Well, that’s just great. A few villagers got wind of a yet-to-exist innocuous mural with a whiff of science implied, and now we have to inspect all of the art in the state for depictions of Swedes wearing Native jewelry. It seems the mere thought of a mural featuring a 17-year-old girl got a handful of North Dakota wankers so …
Well, the liberals did it now. “Human scum,” if you prefer. How are we going to pay for THIS? How are we going to put a price on human life this time? Burleigh County, 1,668 mostly empty square miles, is willing to accept a whole 25 refugees from probably not Northern Europe. What an imposition on somebody somewhere in that …
As the two iconic battling moose towered above, Dennis Riedhammer chiseled mortar away from the sculpture’s base, one rock at a time. Riedhammer’s job this week is just one part of a process to restore the base of the bronze sculpture in East Grand Forks, Minn., which contained a serious design flaw. Originally, the base had a lichen cover that …
I’ll bet a $12,000 custom Taylor guitar you didn’t know local area musicians are competing in a northern Red River Valley songwriter challenge. Eighteen musicians so far have submitted their YouTube video entries in the 2018 Half Brothers Songwriter Challenge. Half Brothers Brewing Co., in Grand Forks, is the main sponsor for the competition. The contest runs throughout the summer. …
An interview I did with Dan Keating of KMAV/KMSR Radio in Mayvillle stirred up some memories for me earlier today. Clomping down memory lane a bit. For me, before there was television, there was radio. And before there was television news, there was radio programming. KMAV is where I picked up my first paycheck in broadcasting “some” years ago. In …
Leave it to a bunch of kids. Twenty-one of them from around the United States filed a “constitutional climate lawsuit” against the U.S. government in 2015. At the time, they ranged in age from 9 to 20. For the most part they were, and still are, people with next-to-zero voice in our formal political system. Even so, they’re out in …
It did not go unreported that Kevin Cramer might run for Senate in 2018, but the news was largely lost in the fog of the scandalous AMC miniseries, “The Case of the White Pantsuits and Other White Outfits,” based on the true story of a primitive male, with a bad combover, and his faithful miniature poodle, Port, named for the …
Spring teased the Northland last weekend. The seasonal diversion seemed as though it knew the winds from hell would soon attack us from the north. Rarely do March temperatures rise into the balmy, high 40s. But when they do, cabin fever-crazy Minnesotans head — where else? — outside. Sunday was the ideal day to take a hike along the East …
And so the Illegitimate One has taken the oath and in so doing has vomited even more lies with the world as a witness. Meanwhile, “Hairman Mao’s” Cabinet of criminals awaits approval from his fellow congressional conspirators. Never has a man so unpopular and so divisive taken the oath of office as the president of the U.S.A. As the world …
We’ve all been there. You’ve bought something — an appliance, tool, toy, DIY furniture, whatever — and the time arrives to use the thing. But first, decision-making time arrives. You see, humans divide themselves into those who read instructions before use, and those who don’t. Many, many men (mostly) I know believe they are born with that special intuitive skill — you know, …
… but, our president lied to us on the very night of 9/11. On a sacred day in American history, George W. Bush decided that politics were more important than telling the truth, and this is where his re-election campaign started. Luckily, he wasn’t under oath. Here are his words, when the commander-in-chief uses his photographic imagination to recall the days …
Russ spotted a row of pumpkin pies at the Village Inn the other day. He stopped dead in his tracks, and breathed one wistful outburst: “Yummm.” So now, it’s officially autumn. A few weeks earlier, he’d never have wasted a second glance for a brown ugly duckling pushed toward the back of the pie case, skulking behind the more glamorous …
Fall has finally arrived, and we’re on a roll. I said two blogs ago Nature is pregnant with surprises and looked forward to a return trip to the Brainerd (Minn.) Lakes Area to discover more of them. A couple of weeks ago, my oldest daughter, Arin, and her mountain climbing son, Asher, stumbled on a delicious species of edible mushroom called the …
Coupon grocery shopping is sort of like hunting for Easter eggs. Since I have no say in our household, I do both the shopping and egg hunting. The local family-owned grocery monopoly mails coupons to residents every once in awhile. Two weeks ago, we received some, so I decided I’d go spend and save some money. The colorful coupon package …
The stuff on the log looked like something that belonged in an ocean. Like pure, white clumps of coral growing on a reef, it stood out in stark relief to the jungle green of early September’s foliage. How could we have missed it? That we had passed it by the first time on our short hike on the mountain bike …
Unheralded.fish welcomes three contributors aboard our ship. We believe you’ll enjoy reading blogs from Clay Jenkinson, John Strand and Russell J. Myhre. Here’s some background on each, plus an excerpt from one of their recent blogs. All three men have joined other Fish bloggers who’ve provided exclusive, complete, accurate, relevant and thought-provoking stories about the ongoing saga connected to the …
Unheralded.fish welcomes two contributors aboard our ship. We believe you’ll enjoy reading blogs from Paula Mehmel and Martin Fredricks. Here’s some background on each from short bios they wrote for the Fish. Paula V. Mehmel Paula, who describes herself as a “radical, evangelical, Lutheran mystic,” is currently parish pastor at Elim Lutheran Church in Fargo. Based in Casselton, N.D., but …
Unheralded.fish extends a hearty welcome to two new bloggers who have agreed to share their stories with readers of our site. Nothing busts our buttons more than adding people who want to share their thoughts, ideas and opinions via the written word. Jackie Qualley Brodshaug grew up, married and raised a family on a farm near Fargo. As her four …
Tony Bender is a writer from rural Venturia, N.D. He is the publisher of the Ashley (N.D.) Tribune and the Wishek (N.D.) Star. He has written a weekly column, That’s Life, for 25 years, which is published by various papers. He has published two novels and three collections of his columns.
