Last Word

​Much Ado About Nothing?

June 27th, 2024

By Jim Fuglie

jimfuglie920@gmail.com

My articles here are about politics. I’m writing this before the North Dakota primary election. You are reading it after the primary. Advantage: readers. So I won’t speculate much on that election, because you already know who won.

I think instead I’ll talk about Burgum. Doug Burgum. You’ve heard of him. He used to be North Dakota’s Governor. Not so much lately. Even he admits it. I went to the Memorial Day Service at the North Dakota…

Read more...


​Shotguns, dead dogs, liars and courtrooms

May 16th, 2024

By Jim Fuglie

jimfuglie920@gmail.com

I am an old man. I have been a politics junkie most of my life. I have been involved in many campaigns, but have not run for office myself. Each time someone has suggested I do that, I tell them the same thing: I will not put my name on a ballot until all my college roommates are dead. Luckily for me, a few of them are still with us. Brad, Ron, Jim, you know who you are. Ssshhh.

But in all my years of participating in other people’s campaigns, I…

Read more...


​Should America save small towns?

April 18th, 2024

Dismissing the value of small towns for the future of our nation is a mistake

By Bill Oberlander

arcandburn@gmail.com

According to U.S. Census projections, by the middle of this century, roughly 90% of the total population will live in an urban setting. This conclusion follows a trend that began at the start of the industrial revolution. Advances in machinery and technology moved the largest labor demands away from farms and rural outposts into urban centers. People have been moving to the…

Read more...


Notes from North Dakota’s political conventions

April 18th, 2024

By Jim Fuglie

jimfuglie920@gmail.com

I couldn’t make it to Fargo for the two state political conventions last weekend. It takes an old guy a lot longer to get over a cold than it used to. So I watched from afar and read about them, and wrote down my impressions, first on Saturday and then on Sunday. Here they are.

Saturday: Convention Notes . . . So Far

I’ll start this off by talking a bit about Tammy Miller, “Tall Tale Tammy” as Kelly Armstrong calls her. I think I get an assist…

Read more...


​How To Be An Anti-Partisan

March 21st, 2024

By William Cooper

wcooper11@gmail.com

When people look at political questions through a partisan lens, they apply their own personal gloss to the world. They reflexively interpret events in favor of their own tribe and against the other side. This distorts empirical reality, which is completely independent from such subjective mental processing.

The main problem with partisan thinking is that it’s inaccurate, wrong, mistaken—irrespective of what tribe it comes from. It leads to gross…

Read more...


The Challenges of Modern Journalism

September 23rd, 2023

By Faye Seidler

fayeseidler@gmail.com

On the first day of the month I ask people to thank a journalist they know or someone who contributes to papers in some meaningful way. When I grew up, my best friend's father was a journalist and there were times in my life I wanted to be one. And even back then, I was told, don’t get into this work, there is no pay.

Today we see the burn out in the fourth estate. We see papers shrinking, fewer reporters turning up, and tight deadlines for…

Read more...


Navigating Safely in Times of Terror

August 20th, 2023

By Faye Seidler

fayeseidler@gmail.com

As someone in her thirties, I’m still at an age to have had active shooter drills as part of my school experience in Fargo. I was in middle school when 9/11 happened and grew up with the changing world as our national zeitgeist was overcome with grief and anxiety.

We tried to cope with 24 hour news networks, because of a belief that enough information would keep us safe. If only we knew everything, we couldn’t be surprised anymore. It was always a…

Read more...


ND House Bill 1332: Conversion Therapy

March 8th, 2023

By Ken and Alice Christianson

submit@hpr1.com

HB 1332 is currently before the North Dakota legislature. The bill proposes to permit social workers to use a discredited treatment method to convert the sexual orientation of gay and lesbian persons to be heterosexual. The same method is proposed to change transgendered persons to the declared birth gender.

The treatment method, called conversion therapy, is proven to be ineffective and often dangerous. Mental health professionals have…

Read more...


​Good evening, Valley City/Barnes County Public Library Board Members and Fellow Community Members

January 8th, 2023

By Stacie Hansen-Leier

submit@hpr1.com

I’ve been a resident of Valley City for most of my fifty-one years, with the exception of short residencies in Jamestown, Fargo, the Park Rapids Minn. area and five years in the Cities.

I’ve been a voracious reader for most of my life and some of my best childhood memories come from days spent sitting in a bean bag chair downstairs in the children’s section of the public library, a pile of books at my feet just waiting to be read, as I paged…

Read more...


​An Open Letter to Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christians.

November 17th, 2022

By Waylon Hedegaard

retiringwithcats@gmail.com

For all those who still decry my departure from the Evangelical/Fundamentalist Christian faith, understand that I will never return. I see the examples you set and want no part of them.

For I know you. I used to be you, and I never want to be that again.

I have heard you preach against lies, then lie about others. You fabricate new truths when the old no longer suit. You twist events into unrecognizable shapes, then use them as weapons to…

Read more...


Tracker Pixel for Entry Nicholes Tracker Pixel for Entry SevenClans Tracker Pixel for Entry FARRMS Tracker Pixel for Entry Aquarium Tracker Pixel for Entry MidwestRoadTripAdventures Tracker Pixel for Entry FPL

Recently in:

By Winona LaDukewinona@winonaladuke.com The business of Indian Hating is a lucrative one. It’s historically been designed to dehumanize Native people so that it’s easier to take their land. ‘Kill the Indian, save the man,”…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com The onion calendar is an old German folk tradition used to predict levels of moisture each month throughout the coming year using salt, a knife, an onion and a little bit of patience. Donna and…

Sunday, December 29, 9:30 a.m.Cellar 624, 624 Main Avenue, FargoEnd the year on a high note with performances from the CyberHive Collective, pancakes and glitter (served separately of course). Brunch options include gluten free and…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com I’m really sick of the “Nobody wants to work anymore” narrative. Like, really sick. I can’t hide the eye rolls and I don’t even try to hide them anymore. In fact, I feel like they’ll…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comA new type of Civil War: “smash-and grab” capitalism and healthcare The Divided States of America has the greatest economic inequality among wealthy nations on Planet Earth and has birthed a…

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.comPhoto by Rick Gion To say the least, this election season was a doozy. Anxiety was high for many on both sides of the political aisle. To calm down and settle the nerves, a comforting meal is…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.com Local band Zero Place has been making quite a name for itself locally and regionally in the last few years. Despite getting its start during a time it seemed the whole world was coming to…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Dutch filmmaker Halina Reijn’s previous feature, “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” was a dizzy, snarky riff on the Old Dark House motif and one of 2022’s most slept-on cinematic treats. Now, with…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comIn 1974, the Jamestown Arts Center started as a small space above a downtown drugstore. It has grown to host multiple classrooms, a gallery, performance studio, ceramic studio and outdoor art park.…

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 Josette Ciceronunapologeticallyanxiousme@gmail.com What does it mean to truly live in a community —or should I say, among community? It’s a question I have been wrestling with since I moved to Fargo-Moorhead in February 2022.…

By Faye Seidlerfayeseidler@gmail.com On Dec 5, the Turning Point USA chapter at North Dakota State University hosted an event called BisonFest. This event featured Chloe Cole, a former trans kid, known for detransitioning and…

By Curtis W. Stofferahn, Ph.D.Curtis.stofferahn@email.und.edu In June, two events markedly contrasted the difference between two different visions of agriculture: precision agriculture and regenerative agriculture. The dedication…