Last Word

Fargo City Commission Hang-Up — Affordable Housing Downtown?

January 18th, 2022

By Melissa Van Der Stad

m.forfargo@gmail.com

A proposal for affordable housing in Downtown Fargo is currently being discussed in two separate committees — the Tax Exempt Review Committee and the Renaissance Zone Authority — with the proverbial ax held over it, ready to fall at any moment.

Preventing this from happening is a flurry of citizen activity in the Fargo area in support of this proposal. Not satisfied with the committees’ lack of verbal support, the community has…

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​Faith4Hope Juneteenth Freedom Celebration

June 15th, 2021

by Annie Prafcke

submit@hpr1.com

17 June 2021

On June 19th, from 12pm to 7pm, nonprofit Faith4Hope Scholarship Fund is hosting their first ever Juneteenth Freedom Celebration at Lindenwood Park in Fargo. It is free and open to the public. Established by Faith Dixon and C. Hope Shields, Faith4Hope strives to empower low-income F-M area families. They provide food at their North Fargo pantry as well as outreach programs such as child care scholarships and Money Management classes.

Juneteenth

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Biden’s Turn to the Left Finds the MIddle of the Road

June 7th, 2021

By Charlie Barber

CMCBARB@msn.com

10 June 2021

“Quietly and with little fanfare, the Biden administration has been taking all the right steps early in its tenure in confronting the threat of right-wing extremist violence and its spread—a mandate handed to Biden by the insurrectionists who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Rather than take a high-profile approach that might backfire, Biden’s Justice Department and FBI, and to a lesser extent its Department of Homeland Security, has…

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Anti-Asian Hate Is Bigger Than Bullying. Sadly, It’s Nothing New.

May 18th, 2021

by Annie Prafcke

https://www.facebook.com/annie.prafcke

20 May 2021

Recently, C.S. Hagen wrote an article for The Forum about anti-Asian hate in Fargo-Moorhead, amidst the horrific Atlanta shooting, in which six of the eight victims were Asian women. In an interview for the piece, I shared incidents of racially-motivated harassment I experienced in Fargo as a Chinese-American woman.

After the article was published, I received sympathetic messages lamenting my hardship and commending me for…

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​Transgender People in Sports: What Does the Data Say?

February 10th, 2021

By Faye Seidler   

fayeseidler@gmail.com 

Community Uplift Program Project Coordinator        

(701) 732-0228

https://www.facebook.com/communityupliftprogram                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

North Dakota recently introduced and subsequently amended House…

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​20 Reasons Why 2020 Was. THE. BEST. YEAR. EVER.

December 18th, 2020

By Will Block

aredsheep@gmail.com

EDITOR'S NOTE: Will Block grew up around a therapist. The year 2020 has been mind-bending beyond belief. We need some humor in all this darkness. HPR reached out to Will and he delivered. Don't worry. It's tongue in cheek. Chill. Laughter makes for a good remedy. Enjoy!

1. Toilet paper finally got some much-deserved respect. And Hoarding essential items actually felt pretty good.

2. The iPhone 12 came out-- In two sizes!

3. Highest eligible turnout for…

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Can we trust our country?

November 14th, 2020

By Marc de Celle

marcdecelle@midco.net

As someone who has voted for both Republicans and Democrats in the last decade, and who has participated as both a poll worker and an absentee vote counter in the last five years, I feel it's my duty as a citizen to point out that in every state, both Republicans and Democrats count votes together, in a system that both parties created together so they could watch each other.

Sadly, I make a lot of people mad by standing up for the integrity of our…

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Singing (r)Evolutions The American Commitment to Democracy, Part I

November 12th, 2020

By Charlie Barber

CMCBARB@msn.com

“Be as courageous as you can – If none of us is prepared to die for freedom, then all of us will die under tyranny.”- Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny, #20

“We are the Folk Song Army, Everyone of us cares;

We all hate poverty, war, and injustice, unlike the rest of you squares…

So join in the Folk Song Army, Guitars are the weapons we bring,

To fight against poverty, war and injustice. Ready! Aim! Sing!” - Tom Lehrer, 1965

“For years, say…

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Don’t take your breath for granted: A COVID experience

October 7th, 2020

By Sabrina Hornung 

sabrina@hpr1.com

It’s been a weird year…talk about the understatement of the decade. This week’s issue of High Plains Reader is our first issue since March. Who would have thought that the story of the century would be the one that would knock us out for over six months?

2020 was going to be my year I toasted my friends on New Year’s eve with the cheer…

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Time to listen and reflect

October 7th, 2020

By Wess Philome

ndstandforchange@gmail.com

This week marks at least 129 days since 5,000 people marched through the streets of Fargo in the name of justice and equality. Through many years of being an activist, I had never experienced that many people activated locally in the name of change until the George Floyd protest. It was a must that we took advantage of the moment. The only way I could personally assure this was to be a part of the core myself. We owed it to George Floyd. There…

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