Random
Selective Focus: Sarah Brokke
Sarah Brokke certainly stays busy making and teaching art, but the past few weeks seem to have been especially busy. She is featured in the documentary “Portrait of an Artist,” which debuted at Zinema 2 last weekend (available online soon) and hosted an opening at the Zeitgeist Arts Cafe on Feb. 27. She has also been collaborating on a mural with Harbor City International School students that will be unveiled in April at the College of St. Scholastica, and she is the cover artist for the upcoming Homegrown Music Festival Field Guide.
S.B.: I am a painter who works primarily in oil, and my style and means of working have been a progression over the past 17 years. I’m a process-oriented artist who responds primarily to my personal experiences through my work, in an attempt to understand the complexities and contradictory nature of life. While entrenched in personal dissection, I hope for my work to also address contemporary socio-political constructs. I often explore this through the utilization of the figure, symbols, and references to art history. (more…)
PDD Quiz: February 2017
[This post originally contained an embedded quiz created on the platform Qzzr. It is no longer available at its source.]
Despite being the shortest month, February was full of stuff and things. How much do you remember? Take the PDD Quiz to find out.
Veggies by Subscription: CSA signup season underway in Duluth
It might seem too early to be thinking about fresh local vegetables. The growing season around Lake Superior doesn’t generally start until May, but area farmers are already busy planning their crops and ordering seeds. The signup period has begun for most farms offering community supported agriculture subscriptions. The online CSA Signup Day is today, Feb. 24; Duluth’s CSA open house is March 19.
Farm shares offer a direct method for consumers to access fresh food from local growers. Members buy a seasonal “share” from the farm. During harvest time, which is generally mid-June to mid-December, members go to a designated spot each week to pick up a box of mixed seasonal produce. (more…)
The Lincoln Tribune – Dec. 17, 1985
Oh, the random relics that land on the kitchen table at the Perfect Duluth Day Headquarters. We’ve also scanned all 15 interior pages of this issue of Lincoln Park School’s fancy old newsletter, which appear below, but take heed in the warning that it’s pretty dry stuff in general — everything from mazes and recipes to the school lunch menu. One thing of note is page 2, which is a ridiculously long list of items in the lost and found. (more…)
PDD Quiz: Robots in Duluth
[This post originally contained an embedded quiz created on the platform Qzzr. It is no longer available at its source.]
Test your knowledge of local robotics teams (and other area robots) with this quiz, inspired by the upcoming FIRST Robotics regional competitions taking place Mar. 3-4 at the DECC.
No Education in Your Violence
In June 2010 I started working with men who have been arrested for using violence against women. (That’s when I also started never shutting up about working with men who use violence or what the work has taught me.) By “working with” I mean co-facilitating critical-dialogue groups in a feminist program designed to foster social change by helping men who hurt women figure out why they believe in doing it and how to stop. A month into having those conversations I’d reached two conclusions: 1. since high school I’ve used a lot of violence against girls and women in relationships; 2. many well-accepted teaching norms are just forms of dominance that teachers use to enforce student compliance regardless of whether it actually fosters or shows learning.
Visit a men’s group sometime then go hang out with a bunch of teachers commiserating over coffee or beers. Listen to how each group talks about the dominance they’re entitled to, the compliance they’re owed, and the character deficiencies they perceive in women and students who won’t comply:
What — am I just supposed to let myself get taken advantage of? (more…)
Answer eleven questions, potentially win $100
Every two years or so, the Perfect Duluth Day Marketing Weasel crawls out from behind his desk and demands a survey be conducted. The purpose is to gather information to aid in the selling of little square advertisements to fund the operation of this website. In order to make this infiltration of PDD’s blog content space seem tolerable, the survey is kept to a simple one-page, eleven-question, completely optional task with a $100 prize drawing when the survey period ends.
The survey is now complete; thanks to those who participated.
If you are offended about even being asked, we understand. All we can do is meekly apologize and point out PDD’s content is always offered completely free to readers. We don’t run pop-up ads, we don’t scramble our pages like ugly jigsaw puzzles with cheesy animations and auto-playing videos. We just run a few modest little promotional squares for businesses that are almost entirely local and reputable. (There is one ad dished out by Google Adsense that we roll our eyes at from time to time, but that’s as bad as it gets.) (more…)
PDD Quiz: January 2017
[This post originally contained an embedded quiz created on the platform Qzzr. It is no longer available at its source.]
How much do you remember about this first month of 2017? Take the quiz and find out.
Bike Parking in Downtown Duluth
On Saturday’s march through the Skywalk my husband noticed the bike parking signs near the new DTA Transit Center. I went down there yesterday to get the 411.
“Bike parking is sold on a monthly basis. The cost per month or any part thereof is $10. There is also a required deposit of $5 for the FOB needed for entry into the secure bicycle parking area. This deposit is returned when the FOB is returned to the DTA. Payments are due by the 25th of the month for the next month’s rental.” (more…)
Mystery Photo #49: Women and Children First
The back of this postcard credits Gust Landin, a photographer who operated out of 24 N. 21st. Ave. W. in Duluth’s friendly West End neighborhood, with shooting this image.