Since the 1930s, beginning with our great-grandfather’s clan, family members have heard wolves howl, grouse drum, deer blow, coyotes yip and bark, owls hoot, frogs croak. Then, there are the frequent, mysterious and sometimes scary unidentified critters who scream or moan or bray worse than almost all of our impressive presidential candidates. Most of the time we hear the sounds …
Michael Bogert is a freelance photographer whose first interest in photography started in the mid 1970s after taking a course at Grand Forks Central High School. Despite a detour of many years, Bogert never lost interest in shooting and recently rejoined the digital age of photography. Mike enjoys trying to any of life’s moments from sunrise to sunset — the …
Spend a little time on Dave Bruner’s Flickr pages and you’ll soon realize this photographer can shoot the land as well as almost anybody. Bruner captures his scenes both in color and black and white. Check out the shots from the Alamo in Texas or the Badlands in western North Dakota for black-and-white examples. He’s also got a knack for …
Unheralded.fish became a year old this week. One-year-olds are a blast to watch as they grow. They’re fresh, fun, unpredictable, messy, emotional, creative, aware and always entertaining. I’m describing my granddaughter, but many of those characteristics could describe the Fish, too. In the second year of life, humans slowly but surely learn to become aware of their environment. They become …
Yes, it’s 20 below. So what. In January, zero feels warm. Ten feels balmy. Twenty is sublime. And 32 is shirts and a vest temperature. We who live up North deal with stuff like cold with humor, which always makes the world a little warmer. You’ve probably seen or heard the following It’s So cold jokes, but some of these …
At 5 a.m. last weekend, our phone weather apps revealed the news: 13 below, a predicted a high of zero, plus a 20 mph blow. Perfect. We didn’t care as we headed east to the Red Lake Indian Reservation and a rendezvous with rainbow trout. Introductions I was the back seat passenger in a pickup with two friends, both named …
The name David Vorland might ring a bell. Vorland spent most of his career at the University of North Dakota. As a UND student, he reported part time at the Grand Forks Herald and summers at the Harvey (N.D.) Herald-Press. After teaching journalism full time for five years at UND and St. Cloud (Minn.) State, he returned to UND as …
Maybe the name Eric Bergeson sounds familiar to you. For the past 15 years, several northwestern Minnesota newspapers have carried Bergeson’s weekly columns. Or maybe you’ve read one of six books, including “Pirates on the Prairie,” which the Minneapolis Tribune called “a Minnesota cultural and historical treasure.” Or maybe you saw his name in the news when he sought the …
Chris Allen’s journal dispatches from the Middle East country of Oman are an unusual and very welcome addition to Unheralded.fish. Allen is a professor of journalism at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where he has taught since August 1996. In addition to his teaching duties, he is the general manager of UNO Television and a board member and past-president …
Fair pay — what a concept President Obama launches his quest to make the case that the federal government should require employers to pay overtime to all salaried workers who earn less than $50,000 per year. http://www.startribune.com/obama-s-overtime-proposal-becomes-new-flashpoint-in-america-s-slow-wage-comeback/311352151/ Why we like Netflix is quite simple For better or worse, Americans love to zone out and watch TV. Working 60 hours a …
Star Tribune photographer captures the essence of Minnesota You’ve seen his photos. Brian Peterson has worked for the Star Tribune since 1987. Or maybe you’ve seen Peterson’s photos published in National Geographic, Sports Illustrated and many more publications. His work has earned him a boatload of awards. His book, “Minnesota State of Wonders” probably will, too. Peterson double-teamed the book …
Americans have lost confidence in just about everything The USA, Americans say, basically sucks right now. The latest Gallup Poll says Americans over the past two years have lost confidence in, well — name it: Congress (8 percent); the presidency (33 percent); Supreme Court (32 percent); big friggin banks (“institutions” that made $4 billion charging customers for money transactions … 28 …
Cruise the Coolest Maps of Minnesota’s water ever made Blogger David Montgomery presents on twincities.com a few maps that capture Minnesota’s water in the Land of 10,000 lakes — or is it 28,176 distinct wetlands, ponds and lakes? And don’t forget to checkout the state’s flowing water, including rivers and 3,768 unnamed streams and 2,032 unnamed creeks — not including drainage ditches …
