October 2018 Posts

Lizzie Naganab’s Glowing Grave

The “old” cemetery off Reservation Road northwest of Cloquet.

This book sparked a search into a Cloquet mystery from 87 years ago.

I’m not sure how I acquired the book, but there it sat, on the passenger seat of my car as I drove up Reservation Road northwest of Cloquet. There are some things you wish you could unsee — because a history buff like me wants all the facts. Alas, those facts can be elusive, especially so many years from an event. This was the case with a strange little entry in Six Feet Under: A Graveyard Guide to Minnesota.

I’m not into the morbid route to history that this little guide offers. That was my mother. She had dozens of books along the lines of “Wisconsin Death Trip,” “Hollywood Book of the Dead” or “Myths and Mysteries: Strange Stories of the Dead” on her shelves. Morbidly, she died earlier this year and perhaps that is how this book floated into my stacks. She redeemed herself in recent years by ditching the stories of others and digging into her own family history, a genealogy I greatly appreciate today.

Ingeborg von Agassiz – “O Giver of Dreams”

The video for the title track of Duluth musician Ingeborg von Agassiz‘ debut album features footage from the 1933 animated film The Mascot by Ladislas Starevich.

Josh Musikantow – “Duluth 99”

Chicago-born composer Joshua Musikantow references Duluth on three tracks of his 2006 new-classical album Etched in Twilight and Other Works. Above is “Duluth 99: In the Garden with Mary.” Below are “Duluth 99: Rope” and “Duluth 99: Haiku.”

Musikantow notes “Duluth 99” is “a duet for flute and percussion consisting of three movements, each inspired by a different personal experience in Duluth.”

Winery provides another reason to visit North Shore

Photo by Lissa Maki

Photo by Lissa Maki

With its rugged terrain and sometimes unforgiving climate, Lake Superior’s north shore seems like an unlikely place for a winery. But that didn’t deter wine connoisseurs Chuck and Kim Corliss from founding North Shore Winery near the base of Lutsen Mountains in 2015.

Jerree Small and Marc Gartman sing the Beatles’ “Don’t Let Me Down” at Sir Ben’s

Forgive the bar noise. Summer 2018

Mr. Nice for Governor

PDD Quiz: October 2018 in Review

Test your knowledge of local headlines with our month-in-review quiz!

The next PDD quiz, on area bakeries, will be published on Nov. 11. Please email question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Nov. 8.

Womaning

At first it’s impossible to understand — this thing happening to you. Imagine yourself at 12, or maybe 13 — or God help you, 19 — whenever puberty finally gored you with its long-awaited tusk. Maybe you’re the girl waiting for her breasts, standing with her shoulders back behind Tammy, the girl who got her boobs in fourth grade, praying it’s somehow contagious, and your proximity will tit you up before your Cup Noodles even fully soften. Maybe you’re the girl who thinks she’s pissed herself on the playground, only to look down and see her crotch a deep, angry red: you’ll have to be done with four-square now, because you’ll need to change into your gym clothes, or call your mom to come get you. Maybe you’re the girl who imagines the lips of other girls, who stands as close to Laurel as possible in lunch line, to smell her delicious hair, and you’re waiting to develop what all the movies and all the people say is inevitable: an exclusive taste for boys.

Maybe you held hands with Ben one time on the way home from swimming, and you were too young, and it made you feel dirty to do it, like you stole the money out of the collection bin at church, or got caught touching your privates in the unlocked bathroom by your father. You are on one side of this thing, but also on the other. You are neither and both.

It feels bad.

Halloween Banners

ZombieBanner-Call

Time to go back one year and look through your pictures on your phone. We want to see your creepy, comical, kooky Halloween photos, we’ll add them to the banner rotation – those long skinny photos at the top of the page. Keep in mind, the proportions are extremely horizontal, so not every photo works when cropped. Click here for complete submission guidelines, but the basics are: 1135 pixels wide by 197 pixels high, e-mail them to [email protected]
If you’re not able to crop and size them, send the full image and we’ll do our best to crop it into a banner. Happy Halloween, we’ll start rotating the Halloween Banners this weekend.

Selective Focus: Last glimpse of Fall

The leaves are almost all gone, here are a few final peeks for the year.

Historic Duluth hotel reborn for modern downtown living

Zenith City Revival LLC owner Mitchell Holmes, left, and designer Kori Kneeland stand in the kitchen of a condominium model at Building No. 12 in downtown Duluth. Zenith City Revival LLC spent more than two years renovating the historic hotel property and is now marketing space inside the building.

Developers have completed major renovation work on a 19th Century Duluth hotel and will market the condominium space to buyers interested in modern downtown living.

Zenith City Revival LLC announced last week a model condominium and more than two floors of unfinished residential space is now open for showing in the rechristened Building No. 12. The historic four-story property at 12 N. Lake Ave. was constructed in 1890 and most recently known as the Gardner Hotel.

Scuba Diving at West Pit in Gilbert

YouTube user “MNduro USA” took his scuba gear to Gilbert, about 60 miles north of Duluth, to explore the flooded mine pit known as Lake Ore-be-gone.

Where in Duluth? #182

Perfect Duluth Day’s ultra-thrilling photo-trivia sensation “Where in Duluth?” continues. At what fun place was this photo taken?

Postcard from UMD’s Social Science Building

This 1960s-era postcard shows off the Social Science Building on the University of Minnesota Duluth campus. Today the building is known as Cina Hall and serves as home to numerous liberal arts programs. It was renamed in 1985 in honor of UMD Regent Fred A. Cina, and underwent a $4.1 million renovation in 2016.

Jim Snidero – “Duluth at Noon”

Saxophone virtuoso Jim Snidero for some reason titled an instrumental piece “Duluth at Noon.” Whether the tune sounds like a midday stroll on the Lakewalk is up for interpretation.

Perhaps coincidentally, the song is on Snidero’s 2015 album Main Street, which is the same title as Sinclair Lewis’ famous satiric novel from 1920. Lewis had visited Duluth while in the early stages of crafting Main Street, and moved to Duluth 23 years after it was published.