Month: March 2011

EARL WAS BACK, AND HE WON Earl Strinden saved his best for last. Twelve years after closing out a 25-year career in the North Dakota Legislature, Strinden earned what is possibly, for him personally, his biggest legislative victory ever. He saved the Fighting Sioux. For the time being, at least, the Fighting Sioux will live … Continue reading WEEKENDERS VII

I don't remember, exactly, how I was introduced to Debra Marquart, or rather to her work, but right after I was, I found her e-mail address on the Iowa State University website and sent her an e-mail asking her how I could buy her two poetry books and one poetry CD, and a week later, … Continue reading The new guy just couldn’t sing

A SWEDE, BY ANY OTHER NAME . . . Memo to the dude who calls himself Oley Larsen. You're a North Dakota State Senator now (as unlikely as that may seem to a lot of us). You can't just go around making shit up and using it to justify an argument any more. People are … Continue reading WEEKENDERS

Okay, that's enough politics for a while. Time to bring the blood pressure back down and share a little prairie literature. There's a fascinating story unfolding in Medora right now. It has to do with the von Hoffman House, ordered up by Medora's mother, the Baroness von Hoffman of New York, so that she and … Continue reading Some Foley Poetry

BREAK ON THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE Okay, the North Dakota Legislature survived its own first half. Crossover (why do I always think of Jim Morrison when I hear that term?) has come and gone. The way I've always looked at it, no damage has been done yet. No bills have been signed by the … Continue reading Weekenders V