It’s a whole new ballgame in Minneapolis
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Haf70090_M&feature=player_embedded
Time-lapse video by MPR’s Laura Gill
Hip Hop Helps Homeless
News release from the College of St. Scholastica:
On April 23, Hip Hop and Human Dignity students at the College of St. Scholastica will throw Hip Hop Helps, a party to benefit Life House, a Duluth organization that serves homeless teenagers.
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Your Old Socks Could Be Recycled As These Cute Mice
The darn!sock mice are reproducing rapidly this spring. Please save your old wooly winter socks. See this previous PDD post for more details.
photo by Matthew Beier
Public Input Needed for Bicycle Routes
If you ride your bicycle in Duluth, here is your chance to help improve the existing bike route network! On March 8, the Duluth City Council unanimously approved a Complete Streets resolution that would help instruct city engineers on how to design roadways for all users, instead of just for automobiles.
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The Vagina Monologues at UMD
Friday and Saturday, April 16 & 17 – 7pm
$5 for students, $8 for non-students
Proceeds benefit the Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault. (pavsa.org)
Presented by V-Day UMD, UMD Women’s Resource & Action Center, UMD Kirby Program Board
The Vagina Monologues is a celebration of female sexuality in all its complexity and mystery. In this stunning phenomenon that has swept the nation, Eve Ensler gives us real women’s stories of intimacy, vulnerability, and sexual self-discovery. Performed by UMD students.
1961-1968 racing in Hartley Park
Twelve-year-old Harold “Bo” Conrad won the 1963 Duluth race where Hartley Nature Center is today and went on to win the All-American Soap Box Derby Race in Akron, Ohio, where there were 75,000 people watching.
Lift Bridge changes
From MinnPost:
Duluth considering new lift bridge plan that would limit openings for small vessels
Duluth’s Aerial Lift Bridge may be in for a new schedule that will mean small boats may have to wait.
Duluth’s Graffiti Graveyard
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAnghwJorvo
Video by Nathan Treanor.
Dead Man’s Cell Phone Opens Thursday
An incessantly ringing cell phone in a quiet café. A stranger at the next table who has had enough. And a dead man – with a lot of loose ends. This wildly imaginative new comedy from MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Sarah Ruhl, will amuse, delight and move you. A work about how we memorialize the dead – and how that remembering changes us – it is the odyssey of a woman forced to confront her own assumptions about morality, redemption and the need to connect in a technologically obsessed world.
Renegade Theater Company and Lori Pietsch State Farm Insurance present Dead Man’s Cell Phone, opening this Thursday at Teatro Zuccone. The show runs Thursday, Friday, and Saturdays at 8 pm through May 1. For tickets, call 218-336-1414 or log on to www.teatrozuccone.com
Full Circle Superior Fundraiser
In a couple of weeks, veteran naturalists Mike Link & Kate Crowley will embark on an 1800+ mile walk around Lake Superior to promote both freshwater conservation and the benefits of physical activity for good health. Their journey begins on April 29.
In the meantime, you can help them raise funds for their journey by attending the Full Circle Superior fundraiser at the Great Lakes Aquarium on April 16 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Music will be provided by the North Shore acoustic duo the Sivertones, and wine and cheese will be available. Guests may bid on items at the silent auction and purchase Full Circle Superior t-shirts.
Mike and Kate will give a brief presentation about their upcoming journey, and will also have time to chat with those who attend the event.
Sponsors of the event include Bellisio’s, the Great Lakes Aquarium, and Lake Superior Magazine.
There will be no charge for parking in the aquarium lot for the event.
For more information, visit www.fullcirclesuperior.org.
Genre
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8rqdEahBos
Barn Dance Saturday
The phrase, “Give your corner your left hand and back to your partner for the right and left grand,” may evoke painful memories of a junior high fitness class.
However – this Saturday at the Duluth Art Institute at 8pm the music will be very much live and the caller will certainly not be wearing a whistle.
Music by Four Mile Portage
Minnow Swallowing Contest in Duluth
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3LePItHnuo
St. Patrick’s Day, 1980. Quite a party in the West End.
Homegrown
Third week into Homegrown, get’s a little more evident every day. Gotta hand it to you kids. Great job. Only thing I would like to see is the old folks get playing to. They’re too late this year, but next year. Many of them can play too. It is amazing how much music is in this town.
Trinity of Spring: 2010 Edition
PortLand Malt Shoppe has been open about two weeks.
Gordy’s Hi-Hat has been open about three weeks.
A & Dubs is still boarded up.
