The Most Read Saturday Essays of 2020
We thought we were so artsy and sophisticated with our little essay series on Perfect Duluth Day. But we all know sensationalism sells. Which essays were the most read in 2020 according to Google Analytics? Well, the topics included a wet T-shirt contest, reckless behavior involving musical watercraft, flat-out fake news, a cult taking over a Lincoln Park church and a murderous dog. Readers, we hope you’re proud of yourselves.
PDD’s annual tradition of wrapping up each year of the “Saturday Essay” series with lazy top-five lists instead of arduously prepared compositions continues next week when the samplings will be less of a popularity contest and more about one person’s snobby opinion of what you should have been reading if you weren’t all heathens. (more…)
Rich Mattson and the Northstars – “In Flight”
Rich Mattson and the Northstars have a new album set for release on Feb. 5. This homespun video, produced by Reggie Pype, is for the first single, “In Flight.”
The upcoming album, Skylights, can be preordered at spartasound.bandcamp.com.
Selective Focus: Kitties
Instagram
855 likes, 66 comments - mikemayou on December 17, 2020: "Surprisingly, the bobcats were also very comfortable sitting still, allowing me able to snap a few photos along with the video I was taking yesterday. Here are a few of my favorites. See if you can spot all three!
EDIT: I have purposefully chosen to not answer any questions asking for the specific location these were shot at to protect these animals from the potential of being bombarded by large groups of people. In addition, I would like to mention the ethics of filming wildlife with drones. As we all know, drones can potentially scare animals, especially if the drones are larger in size and get close to the creatures. After looking into the ethics of drone photography around wildlife, I realized I may have gotten too close to the bobcats for comfort, and looking back, I would not have gotten as close as I did. If the behavior of the animal changes, the drone is too close. While taking the video and photos of the cats, I attempted to maintain distance until one actually approached the drone. I will add that this wasn't a planned drone flight and I wasn't near the cats for more than a few minutes total.".
instagram.com
From household pets to wildcats, a look at Duluth-area kitty cats via Instagram. (more…)
Video: Bobcats on the St. Louis River
Duluth’s Mike Mayou captured video of three bobcats on the ice along the St. Louis River on Wednesday. “I happened to spot them from afar,” he wrote on the YouTube description. “After flying a drone over to investigate, I discovered that the three cats were very comfortable being up close and personal with the camera, thus this footage. Enjoy!”
Meteorite Video via Pine County Sheriff’s Office
This dashcam video from the Pine County Sheriff’s Office shows a bright light streaking in the sky at about 6:50 a.m. on Dec. 16 in the vicinity of Denham, about 20 miles southwest of Duluth. (more…)
The Slice: Photographing Icicles with Michelle Hague
Duluth photographer Michelle Hague loves to capture the beauty of Minnesota, and has a special passion for icicle photography.
In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
PDD Video Lab: On the Great Lakes
In this edition of the PDD Video Lab we’ve taken mid-20th Century Duluth footage from the National Archive and set it to the title track from the 2017 Ingeborg von Agassiz album O Giver of Dreams. (more…)
Santa Clutch is coming to town!
If the door drop is good enough for Amazon it’s good enough for Santa Clutch.
Uncle Clutch’s Video Horror Shop airs on Superior Community Television at 9 p.m. on Fridays and 3 p.m. on Saturdays.
The full Video Horror Show Christmas Special is now a part of “A Perfect Duluth Christmas: PDD’s Holiday Video Showcase.”
Postcard from a Warship in the Duluth-Superior Harbor
This undated postcard, published by Zenith Interstate News Company, shows the USS Forrest Sherman Destroyer-931 docked on Rice’s Point in Duluth, with the Peavey grain elevator in the background. (more…)
Petitioning to Change Duluth in 2020
It might be no surprise that 2020 saw more Duluth action on change.org than any year before it. And it’s hardly surprising that the petition with the most virtual signatures is a plea for Duluthians to wear masks. (more…)
Duluth You & Me: Winter Fun
Use the link below for a printable PDF for your coloring and drawing pleasure.
Duluth You & Me: Winter Fun
Follow the Duluth You & Me subject tag to see additional pages. For background on the book see the original post on the topic.
Artists sought to create visuals for Highway 61 Revisited project
Duluth Waterfront Collective is seeking four artists to create visualizations of its Highway 61 Revisited project. As first reported on Perfect Duluth Day in May, the project attempts to redesign the I-35 corridor where it splits Downtown Duluth and the Canal Park Business District. (more…)
PDD Quiz: Duluth Superlatives
Some general Duluth trivia coming your way with a look at Duluth superlatives! Where can you find the shortest street? What is the tallest industrial building? What is the coldest recorded temperature? Quiz on to discover answers to all of these questions (and more)!
