horror Film Festival features…
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.comFor sale: White House in D.C. housing dung beetles and giant leechesI suspect someone close to Donald Trump has read “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,”because the Trump administration is…
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 The writing/directing partnership of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck has to be one of the most curious cases of crazy connect-the-dots career moves in recent cinema. From short documentaries and…
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…
