David Beard
Open Skating at Duluth Heritage Sports Center
Image from the Heritage Center website
For New Year’s, I never make resolutions. But I do point myself toward new things that feed me.
Ice skating.
I went to the Heritage Center for City of Duluth Open Skate. (more…)
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #4
From the Duluth Trivia deck I found in a game at Savers.
- How long has Duluth had a Symphony Orchestra?
- The DSSO produced opera annually for 26 years. Which conductor began this tradition and in what year?
- Where does the “concertmaster” of the DSSO sit?
- What year did “Fitger’s on the Lake” open?
- What year did the Fitger’s Brewery close?
- How many years was the old brewery in continuous operation?
- Who was Margaret Culkin Banning?
- Who said that “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in Duluth”?
- Where in Duluth is the important collection of Eastman Johnson paintings housed?
- What was the Hjemkomst?
The Gay Agenda on the UMD Campus
On Dec. 4 I heard a reading of Suzannah Weiss‘s The Gay Agenda on the UMD campus.
The work is intended as a web series. When I was a student, creative writing students held ambitions to be seen by a dozen people in a one-act play on campus. Today, new media gives everyone with a talent for words an opportunity to be seen by thousands. As a result, talented young people can be alive with an ambition that I never saw as a student. (more…)
“Sea Smoke” from the Hot Tub on the North Shore
I left Duluth for Bluefin Bay in the late afternoon, after dropping off my mail at the UMD post office (where the lines are shorter than the Mount Royal office by a lot). (more…)
Celebrating a Birthday, Duluth Style
Over the course of a week, I celebrated my birthday, Duluth-style. In sharing the story with you, I celebrate the things about Duluth I like. (more…)
Donating a Car to Community Action Duluth (with Reflection)
Last week, my ex-wife and I planned to get rid of her old car, still stored in my garage for the four years since she moved out. She bought a new car, I bought a new car, her 2002 Hyundai Accent still remained there.
The goal was to donate it to Community Action Duluth to let her get the tax deduction. But because it’s a donation, it needed to go when the towing company could fit the pickup in its schedule. Eventually it arrived. (more…)
Carla Stetson addressing design/construction of CJM Memorial
[arve url=”https://youtu.be/ZlFwTZxBPpM”]
I’m cleaning out my hard drive in preparation for a sabbatical. So here are some videos of Carla Stetson, then a Duluth artist, talking to my writing class. She’s addressing the process of designing and constructing the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial. (more…)
Regional book industry shifts as Book World stores close
If you live or vacation in Ashland or Marquette you know Book World. Or, perhaps the proper phrasing is that you will have known it. The whole chain of stores is closing in a few weeks.
The Book World chain was always amazing to me — a hybrid of gift shop, humidor, and book/magazine store, in small towns, creating access to book culture where it might not otherwise be available. Literary magazines unavailable on the shelf in Duluth could be found in Ashland, Bemidji and other places.
I understand this website is Perfect Duluth Day, not “Perfect Lake Superior Region Day,” but if nothing else, think about this. Book World owned 45 storefronts and was the third-largest book chain in the country. Book culture is precarious, and we should do all we can to support it in Duluth.
Thank You for Your Service
Still from Thank You for Your Service
This is partially a reflection on a movie seen at the Duluth 10 Cinema, partially a survey of important Duluth resources, and partially a reflection on the way I wish the world would be. (more…)
It’s not Mars; it’s my streets.
On Facebook, I saw a picture that could have been from Mars, or from Hibbing (where the earth has been gutted by mines in a monstrously, sublimely beautiful way).
But it wasn’t. It was a Duluth street.
(On Facebook the photo is cropped without the yellow line. This makes it look even more out-of scale Martian.)
In the next election, I understand, there is something to be done about it.
Local writer wins national audience
Jayson Iwen, associate professor of writing at UW–Superior, has landed a piece in Tikkun magazine. His story “Night Running,” was also a Glimmer Train “very short fiction” honorable mention. (more…)
Crystal Spring Gibbins and Holy Cow at Twin Cities Book Festival
On Saturday at the Twin Cities Book Festival, Gary Boelhower, Joan Henrik, Miriam Karmel and Crystal Gibbins celebrated the 40th anniversary of Duluth’s Holy Cow! Press.
