Unheralded

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Bring Back The Name ‘Redskins’; Now I’ve Seen It All

I swear, I thought this was a spoof story, a la The Onion,until I got down to the bottom and saw this: “NAGA president Eunice Davidson released a statement through theg roup’s media advisors Global Impact Campaigns. Global Impact Campaigns is run by marketing and PR veterans who have worked as strategists for various government, political, and media organizations, including for …


Unheralded

TIM MADIGAN: Anything Mentionable — My Week With The Lakota

In the early morning of Sept. 3, 1855, 600 U.S. soldiers commanded by Gen. William S. Harney surrounded a peaceful Lakota Sioux village — about 250 people whose tipis were pitched along a clear stream in the Sandhills of northwestern Nebraska. On Harney’s order, the village of a revered Lakota leader named Little Thunder was destroyed. Lodges were set ablaze …


JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — The Check’s In The Mail … Er … At The Courthouse

In a file cabinet at the Billings County Clerk of Court’s office in Medora, N.D., there are four checks totaling $54,975 waiting to be picked up by members of the Short family, owners of a ranch about a dozen miles north of town. County Clerk of Court Juliana Hammerstrom is not holding her breath waiting for them to be claimed. …

MICHAEL BOGERT: Photo Gallery — Pembina Gorge

Grand Forks photographer Michael Bogert recently took a road trip to the Pembina Gorge in northeastern North Dakota. The Pembina Gorge extends from the Canadian border west of Walhalla and encompasses one of the largest uninterrupted blocks of woodlands in North Dakota of approximately 12,500 acres and the longest segment of unaltered river valley in the state. Surging waters carved …

TIM MADIGAN: Anything Mentionable — “I’m Proud Of You” Comes To The Stage

“When people come to see the play, I hope they learn what Tim learns.” — co-writer and director Harry Parker  On Saturday evening, Oct. 28, Circle Theatre in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, will host the world premiere of “I’m Proud of You,” the stage play adapted from my memoir of the same name. My life and career is indeed about …

CHEF JEFF: One Byte At A Time — Skillet Sausage With Cabbage And Potatoes

Cabbage is a German tradition. It doesn’t matter if it is fresh or in the form of sauerkraut. Or if it’s red or green. Or steamed or pan-fried. Germans love affair with cabbage is second to none. And pairing cabbage with sausage is about as German as you can get. You don’t have to be German to enjoy the following …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Sept. 11 Thoughts Revisited

This is a re-run of something I wrote a dozen years ago, Sept. 11, 2011. And now I’m going to forget what today’s date is and have a good day in the garden. Yes, it has been a long 10 years. On August 29, 2001, I sat beside my wife’s bed as she looked up at her doctor, exhausted, pale and …

TONY J BENDER: That’s Life — They’re Eating Your Lunch

I doubt many of us consider what Labor Day is about or think about what the labor movement did to build the middle class. It astonishes me that people who’ve unwittingly benefited from unions spend so much time demonizing them. Government statistics will tell you that a union worker’s family gets 10% to 15% higher wages, and they bring nonunion …

CHEF JEFF: One Byte At A Time — Cabbage Roll Soup

Some people say too much cabbage can be bad for your health. It’s true, eating cabbage in excess can result in abdominal discomfort, diarrhea and flatulence, but the benefits strongly outweigh the health risks. Cabbage is highly nutritious vegetable, rich in vitamins C and K, fiber and potassium and may help with heart and digestive health. Studies show those who …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Gift Cards, Golf Balls, Toddler Shirts and Koozies; Good Grief

OK, a couple of months ago, I bit on Doug Burgum’s now-famous gambit to send $20 gift cards to anyone who would send him a dollar to help him qualify for the debate last week. I sent him a dollar July 17. I immediately got an e-mail that said, “Thank you for your donation! Due to high demand the gift …

CHEF JEFF: One Byte At A Time — Cheesy Eggplant Marinara

Many people who grew up around gardens in this neck of the woods probably aren’t real familiar with eggplant, a delicate tropical perennial plant often cultivated as a tender or half-hardy annual. I wasn’t. Dad’s garden had all the usual suspects — tomatoes, beans and peas, onions, cucumbers, cabbage, plus a few other vegetables such as radishes, carrots, beets and …

CHEF JEFF: One Byte At A Time — Sausage Potato Soup

There’s something very special about vegetables straight from the garden that just can’t be replicated by supermarket fare. If you’ve ever eaten a tomato from the store know what I mean. Many of those are shipped before they are ripe and taste nothing like one from your garden or the farmers market. That’s why I so love this time of …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — A Big Day In The Bad Lands

