Flat and Treeless

Hockey

2009-11-28T18:31:00.000-08:00

USA Today profiles Grand Forks' Lamoureux twins, hopefuls for the 2010 U.S. Olympic hockey team.

Geography

2009-11-27T19:53:00.001-08:00

Byron Dorgan draws a map of North Dakota for National Geographic Magazine. It's kinda shaky looking.

Same Title, Different Song

2009-11-22T17:39:00.000-08:00

Lyle Lovett: North Dakota

Doesn't really have anything to do with North Dakota.

A Song Called "North Dakota"

2009-11-15T17:42:00.001-08:00

By a band I've never heard of. Kinda angsty.

The Wooden Sky: "North Dakota"

Painting Below Zero

2009-11-06T18:41:00.000-08:00

Turns out there is an influential New York artist who grew up in North Dakota, and he wrote a book.

Review: Painting Below Zero

Past Propaganda

2009-10-26T18:57:00.000-07:00

NYTimes.com has a long, multi-part feature on doctored photographs from the Depression, some of it involving drought in North Dakota in the 1930s. In case you're interested in that sort of thing.

Bobcat

2009-10-12T19:55:00.001-07:00

Finally, someone reports some negative news about North Dakota.

CNN: Back to work but still a bit nervous

We're No. 7

2009-10-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

... According to Forbes.

The Best States for Business, including an older interview with John Hoeven.

Were we more interesting when our economy was lousy?

Greetings from Asbury Park

2009-09-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine's solution to his state's near-10 percent unemployment rate? "Go to North Dakota."

We're No. 16!

2009-09-09T19:09:00.000-07:00

According to CNBC, and tied with Washington.

America's Top States for Business '09

We're Awesome ... Wait

2009-09-04T12:04:00.000-07:00

"People from Bismarck are pretty relaxed ... They're not worried, not at all."

It's always embarrassing when a magazine hypes your low unemployment and then the town's biggest manufacturer closes its plant.

BusinessWeek: What's North Dakota Doing Right?

Turf or AstroTurf?

2009-08-29T15:43:00.000-07:00

Protesting and rallying are quite the thing to do nowadays. Other than famous dead people, it's about the only thing on TV lately. Despite the many people who will go out and shout about things for free, there seems to a market for people who will protest against things or rally for things for money.

Rob Port, a blogger who has been active protesting things by drinking tea, made the big news this week accusing an environmental group of buying support.

NY Times: Enviro Ad Sparks Debate -- Grass Roots or AstroTurf?

The Future of Health Care

2009-08-18T18:47:00.001-07:00

... is North Dakota? Conrad, Pomeroy, MeritCare and the state Blues all enter into discussion of health care co-ops.

NY Times: Alternative Plan as Health Option Muddies Debate

The Great In-Migration

2009-08-15T19:55:00.000-07:00

We are being invaded by economic refugees, poor, tired, huddle masses yearning for call center jobs. What's more, the state is going out and recruiting these outsiders, who will no doubt reshape our culture in unknown ways (like refusing to wave at other drivers while driving around in the country or mispronouncing "Sakakawea.")

Washington Post: In N.D., the Road to Economic Recovery

Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch: North Dakota wants you

Science

2009-08-13T13:49:00.000-07:00

NPR reports on a program that helps student scientists to study the environment. George Seielstad of UND worked with NASA to create the program and is interviewed for the story.

Among the students' activities is flying around in a DC-8 and collecting data on carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

NPR: Earth Science From the Sky: The Next Generation

Old

2009-08-09T20:01:00.001-07:00

Missed this commentary on last spring's floods.

Economy ... Ho, Hum

2009-08-09T18:59:00.000-07:00

Getting repetitive now: The Financial Times reports on the state's kick-ass economy.

Warm welcome for businesses as wintry plains lure investors

But the real news is that apparently we are now America's chickpea capital. Who knew? Go eat some hummus.

Alternate Reality

2009-07-22T14:00:00.001-07:00

Once again, North Dakota proves itself to be Bizarro America when it comes to the economy.

USA Today: Fargo, N.D., real estate market, home sales going strong

Satchel Paige

2009-07-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

A new biography of Satchel Paige was recently published. The hall-of-famer played in Bismarck briefly in the '30s and helped lead the way for integrated baseball in the 1940s.

The author gives a long interview on NPR's "Fresh Air." Discussion of Bismarck is around the 15-minute point.

