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

FRACKING: REDUX Last week: (Director of the N.D. Department of Mineral Resources) Lynn Helms said he doesn’t believe it’s necessary to know what’s in fracturing fluid. “We’d just bury ourselves in information doing the full disclosure thing. I don’t think people read ingredients on food they buy at the grocery store. This would just alarm … Continue reading A Few New Weekenders

North Dakota Democrats are scrambling to find candidates to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Kent Conrad, as well as Governor and the U.S. House seat. They’d do well to focus first on the Governor’s office, as I mentioned last week. As Democrats have learned in the last decade, you don’t build … Continue reading Timing, Vol. II

WHAT THE FRACK? The chief regulator of the North Dakota oil industry, Lynn Helms, was asked by a reporter last week if he was interested in knowing what goes into the water used in fracturing oil shale to release the oil, and if oil drilling companies should be required to disclose what goes into the … Continue reading Weekenders III

Of all the participant or spectator sports I know of, politics is the one, I think, in which timing is the most important. Politicians come and go. Elections are won and lost. There are many factors which figure into the eventual outcome of an election, but it almost always starts with timing. Some examples. Kevin … Continue reading Timing, Vol. I

Once upon a time, when I worked for The Dickinson Press, we ran a local feature on the editorial page on Saturday morning called “Weekenders.” The whole staff contributed, but the editor, John Neckels had the final say on what was included, and how it was said, and took responsibility for any repercussions. The Weekenders … Continue reading Weekenders