Here’s a slightly updated rerun of a column I first posted 10 years ago, on Nov. 4, 2014. It came to mind because of a question I got this week from my friend, Colleen Stebbins down in Bowman, North Dakota, about the bars being closed in North Dakota on Election Day. Some of you remember those days, more than 30 …
On this date 44 years ago, I cast my first vote for president of the United States. I had eagerly awaited this date, having listened to discussions about civic duties within my own family and extended families, having read newspapers and Life magazines and more while growing up — I was an “early reader” — having listened to my elders …
We are volunteers with an organization called Faiths United to Save Democracy, which is doing its work in conjunction with Sojourners. It is a nonpartisan effort to serve shifts outside of polling sites to offer support and protection to voters, making sure every vote is counted. We are trained, nonpartisan, multifaith, multicultural, multigenerational volunteers — clergy and lay — who …
Many of our cell phones have been battered this election season with a torrent of pleas for moolah. I vote mostly Democratic/Independent, so my flogging by fundraisers comes from Democratic candidates and liberal-leaning causes. For 17 days (Oct. 14-30), I logged the source of 83 of such texts on my Verizon cell phone account and observed a often overly aggressive system …
There’s a list at the North Dakota Secretary of State’s Office, and if you live in North Dakota, you’re on it. You and about half a million of your neighbors. It’s a big list. Probably the biggest list in the state. How do I know you’re on it? Because every North Dakotan who regularly reads these dispatches surely votes in …
If you have any question about what the future of America will be like in a second Donald Trump term, please look carefully at what transpired Sunday night at Madison Square Garden. The racism, the xenophobia, the misogyny, the hatred, the anger, the division. This is where the road leads. Up until eight years ago, I would have described myself …
After about sixty years of being curious about “Buffalo Alice North Dakota” (thanks L. Ray Wheeler), we wandered into Buffalo, North Dakota and then onto Old Highway Ten. Home with a load of new books to read and autumn chores to complete before snowfall. For further reading see Towns Named Buffalo.
Vice President Kamala Harris has continued her sorely conflicted relationship with President Joe Biden since her campaign began. Like an estranged couple, she and Biden hang out in the same house politically but don’t often mention each other and don’t go out together. Harris’ campaign would benefit from an appropriate Joe-Biden-friendly approach, made clear to me with “there is not a thing …
Something thwapped my noggin’ at a young age and told me that rooting for the New York Yankees was not the type of mistake a young feller should make. I didn’t know the half of it. In those summers, a hopscotch court was chalked on a sidewalk somewhere in the neighborhood, no one wore a helmet to ride a bike, …
If you remain undecided about who you are voting for in this election, please consider that Adolf Hitler became chancellor because of a democratic election. The Nazi Party used hatred toward the “other” and demonization of those who were “poisoning the blood of our country” to scapegoat the marginalized and convince good people to vote for them because they believed …
This article first appeared in the October issue of High Plains Reader and on its website.) 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 of weeks before what is being labeled, once again, as “the most important election of our lifetime.” OK, so …
I use either Lynne Rossetto Kasper’s recipe as a start but sometimes use my Marcella Hazan’s “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking” recipes from my hardcover copy purchased in 1999. The SECRET is good ingredients, fresh whenever possible, and patience. One must taste a little as one goes along. My SECRET ingredient is cloves (in an amount depending upon one using the patience …
The University of North Dakota men’s hockey team opened its 2024-25 season with a 5-2 win over Providence College on Saturday night in Ralph Engelstad Arena in the annual U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame game. Dylan James led the No. 6-ranked Fighting Hawks (1-0) with two goals, while Cameron Berg, Sacha Boisvert and Abram Wiebe added single tallies against the …
Many Americans complain about things Donald Trump has said or done as he pushes for a return to the White House. My objection here to his loose mouth is, however, more personal than political. I respond to some of his ill words on behalf of both my late Dad and my own namesake, a soldier from Slope County, N.D., who …
The headlines in the papers are using the word “historic” to describe the fires burning in western North Dakota right now and over the past few days. Well, let me tell you a story about a historic fire from a few years back. Almost 50 years, in fact. It’s a story worth telling. And retelling. Some of you have heard …
Grand Forks photographer Michael Bogert recently visited White Horse Hill National Game Preserve near St. Michael, N.D. White Horse Hill is a 1,674-acre national wildlife refuge that was initially established as a national park on April 27, 1904 under the National Park Service. In 1914, it was further designated by Congress as a big game preserve. And in 1931, it was transferred …
TR Birthday Shenanigans: I Wander the Northern Badlands Solo
They seemed to know. The swallows began an arial ballet outside my living room window the moment I opened my laptop to mourn. Ten of them, maybe 15 acrobats, engaged in a celebration, perhaps. Maybe a tribute. It transported me back to my grandmother’s last day. I was wheeling her along in the sunshine outside of the hospital when a …
The University of North Dakota football team, behind a 142-yard rushing performance by Isaiah Smith, defeated Murray State University 72-35 in Saturday’s Homecoming game in the Alerus Center. Smith scored two rushing touchdowns and added another on a 74-yard pass from quarterback Simon Romfo to lead the No. 8-ranked Fighting Hawks (4-1 overall, 1-0 Missouri Valley Conference) over the Racers …
“How’s your day goin’?” the young woman tending the cash register in the Linton, N.D., convenience store asked me Sunday afternoon as I laid my ice cream bar on the counter and reached for my wallet. “I need some ice cream,” I replied, handing her some cash. “That wasn’t what I asked you,” she said, somewhat cheekily I thought. Then …
Sometime in the distant past, when David Strauss and I were managing the campaigns of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party, I received a note from David with those words. They struck home. I went looking for their source. I found the actual quote, ironically, from President Calvin Coolidge, who said this: “Nothing in this world can take the place of …
The University of North Dakota football team racked up a 31-point lead in the first half en route to a 52-28 win over Idaho State University on Saturday afternoon in the Alerus Center. The No. 10 Fighting Hawks (2-1) were led by quarterback Simon Romfo, who was 25-38 and 287 and two touchdowns, and receiver Bo Belquist, who caught eight …
Sometimes it’s just too hot to cook. That’s when having a good imagination can come to the rescue. Tuna salad and egg salad are two creations that I can remember Mom fixing when the thermometer pushed above 80 and close to 90, especially since we didn’t have central air conditioning. A nice sandwich of either of those always was satisfying …
I know a lot of people are laughing about the sheer insanity of the comment about eating pets — and I would be a liar if I didn’t admit to being very amused by some memes. But there is a deep and nefarious part of that racist trope that we can’t laugh off. It implies that immigrants, especially ones from Haiti …
There was never a universe in which I thought that Dick Cheney and I would be actively supporting the same person for president, but here we are. As much as I disagree with him about almost every issue, I am extremely impressed with his commitment to our country over party and policy. His sense of patriotism is commendable as he …
The University of North Dakota football team came back from a 24-7 halftime deficit to defeat the University of Montana 27-24 on Saturday in the Alerus Center. The No. 4-ranked Grizzlies (1-1) dominated the first half before surrendering 20 unanswered points in the second half to the No. 23-ranked Fighting Hawks (1-1), culminating with a 40-yard field goal from CJ …
The autumn migration is on here in North Dakota. I also have migrated my writing hobby to another platform as I streamline my life.