Elk

2009-07-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

Should we allow hunters to shoot elk in overpopulated Theodore Roosevelt National Park? The New York Times says no.

And, since the New York Times forms my every opinion, I say no, we should not allow hunters to shoot elk in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

"Shaking Hands With a Dinosaur"

2009-07-06T19:03:00.000-07:00

We need to find a way to make this dinosaur thing pay. Perhaps something involving Jeff Goldblum.

NPR: Fossil Hunters Uncover Rare Dinosaur Skin

Nekoma Pyramid

2009-06-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

The Web site BoingBoing (whatever that is) mentions the Nekoma missile installation in Cavalier County, calling it "a monument to man's fear and ignorance."

Or maybe a monument to North Dakota's historical dependence on the federal money teat.

Conan

2009-06-21T16:53:00.000-07:00

About a week late, as usual.

Outlier

2009-06-05T18:45:00.000-07:00

As usual, North Dakota is out of step with the rest of the country, where the economy is in the crapper and states are flat broke. The state is the opposite of California in every possible way, just like it's always been.

WSJ: In North Dakota, the Good Times Are Still Rolling

Colbert/Dorgan

2009-06-02T18:19:00.000-07:00

Byron Dorgan made another appearance on the Colbert Report last night, plugging his book about financial regulation and touting North Dakota's homespun, earthy values.

Did he forgo the comb-over for a hairpiece? His bald spot seemed more effectively (though not realistically) concealed. Free your scalp, Byron. It's 2009. Bald men no longer have to be ashamed.

Beets of Wrath

2009-05-29T18:47:00.000-07:00

North Dakota looks to economically ravaged Michigan for some Joads desperate enough to move in and take some of our abundant jobs. If this doesn't work, there's always illegal aliens.

North Dakota Seeks Workers

Bobby Vee

2009-05-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

After Buddy Holly died in 1959 en route to a show in Moorhead, a group of Fargo teenagers played the date instead. The bandleader, Bobby Vee (ne Villine), is today best remembered for a couple of hits now in endless rotation on oldies radio, and his connection a kid named Bobby Zimmerman who played piano for him in Fargo for a summer.

The piano player, who later became Bob Dylan, still admires Vee and wrote in his memoirs, "Bobby Vee and me had a lot in common, even though our paths would take such different directions. We had the same musical history and came from the same place at the same point in time. ... I'd always thought of him as a brother."

Vee discusses his career and meeting Dylan in Fargo again in 1991 in a long article in Goldmine.

Saberi Freed

2009-05-11T19:36:00.001-07:00

Journalist from Fargo no longer pawn in international chess game.

NYT: In Turnabout, Iran Releases U.S. Journalist

Told Ya

2009-04-06T18:09:00.000-07:00

According to this Newsweek interview, Byron Dorgan saw the financial crisis coming way back in 1999. Alas, no one listened. Especially Larry Summers.

"Big companies have spun out of control," Dorgan said. "Like hogs in a corn crib."

"Hogs in a corn crib?" Who talks like that?

Obit

2009-04-04T14:05:00.000-07:00

Nancy Eiesland, a philosopher of disability and noted theologian, was born in Cando. She died March 10, according to this obituary. Emory University, where she was an associate professor of sociology of religion and disability studies, posted a tribute.

Staying Put

2009-04-01T14:20:00.000-07:00

Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker discusses the decision not to evacuate with NPR and the NY Times.

He's lucky he turned out to be right.

Why?

2009-03-31T19:33:00.000-07:00

As the country watches Fargo-Moorhead get mercilessly stomped by Mother Nature, the question arises, Why would we put up with this crap?

The NY Times provides a couple of good explainer pieces on the geology and politics of flood control and forecasting.

Permanent Flood Solutions Just Out of Reach for Fargo

A River Prone to Flooding, and Misunderstanding

And then there's this.

All Eyes on N.D.

2009-03-27T12:56:00.000-07:00

Every morning, top of the news, there's North Dakota.

NPR: Kent Conrad tries to maintain his budget hawk cred and remain Obama's buddy. It's a lot of money, $3.6 trillion.

Then there are more immediate concerns.

Saberi Update

2009-03-23T14:04:00.000-07:00

Journalist and Fargo native Roxana Saberi's imprisonment in Iran drags on. NPR broadcast an interview with her father, Reza, and Byron Dorgan, who's working for her release. The Washington Times has also editorialized about Saberi and its treatment of journalists and bloggers.

