The Sorlie Bridge that connects Grand Forks and East Grand Forks was all lit up in three colors for Memorial Day, and photographer Dave Bruner was Johnny-on-the-spot to capture these images.
Moorhead Mayor Johnathan Judd had slept little for days when he addressed the community from the heart Sunday morning. He applauded the thousands of Fargo-Moorhead marchers who came together Saturday to honor the memory of George Floyd, the Minneapolis man killed by a police officer while three colleagues stood by. He praised local and area peace officers who rose to …
Fort Collins, Colo., photographer Jeff Olson and his wife, Joanne Plager Burke Olson, recently spent a half-day in Rocky Mountain National Park in northern Colorado, where they sampled the crowds, grabbed a cinnamon roll in Glen Haven and lunched in the car during rain and hail at Sprague Lake. Rocky Mountain National Park spans the Continental Divide and encompasses protected mountains, …
Republicans are going to pack the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C., or somewhere domed, for the 2020 Republican National Convention for four days at the end of August. Fifty thousand might show up against the advice of experts. Maybe. Trump drives a hard bargain. At any rate, some indoor stadium, maybe two, since convention business could be conducted in one …
We need an honest debate about race in America. We now also need an honest debate about the uses of violence in the quest for justice. The shocking aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd has precipitated a national conversation about the paramilitarization of our police forces, the sad repetition of urban policemen killing black suspects in what — …
I am writing these words on a quiet Sunday morning in Bismarck, North Dakota, because my conscience tells me that neither I nor any other white American can justify silence in the face of the police murder of George Floyd on the streets of Minneapolis on May 25. Every American, and especially every white American, has to speak up now …
Grand Forks photographer Michael Bogert found something to quack about in his outdoor travels this past week.
“What then shall we say about these things?” — (Romans 8:31) The Apostle Paul echoes what I feel this morning, faced with the task of writing a devotions as the pain, hurt and brokenness of our nation spills out the form of both peaceful protests and violence and looting. When then shall I say about these things? On my personal …
Photographer Dave Bruner captured these beautiful spring images this past week in Grand Forks, where the flowering apple trees were in full bloom.
The last time I restrained a black man was when I spotted Vince in the Moorhead State University bookstore. He was from King George, Va, about midway between the Civil War capitals of Washington, D.C, and Richmond, Va. Vince was back for our senior year in college after months of floating on the Potomac, or whatever people “back East” did …
I published a version of this essay a few months ago. Given current events, it bears repeating. In the year 2000, as part of the research for my book, “The Burning: Massacre, Destruction and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921,” I interviewed an elderly man named Richard Gary, who told me this story. On a day in early June 1921, …
Rice is one of the fastest-growing staples in the world. You can find it in dishes from many cultures, particularly those from Asia, Africa and the Middle East, where it is a main food. Rice also is growing in popularity in the Caribbean and the rest of Latin America, and many in the U.S. likewise have embraced it. There are several …
My father died on the morning of Memorial Day as “Taps” was playing on the nursing home televisions. Although we have been Skyping with him when possible during the lockdown and my sister and I each accompanied him for two separate medical appointments at Sanford Clinic, we were not allowed to be with him in his final days, even though …
This past Friday, crazy North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum defied the Base’s morbidly obtuse idol by pleasantly asking people to be nice. These are the governor’s words: “I would really love to see in North Dakota that we could just skip this thing that other parts of the nation are going through where they’re trading a divide — either it’s ideological …
I usually begin planning my next trip during the waning days of the one I’m on, so this summer is more than a bit unusual. I have no bookmarked spots in Tripadvisor, no routes saved on Google Maps, no flights booked. I am not planning anything, except surgery on my foot, since I’m not going anywhere. My hobby is traveling. …
Today some of us will take a moment to celebrate the centennial of singer/songwriter/North Dakota native Peggy Lee, born on this date in 1920. One of her most popular albums is called “Norma Deloris Egstrom from Jamestown North Dakota.” It’s front cover is a typical Peggy Lee glamour shot. The back cover, an image of a map of North Dakota. She was …
I’ll pause on this Memorial Day to remember my namesake, U.S. Navy Aviation Machinists Mate First Class Carlyle James Fuglie. He was my dad’s “big brother,” although only about 15 months separated them. They joined the Navy together in the spring of 1942, just a few months after the U.S. entered World War II in response to the Japanese attack …
Grand Forks photographer Dave Bruner’s eagle eye captured these images this past month.
Old joke: What’s the difference between a bedtime story and a fishing story? A bedtime story starts, “Once upon a time …” A fishing story starts, “No shit, this really happened!” OK, so here we go. No shit, this really happened! It was a Pandemic Friday morning. Much like this morning, gray and dreary, and nothing on my calendar (imagine …
My congregation never closed. … Nor did the church. Since we began this time of Great Separation, the church I serve, Emanuel Lutheran in Hartford, Conn., has been alive and well. We have had worship — real worship — each week. It may have been prerecorded, but God was present and Christ was praised — through song, children’s sermons, virtual choirs …
In July 1995, just a year after returning to my home state of Minnesota after 20 years in Europe, I had my first personal encounter with John and Annie Glenn. It was my 50th birthday and I was having a few friends over for a party. So when the telephone rang, I expected one of my guests was going to …
Earl was my best friend at church, which was across the Red River in North Dakota. He didn’t attend my Minnesota grade school and was Native American. That made him like most other kids in church, except he and I had been baptized on the same day. And his dad was a war hero. I mean a “let’s make a …
I’m having a hard time concentrating these days with all these whistles being blown in my ears. My phone keeps ringing. People who work for Meridian Energy, or used to work for Meridian Energy, want to talk to me. So I listen. And I ask a few questions, about the status of that oil refinery Meridian says it is going …
This is the forward to my book, “Extra Innings, written by Bill Plaschke, former Los Angeles Dodgers beat writer for the Los Angeles Times. Fred Claire is a fighter. You might not know that to look at him — he’s so distinguished and dignified and darned polite — but believe me, when he spots an unfairness or injustice, the man will …
Grand Fork photographer Michael Bogert didn’t have to travel very far — the English Coulee — to capture these images of waterfowl frolicking in along the banks and in the water of the waterway.
