Last Word

​The chain restaurant: A pillar of Americana?

May 8th, 2019

Chain restaurants - photograph by Zach Nerpel

By Zach Nerpel
zachnerpel@gmail.com

Something’s amiss. 

There is a general uneasiness in the air and the scent comes from too many directions to find the source; a waft in every wind. The same dread one receives when waiting in the principal's office permeates nearly every living being I encounter, especially those included in my Millennial Generation. A sense that something very dire is about to occur but we are too powerless to prevent. Is it me? Us? What have we done wrong to deserve…

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​ND Democratic-NPL lawmakers put families first

May 8th, 2019

Representative Joshua Boschee during 2018 campaign - photograph by C.S. Hagen

By Rep. Joshua Boschee and Sen. Joan Heckaman
jboschee@nd.gov

During the 66th Legislative Assembly, Democratic-NPL legislators successfully advanced a legislative agenda that puts the needs of working families first and supports the values of North Dakotans.

Strong state investments in these four areas help the people of our state. They also reduce the burden on local property taxes levied by counties, cities and schools, providing you with property tax relief.

Good Public Service When…

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​Cowards Who Would Rule the Brave and the Craven

May 1st, 2019

"Dostoevsky’s nightmare vision of the surrender of inner freedom for untroubled security was…a predecessor of the literary genre of dystopia, represented by such works as…Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, and George Orwell’s 1984. The motif of deception—the Grand Inquisitor’s pretense to speak in the name of the true Christ—is closer to the Communist model (than to the Fascist version of 20th Century totalitarianism)". – Joseph Frank
"Narcissists love being loved. Or hated.…

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Obituary: ​Glen William Hornung, 86

May 1st, 2019

Glen William Hornung - photograph by Sabrina Hornung

Glen Hornung passed away peacefully at Ave Maria Village in Jamestown with family by his side on Sunday, April 28.

He was born in Woodworth, North Dakota on May 15, 1932 to Joe and Esther (Gaub) Hornung, the first of six children. He attended Gerber No. 2, a one-room schoolhouse in Woodworth and was baptised at Woodworth Lutheran Church. He spent his formative years helping out on the farm and exploring the surrounding prairie.

In November of 1951, Glen enlisted in the army as a…

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Alex White Plume: the ‘hemperer’ and the governor

May 1st, 2019

Alex White Plume and Winona LaDuke - photograph by Kristen Tharaldson

By Winona LaDuke
winonaladuke1@gmail.com

It’s twenty years since Alex White Plume planted his first hemp crop on Wounded Knee Creek, here on the Pine Ridge reservation. Spring’s come after a winter buried in epic snow storms, and the grass is greener than ever. It’s time to plant.

It’s 2019, and the Oglala Lakota are revisiting a plan to grow hemp on the reservation. Hemp has been a longstanding interest of the Nation. That’s because it’s an incredibly versatile plant. It…

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And Then The Illegal Bridge Becomes Legal

April 17th, 2019

Photograph by Jim Fuglie

It seems like the threats to North Dakota’s Badlands never cease. Let’s go back and revisit Wylie Bice. He’s the rogue, rich, rancher up in Dunn County, on the eastern edge of the Badlands, who’s built himself a private bridge on public land, without permission, over the Little Missouri State Scenic River. Now it appears he is going to get away with nothing more than a slap on the hands and a little dip into his very big pocketbook.

I’ve written about him before. After making a…

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​‘Teddy’s Walmart’ Comes to Medora

April 3rd, 2019

Medora - photograph by Sabrina Hornung

“(My) Father always had regarded making money as of secondary importance compared to moral values and one’s usefulness to the community.” – Bernard Baruch

“Take no credit, give everything to a foundation, and don’t even let the foundation bear your name.” – Harold Schafer/Larry Woiwode

“Medora’s Rough Riders Hotel appears to be the only (Negro Motorist) Green Book-approved establishment still in existence in North Dakota.” – Bismarck Tribune, 01/27/19

“I have…

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​In Pursuit of Culture: Bacon and Beer

April 3rd, 2019

Beer and Bacon Fest - photograph provided by Zach Nerpel

By Zach Nerpel
zachnerpel@gmail.com

Surely, it wasn’t lutefisk all the way down, lefse or friendly attitudes. There had to be something more to our Upper Midwestern, white culture. I’d done extensive scientific research into the regions of our Great Country™ which led to intriguing, broad generalizations that we just couldn’t match. The East - old America, the melting pot. Commerce and tall buildings. Mafiosos, hot dog vendors.The West - manifest destiny, everything from surfing to…

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​A New Scheme to Change the Name of the State?

March 6th, 2019

The new(est) North Dakota logo

I’ve got a problem. I need to write a column that is going to be kind of critical of three people I like, and I’m trying to figure out how to do it without making them all angry at me. Their names are Sara, Doug and Marvin. Also, I’m not sure I want to be critical of what they are doing, or have already done, except that they’ve all done some weird stuff and somebody needs to tell the story. So I’m just going to start typing and see what comes out.

It’s about Rep. Marvin…

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Our last communal misery

February 27th, 2019

Pinning the nose on Old Man Winter - photograph by C.S. Hagen

By Zach Nerpel
zachnerpel@gmail.com

The very air seeks to betray us. Temperatures this season have fallen well into the negative teens and twenties and the oxygen on which we rely has become fatal if sought outdoors. To simply exist has become painful. 

Falling snow blurs our vision at night only to amass and blind us in the morning when it reflects our good friend, the sun, into our sleepy, innocent eyes. And if not, the clouds conspire to withhold our beacon of light for days on end.…

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