More complete coverage of Saberi's ordeal can be found at the Free Roxana Saberi web site.

Jubilation: Fleeting

2009-03-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

NDSU loses in the first round to Kansas. Some related articles:

NY Times: Bison Shrink Distance Between Fargo and the Big Time
Slate.com: Odious things about this year's NCAA tournament
ESPN: What's not to love about Bison?

N.D.'s Got Jobs

2009-03-18T14:17:00.000-07:00

The North Dakota economic miracle claims another victim. Sykes Enterprises will close a Minot call center because it can't find enough applicants for its positions, according to an AFP article.

For the record, call center jobs are usually pretty crappy.

March Madness

2009-03-16T19:44:00.001-07:00

Holy crap! The Bison are seeded for March Madness. Having spent a total of around 30 minutes over the course of my life paying attention to NCAA basketball, does this mean I now have to start caring?

Roxana Saberi

2009-03-11T14:23:00.001-07:00

Journalist, Fargo native and former Miss North Dakota Roxana Saberi remains in custody in Iran on unspecified charges (though possibly for buying wine), despite calls for her release by Hillary Clinton and journalism groups.

You can read more about Saberi at the Committee to Protect Journalists' web site.

Chuck

2009-02-23T20:03:00.000-08:00

Klosterman does a quickie interview with Newsweek on his favorite books. Big revelation: Wyndmere has no black people.

Why is Chuck starting to look like that guy from Hollywood Squares?

Engery Boom

2009-02-13T19:45:00.000-08:00

The Economist is the latest to visit Stanley, the setting of North Dakota's version of "Dallas."*

Economist: Pumped up

*It will be called "Bakken" and tell the story of a Norwegian oil dynasty and the family's struggles over what color of F-150 they should spend their money on.

Give 'Em Measured Reasoning, Kent

2009-02-12T19:32:00.001-08:00

Sen. Gaylord "Kent" Conrad defends the stimulus plan on Face The Nation this week.

FTN: Democrats Support Stimulus

We're Fine, Thanks.

2009-01-22T19:49:00.000-08:00

Prairie Public Radio reporter Dave Thompson files a report for NPR on North Dakota's economic miracle. The secret? Microsoft and oil.

All Things Considered: N.D. Economy Goes Against the Grain

Inauguration

2009-01-20T20:00:00.000-08:00

Not missed in the big inauguration coverage is an appearance by "the only Jewish legislator in North Dakota," Eliot Glassheim, at the National Jewish Inaugural Ball. Enjoying even greater prominence was a delegation from the United Tribes Technical College that marched in the inaugural parade.

Chicago Is For Wimps

2009-01-18T17:53:00.000-08:00

The Windy City, in the grip of sub-zero weather, looks to Fargo for advice on surviving a real winter.

Chicago Tribune: Battling Cold

Sorgatz Alert

2009-01-13T19:31:00.001-08:00

According to the New York Observer, Mike "Rex" Sorgatz, formerly of Napoleon, is the toast of the New York new media crowd, possibly due to his spiky hair and oversize Elvis Costello glasses.

New York Observer: Rex and the City

Literary Bonanza

2009-01-07T19:09:00.000-08:00

One book section, two North Dakota authors.

Chuck Klosterman and Louise Erdrich are both reviewed in the latest NY Times Sunday Book Review. One writer is accused of "pop culture name-dropping" and "intentionally obscure" cultural references. The other is called a "master tuner of the taut emotions that keen between parent and child, man and woman, brother and sister, man and beast." Can you guess which is which?

Klosterman: "Downtown Owl"

Erdrich: "The Red Convertible"

Speaking of Oil

2008-12-16T14:58:00.000-08:00

Might-a spoke too soon about our indestructible economy.

Big Oil Projects Put in Jeopardy by Fall in Prices

Prairie Prosperity

2008-12-06T20:02:00.000-08:00

As the American economy sinks deeper into the crap, North Dakota is almost recession-proof, according the front page of the New York Times.

Any adult North Dakotan can hardly remember a time when the state was not gripped with farm crises, bad jobs and constant out-migration. This prosperity thing is a little disconcerting.

A related question is, How bad did the rest of the country have to get for North Dakota to become the envy or every other state?

