November 22nd, 2016
Chaos and the American empire
Harper’s Magazine in the last edition published a long list of items that were mistaken for guns in the hands of people killed by police in the United States since 2001.
People were shot to death because they held hairbrushes, bottles of cologne, beer, and pills; toys and underwear.
Among the hundreds of items handheld, one seemed to stand out: a Bible. Maybe the victim got a break later when he approached the pearly gate. I wonder if the police shooter…
November 16th, 2016
The longest civil war in history
Our American Civil War, brought on by white supremacists and the enslavement of millions of blacks, started in 1860, killed 620,000 of the Blue and Grey over five years of intensive fighting, and really hasn’t been concluded yet.
The military part of the war was deadly, almost matching the 644,000 we have lost in all of our other wars. We have gone through Reconstruction days, 40 acres and a mule, hundreds of Jim Crow laws, the so-called separate but…
November 9th, 2016
Our Nobel Prize winner for literature recognizes change
I have to write this column a day before the election in order to make a publishing date, so it will be interesting on November 10 to see whether Americans voted for “change” or not. Both politicians were running to make changes in our society, believe it or not.
Republicans wanted to go back to a time before same-sex marriages, Rose v. Wade, affirmative action, income tax, ObamaCare, Social Security, OSHA, EPA, FDA, Brown v.…
November 2nd, 2016
The four major elements in this election
The last book of the New Testament of the Bible, called the Book of Revelation, describes the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the messengers bringing a vision of the Last Judgment. The white horse brings conquest and pestilence, the red horse brings war, the black horse brings famine, and the pale horse brings death.
There are other interpretations, one being a description of the decline of the Roman Empire. Theologians over the centuries have…
October 26th, 2016
A reversal of the evolutionary chart?
There are several published charts by scientists that illustrate how the human has progressed from green swamp slime to ruler of the planet. A popular one shows 15 characters from monkeys to gorillas, to apes, to orangutans, to chimps, to knuckle-dragging Neanderthals, and finally to human beings developing over the last 25 million years.
The chart seems to show some progress over time. However, the 2016 election clearly indicates we are beginning to…
October 19th, 2016
The good, the bad, and the really ugly
The headline might suggest this column is all about the 2016 presidential and Congressional election. Most of it is, but there are some good things happening in this country, although the election campaigns concentrate on emphasizing the bad and the really ugly.
As an end result, our only hope is that the election will provide a moral test of government that is centuries old: “The moral test of government is how that government treats those who…
October 12th, 2016
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Whatever happened to the Christian religion?
On Sunday, October 2, our prayer of the day at Cormorant Lutheran Church was: “Benevolent, merciful God: When we are empty, fill us. When we are weak in faith, strengthen us. When we are cold in love, warm us, that with fervor we may love our neighbors and serve them for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.”
Presidential election polls show that eight of ten white evangelical voters are…
October 5th, 2016
A country divided by money and colors
As an old wood butcher I have discovered splinters sometimes run in the wrong direction. There’s an old Irish greeting that can bring reality to life itself: “As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point in the wrong direction.” Sometimes it’s too late to stop sliding. In the richest country in the world one would think all banisters might be smooth, slippery, and splinter-proof.
Minimum-wage cafeteria worker Stacy…
September 28th, 2016
Our climate is going down the toilet—a solid gold one
In late August the International Geological Congress meeting in Capetown, South Africa received a recommendation from a world-renown group of scientific experts that the world has entered a new geological epoch because of human impact on Planet Earth.
The experts say we passed through the Holocene Epoch, that had lasted 12,000 years, in about 1950 because of nuclear bomb tests, plastic pollution, heavy soot from coal power stations,…
September 21st, 2016
Teaching history, grading papers—and driving for Uber
The national media is in a survey mode, trying to make additional bucks from all that political money loosed by the Republican Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United.
The media comes up with “exciting” breaking political news every hour of the day from polls, controversy about she-said vs. he-said on the campaign trail, “lies” on Twitter, Instagram, and all those other “social” networks. It’s great for the…
Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.com A midnight wedding ceremony at the Clay County Courthouse in Moorhead on August 1, 2013 was more than a romantic gesture. Eighteen couples made history on that day by exchanging vows in the…
By Michael M. Millermichael.miller@ndsu.edu On March 11, 2024, we celebrated the 121st birthday of bandleader Lawrence Welk. He was born March 11, 1903 in a sod house near Strasburg, North Dakota, and died on May 17,1992. The…
Saturday, May 117 p.m., gates at 5 p.m.Outdoors at Fargo Brewing Company610 University Dr. N, FargoWisconsin’s finest export, The Violent Femmes, started out in Milwaukee in 1981 as an acoustic punk band, and they’ve been…
Is this a repeating pattern?By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comThere’s a quote circulating around the world wide web, misattributed to Sinclair Lewis: "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a…
by Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comAccording to my great-grandfather many years ago, my French ancestors migrated from Normandy to Quebec to Manitoba to Wisconsin to Minnesota over the spread of more than two centuries, finally…
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…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com There’s no exaggeration when we say that this year’s Plains Art Gala is going to be out of this world, with a sci-fi theme inspired by a painting housed in the Plains Art Museum’s permanent…
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,…
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Dismissing the value of small towns for the future of our nation is a mistakeBy Bill Oberlanderarcandburn@gmail.comAccording to U.S. Census projections, by the middle of this century, roughly 90% of the total population will live…