The main question here is, what’s going on in this century-old photo? Why have a bunch of ladies in dresses lined up with a row of children in front of them at what we can assume is some Duluth location? Who are they? We’ll probably never know for sure. (more…)
Missing Lakewalk link will remain on hold
The Duluth News Tribune reports the plan to build a pedestrian-only trail behind Beacon Pointe Resort is on hold while the owners of four adjacent properties continue to negotiate a potential sale to prospective developer.
PDD Quiz: Ringing in 2017
[This post originally contained an embedded quiz created on the platform Qzzr. It is no longer available at its source.]
Out with the old, in with the new; this quiz looks ahead to coming attractions in 2017.
Wanted: Exhibit Artist / Graphic Designer
The Cable Natural History Museum in Cable, Wis., is seeking a graphic designer to complete artwork for its upcoming exhibit. Find out the details at cablemuseum.org.
PDD Herzog Zone
If you’ve followed Perfect Duluth Day for any length of time you know one of the more prolific commenters is “Helmut Flaag,” who for a five-year stretch went under the handle “Herzog.” I’m often curious about whether people enjoy his contributions or find them annoying.
Personally, and as one of the moderators of PDD, I have mixed feelings. I often find Helmut/Herzog’s remarks to be well crafted and amusing, but they occasionally consist of a flurry of antagonistic threadjacks about how lumbersexuals are destroying rock and roll with their old-time banjo music.
So it’s time to start a thread specifically dedicated to our mysterious opinionated friend. (more…)
My friends went to Duluth and all I got was this crummy mug
… at least it wasn’t a T-shirt.
Lutefisk Hotline
As seen on the Twitters.
Backyard and Pond Hockey
Looking for people who play hockey in their backyard or on a pond/lake/river to share their stories for a documentary.
Price Check: Poinsettia
While some may still be recovering from food comatose, the rest of us must prepare for rounds two and three: food on Christmas Eve and presents on Christmas Day.
What if you cannot think of what to bring for Grandma’s Christmas Dinner? Bring her a poinsettia. It is the appropriate response to both a table decoration near the ham and a gift to warm her heart.
As I explained this price check to a coworker and she said, “my grandma puts like 20 of those around her house for Christmas.” I laughed because it happened to be my exact memory of poinsettias.
The red and green foliage is perfect for Christmas display. These plants can be found in all types of sizes, but for the purposes of this price check, the prices below reflect 6-inch or 6.5-inch poinsettias. (more…)
Mystery Photo #48: Superior Street and Lake Avenue circa 1998
Where are you now, Danny Tanner?
This image is from a postcard printed by the College of St. Scholastica featuring photography by student Danny Tanner. Searching the internet to determine if Danny Tanner is still involved in photography is a bit complex; it turns out Danny Tanner is the name of a character on the television sitcom Full House, which had recently wrapped up its eight-season run around the same time the real Danny Tanner was doing his thing on Superior Street.
Although the date the photo was shot and date the postcards were printed are unknown, this one is postmarked Nov. 2, 1998. In the background are the Electric Fetus store, Strand Theater and a Duluth Transit Authority bus headed to New Duluth.
The year Joel Hodgson spent in Duluth
On the Halloween episode of The Dana Gould Hour, guest Joel Hodgson briefly mentions his family lived in Duluth for a year. The conversation had steered to small-town television shows and personalities, and Hodgson recalled “picturesque slides of lighthouses” and how it gave a “mood of where you were.”
Hodgson, of course, is best known as the creator of the hit television show Mystery Science Theater 3000. (more…)
Historical Trauma and Standing Rock
When I was young and more exciting than I am now, I started teaching Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus. One of the reasons Maus made its way into classrooms was that it was an immensely accessible introduction to the Holocaust.
But about halfway through the second time I taught the book, I realized that its special genius is not the way it tells the story of Vladek, a Holocaust survivor, but the way it tells the story of Artie, the son of a Holocaust survivor.
Perhaps this is clearest in the scene where Artie and his wife, Francoise, take Vladek to the grocery store so that Vladek can return a half-eaten box of cereal. (more…)
Duluth’s Hamilton Hotel
While doing some family research I found a 1927 directory listing for my great grandmother. It showed she worked as a maid at the Hamilton Hotel in Duluth. I can’t find any info regarding this hotel. Every time and everywhere I search it comes up with Hampton Inns or Hamilton Hotels (modern). I’m curious if anyone has any information regarding the history and location.
Planners take another look at West Duluth’s Memorial Park
The overhaul of a neglected West Duluth park honoring local war veterans has been delayed and downsized as city officials develop new plans without a multi-million dollar community center anchoring the project.
Duluth city officials said a two-year-old plan calling for more than $7 million in Memorial Park improvements failed to receive federal funding and a needed community center business partnership. The setback means planning will be reopened to public discussion early in 2017. (more…)
An Unexpected Arrival in Morgan Park
Does anyone have the story?
Eldes Corner Spring in Midway Township
About 11 miles outside Duluth at the junction of Midway Road and Old Highway 61 is the Eldes Corner Spring, a rundown white building with two free-flowing spigots on the exterior.
Also known as the “Midway Artesian Well” or “Eldes Well House,” it is a public well, owned and maintained by the township, channeled by pipes from four aquifers. That’s about the extent of info a quick internet search brings up. Who knows more? When was it built? Share your knowledge.