Forty-mile-per-hour winds drove a pouring rain sideways outside the Billings County Courthouse in Medora, N.D., this past Thursday afternoon, washing the Bad Lands dust from a dozen or more cars and pickups (mostly pickups) parked on the streets outside. Inside, another storm was brewing, this one going on behind closed doors, as a handful of drivers of those vehicles waited …

JIM THIELMAN: Hall Of Fame Honor? Thanks, But No Thanks

Joe Mauer didn’t reject his induction to the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame this summer, and if he gets enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame next year, he won’t turn that down, either. I’m not saying he should. It’s just that no one turns down an award. Who are you to deny your admirers if you’re to be …

PAULA MEHMEL: Shoot The Rapids — It’s About Democracy

It is intellectually dishonest to say that the indictment of former President Donald Trump that happened Thursday was unfair without reading the indictment itself.  And anyone, upon reading it, who is not deeply disturbed by the allegations to subvert our democracy and actively work to discount a free and fair election can’t say that they are committed to democracy or …

TONY J BENDER: That’s Life — Newspapers Deliver Knowledge, And That’s Power

You’re holding in your hand something akin to a miracle in an increasingly authoritarian world, a reflection of incredible foresight on the parts of the Founding Fathers. They understood that democracy couldn’t exist if the voice of the governed was stifled. Free speech wasn’t an afterthought, it wasn’t the Second Amendment, it was the First. It’s enshrined in the U.S. …

TONY J BENDER: That’s Life — So Long, Squirrel

His full name was Squirrel The World’s Grumpiest Cat. He was the boss around here for 19½ years with a grating, tuneless, demanding meow. For a long time, we didn’t know exactly how old he was. You see, we kept his records taped to the inside of kitchen cabinet, and when we pondered his age years ago, India mistook the …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Campaigning With Crook Redux

“Campaigning with Crook,” by Capt. Charles King, (excerpts), Harper and Brothers, 1890 “At 2 p.m. we bivouac again, and begin to growl at this will-o’-wisp business. The night, for August (1876), is bitter cold. Ice forms on the shallow pools … and the thermometer was zero at daybreak. “The grandest country in the world for Indian and buffalo now … …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Northern Lights

An e-mail from an old friend, the filmmaker John Hanson, came out of the blue Wednesday, the day before the newspapers all said we were going to have a northern lights display tonight. The front page headline in the Bismarck Tribune on Wednesday blared “Solar storm to create Northern Lights.” Whoa. Not so fast. The correction at the bottom of …

TOM COYNE: Back In Circulation — A Plea From TC To TC

For the past 23 years, the Minnesota Twins have employed a likable character named T.C. Bear as its mascot. You can find him roaming around Target Field, often leading cheers from atop the Twins’ dugout, or posing for cute pictures with young fans. It’s easy for me to like T.C. After all, we share the same initials and both pull …

TERRY DULLUM: The Dullum File — Paul Thureen: From EGF To HBO

It’s no exaggeration to say that one of the most highly acclaimed shows on television right now is the comedy-drama “Somebody Somewhere.” The hit series has just been renewed for a third season on HBO and was recently named one of The Best Shows of 2023 So Far by The Hollywood Reporter. Locally, even some fans of the show don’t …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — And Then There Were None; RIP, Minot Mafia

He was a handsome young Georgia Marine in spit-shined shoes, a white hat and a sharply pressed dress uniform, a member of the United States Marine Corps Drill Team, stationed in Washington, D.C., in the mid-1950s. She was a pretty little country girl from North Dakota, working in the Washington office of a North Dakota congressman. Their paths crossed. She …

CHEF JEFF: One Byte At A Time — Shrimp In Red Sauce

Cooking food in the oven isn’t always an option when summertime temperatures drift into the mid-80s to near 90 degrees. Grilling is one option when this is the case, but a quick skillet meal is also a good substitute. The following recipe allowed me to take advantage of about a pound of large shrimp in the freezer along with some …

JIM THIELMAN: If You Love Fireworks, You’ll Make Something Of Yourself

You could still play catch at 9:30 as July 4 loomed the other night. Even with the crawl of time, anyone who grew up in Minnesota carries the souvenir of having wrung every glimmer from the penetrating summer sun. Nearly 16 hours of daylight made the week leading to the Fourth of July glorious in the Red River Valley, and …

CLAY JENKINSON: The Future In Context — Facing The Music: Doing The Crime, Doing The Time And The Long Shadow Of The 1917 Espionage Act

When Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times in 1971, he knew three things. First, he was breaking federal law. Second, he was very likely to go to prison. And third, he was willing to spend much of the rest of his life in a federal penitentiary as the personal “cost” of ending the disastrous war in Vietnam. In the …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — I Lean West