As you all know, it is not officially spring until the full trinity of seasonal favorites is open. Anyone with an inside track on when A & Dubs will open, please report. The number listed in the phone book “has been disconnected or is no longer in service.” Don’t worry, I think it is normal for A & Dubs’ phone to be disconnected out of season. It usually opens in mid-May.
Of related interest:
* Hacienda del Sol will open its outdoor courtyard on April 14.
* West Duluth Diary Queen is open.
Giving back a little love to PDD
OK, PDDers, I’m the professor who suggested that Perfect Duluth Day was one good resource to tap into ideas in the community. Well, I thought I’d share a couple stories the students have done so we can try to make this relationship a little more reciprocal.
First, my favorite about the Joy Laugh Club, which I know many of you are aware of, but was new to me. And, of course the video. I’ve just got to believe some of these people are PDD members.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovm4ijI-Bwk&feature=player_embedded
The students also did a series of articles based on randomly calling people in the phone book. Here is one of my favorites about a woman’s experience with the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, and another about a local sled dog racer. And, for a bit of nostalgia, a nicely written (I think) article about Seven Bridges Road.
Actually, there are bunch more. There is some good stuff on that site. You should check it out.
So, they are doing more than just posting requests on Perfect Duluth Day, but your suggestions and this site in general are, in fact, a great resource for this community.
…by the way, do any of you have suggestions on what I should teach next week? I could use some ideas. Oh, that’s right, I’ve got a guest speaker from Perfect Duluth Day (seriously) coming to class. Thank goodness.
What? Really? You still make people get a key from you to use the toilet? Really?
I don’t use convenience store toilets very often, so I’m no expert, but I do use them from time to time and I must say it’s been quite a few years since I’ve had to get a key from the cashier. I thought that practice died long ago.
Well, today the Plaza SuperAmerica reacquainted me with ol’ procedure. And the key wasn’t attached to a small piece of wood or a plastic tag; it was attached to a friggen Frisbee.
So, what am I supposed to do when I get inside, since I can’t put the key in my pocket? Am I supposed to wrestle my dork out with one hand? Because there’s no surface wide enough to set this key down except in the middle of the sink, on the floor or balanced on the door handle. I could maybe wedge it into the condom machine, but if it falls out it’ll land in the toilet.
Am I too much of a germaphobe or are restroom keys disgusting?
Memory of Trees Book Signing
Author Gayla Marty will be signing copies of her book Memory of Trees: A Daughter’s Story of a Family Farm at Northern Lights Books & Gifts from 1-2 p.m. on Saturday, May 8. Movingly written, Memory of Trees will resonate for many with attachments to small towns or farms, whether they continue to work the land or, like so many, have left for a different life.
For questions call 218-722-5267 or visit https://norlights.com/
Potholes
We are working on a project for our journalism class about the potholes in Duluth. We need your help! If anyone has filed a complaint to the city regarding potholes please respond! We would really appreciate it! If anyone has any strong opinions on the issue as well, please feel free to contact us. You would be of great help!
The project is due next Thursday.
Thank you!
Jitterbug for Jitterbug TONIGHT
Jitterbug for Jitterbug
TONIGHT!
April 9th, 2010
6 – 11 pm
Peace Church – 1111 N 11th Ave E – Duluth
People of all ages, shapes and sizes will have a chance to learn some basic, advanced and even “trick” swing dance steps taught by a team of professional dancers (rumor has it that the area’s premier mix tape master will also make a guest DJ appearance sometime during the night slinging his favorite swing tunes).
Pineapple Art Center & Supplies Spring Class lineup
Mondays 7-9pm | April 12-26 | Letterpress Print Class
Wednesdays 7-9pm | April 14-28 | Bookbinding
Thursdays 6:30-8:30 | April 22-May 27 | Acrylic Painting
Saturdays 10am-12pm | ongoing | Figure Drawing
Sundays 2-3:30pm | April 18-May 23 | Kid’s Art Projects
Call to sign up: 218-722-2919
Pineapple Art Center & Supplies
124 W. First St., Duluth
April 17 Waves & Whiskers Event at GLA
Join us next Saturday, April 17, for a great fund-raising event at the Duluth Great Lakes Aquarium!
The Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone and the Great Lakes Aquarium in Duluth partner together for a wine and beer tasting gala to benefit the Wildcat Sanctuary. “Waves and Whiskers” is scheduled for April 17 from 8-11pm. The event will showcase local and statewide breweries and wineries within a “safari” theme setting.
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Happy Homegrown!
The Homegrown Field Guide is in town and will be distributed over the next few days to all of your favorite hotspots and local businesses. Cover art by the lovely Bridget Riversmith. They are currently in stock at the Fetus, Pizza Lucé, Teatro Zuccone and Carmody.