October 22nd, 2015
Thomas Browne: “But Man Is a Noble Animal, Splendid in Ashes, and Pompous in the Grave”
Some scientists think there is water on Mars, although temperatures say it would be ice anyway. It might be wishful thinking. There seems to be a crowd wanting to leave Earth for safer climes.
The Uppermost Animals are back to killing, torturing, raping, and starving each other at the rate established by the First Crusade between Muslims and Christians, the Mongol invasion of Europe of Genghis…
October 15th, 2015
Having Everything—Having Nothing
In his novel “A Tale of Two Cities,” Charles Dickens writes of life in Paris and London just before and during the French Revolution of 1789. His first paragraph may be instructive about the differences between the rich and poor in the United States in 2015: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of…
October 7th, 2015
From Carnivorous Mighty Mites To Vegetarian Monsters
When our spacecraft Voyager 1 took pictures of earth from four billion miles away in 1990, scientist Carl Sagan looked at the pictures and described the image in his book Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space: “Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us….Every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there—on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”
Just maybe we should continue to…
October 1st, 2015
A Black Man Who Wants To Eat At The Dining Room Table All Of The Time
Since the institutional murder of New York City’s Eric Garner for selling loose cigarettes, the institutional murder of Detroit’s 12-year-old Tamir Rice for loitering in a park, the institutional murder of Baltimore’s Freddie Gray after his severed-spine ride in a police paddy wagon, the institutional murder of Ferguson’s Michael Brown, the institutional murder of Charleston’s Walter Scott, and the thousands…
September 24th, 2015
So far we have determined that humans started to walk upright about six million years ago. It took us another 3.4 million years to invent stone tools. Some human pyro discovered fire about 1.9 million years ago. We haven’t discovered many of our other unique accomplishments since then until we domesticated unruly cats in 7,500 B.C. The Chinese added to our brain buzz by making wine in 7,000 B.C. The Egyptians invented papyrus in 3,000 B.C. We started to clean our armpits with soap in…
September 16th, 2015
Why the 99 percent is so pissed it isn’t going to take it anymore.
Why are Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson leading Republican polls for the 2016 presidential nomination? Why is Bernie Sanders beginning to overtake the “inevitable” Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in Democratic polls? Only because Hillary is better known than Bernie.
Who in the hell is Bernie Sanders? He could be the local dogcatcher or pimp. Many don’t know he is another politician -- but anything that walks…
September 9th, 2015
The obituary of Dr. Oliver Sacks, 82, who died on August 30, appeared on the front pages of national newspapers, with a photo of him holding a three-pound human brain in one hand.
That brain has over one trillion cells, with a 100 billion of them acting as neurons linking up millions of networks that give us intelligence, creativity, emotion, consciousness, and memory. If the wrinkles in the cortex could be ironed out, it would cover a very large office desk.
Known as the poet…
September 3rd, 2015
Corporate cults and the industrial revolution: it ain’t over until it’s really over
Business and labor have been battling each other since the invention of the cotton gin and the loom revolutionized the textile and clothing business in England and America in the early 19th Century.
In a very short period of time steam engines running complex machinery made the factory floor a hellish place to work in extremely poor lighting. Machines were not fenced in, so moving parts often injured…
August 26th, 2015
As a farm kid I learned early that it’s always wise to stay upstream from the herd when they are near or in a creek on a hot day. When belly deep in water the tail always goes up when the head goes down for a drink.
Wendell Berry is an 81-year-old farmer-poet-essayist with the message that we humans must live in harmony with the natural rhythms of the earth or perish. He believes that small-scale…
August 19th, 2015
Sometimes I wonder why this little poem by E.E. Cummings has stuck in my brain for over a half-century: “Buffalo Bill’s defunct … who used to ride … a watersmooth-silver stallion … and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat … Jesus he was a handsome man … and what I want to know is … how do you like your blue-eyed boy Mister Death?” Could be a very important question! This column is about death, so I am going to call on two experts, an…
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By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.com Ten North Dakota communities will participate in the nationwide No Kings Day of Peaceful Action on October 18. The grassroots movement is a nonviolent protest against President Trump’s…
By Michael M. Millermichael.miller@ndsu.edu I would like to recognize some of the scholarly Germans from Russia from Canada and USA shared on the GRHC website. There are additional names not included here. If you have suggestions…
Friday, October 31, doors 8 p.m. show starts at 8:30 p.m.The Aquarium above Dempey’s, 226 N. Broadway, FargoThe annual Aquarium Halloween Cover Show is back and it is stacked. And this time there are a limited amount of presale…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com At the end of September, downtown Fargo said goodbye to another old friend; the Spirit Room closed its doors, marking the end of an era. The Spirit Room room has been a fixture downtown for the…
By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comWho will write “The Rise and Fall of the Third Trumpidiotocracy?” Chicago-born William L. Shirer was 30 when he covered a major Nazi Party Rally in Nuremberg, Germany in 1934 for theNew York…
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 Gion and Andrea Baumgardnerrickgion@gmail.com Many of us food fans miss our local favorite Nordic-Jewish deli in downtown Fargo. Yes, that means BernBaum’s, which unfortunately closed last fall. Specifically, missed goods…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Dakotah Faye is a hip-hop artist from Minot, North Dakota, and he’s had a busy year. He’s released two albums. This summer he opened for Tech N9ne in Sturgis and will be opening for Bone…
By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Scottish moviemaker Lynne Ramsay adds the fifth feature to her filmography with “Die My Love,” an adaptation of Argentine writer Ariana Harwicz’s 2012 novel. Co-written by Ramsay, Enda…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Gallery 4 downtown recently celebrated its 50 year anniversary, making it one of the longest consecutively running galleries in the country. With different membership tiers, there are 17 primary…
Press release“Shakespeare with a sharpened edge.” To launch its 2025 – 2026 season, Theatre NDSU is thrilled to team up with Moorhead-based organization Theatre B to perform a co-production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and…
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 When we are sick, all we want is a cure. You go to the doctor, they give you a pill, you take it for a bit, then you are cured. It happens. But unfortunately, it is not always the case. …
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@rocketmail.comMoral accountability and the crisis of leadership As a recovering person living one day at a time for the last 35 years, I have learned not to judge others because I have not walked in…