Travel

2008-12-01T19:21:00.000-08:00

A New York Times article last week announces that travel has become cheaper, since no one has any money anymore and oil prices are under $50 a barrel again. At the very end of the story, there's mention of a guy in Seattle going to Fargo for Thanksgiving.

Thank God for this recession. We're saved. Unless we're economically dependent on the Bakken Field. Than we're screwed again.

New Yorker

2008-11-16T19:03:00.000-08:00

Old: A New Yorker article from 2002 about the efforts to drop the "North" and become just "Dakota." The piece is a surprisingly even-handed look at a very stupid idea.

The New Yorker: True North

Chris Coste

2008-10-23T18:28:00.000-07:00

For those who saw game one of the World Series, the guy behind the plate for Philadelphia was Chris Coste, Fargo native, late-career big league rookie and Phillies back-up catcher. The former F-M Redhawk has also written two books about his time in the minors and his long road to the majors.

West Fargo to Broadway

2008-10-13T18:27:00.001-07:00

Self-described "theater bitch" Jan Maxwell has earned two Tony nominations and shown a talent for portraying unsympathetic characters and pissing off Alec Baldwin, all of which is commendable.

NY Times: Frightener of Tots, Enemy of Mediocrity

The Onion Follows Up

2008-09-25T18:11:00.000-07:00

Reaction to Obama staff leaving North Dakota

Maybe We'll Go Blue In 2012

2008-09-22T17:32:00.000-07:00

The Obama campaign pulls out of "those high Plains states where the livestock population far outnumbers the humans," notes an L.A. Times blog.

When is this thing over? Six weeks?

Boom

2008-09-10T18:11:00.000-07:00

As long as oil prices stay above $75 a barrel, farmers around towns like Stanley will be able to afford heated tractors, and will continue to piss off their neighbors, according to USA Today, which reports on the jealousy that is consuming the oil-less on the Bakken Formation. If only they, too, could afford second-hand Lincolns.

Oil boom creates millionaires and animosity in North Dakota

Bonus: The inventor the modern diving board is from Stanley. Who knew!?

Byron and the Beautiful People

2008-08-26T17:57:00.000-07:00

The Economist's bloggers catch Byron Dorgan hanging out with a crowd of Hollywood types, some of whom they can't name.

Economist: Democracy in America blog

Black Gold

2008-08-06T17:12:00.000-07:00

CNN discovers the Bakken formation and "North Dakota's real-life Jed Clampett," who happens to have a very swank pad near Stanley.

Native American Idol

2008-08-01T18:20:00.000-07:00

Marketplace, the public radio business news program, reported on the powwow circuit today, particularly the rising stakes in popular dance competitions. One dancer they focused on was Rusty Gillette of Bismarck, who's apparently a star in the dance contests.

Powwow pros keep eyes on the prize

Gillette, a former basketball notable in the state, also runs a graphic design business in Bismarck.

Literary-ness

2008-07-29T18:58:00.001-07:00

Chuck Klosterman's first novel, Downtown Owl, is scheduled to come out in September. It's set in a fictional North Dakota small town in 1983, and Amazon.com has an excerpt.

In other literary news, Klosterman cohort Rex Sorgatz has established himself as a literary man about town in New York and has already earned the wanted/unwanted attention of Gawker.com, the media scene kings of snark.

Nice pic.

Little Big Horn

2008-06-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

June 25 is the anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, which according to one participant, took "as long as it takes a hungry man to eat a meal."

The Little Bighorn is in Montana, of course, but Custer set out from his post at Ft. Lincoln, N.D.

Don't Be Gently Mocking Toward North Dakota

2008-06-24T17:32:00.000-07:00

Humorist Dave Barry discusses making fun of the "Dakota" name change idea and having a sewage lift station in Grand Forks named for him. Plus, a follow-up from a part-time GF resident.

(That stupid "Dakota" ... No one even liked the plan yet people around the country still remember it. What a terrible proposal.)

More Kent

2008-06-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

Washington Post: Conrad has some explaining to do
Kent (via Bloomberg): It was serendipity
Politico.com: Conrad and Chris Dodd answer a few questions

Democracy, Inaction

2008-06-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

Pillsbury (which allegedly shares a namesake with a certain doughboy) tries to elect a mayor, no one bothers to vote.

Kent's Beach House of Pain

2008-06-16T17:52:00.000-07:00

(This is a little late.)

