Postcard from Duluth’s Hill Top
Set the Wayback Machine 105 years; this postcard was mailed Feb. 3, 1913. The message on the back was written the day before, and will require a translator. Stay tuned for that. Someone will answer the call to duty in the comments eventually. (more…)
Mom’s Apartment
Artist Toby Thomas Churchill invites you along for a tour of his mom’s amazing apartment.
Considering a Crocheted Afghan: What is an Immigrant Life?
My grandmother, an immigrant from Belgium, gave me a thick, crocheted afghan in my senior year of high school. I’m fifty years old now. I still have it. This black, white and gray acrylic afghan—one among hundreds she gifted family members—holds in its hooked stitches the last breaths of the life that she wove into mine. I don’t keep it on my bed today, but my kids will have to figure out what to do with it when I die; I won’t let it go during my lifetime.
Families are big and complex. They can gift us things we don’t understand until many years after they are given. I had the great fortune of living in Omaha, Nebraska, with my grandmother during my junior and senior years. She was in her seventies, alone, and no longer able to drive because of deteriorating vision. I was a grandson who desperately needed refuge from an abusive dad. I’d lived with an aunt and uncle for the second half of my sophomore year. They had already raised three children from another aunt (a story for another time) and had three of their own kids at home. They both worked—he was a cop, she was a secretary. Even then, in the early 1980s these were not high-paying jobs. (more…)
Selective Focus: Michael Smisek
Michael Smisek is a designer and artist whose work would be hard to miss around here. He and his wife operate the DLH Clothing company, and also Šek Design, where they have worked with a number of high-profile clients in the area.
MS: I primarily work as a graphic designer but my background is in drawing and painting. I have a degree in Fine Art from UMD and I find that a lot of my work still takes on a ‘painterly’ quality – especially when designing posters and other collateral for print. I tell all of my clients that I begin every project with open ears and a pencil in hand. I know it sounds corny but it’s absolutely true. Some designers jump right on the computer and use Photoshop tricks and things before truly thinking through the goals or issues that a client faces. If you look at our Šek logo, you can see that the accent above the ’S’ actually doubles as the tip of a pencil. (more…)
What’s on tap at the NorShor Theatre?
No, the question here is not the figurative “what entertainment is on tap?” but rather “what is literally on tap in terms of craft beer at the NorShor?” (more…)
R.I.P. West Duluth Video Vision, Mariner Mall Younkers
Two longtime Twin Ports stores will soon close. Fox 21 reports the West Duluth Video Vision store will close this week. The Duluth News Tribune reports Younkers in Superior’s Mariner Mall will close within 12 weeks. (more…)
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #6
More from the Duluth Trivia Deck found at Savers.
1. What famed product was sold by Duluth Tent and Awning?
2. What does a McGiffert loader [on view in the railway museum] load?
3. Who held the first motorized dairy operation in Duluth/the region?
4. Where is Mission Creek located?
5. True or false? A quarry near Mission Creek yielded much of the brownstone used in Duluth buildings.
6. True or false? The first brick structure in Duluth is still standing at E. Superior Street.
7. Where is Munger Terrace?
8. T/F: When the Torrey building was constructed, it was fireproofed by covering its iron and wooden beams with terra cotta or baked clay.
(more…)
Historic downtown Superior building gets detailed restoration
The Empire Block opened in 1892 on Tower Avenue in the heart of downtown Superior. Newly restored apartments will be open for showing in February.
A meticulous, top-to-bottom restoration of a massive 19th Century building in downtown Superior will offer jaw-dropping views for new residents, historic charm for new businesses and a boost to city center redevelopment efforts. (more…)
Tadpole Sourdough: Bread by Subscription
Tina Higgins Wussow – Photo by Lissa Maki
An entrepreneurial Duluthian has turned her passion for bread making into a business. Tina Higgins Wussow launched Tadpole Sourdough, a community supported bakery, out of her East Hillside home last fall. (more…)
Lake Superior Magazine 2018 Photo Contest Winners
Duluth’s Dan Vander Ark took first place in the Nature category of Lake Superior Magazine‘s 23rd Annual Photo Contest. His photo, “The Turtles Four,” was shot near Iron River. Galleries of all the winning photos and runners up can be seen on lakesuperior.com. The winners were featured in the magazine’s February/March issue, which also marked the publication’s 40th anniversary. (more…)
PDD Quiz: January 2018 in Review
How much do you remember about the first month of 2018? Quiz on and test your knowledge of local current events!
The next PDD Quiz, “Love (Or Like), Duluth Style,” will be published on Feb. 11. Please send question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by Feb. 8. (more…)
The Dexter Project
Dexter Ojeda is a 10-year-old Duluth boy who has a rare form of cancer that has no cure. One of the last items on Dexter’s bucket list is to star in a horror movie. Duluth’s Death Calm Studios and Dexter Ojeda’s family are determined to make Dexter’s wish come true, but they need help make it happen.