I “Lean West,” as my friend Clay says. Although I’ve lived all over the world, including Asia, Slope County, North Dakota, is my home ground. West Fork Deep Creek Township. My family always leaned west. I am most content where there is short-grass prairie. In my bones, I know the flora and fauna of the short-grass prairie. Very small remnants …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — The E-mails Just Keep On Comin’

Been about 10 days since I reported on the status of the Burgum for President campaign. I can report this morning that the e-mail machine is alive and well. I’ve gotten a couple of dozen more e-mails, at least two a day, since Doug announced he was running. I haven’t responded. Yet. But I might. You can as well. Just click on …

CLAY JENKINSON: The Future In Context — Daniel Ellsberg And The Greatest Leak Of Secret Documents In American History

The death of Daniel Ellsberg (1931-2023) on June 16 comes at a time when America is engaged in a grim public conversation about the unauthorized disclosure of top secret and classified government documents. In June 1971, Ellsberg engineered the most important leak of secret documents in American history. He died from complications of pancreatic cancer at his home in Kensington, Calif. He was …

CHEF JEFF: One Byte At A Time — Grape Leaves And Tzatziki

They are called by several different names. In Iran, they are known as dolmeh, In Greece, they are called dolmas or dolmades. They are koupepia in Cyprus, tolma in Armenia, yarpaq dolması in Azerbaijan, yebra in Syria and warak enab in Lebanon. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m talking about stuffed grape leaves. That’s all I knew …

MICHAEL BOGERT: Photo Gallery — White Horse Hill

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 …

JEFF OLSON: Photo Gallery — Rocky Mountain National Park

Photographer Jeff Olson and his wife, Joanne Plager Burke Olson, recently mad a day trip to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. The park, 415 square miles (265,807 acres), encompasses a spectacular range of mountain environments, from meadows found in the montane life zone to glistening alpine lakes and up to towering peaks. Sun, rain and snow, moose, deer and …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — The Most Patriotic Dad In America

When I was a boy growing up in southwest North Dakota, I thought my Dad, Whitey Fuglie, was the most patriotic man in America. I know that I heard him say “God Bless America!” at least a hundred times. Maybe 200. Maybe several hundred. He really was a patriot. A World War II veteran of the U.S. Navy Air Corps, …

CLAY JENKINSON: The Future In Context — Believe It Or Not: Is This Another Watergate Moment?

Where do we go from here? First, I cannot as a historian put Mr. Donald Trump’s indictment into context because this has never happened before in our 247-year history. That’s the context. It’s unprecedented. The classified documents case will play itself out in the federal court system. On a grave occasion like this, I don’t want to write about politics per …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Just Another ‘Bored Billionaire’

Many years ago (well, actually seven years ago this past Sunday), on the eve of the 2016 North Dakota primary election), I wrote in this space, “On Tuesday, I’m going to vote in the Republican primary election for Doug Burgum for Governor of North Dakota.” As I’ve written here many times, I’m a Democrat, and I don’t take crossing over …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Badlands Expedition, June 9-11, 2023

Red-headed Woodpecker (nesting) in a dead cottonwood at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park North Unit group site. Bull snake spotted slithering down the tree, no doubt having made an attempt to eat eggs or fledglings. House Wren. Bobolink. Common Yellowthroat. Field Sparrow. Sprague’s Pipit. Prairie Falcon. Rock Wren. Spotted Towhee. Lazuli Bunting. Yellow-breasted Chat. Red-eyed Vireo. American Robin. Grasshopper Sparrow. …

CLAY JENKINSON: The Future In Context — Why Would Anybody Want This Job?

It’s amazing to watch more than a dozen hopeful men and women who have, as Theodore Roosevelt put it in 1912, thrown their hats into the ring to run for the Republican nomination for president in 2024. Every one of them is going to hire a big staff, lease an airplane, carom around the country like an errant pinball, burn …

CLAY JENKINSON: The Future In Context — Herbert Hoover: The Last Of The Hands-Off Presidents

This is another in an occasional series of articles by Clay Jenkinson on some of the less well-known presidents of the United States. The temporary centrality in our public conversations of America’s wild and burgeoning national debt seems like a good time to look back on the one-term presidency of Herbert Hoover (1874-1964). Hoover’s four years in the White House (1929-1933) are the least …

CLAY JENKINSON: The Future In Context — 90 Seconds To Midnight: Hiroshima, President Biden And The Doomsday Clock

Last week, President Joe Biden visited Hiroshima. He was the second sitting president of the United States to make the pilgrimage to the site of the most destructive moment in human history. On Aug. 6, 1945, at 8:14 a.m. local time, the United States dropped a uranium 235 gun-mechanism atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, the U.S. dropped a plutonium …