August 16th, 2017
Can we learn anything after we know it all?
There’s a 100-page book written by a high school dropout that should be read by all high schoolers, college education students, teachers, and politicians.
Michael J.Fox of movie and TV fame wrote his little manifesto, “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Future: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned,” after receiving a number of honorary degrees and doctorates from leading universities while speaking at their graduation ceremonies.…
August 9th, 2017
The world has decided King Donald has made us irrelevant
Fareed Zakaria of the Washington Post and CNN while on assignment in London had a Nigerian man approach him and say with a mixture of outrage and amusement: “Your country has gone crazy. I’m from Africa. I know crazy, but I didn’t think I would say this in America.”
In Dublin, Ireland a young Irish woman told him:”I’ve come to realize that, as a European, I have very different values than America these days. I realized…
August 2nd, 2017
When have-it-alls and well-to-doers don’t want to share any of it
There’s a new novel out about the 19th Century Great Potato Famine, when Ireland lost one million of its population of eight million to starvation and disease, and two million to emigration to other countries, including many thousands to the United States.
Ireland still has a smaller population than it had before the famine. Domesticated in Peru and Bolivia over 7,000 years ago, the potato became the sole subsistence…
July 26th, 2017
A reasonable conclusion: “We should have killed our baby.”
For some unfathomable reason, some people think they are immortal, that death is not a part of life. Our culture tends to teach us to avoid the topic of death as if it will never come. We really get uncomfortable discussing our options about life and death.
But death is also a precious part of life and we should accept it with grace and peace—as well as the difficult and painful parts of both living and dying.
My dad lived to…
July 19th, 2017
Three “great leaders” who might really screw up the world
If you have had a chance to watch documentaries based on North Korean culture you had to notice that all citizens referred to 33-year-old Kim Jong Un as their “Great Leader” in interviews.
His picture was always visible whether inside or out, indicating that he remains in power through the fear and intimidation that only a cult icon can possess. As the ruling grandson of his ruling grandfather it helps tremendously to stay…
July 12th, 2017
What are the best laid plans for our future?
Israeli historian Tuval Noah Harari recently made a fascinating declaration in an article about the future: “People living in the 12th century knew pretty well what the 13th century would be like. Now we are in the first part of the 21st century and we don’t have a clue what the 22nd century will be like—or whether there will be one.”
Progress was slow in the 12th century but now in the 21st technical and scientific progress is…
June 28th, 2017
How many Americans shot themselves or others today?
We won’t know for awhile how many Americans were KIA or WIA from firearms on June 14, when Republican Majority Whip Steve Scalise of the House was critically wounded by some of the 71 rounds fired by James Hodgkinson and the police.
Actually it was not a big mass shooting deal, although Scalise was made the national center of attention by his congressional colleagues and the mainstream media.
In the first 165 days of 2017 we had only…
June 21st, 2017
From Homer’s Odyssey to Buddy Holly: The times they are a-changin’
When Robert Zimmerman, born in Duluth and raised in Hibbing, better known as Bob Dylan, won the Nobel Prize for Literature (worth almost a cool $1 million), he said, “When I received this Nobel Prize for literature, I got to wondering exactly how my songs related to literature. The music of Buddy Holly changed my life, along with Homer’s Odyssey, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, and Erich Maria Remarque’s All…
June 14th, 2017
Red blankets, thousand-dollar pills, and angry Irish
It makes for an interesting week when people, rats, monkeys, and the Irish wave the middle finger with wild abandon toward their erstwhile enemies. The Irish finally showed how fed up they are with the “state” Roman Catholic Church that treated pregnant girls horribly in forced-labor laundries and transferred priests who took sexual advantage of adolescent boys for centuries.
Irish voters sent the Vatican a final goodbye finger…
June 7th, 2017
How long does it take you to pay your Social Security taxes for the year?
Jay Gould was one of the richest capitalists in the United States in the 19th century, bribing legislators, robbing, killing, and hiring a private army to fight labor union strikes over wages, hours, and working conditions.
He and his associate Jim Fisk tried to corner the gold market so they could raise the price of agricultural products and increase the price of shipping on his railroads. Gould came from a poor…
_(1)_(1)_(1)_(1)_(1)_(1)_(1)_(1)__293px-wide.jpg)
__293px-wide.jpg)
__293px-wide.jpg)
By Dr Christopher Johnson, Chief Executive Officer, Sollera For nearly fifty years, this region has known us as Rape and Abuse Crisis Center. We have answered late-night calls. Sat in hospital rooms. Walked with victim survivors…
By Michael M. Miller Francie M. Berg, native of Hettinger, N.D., edited an impressive book, “Ethnic Heritage in North Dakota,” published in 1983. She grew up on a ranch near Miles City, Montana. Her son, Richard Berg, is…
June 6-7StatewideYou grab a line and I’ll grab a pole — and if you’re a North Dakota resident, you can head on down to your favorite fishing hole, no license needed (for this weekend, anyway). All other rules still apply…
By Sabrina Hornung As the school year comes to a close, a new crop of young people are starting a new chapter in their lives. As a former young person, I’d like to offer my unsolicited advice. As cliche as it may sound, be the…
By Ed RaymondWere women created to do the work of God?One of the first requests made by new Pope Leo XIV was to invite an expert on the alt-right conservative Catholic organization known as Opus Dei to brief him about its…
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 GionThe scarfing of canned fish and seafood products by online food influencer types is hard to miss on social media these days. Some of the consumed morsels range from exquisite to downright nasty. However, there are many…
June 3-6, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.FARGODOME, 2800 N. University Dr., FargoDo we dare call RibFest the ultimate summer kickoff in Fargo? Well, we just did. Enjoy succulent ribs, pulled pork, brisket and so much more. Featuring top notch…
__300x100.png)
By Greg Carlson The cinematic precocity of director Kane Parsons is quickly emerging as one of the year’s big moviemaking stories. The 20-year-old filmmaker’s “Backrooms,” an unsettling journey through the looking glass,…
By Sabrina Hornung The Plains Art Museum has been a trailblazing force in the North Dakota art scene since its inception and it’s not slowing down any time soon. In fact, this summer they are preparing to break ground on a major…
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 Eli Liverani Cholesterol is probably one of the first molecules I have ever heard of in my childhood. Most of the relatives on my mother's side had high cholesterol in their blood, and apparently, levels above a certain range…
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 Jim Fuglie I was out for a walk on a fine Bismarck spring evening, strolling down 4th St. alongside the state capitol grounds, when I noticed some dirt work being done on the spot where the former governor’s residence had…