After a 35-year career in broadcasting, Tom Coyne admits he’s getting old. Coyne is a former North Dakota TV sportscaster who worked in Williston, Bismarck and Fargo for the KX Network from 1980 to 1991. His last 23 years have been spent as a broadcasting instructor at Sanford-Brown College (formerly Brown Institute) in Mendota Heights, Minn. Born in south Minneapolis …
The planes that circle over cities for hours? Don’t worry, it’s just the FBI The Associated Press has discovered the FBI has an air force with planes that have spied on 30 cities including Minneapolis and St. Paul since 2003. Fictitious companies that are government fronts camouflage the planes and their purpose, which, of course, has nothing to do with …
California’s drought hits rock bottom Snow in California’s Sierra mountains usually lasts all summer, which means surface runoff sustains cities and farms. Not this year. The snow is all but gone sending the state’s fragile water supply has entered into worst-case scenario territory. Last year was California’s hottest in history; 2015 will be hotter. Some relief could arrive come fall with …
Lori Nitschke covered City Hall at the Grand Forks Herald doors from 1992 and 1994. A native of Ashley in southeast North Dakota, Lori is a 1991 University of North Dakota journalism/political science graduate who also has a master’s degree in journalism (2002) and an MBA (2003) from Columbia University. She got her start in journalism at the Minot (N.D.) Daily …
We told our brown bear story matter of factly to Ken and Neil Marlow. Their reaction confirmed what we had suspected. In their words, we had a very dangerous experience with an Alaskan brown bear despite not having seen nor heard the bruin. But the odor of the bear itself, or the carcass of its main course, probably a moose, …
My brother and I were waiting for a sign from God or someone to help us make one of the most important decisions of the year, not to mention our lives: to fish or not to fish Saturday’s May Opening Day in Minnesota. The five-day forecast for northeastern Minnesota where we fish calls for you name it: rain, maybe snow, …
Baby steps. Painful steps. Think baby steps. Take tiny steps and keep moving up, up, up these damnable mountains. My hiking boots step and stumble on some of the oldest rocks on the planet as we hike into the clouds of the Beartooth Mountains. We’ve already gained 7,000 feet in elevation, and the air isn’t exactly Gulf Coast thick and …
It’s time to legalize pot for medicinal use CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta sees signs of revolution for legalizing medical marijuana everywhere, from attitudes of everyday Americans, to hospitals and health research organizations, to op-ed pages, to the dark allies where politicians do their thing. Marijuana’s time for legalization is here, he says. http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/16/opinions/medical-marijuana-revolution-sanjay-gupta/index.html Dunkin’ Donuts continues assault on Minnesota To bag a …
Bev Benda begins her first blog on unheralded.fish with an insightful look into how Jordan Spieth used positive thought and words to help win The Masters golf tournament last weekend. Spieth is just 21 but mature beyond his years. Benda is a licensed registered dietitian and board certified coach in Grand Forks, N.D. She is the owner of My Coach Bev, …
This wasp nest housed a kingdom of killers A 12-year-old Australian found a 220-pound wasp nest and lived to tell about it. The nest was home to 100,000 of the stinging insects and haunted a household for months. The nest was 30 cubic feet huge. http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/worlds-largest-wasp-nest-found-tasmania California’s drought: Heat compounds a changing climate and the outlook is nothing but bleak …
Our new political system has America in disarray Tom Engelhardt has written a history of the Cold War, runs TomDispatch.com and is co-founder of the American Empire Project. His latest musings are about a new kind of government being born “right before our eyes.” “Let me make my case, however, minimally, based on five areas in which at least the fain …
Welcome, Natasha Thomas, to the Fish. Natasha wears many caps. She is a North Dakota-born and -raised, board-certified music therapist, bellydancer, performer and instructor and prime mover for promoting challenging conversations and activism in her local community. You could say Natasha contains more energy than the Bakken Oil Boom. She’s quick to smile and her passion about people is …