Drew Montgomery was 2-for-2 with two RBI and Jackson Haagenson pitched five innings to lead Grand Forks Red River to a 14-2 win over crosstown rival Grand Forks Central in the first round of the North Dakota East Region Baseball Tournament on Thursday in Valley City. Peyton Lotysz, Coby Tweten and Zach Carolin also chipped in two hits apiece for …
It’s been quite an effing darn protracted loopy eon since “quick-draw” Kevin Cramer pushed all of his chips onto the fuzzy orange rectangle. Except for the one he ate. It was an odd casino. He’ll tell you that they were communion wafers. KC is religious, he’ll casually mention it, 3,000 times. But they were Cool Ranch Doritos, the most narcotic …
President Donald Trump’s propensity to just make stuff up and spit it out to the media, or via Twitter, is contagious. I’m afraid Al Jaeger has caught the bug. C’mon, Al, you’re better than this. Dang. Background: At the State Republican Convention a month or so ago, convention delegates, disregarding Secretary of State Al Jaeger’s 25 years of loyal service …
On Monday, I attended the Moorhead High School senior honors concert. The administration at the high school should be extremely proud of their music faculty and students. I’ve been to many nice concerts where the students performed well — but Monday’s was a night to remember. I cannot aptly describe the interaction between the students, their teachers and the audience. The …
Laurel or Yanny? Weird week. Everyone was weighing in on the Laurel or Yanny question. Some heard the robotic voice on the Internet say “Yanny”, others heard “Laurel.” Others thought their iPad was possessed by Stephen Hawking, Linda Blair or M. Night Shyamalan. The president heard “covfefe”. As for me, I distinctly heard, “Paul is dead.” and I think, in …
Jefferson famously wrote, “No man will ever carry out of the Presidency the reputation which carried him into it.” Think of the diminishment of the presidents even of my own lifetime. Lyndon Johnson had been so consumed by the War in Vietnam that he withdrew from the 1968 presidential race. Johnson loved and lusted for power as much as anyone …
Although Peeping Will Gardner has said he will “withdraw from the election of Secretary of State,” because it’s “the best decision for my family and me,” (you can read more about that in earlier post) the ballot for the June 12 primary election is already printed, and his name is on it. So, on June 12, voters will go to …
From time to time over the years, I’ve received phone calls from aspiring politicians seeking advice on whether to run for some public office. Generally, it’s something like, “Hey, Jim, I’m thinking about running for dogcatcher. I’m wondering what you think about that. You got any advice for me?” My first response is always the same. “Well, that’s great. It …
The air is fragrant here at Red Oak House because all of the crab apple trees and lilacs are blooming. Thus, it is exceptionally pleasant to work at our gardening chores. The juneberry bush is loaded with blossoms, and our resident house wrens have returned. Their cheerful call makes our back patio an even more pleasant haven. Jim has finished …
Photographer Michael Bogert found this assortment of wildlife on a recent visit to Minnesota lake country.
There are many public servants and oil executives to blame for their silence but only Kevin Cramer, Mr. North Dakota way, thinks he deserves a seat in the United States Senate. So, he has to answer for his failures. “It took “more than 1,000 firefighters from 80 different municipalities in Quebec and from six counties in the state of Maine” …
There has been another mass murder school shooting, this time Friday in Santa Fe, Texas. Not long ago,m I wrote down some thoughts and an extract from the 92-page book “Civilization and Its Discontents” by the Austrian neurologist and writer Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). It was completed during the rise of Adolf Hitler, and among other insights the book anticipated the …
Chris Allen, a professor at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, is currently on trip to London with a group of communication students. While there, he took a trip to Wales, a country in southwest Great Britain known for its rugged coastline, mountainous national parks, distinctive Welsh language and Celtic culture.
Grand Forks photographer Russ Hons has an eye for bald eagles. If you don’t believe it, these images will go a long way to disprove your skepticism. (Check out more photos from Russ Hons here.)
Grand Forks photographer Michael Bogert recently happened upon this bald eagle nest near Lake Bemidji in northwestern Minnesota, just in time to see the male fly off to find something for dinner for its mate and little one(s).