The next quiz will review 2020 headlines; it will be published on Dec. 27. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by Dec. 22. (more…)
Into the Dad Zone: An Epic Skate in the BWCA
Like a lot of folks who love the outdoors I try as hard as possible to get my kid to love being outside as well. To create that connection is like walking the razor’s edge. You push too much and they hate it. You push too little and they get consumed by electronics, friends and all the other noise going on in their young lives.
I would say my actions fall on pushing the outdoors too much. I personally have come to the conclusion that I have one life to live and I am sure as hell going to live it as much as I can.
There is no question, I am happiest outside having an adventure. That has been one consistent theme in my life since I was a kid. That theme is a core part of my being and one aspect of my life I want to give to my child, it’s my legacy … and well, it’s all the legacy I have to give!
So when free time presents itself, outside is where I will be. If my wife is working and I have the kid for that time period, then we are going outside. It’s just a matter of how and where. Usually those two answers are dictated by weather, season and what the conditions will allow us to do. There is always something special to any time and season, if we are aware enough to recognize it. (more…)
Heely Tricks with JamesG: November 2020
Another monthly installment of wheeled-sneaker stunts from former Duluthian James Geisler, also known as the hip-hop artist JamesG.
Selective Focus: Kathy Johnson Anscomb
Artist Kathy Johnson Anscomb has used the new perspective she had during the pandemic — stuck inside, looking out the windows at the same view day after day — and turned that into inspiration for new work this year. This week in Selective Focus, we hear how this series came to be.
KJA: Lately I’ve been painting with acrylic or ink on canvas, I’ve also been having a flirtation with watercolor and have some new things on the back burner. I’ve worked with acrylics for more years than I will tell, but going way back to junior high when my ninth grade art teacher got me interested in art. It was all about abstract art when I was in the art department at UMD in the 60s, and I’ve loved the freedom and simplicity of working in that style since.
(more…)
Avant-Garde Women: The Shakespearean Tragedy of Peggy and Pegeen Guggenheim
The story of Peggy and Pegeen Guggenheim, as told by the Situationist painter Ralph Rumney, reads like Shakespeare: court intrigue, backstabbing, madness, and suicide. Rumney’s book The Consul provides a critical point of view on this fraught mother-daughter relationship cracking up at the cutting edge of the art world.
On Board a Great Lakes Freighter
The film above was discovered with no info such as who shot it, or when and where the scenes were captured. It clearly features Duluth at the beginning and end, however, and appears to be circa 1937. (more…)
Eastman Johnson in the Arrowhead Region
I stumbled on the fascinating story of Eastman Johnson’s time in the Arrowhead Region, and thought Perfect Duluth Day’s historians might weigh in on him. The above landscape, in charcoal, chalk and gouache on paper, shows Superior as viewed from a trading post on Park Point in 1857. After painting portraits of luminaries such as Hawthorne, Emerson, Longfellow and Abe Lincoln, then studying art in Europe, Johnson traveled to Superior, where he had relatives. In 1856 he lived in a log cabin on Pokegema Bay, in what is now the Superior Municipal Forest. (more…)
The Slice: Model Trains at Boathouse Treats and Treasures
Boathouse Treats and Treasures has Duane Benoit’s model train set up for viewing during the holidays. Benoit will be in the store running the train and answering questions on Dec. 11 and 12 from 12:30 to 4 p.m.
In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
Postcards from U.S. Naval Reserve Training Ship Gopher
The undated postcards here show the USS Gopher at Duluth. The vessel had a 34-year history on the East Coast as the USS Fern before being renamed Gopher on Dec. 27, 1905, when it began duty with the Minnesota Naval Militia in Duluth. (more…)
Happy holidays from PDD
Virtual holiday hugs from all of us to all of you.
To visit the ghosts of Christmases past, check out A Perfect Duluth Christmas: PDD’s Holiday Video Showcase.
Steve’s Overpopulated One-man Band – “The COVID Pokie”
From the Iron Range city of Palo, Steve Solkela sings about … you know … what it’s all about.
R.I.P. Sue Sojourner
On a bridge in 1965 (photo by Henry Sojourner) | Holmes County Community Center, February 1965 (photo by Elaine Howmiller, Nashville Tennessean) | Portrait, 2012 (photo by Sam Alvar) | Right to Vote March in Jackson, June 15, 1965 (photo by an unknown civil rights worker)
Author and activist Susan Hasalo Sojourner died in Minneapolis on Dec. 4 at the age of 79. She lived in Duluth for more than two decades, beginning in the mid 1990s.
Sojourner fought tirelessly for justice throughout her life — for civil rights in Holmes County, Miss. and also for women’s liberation and LGBTQ+ rights during her years in Washington D.C. and Duluth. A complete obituary can be found on the Hodroff-Epstein Memorial Chapels website.
Duluth You & Me: Hockey
Use the link below for a printable PDF for your coloring and drawing pleasure.
Duluth You & Me: Hockey
Follow the Duluth You & Me subject tag to see additional pages. For background on the book see the original post on the topic.