Kent Conrad's VIP deal with Countrywide Financial Corp., mass purveyor of sub-prime mortgages, may have been sub-ethical.

The story broke last week, but has grown some legs since then.

Also implicated is former Clinton cabinet member Donna Shalala, whose sister is a school principal in Wolford, making for a second North Dakota connection.

Come See the Vacant Spaces

2008-06-08T12:10:00.000-07:00

The empty parts of the Great Plains are attracting tourists looking to get up close to bison, birds, buttes and the related empty prairie-type things.

NY Times: Back to Nature and Ready for Guests in the Great Plains

Twenty years after shouting down Frank and Deborah Popper, are we ready to embrace the Buffalo Commons?

Nuclear Fallout

2008-06-06T14:22:00.001-07:00

The Pentagon cleaned house in the top ranks of the Air Force following investigation of the accidental transfer of nukes from Minot to Louisiana and some other scary bumbling. The secretary and the chief of staff both got the boot.

Washington Post: Two Top Air Force Officials Ousted

Saudi Dakotia

2008-06-04T17:31:00.000-07:00

Bloomberg News provides a detailed article on the potential of the Bakken formation, holding 413 billion barrels of oil, according to one estimate. (The world's biggest, the Ghawar field in Saudia Arabia, has produced 55 billion barrels and has around 70 billion left.) Much of the article concentrates on the scramble to lock up drilling rights to the underground wealth.

Dakota Oil Fields of Saudi-Sized Reserves Make Farmers Drillers

Naturally, this means that we can go back to driving giant vehicles again and never, ever having to think about conserving resources again. Ever. (Not even a little.)

Le Fargo

2008-06-02T18:43:00.000-07:00

From Graeme's blog, a web site with people in Fargo, speaking French.

Uncle Bob

2008-05-26T18:25:00.001-07:00

Bob Dylan turned 67 on Saturday. Bob is from Hibbing, Minn., (also birthplace of Roger Maris), but Fargo can claim a small part of his legacy. He spent a teenage summer there playing piano for local rock n' roller Bobby Vee before getting fired and leaving for the U. of M.

Interviews with Bobby Vee and Fargo contemporary

Bob, 1963:

my country is the Minnesota-North Dakota territory that's where I was born an learned how t walk an it's where I was raised an went t school... my youth was spent wildly among the snowy hills an sky blue lakes, willow fields an abandoned open pit mines. contrary t rumors, I am very proud of
where I'm from an also of the many blood streams that run in my roots.

Chuck

2008-05-26T11:22:00.000-07:00

Pop culture writer from Wyndmere, Chuck Klosterman, shows up on a podcast with ESPN guy Bill Simmons. Most of the podcast is a rambling thing about basketball, writing, German microwaves and nothing in particular, but halfway through, the conversation shifts to North Dakota. Anyone who has had to explain the state to someone only vaguely aware of its existence will find it familiar.

Also, Chuck has a novel coming out.

Baa

2008-05-18T20:34:00.000-07:00

Sure there's the Web 2.0, iPods and 'tween pop stars, but what kids today really want to do is look after a flock of stupid, stinking animals.

NY Times: Seeking a Few Good Shepherds

The Legacy of Indian Schools

2008-05-14T17:24:00.000-07:00

NPR did a two-part series on American Indian schools this week. Part one includes a mention of the Wahpeton Indian Boarding School, since renamed the Circle of Nations School.

NPR: American Indian Boarding Schools Haunt Many

Ed Sez:

2008-05-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

Ethanol isn't to blame for food crisis. After all, who was using that corn, anyway?

Washington Times: Ethanol as cause of rood crisis "flat-out wrong."

More Erdrich

2008-05-10T15:45:00.000-07:00

Another review of the new Louise Erdrich novel, set in fictional Pluto, N.D., which according to the reviewer, is "one of those places we read about now and then when big-city papers run features about the death of small-town America."

Ed Ascendent

2008-05-09T15:07:00.000-07:00

U.S. News & World Report likes Ed Schafer. It's also the rare national publication to mention the ag secretary's association with Mr. Bubble and Junkyard Wars.

U.S. News: Like a Farmhand, Ag's Ed Schafer Does It All

Horses

2008-05-02T18:34:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Kentucky Derby day, and, according to this article on Slate.com, some people will be placing bets through phone hubs in "exotic, loosely regulated locales like St. Kitts or North Dakota"

"Say you want to lay $1,000 on a horse running at Aqueduct. You call the hub in Fargo, then an operator takes your bet and relays it to New York, where the money is fed into the racetrack's pool."

