February 8th, 2017
The simplest description of HB1427 is this metaphor: imagine a dog p*ssing on the Constitution in front of your war-hero grandfather. Hundreds of people showed up to a rally in Fargo on Groundhog Day to rightfully oppose that concept.
People of many creeds and colors, tongues and towns showed up for this rally against this bad bill. Everyone had their reasons: family, business, solidarity. A map of pins showing attendees' ancestry filled every inhabited continent quickly.
Ostensibly…
February 1st, 2017
What was I before I was a feminist, before I even knew what that word meant?
I was a proud daddy’s girl
In my mind, it meant that I was strong, independent and wild. I could be clever enough to figure out problems with my own two hands and ask the question ‘why.’ It allowed me to minimalize my mother's contributions, because what a mother gives is the right of her child, but what a father gives is a gift. These were never things my parents said, but what I learned from society.
I was…
January 25th, 2017
I’ve spent a lot of nights sleeping within spitting distance of the Little Missouri River. God willing, I’ll spend a lot more. I’m pretty sure I’ve slept there in every month on the calendar. Some nights (and some months) were better than others. I’ve slept there alone, I’ve slept there with canoeing buddies, I’ve slept there with wives, with kids, with dogs, with a herd of bison trampling through my campsite, with coyotes howling, with a full moon and a new moon.
I’ve…
January 18th, 2017
“It is too difficult to think nobly when one thinks only of earning a living.”
– Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“It is engraved in my memory that Stalin used the term Russia, and not Soviet Union, which meant that he was not only inspiring Russian nationalism but was himself inspired by it and identified himself with it. There were also anecdotes. Stalin liked one in particular which I told. A Turk and a Montenegrin were talking during a rare moment of truce. The Turk wondered why the…
December 21st, 2016
In 2013, George Zimmerman was acquitted of the murder of an unarmed 17-year-old boy.
A heartbroken Alicia Garza took to Facebook to write a love letter to her dismayed friends reading “Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter. Black lives matter.”
Her words resonated with other activists, who contacted her and organized a social media platform to spread #blacklivesmatter to a disenfranchised community. Alice Garza is a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement.…
December 21st, 2016
“This my prayer: Civil war fattening on men’s ruin shall not thunder in our city. Let not the dry dust that drinks the black blood of citizens through passion for revenge and bloodshed for bloodshed be given our state to prey upon.” - Aeschylus
“…the anarchical tendency of our worship of freedom in and for itself, of our superstitious faith…in machinery…our want of light to enable us to look beyond machinery to the end for which machinery is valuable,…All this, I say, tends to…
December 21st, 2016
I commend ND media outlets for raising awareness about the opiate epidemic and heroin overdoses in our communities. Stories about recovering addicts reduce stigma and shame, providing hope for those who still struggle with addictions; meanwhile, stories about people who died of an overdose offer a cautionary tale. Most importantly, media coverage about the epidemic can ignite social change and be the impetus for evidence-based policy reform.
Unfortunately, some of the coverage is…
December 14th, 2016
I’d be lying if I said James W. Foley was one of my favorite poets. Hokey might be the best word to describe him (but kind of wonderfully hokey). Foley, North Dakota’s longtime Poet Laureate (way before current Laureate Larry Woiwode) has been dead 75 years now, but there’s a renewed interest in his work, as evidenced by a series of new reprints of some of his 20 books of poetry, and you can now buy most of them in new, paperback editions, (Alibris.com is the best place) for less…
December 7th, 2016
The most consistent argument made by North Dakota regulators and the owners of the Dakota Access Pipeline against the protest actions of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is that the Tribe entered the pipeline approval process too late; they should have made their feelings known earlier in the process.
In mid-November, just a couple weeks ago, Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) CEO Kelcy Warren told reporters “I really wish, for the Standing Rock Sioux, that they had engaged in discussions way…
November 30th, 2016
By Bob Valeu
bvaleu@yahoo.com
Okay, a week is often a lifetime, let’s move on. Let’s redirect and focus our energy and political will on 2018. One great thing about our republic is that we, the citizens, get a chance every two years to make the decision on what direction, politically, our country will take. The clock is ticking, don’t be distracted any longer. Time is of the essence!
The Democratic Party needs a reset. We must focus on three things: middle-class stagnation; the…
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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 Johnathan Campbell history@nd.gov Since Halloween is just around the corner, I thought I’d share three mysterious — and mildly creepy folktales — that have been shared about the Former Governors' Mansion State Historic Site,…
November 1-2, 9 p.m.Downtown VFW, 202 N Broadway, FargoEden Parker hosts two nights of music and mayhem with everything from original music, piano bar sing-alongs, to Halloween hymns. Dress up for the costume contest, drink up and…
By Jim Fugliejimfuglie920@gmail.com As a political columnist, I know I should be writing an election preview for the issue of this paper that comes out just a couple weeks before what is being labeled, once again, as “the most…
By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comCitizens United Turned Billionaires Into Oligarchs, Dictators, and KingsWe have reached a stage in Divided States of America politics where if the Democratic Party decreed that zebras have black…
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…
North Dakota’s All Star Tribute to John Prine at the Fargo TheatreBy Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comOn November 3, The Radio Stars are rounding up a number of North Dakota’s finest musicians from Watford City to the Red River…
By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Writer-director Nicole Riegel’s sophomore feature “Dandelion” is now playing in theaters following a world premiere at South by Southwest in March. The movie stars KiKi Layne as the…
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By HPR Contributorssubmit@hpr1.com They are the inventive, passionate, adaptable, resourceful, sometimes over-enthusiastic, wack-tacular people who create art in our community, and they’re opening their studio doors to you for…
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…
Rynn WillgohsJanuary 25, 1972-October 8, 2024 Rynn Azerial Willgohs, age 52, of Vantaa, Finland, died by suicide on October 8, 2024. Rynn became her true-self March 31, 2020. She immediately became a vocal and involved activist…
By Curtis Stofferahncurtis.stofferahn@email.und.edu In1915, Arthur Townley, an organizer for North Dakota's Socialist Party, witnessed a session of the state legislature where legislators were poised to discuss the establishment of…