Here’s another photo from my visit Tuesday to the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum not far from our place in Bloomington, Minn. These are hawthorn blossoms, French writer Marcel Proust’s favorite flower. When I got home, I looked up what he had to say about them. Those who haven’t read Proust will notice he used long sentences. “I found the …
A political lobotomy must be in the plans for the Fargo Park Board. When I drove by Lindenwood Park last week, I noticed something was different but couldn’t put my finger on what it was. Thank goodness for concerned, interested neighbors! Apparently with no public discussion, the Fargo Park Board has been developing plans to close the park’s softball fields …
You’d think grandparenting would be more like riding a bike — you just climb back on, and it all comes back to you. That’s true of the most essential skills of wrangling tiny humans — appeasing their howls, juggling damp Pampers and stashing the cookies well out of reach. Some real-life lessons you never do forget, like not packing Kix …
One of Joseph Ellis’ contributions to the historiography of the revolutionary era is that he proves that when Abigail Adams wrote her famous, “remember the ladies” letter to her husband, John, in the spring of 1776, she meant it. She was being playful — it was another episode in the never-ending, good-humored “war” between the sexes — and yet she …
I’d like to begin this week by saying, “That darn Heidi Heitkamp.” I’m referring, of course, to last week’s column in The Forum in which Mike McFeely ever-so-gently, in his curmudgeonly way, suggested that fellow columnist Rob Port might try writing about someone other than Heidi Heitkamp. Like maybe Joel Heitkamp. I mean, I ain’t exactly Sherlock Holmes, but if …
In the autumn of 1995, on my first visit to the office of Fred Rogers in Pittsburgh, I noticed three Emmy Awards stacked in the clutter atop a filing cabinet, like neglected bookends. No trophy case for Fred. I asked him about the awards. “I don’t know how to talk of it,” the icon of children’s television said . “If …
My buddy, Rob Port, used the coveted space for his Sunday column to set up a hypothetical Festivus pole, air his grievances and sob over his keyboard. My sources say he paced in the hall for a solid 45 seconds before getting winded and falling into a heap of self-pity. The feats of strength portion of Festivus was canceled, due …
In January 2016. I sent off an email to an acquaintance of mine, Saad Mohseni, one of three brothers who own Tolo-TV in Kabul, Afghanistan. Tolo is the most-watched television station in the country. It creates its own information and entertainment programs and has a vast dubbing operation to give Dari soundtracks to Western programs. It also has a large …
Cooking for two can be a challenging. But as the old saying goes, where there is a will, there is a way. For me, the biggest issue is leftovers. When our grandson, Rakeem, was in town and coming over for supper two to four times a week, it wasn’t that big a deal. But now that he’s gone away for …
Grand Forks photographer Michael Bogert captured these beautiful images over a one-hour period this weekend while sitting on a dock on a northwestern Minnesota lake.
One of my favorite places is the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Dorette and I are frequent visitors. She’s out of town, so I drove to the MIA on Saturday and wandered around for a couple of hours. It’s truly a world class institution. Photography is allowed, not the case in many museums. Among the works of art I’m most drawn …
On this Mother’s Day, a big shout-out to these two little bugs who made me a mama — not just any mama. A mama of twins! Here they are (above) in their Minnesota Twins garb, which friends felt we must have. I was a sucker for Oshgosh togs. Although not apparent in this photo, my house in those days was like …
My Mom, Phyllis Maxine (Boehmer) Fuglie, was born Oct. 10, 1924, at the farm home of her parents, Peter and Sophia (Aaberg) Boehmer, near Edmore, N.D. Her family moved to Saskatchewan for a short time during the Great Depression, where my Grandpa Pete took work as a farmhand to support his growing family. But after a few years, they returned …
John Adams believed three things that drive an utopian like Jefferson nuts. First, he believed that aristocracy will always be with us in one form or another. In Europe, this works by hereditary emoluments and privileges. The Duke of Northumberland is always the father of the next Duke of Northumberland and the son of the last one, downhill forever through …
It’s been an Epic week. So there I was last Thursday in Wahpeton, N.D., at the Red Door Gallery preparing for my next photo exhibit, “A Photojournalist’s Retrospective” highlighting my work of the past 55 years. As I passed Chahinkapa Zoo on my way out of Wahpeton, my cell phone rang. It was Erin, a Mayo Clinic appointment secretary, to …