I watched the “Graduate Together” celebration of the Class of 2020 this weekend and truly enjoyed the efforts to highlight and rejoice with those students who will not get a traditional graduation ceremony this year. However, I must admit to having a little bit of trepidation about the efforts to place a Band-Aid on the consequences of COVID-19 and those …
Spring is a beautiful time of the year, a time of birth and renewal. Photographer Jeff Olson recently captured these Colorado images that bear that out.
On Thursday we received the sad news that my beloved godmother and aunt, Junette Henke, a pioneer woman of Slope County, North Dakota, died of natural causes. I pause to attempt to write a few words of tribute to one of the grandest ladies I have ever known, who influenced me immeasurably, who I will miss ever so much. Like …
Billings County Commissioners have raised the stakes in their quest to build their “Bridge to Nowhere” across the Little Missouri State Scenic River north of Medora, N.D., but the family on whose land the bridge is proposed to be built is not taking it lying down. At a County Commission meeting this past month, the commissioners, without notifying the family …
An early warm spell lured Mr. Green Jeans into planting his tomatoes May 1. Last week’s cold snap killed most of his precious hand-raised heirloom seedlings. He says it is worth the risk because of our short growing season. I’m not much of a risk-taker, but the vegetable garden is his territory, so I try to stay out of it …
If only the TV Add People Powers That Be would ask, I would be happy to tell them. I’m sure I could save them millions of dollars. I’m talking about superannoying, insipid, TV ads that drive me up the wall. They certainly don’t have the intended affect to have me drive to the nearest shop to purchase what they’re selling! …
A virus is raging across China and it’s on a collision course with Donald Trump. As the North Dakota Young Republicans often opine, “Hmmmm.” They really know how to rile the base. But the thought of a Trump versus deadly virus showdown didn’t scare our guys. Not in the least. What good does it do to bark at a near-certain …
Well, it’s time for my annual post-Mother’s Day column. I don’t think I’ve ever managed to publish a column before Mother’s Day because, frankly, I’ve been flying by the seat of my pants so long my butt should have wings and a parachute. I suppose I deserve some credit. At least I’m writing this on Mother’s Day. In the interest …
Grand Forks photographer Russ Hons checked out his feathered friends Tuesday night, and here’s what he found. (Check out more photos from Russ Hons here.)
Tuesday morning I listened to a lecture by an American Buddhist teacher named Tara Brach, who spoke of how the minds of most people careen relentlessly from one fearful, self-protective thought to another. She said this happens on average about 86,000 times a day. (This works out to a thought per second.) I don’t know where she came by this …
Four years ago today, Doug Burgum was criss-crossing North Dakota in a motor home with “Burgum for Governor” in big letters on the side, running against Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem in the Republican primary election just a few weeks hence. His campaign theme: Get rid of the “Good Old Boys” network in Bismarck. In what was generally viewed as a …
From turkeys to eagles to ducks to swans to deer, photographer Russ Hons has it all covered. (Check out more photos from Russ Hons here.)
An avid birdwatcher would do well to follow Grand Forks photographer Michael Bogert.
I can’t quite figure out what is going on with the proposed refinery that Meridian Energy Group says it is going to build next door to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Just about exactly two years ago this week, a company called Martin Construction from Dickinson, N.D., just down the road from the park, went into the field behind Belfield, N.D., …
A rerun from a few years ago. Because I can’t think of a better story to tell on Mother’s Day. I’m thinking of my mom on this Mother’s Day, as we all are. She’s been gone 3½ years now, but it seems like only yesterday I was making those semiweekly trips to Hettinger, N.D., to see her in the nursing …
There have been moments when 2020 has just seemed too … much. I was talking to someone the other day and they mentioned something about the U.S. being on the brink of war with Iran in January and I had completely forgotten that happened. And the fact that Australia was on fire. It’s just been too much this year, so …
For my mother, who taught me how to love. Mom had PPA, a rare brain disorder for which there is no cure. It caused her to slowly lose her ability to recall the names of well, most everything eventually. One important distinction between PPA and other memory conditions like Alzheimer’s was that only very rarely and only inside the last …
As doctors, nurses and first responders have tended to the physical devastation wrought by the pandemic, my friend, the Fort Worth, Texas, grief therapist Dr. Patrick O’Malley, and his colleagues have been working to help us cope with the profound emotional, psychological and spiritual challenges of this moment. I was Patrick’s co-author of the 2017 book “Getting Grief Right: Finding …
I think I’ll have my morning coffee on the patio. But not this morning. It’s foggy, windy and 43 degrees — conditions I would have appreciated in February, but we lose our sense of perspective each spring, don’t we? Even on the Northern Plains we feel entitled to fair weather. Can you imagine how insufferable Floridians must be? On Monday, …