Does this really go on in North Dakota, or is Fargo just writerly shorthand for the middle of nowhere?

New Erdrich

2008-04-29T18:15:00.001-07:00

The New York Times reviews Louise Erdrich's new novel, A Plague of Doves, praising it for its Faulknerian approach to place and narrative voice, as well as its Garcia-Marquez-style of magical realism.

"A boy and a girl, who meet in a field during a plague of doves, run away from home and for six years find refuge with a mannish pig rustler and her notorious husband. That boy’s granddaughter develops a wild crush on the local troublemaker, who will one day steal her great uncle’s magical fiddle, which appeared to him in a dream. A man assembles a world-class stamp collection while living in the little town of Pluto, only to find that his obsession leads to his undoing. For years a judge carries on a passionate affair with an older woman, who ends up marrying a local developer, who buys the judge’s beloved house with the intention of stripping it bare. A charismatic boy becomes a dangerous cult leader, enslaving his wife, a snake handler, who plots to liberate herself and their children from his thrall."

Anyway, it's supposed to be good.

Wheat Waning

2008-04-29T17:54:00.000-07:00

The Washington Post does up a big story about the declining acreage of wheat being grown now that many farmers are switching to more disease-resistant and profitable crops like corn and soybeans, even in places like Gascoyne, N.D., where wheat and barley used to be the only crop. This has caused prices to surge and people to go hungry in places that depend on cheap imports of U.S. grain.

Who knew that farming was so complicated?

Emptying the Breadbasket

(Where the hell is Gascoyne?)

Death Comes to the Poet (Almost)

2008-04-19T18:11:00.000-07:00

The New York Times recently reviewed North Dakota poet laureate Larry Woiwode's new memoir, A Step from Death, inspired in part by a near-fatal tractor accident.

In literature, there are four kinds of conflicts:

Man vs. man
Man vs. nature
Man vs. himself
Man vs. tractor

I have a degree in English.

Miss N.D., WNBA

2008-04-13T17:46:00.000-07:00

Carla Christofferson went from being Miss North Dakota (1985) to a legal bigwig to owner of the the L.A. Sparks Women's National Basketball Association team.

New Breed of Tycoon Brings Order to the Court

She also used to date Eddie Van Halen.

Cashing in the CPR

2008-04-09T17:25:00.000-07:00

The New York Times goes to Denhoff, N.D., (I don't even know where that is) to report on farmers converting their Conservation Reserve land into fields and pasture to take advantage of booming food prices. Good news for people who like cheap food. Not so good news for ducks.

Hey! Candidates Pay Attention to North Dakota!

2008-04-05T16:51:00.000-07:00

There's probably too many stories about what was apparently the most monmentous day in state history, so here's a sampling.

Washington Post: A North Dakota Evening to Remember
ABC News: Battleground North Dakota? You Betcha!
(This report was by a Grand Forks native, according to the GF Herald.)
Slate.com: The Wrong Dakota
Wall Street Journal political blog: A Hard Fight in North Dakota
Controversy! New York Times: McCain Called a 'Warmonger' at Obama Appearance

Obama didn't actually say "uff-da," did he?

2008-04-02T19:08:00.000-07:00

Barack Obama is speaking in Grand Forks. Obama, a legitimate presidential contender, speaking in three-electoral-holding, red Republican North Dakota, this late in a heated nomination fight. That's almost historic. How can we make him feel welcome?

Maybe we shouldn't ask those NDSU kids.

L.A. Times blog picks up students' Obama skit

Didn't seem to deter Hillary, though.

Poetry, Economy, Bloggery

2008-04-01T19:08:00.000-07:00

Various junk:

The Garrison Kiellor public radio bit that interrupts your sleep every morning, "The Writer's Almanac," featured a poem Tuesday about sex and North Dakota. It was titled "Montana."
The New York Times: Nobody knows how to regulate lenders, investment banks, financial services firms to keep this whole subprime thing, or some other thing that we haven't even thought of yet, from biting us on the ass again for another many, many billion dollars God knows when. Karen Tyler, North Dakota securities commisioner gets her two cents in, too. (Second page, half way down.)
North Dakota bloggers get kudos in the Washington Post. Good work, folks.