I bought a gizmo that is supposed to drive away vermin by emitting a super high-pitched sound. I wanted a herd of hard-partying ants on a sugar high to take a hike. Or take a long walk off a short pier, like my uncles used to tell me on a regular basis. It’s undignified to live with insects that strut …
After many attempts the past few years, Grand Forks photographer Dave Bruner finally captured a dramatic display of the aurora borealis on the night of May 6. The aurora borealis, or northern lights, are collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth’s atmosphere. When the electrons drop back to a lower energy state, they release a …
This is Teacher Appreciation Week. A week to recognize all the underpaid, underappreciated teachers out there to whom, if we are anything, we owe practically everything. One night this week, Jimmy Kimmel gave folks walking past his theater on Hollywood Boulevard the opportunity to apologize for classroom crimes and misdemeanors committed while they were in school. Most related theirs in …
That Champion Red Oak tree drops a massive quantity of leaves and I’ve just spent much of the last week picking these up, schlepping each garbage can load to the compost pile. Phase two of spring gardening also included cutting back the few perennials I did not trim last fall and transplanting those I’d noted in need of a different …
The honesty, integrity and diplomacy of the United States of America worldwide is on the line. “The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action” — the name of the agreement that the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, China and Russia signed with Iran — is about to be revoked by President Trump. The plan was approved by the United Nations Security Council. Its …
As lake weather approaches, it’s a little sad to learn that city leaders continue to have problems with the Detroit Lakes (Minn.) Pavilion. The Pavilion is old, more than a hundred years old. With age, come problems, not the least of which has been continuing drainage issues for the building, which in 1915 was set just a little too close …
Spring has finally sprung in the Midwest, as Bloomington, Minn., photographer Dave Vorland’s most recent images show. But it hasn’t been like that since its start March 20, when the landscape was snow-filled and trees were bare.
The University of North Dakota women’s softball team, behind the pitching of Kaylin VanDomelen, defeated Idaho State University 5-1, in the regular season finale Saturday afternoon at Apollo. UND (25-26, 10-8 Big Sky Conference) set a program mark for wins in a single season and the most-ever Big Sky Conference wins with the victory. VanDomelen picked up her 12th win of …
There is nothing simpler to make than fried cabbage. And combine it with a little meat, and you have a meal in a skillet. My taste for cabbage runs the gamut when it comes to spiciness. I like it lightly seasoned with just salt and pepper — some might call this bland — or it can be relatively hot when it features …
I never imagined when my family left El Paso, Texas, in 1970, that it would take me almost 50 years to return for a visit, but it did. I was an Army brat, and my father’s last posting was Fort Bliss, in El Paso, a gritty city in extreme west Texas. Since then, I’ve been very near to El Paso …
Grand Forks photographer attended the University of North Dakota Athletics Night of Champions awards banquet Tuesday night in the Empire Arts Center in downtown Grand Forks. Among the winners were University of North Dakota junior thrower Molli Detloff and junior defenseman Christian Wolanin. Detloff was named the Grace Rhonemus Female Athlete of the Year, and Wolanin was named UND’s Glenn …
OIL TO THE RESCUE A pair of Bismarck oil men, new to North Dakota and chasing the state’s first small oil boom, likely made the deal of their life in early 1952, acquiring almost the entire 127-acre tract of Highland Acres, complete with partially constructed streets, water mains, a couple of dozen good residents and the potential to earn a …
This passage from the great Catholic writer Richard Rohr really struck me when I read it a few days ago: “Anger is good and very necessary to protect the appropriate boundaries of self and others. I would much sooner live with a person who is free to get fully angry, and also free to move beyond that same anger, than …
Wow, what’s happening around this country? Oklahoma passes a bill preventing gays and lesbians from adopting. The National Rifle Association bans weapons at its own event featuring Vice President Pence. Republican men in Congress opposed a bill requiring lawmakers to pay their own expenses for settling sexual harassment lawsuits. As of this month, Flint, Mich.,, has been without water for …