The panel, moderated by Jim Perlman, was basically short readings followed by a book signing. It was great to see friends at this celebration of literary culture.
Duluth Nerd Nite organizer opens game store in St. Paul
Grand Opening at Gaming Goat St. Paul.
The Gaming Goat in St. Paul is operated by Jeremy, who is one of the founding members of Nerd Nite Duluth. He still returns to Duluth for nearly every Nerd Nite to host, so in my mind, he’s still part of Duluth, and so his shop is worth a visit the next time you are in St. Paul. (more…)
Running for Our Heroes 5K
I ran, then jogged, then walked in the “Running for Our Heroes” 5K. I learned something about running, about 5Ks, about myself. (more…)
Minnesota Clothing Sales Tax Exemption Appreciation
I was almost, almost charged sales tax at a second-hand shop near the Miller Hill Mall a few weeks ago, on the purchase of socks. I was disappointed … because this is the law:
Clothing is exempt from Minnesota sales and use tax. Clothing means all human wearing apparel suitable for general use. The exemption for clothing does not apply to fur clothing, clothing accessories or equipment, sports or recreational equipment, and protective equipment, which are taxable.
(From Minnesota Department of Revenue Clothing Sales Tax Fact Sheet) (more…)
KUWS Final Edition episode on the CJMM Memorial
I found the CD that Mike Simonson gave me and uploaded it to SoundCloud. It’s a half-hour segment titled “Teaching History, Literacy and Tolerance: The Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial in Our Schools.” Panelists are Henry Banks, Catherine Nachbar, David Beard, Gail Schoenfelder and Perry Kennedy. Moderators are Jennifer and Mike Simonson.
Gunnar Birkerts, Duluth Public Library architect, dead at 92
(more…)Gunnar Birkerts, a Latvian-born architect who extended the vocabulary of Modernism using unexpected angular forms, folding planes and ingenious, light-suffused interiors, died on Tuesday at his home in Needham, Mass. He was 92.
Lots of movies
So it’s end of summer, and the weather’s been … uneven … and it’s getting darker earlier. My heart turns toward movies. (more…)
Rob Adams at the DAI and North Korea
Imagine playing a game of Battleship with an estranged uncle. Let’s call him “Sam.” (more…)
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #3
More from that odd board game:
1. One of the westerly townsites which later became part of Duluth had an Ojibwe name which meant “the rock from which the people sprang.” Name that townsite (and if you know whether this is accurate, let me know).
2. What nationality were the founders of the Hunter’s Park area of Duluth? (more…)
Where in Duluth?
I still miss this place. It was the cheapest place in Duluth to look at the lake. The replacement building isn’t the same — it’s louder and colder and you can’t see the lake from anywhere except your car.
Where in Duluth was this joint with a cool view of the lake?
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #2
I scored a box of Duluth Trivia cards at Savers.
Some of the questions include:
The first vessel to pass through the Duluth Ship Canal was named:
- The Fero
- The Ishpeming
- The Handy
Two Duluthians were guests at Chapel Con in Albert Lea
This past weekend was Chapel Con, a comics and pop culture convention in Albert Lea, Minn. Two Duluthians were guests — two of our favorite comics creators. (more…)
Human Fabric of Duluth
Trudy Vrieze has started a fascinating project documenting what it means to live in Duluth, who we are and why we are here. The Human Fabric of Duluth is a street-photography and storytelling project. (more…)
Coffee and … beer? In Lakeside?
Last week I bicycled to Duluth’s Lakeside neighborhood with a friend — to Amity Coffee and BEER?
Today is the one-year anniversary since the law was revised. The Duluth City Council repealed a more than 125-year-old Lakeside liquor ban on June 27, 2016. Amity Coffee became the neighborhood’s first seller of alcoholic beverages four months later. (more…)