Boom

2008-03-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

North Dakota, contrarian that it is, enjoys nice economic growth while a looming recession is scaring the pants off of folks in the rest of the country. So reports the Christian Science Monitor.

Jon Hassler

2008-03-21T15:57:00.000-07:00

Sure, he was a Minnesota author, but he went to UND.

Minnesota novelist Jon Hassler dies at 74

March 12

2008-03-12T18:48:00.000-07:00

On this date in 1922, Jack Kerouac was born. In 1957, his novel On the Road was published.

From page 20:

I looked at the company. There were two young farmer boys from North Dakota
in red baseball caps, which is the standard North Dakota farmer-boy hat, and
they were headed for the harvests; their old men had given them leave to hit the road for a summer.

(March 12, is Kent Conrad's birthday, too. But how many books has he sold?)

Prairie Home Ron Paul

2008-03-11T18:57:00.000-07:00

Probably half the state of North Dakota has seen this house on I-94 displaying its support for a certain oddball Republican and a general lack of structural integrity. Now readers of snarky political blog Wonkette have too, thanks to some guy named Ryan.

Also, I missed another recent N.D.-related Wonkette post about our stingy ways in presidential campaigns.

We Want Wheat

2008-03-09T18:31:00.000-07:00

Lawton, N.D., gets a dateline in a front-page NY Times article about the global spike in food prices. Briefly, it's good for farmers, not so good for poor people.

(And as someone who grew up in the 1980s, it still seems weird that something good is happening to farmers, rather than a perpetual economic disaster.)

Honored

2008-03-03T18:28:00.000-08:00

Master Sergeant Woody Keeble, a Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux and veteran of World War II and the Korean War, received a post-humous Congressional Medal of Honor for his valor in Korea.

CNN: First Sioux receives Medal of Honor

White House transcript of medal ceremony

1861

2008-03-02T18:53:00.000-08:00

On March 2, 1861, the United States government organized the Dakota Territory. It was later split up into North Dakota and some other states.

By the Power of Grayskull

2008-02-29T17:00:00.000-08:00

A somewhat odd reference to Bismarck at Cracked.com concerning Skeletor and teleportation.

Model

2008-02-27T17:39:00.000-08:00

Today is the birthday of Grand Forks' Nicole Linkletter, winner of America's Next Top Model. She's 22.

Between her, the governor's daughter and that other one from the TV show, North Dakota has its share of models.

That is, three of them.

China = North Dakota

2008-02-26T18:00:00.001-08:00

... for some reason having to do with railroads and interstates. According to this report on public radio's Marketplace. And Fargo is like Urumqi.

Homes

2008-02-15T14:02:00.000-08:00

The New York Times looks at the parts of America where the housing market has not fallen victim to an insane mob mentality of price inflation and collapse, including Bismarck and Grand Forks. A UND professor gets a quote, too.

Some Cities Are Spared the Slide in Housing

All Election, All the Time

2008-02-04T18:50:00.000-08:00

UK newspaper, the Telegraph, goes to Bismarck to cover Obama's efforts in a very red state. It also takes time to mention the Coen Brothers, 40 below and our least-visited status. Still, it's nice to have candidates pay attention.

Barack Obama targets rural US grassroots

$0.09

2008-01-30T17:40:00.000-08:00

According to the New York Times, North Dakota trails every other state in donations to presidential campaigns. In this election, residents have given 9 cents per capita, or $57,613. Apparently, voters prefer personal contact with their politicians over monied media campaigns.

“Even for a statewide political campaign, you have to get to the lutefisk feed. ... Putting commercials on TV is not going to work."

In North Dakota, Forget Money. Politics Is Different.

Fiction Dept.

2008-01-22T17:23:00.001-08:00

Louise Erdrich has a new short story in the New Yorker. It's long, so you might want to wait and read it at work.

The Reptile Garden

It's Cold

2008-01-21T17:31:00.000-08:00

A newspaper columnist in North Carolina hears it's cold in North Dakota, investigates. Lloyd Omdahl provides details.

Asheville Citizen-Times.com

Red States Blues?

2008-01-17T17:42:00.000-08:00

Red state Democrats like Barack Obama. Our own Kent Conrad has endorsed him. Noted smart guy George Will explains what that means (or at least what he thinks it means).

(On a related note, has anyone noticed that George Will sorta looks like Kent's dour, unfriendly brother?)