I’ve been thinking about my blog about Gus Walz and I need to clarify. Showing emotion is good and a sign of true strength for any human being. Mocking someone who cries says more about the one who mocks than it does about the one crying. The number of times I’ve had people apologize for crying while they were in …
Fort Collins, Colo., photographer Jeff Olson and his wife, Joanne Plager Burke Olson, recently made a wilderness hike to Mount Blue Sky Recreation Area, located on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains near Idaho Springs, Colo. Mount Blue Sky, elevation 14,250 feet, is the most prominent mountain overlooking the city of Denver. Along the way, they visited Mount Goliath …
One of the subtle things I really appreciated about the Democratic National Convention was the honest portrayal of the family of Kamala Harris. Her husband’s ex-wife produced the video about Doug Emhoff and she was there at the convention every night with her kids. She and Harris are good friends. As someone who was part of a blended family, I …
During the heat of the Thursday afternoon, I unearthered my late Mother’s needles and embroidery thread and got creative.
People making fun of Gus Walz, the son of Tim Walz, the choice of Kamala Harris to be her running mate, illustrates the problem with MAGA. The Republican Party, especially in Minnesota in the last part of the 20th century, were champions of mental health. I truly can’t imagine any human being with even an iota of decency making fun …
Some people read. Some people talk about reading. Some people write books. Some people edit books. Some people buy books they never get around to reading. Some people talk about hair. Some people don’t care about hair. Some people get their hair cut now and then. Some people clean. Some people don’t. Some people empty the garbage. Some people recyle. …
“The first thing we do is, let’s kill all the lawyers.” You might recall that memorable line, uttered by Dick the Butcher, from perhaps the least memorable of Shakespeare’s plays, “Henry VI.” I’ve been thinking about it because I’ve been thinking about lawyers. And governors. It’s been 40 years since North Dakota had a lawyer in the governor’s chair. That …
Last I looked, the bid is $15 million for the baseball jersey that New York Yankee Babe Ruth wore when he supposedly “called his shot” in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series. Ruth never forecast that home run, and I’ll get to that in a minute, after the story about the Babe Ruth home run ball a colleague placed …
I have written many essays about the Little Missouri River area, including The Crooked Little Missouri River and Its Headwaters. Today I have in mind current sources of information on this sweet river such as gage height and weather forecast. Marmarth https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/06335500 Medora https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/06336000/ Watford City https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/06337000 Also interesting and useful links from NOAA for forecasts & more Marmarth https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/mthn8 Medora https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/mdan8 …
Thank God for the Summer Olympics. I’ve been mostly laid up for a few weeks with a recurrence of the strange leg infection that kept me in the hospital much of the summer two years ago. I rode it out at home this year and was entertained in my recliner by watching the world’s best athletes competing for medals in …
Photographer Jeff Olson of Fort Collins, Colo., enjoys his time outdoors, especially when he gets a chance to capture some eye-popping images.
I really hate to be critical of my governor. But c’mon, Doug, give us a break! Start acting like a governor. (More about the lakes in a minute.) The quotes from Burgum in Friday’s Forum Communications Co. papers were as unbecoming of a governor as anything I’ve ever read. Well, maybe I could drag out some old Jesse Ventura or …
Today I am reminded that I was raised by women who did not have the right to vote!
The Summer Olympic Games were occupying the “Jeopardy!” time slot this week, but on the bright side, two guys were fencing. I was such a big Zorro fan at age 4 that I wore a black, long-sleeved Zorro costume on 80-degree days in July. As the swordplay on TV continued, I wondered if other disappointed “Jeopardy!” viewers knew about West …
In the olden days, when I was a young reporter for The Dickinson Press, one of the assignments for the newsroom staff was to check with the Police Department every day to see if there was any news. We’d wander across the street to the station and take a look at the daily log. Once in a while, we’d happen upon …
It started innocently enough Oct. 24, 2021. Prior to that date, I sporadically did the New York Times puzzle, but I hadn’t been focused on completing it the same day. In fact, according to my archives, I had only earned the proverbial “gold star” for completing it without help on the same day four times the week before Oct. 24 …