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…
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…
October 7th, 2020
By Sabrina Hornung
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…
October 7th, 2020
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…
October 2nd, 2020
No Tolerance? -- No Democracy; No Freedom, Peace Or Justice; No Habitable Planet!
“Is there in all republics this inherent and fatal weakness? Must a government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?” - Abraham Lincoln, July 4, 1861
“Mr. Lincoln never did get a direct answer to his question, nor did he really need one. He…answered it himself (in the course of his Presidency), and his answer was this: that in all…
September 25th, 2020
“The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their proper name.” - Confucius
“On March 26, 2020, the people of the United States desperately needed a leader (for the Covid-19 Pandemic). Instead they got Donald Trump and Sean Hannity.” – Brian Stelter, HOAX: Donald Trump, FOX News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth, 2020
“Too many of us Democrats bought into the right-wing notion that government is synonymous with failure. At a time when Americans are being…
September 15th, 2020
“(Kafka’s) world knows no physical or moral order…We, the readers, are reliving our bad dreams…punishment is over all the characters, but the crime remains mysteriously hidden…” - William Hubben
“The specter of color is apparent even when it goes unmentioned, and it is all too often the unseen force that influences public policy as well as private relationships. There is nothing more remarkable than the ingenuity that the various demarcations of the color line reflect. If only…
September 7th, 2020
“The vast majority of African-Americans who lived in this land in the first 246 years of what is now the United States lived under the terror of people who had absolute power over their bodies and their very breath, subject to people who faced no sanction for any atrocity they could conjure.” - Isabel Wilkerson, Caste: The Origins of our Discontents, 2020
“The NFL is the most conservative, Republican and nationalistic of major sports leagues, despite (a)socialist profit-sharing…
August 31st, 2020
“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.” – Ralph Elison, Invisible Man, 1951
“Although the (1965) Voting Rights Act was sponsored by a…pro-civil-rights president who was…a Southern Democrat, most Southern Democrats opposed it. However, (LBJ) could count on strong support from Republicans: In the House, 82% of Republicans voted yes, compared to 78% of Democrats; in the Senate, 94% of Republicans voted yes, compared to 73% of Democrats. But things…
August 24th, 2020
“History, like payback, is a bitch.” - Chicago Dog
“History as a discipline began as a confrontation with war propaganda. In the first history book, The Peloponnesian Wars, Thucydides was careful to make a distinction between leaders’ accounts of their actions and the real reasons for their decisions. In our time, as rising inequality elevates political fiction, investigative journalism becomes the more precious.” - Timothy Snyder, The Road to Unfreedom, 2018
“If we…
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By Alicia Underlee Nelson A 37-year-old man from Minneapolis was shot during an incident involving federal immigration officers on Jan. 24. Hospital records obtained by the Associated Press (AP) stated that the man was pronounced…
By Kooper Shagena Just off of I-94 and Highway 83 on State Street in Bismarck, an abandoned Kmart sits behind an empty parking lot, watching the cars roll on and off the interstate exchange. It has been standing there quietly since…
Saturday, January 31, mingling at 6:15 p.m. and program at 7 p.m.Fine Arts Club, 601 4th St. S., FargoThe FM Symphony is getting intimate by launching a “Small Stages” chamber music series and it's bringing folks together via…
By John Strand If you are reading this editorial and you too are worried sick about the state of our country, keep reading. Maybe we can inspire each other. It was near closing time. We were discussing our values crisis. So this…
By Ed RaymondA mind that snapped, cracked, and popped at one hundredI wasn’t going to read a long column called “Centenarian: A Diary of a Hundredth Year” by Calvin Tomkins celebrating his birthday on December 17 of 2025…
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 GionSince the much-dreaded Covid years, there has been much ebb and flow in the Fargo-Moorhead restaurant scene. In 2025, that trend continued with some major additions and closings. Let’s start the New Year on a positive…
Saturday, January 17, doors at 7:30 p.m.The Aquarium above Dempsey’s, 226 N. Broadway, FargoThe Slow Death is a punk supergroup led by Jesse Thorson, with members and collaborators that include members of The Ergs!, Dillinger…
By Greg Carlson There is a great scene in the middle of Kelly Reichardt’s excellent movie “The Mastermind” when protagonist James Blaine Mooney (Josh O’Connor) is chastised by criminally-connected wheelman Jerry (the…
By Jacinta ZensThe Guerrilla Girls, an internationally renowned anonymous feminist art collective, have been bringing attention to the gender and racial imbalances in contemporary art institutions for the last 40 years. They have…
Saturday, January 31, 6:30-9 p.m.Transfiguration Fitness, 764 34th St. N., Unit P, FargoAn enchanting evening celebrating movement and creativity in a staff-student showcase. This is a family-friendly event showcasing pole, aerial…
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 At the beginning of the movie “How the Grinch Stole Christmas," the Grinch is introduced as having a smaller than average heart, but as the movie progresses, his heart increases three…
January 31, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.Viking Ship Park, 202 1st Ave. N., Moorhead2026 marks 10 years of frosty fun! Enjoy sauna sessions with Log the Sauna, try Snowga (yoga in the snow), take a guided snowshoe nature hike, listen to live…
By Vern Thompson Benjamin Franklin offered one of the most sobering warnings in American history. When asked what kind of government the framers had created in 1787, he replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Few words…