Some General Instructions
“Ships sided against a canal’s side may be touched and
Patted, but sleeping animals should not be, for
They may bite, in anger and surprise.“
— Kenneth Koch
Treat others as we treat those who are dying — with tenderness and kindness — as we are all, at our own pace, dying. Avoid telling others what will happen to them after they die, especially to threaten them, because this smacks of eschatological terrorism. Both idealization and devaluation of another person can be a defense against envy, and putting someone you consider an asshole on a pedestal is doubly troublesome.
Don’t pretend that large groups of people are all the same, as simplistic opinions about others are the source of much grief. There is beauty in diversity, but danger in division, as we can be conquered when divided, and manipulated by irrational beliefs. Beware the competition among various one-and-only gods, it is also the cause of much trouble. It’s best to avoid pretending to know the will of God, and to not pass laws reflecting his taboos. It’s not good to remain in an infantile state, accepting dogma at face value, or to confuse symbolic and literal truth. Of course we are free to believe Zeus runs the show from Mount Olympus if that makes us happy, and does no harm to others. (more…)
Former Duluthian Emily Lewis to appear on Jeopardy!
A 2011 alum of the College of St. Scholastica will appear on TV’s Jeopardy! game show on Tuesday, Jan. 30. The program airs at 5 p.m. in Duluth on the CBS affiliate KBJR channel 6.2.
Emily Lewis graduated from St. Scholastica with three majors — mathematics, economics and finance. She currently lives in San Diego, where she works as a merchandise planner for Petco.
Jeopardy! is a pre-recorded program and the Jan. 30 episode has already been shot, but Lewis isn’t allowed to share any details about her appearance before the air date.
Selective Focus: Emily Krueger
This week, illustrator Emily Krueger tells how she began to incorporate digital techniques into her painting and drawing styles, as well as how she has looked for a wide variety of opportunities to get her work out there and make her own job.
EK: My professional training is in graphic design and fine art (specifically, oil painting). I’ve dabbled in most mediums; watercolor, acrylic, drawing, graphic art, pastel, and colored pencil. As an illustrator, my main medium is a mix of pencil drawing and digital painting. (more…)
Video: Duluth Women’s March 2018
Shot by Mike Kenyanya and Daniel Oyinloye; edited by Kenyanya.
Lower Chester Park Mini-Master Plan draft released
Duluth’s Parks and Recreation Division is requesting public comment on the Lower Chester Park Mini-Master Plan draft until Jan. 31. There is also a supplementary survey for the plan that members of the public are encouraged to complete.
Following the public comment period, a final draft of the plan will be reviewed and voted on by the Duluth Parks Commission on Feb. 14 at 5 p.m. in Duluth City Hall, Council Chambers. For more information about the plans, visit the Parks Planning webpage at duluthmn.gov.
One of Duluth’s first four parks, Chester Park spans approximately 131 acres between 13th and 15th avenues east and stretches from Kenwood Avenue to Fourth Street, where Chester Creek runs under the street and, a few blocks later, disappears underground before emerging near Leif Erikson Park, where it empties into Lake Superior. Lower Chester Park, specifically, is located at 15th Avenue East and East Fifth Street and is about two acres in size.
Electronic Fiasco
Photo by Aaron Reichow
I was knocked without socks by the Homegrown Fiasco. At the Teatro, Big Science opened the event. (more…)
Creative Minnesota releases report on arts economy
Creative Minnesota has released its second biennial economic report. The effort is a collaboration of arts and culture funders in partnership with Minnesota Citizens for the Arts with the goal is to “create solid, hard data about the arts sector.” The data is collected for “analysis, education and advocacy.” (more…)
Lower Spirit Mountain Riverfront Park Site Plan released
The nine-page Lower Spirit Mountain Riverfront Park Site Plan was presented to the Duluth Parks Commission on Jan. 10 and the city’s Parks and Recreation Division is seeking public comment on it until Jan. 31. A final draft of the plan will be presented and voted on at the Feb. 14 Parks Commission meeting.
The site sits below the BNSF Railroad, opposite Tallus Island in Duluth’s Riverside neighborhood, and has approximately 1,500 ft. of shoreline to the St. Louis River. (more…)
Isle Royale Shipwreck Dive
In June 2017 Duluthian Edward Simon dove to explore shipwrecks off of Isle Royale, and he recently posted his edited adventures. Shot by Michael Granke, edited by Edward Simon.
You may know Edward from such films as “Feeding the fish with Santa.”
Watch a film about the real Vikings of Minnesota for free
Fans of Vikings might feel better after watching this documentary about all the actual Vikings who supposedly visited Minnesota a millennium ago. Filmed partly in Duluth, Lost Conquest played on the film festival circuit in 2015 and 2016. Now it’s available for free online to the entire world.
Superior Siren – “Nightmare”
From the new self-titled Superior Siren album. Production and cinematography by Killy Kay.
Duluth Superior Film Festival accepting short films for 2018
The 2018 Duluth Superior Film Festival is right around the corner. No official date has been set, but the event typically occurs in early June.
In the meantime, short films are needed. Local and regional shorts of all genres will be considered.
To submit, e-mail a link to the film and a brief description to matthew.dressel @ gmail.com. Feel free to also e-mail Duluth Superior Film Festival Coordinator Matthew Dressel with questions.