Essay series by Jim Richardson
Art, literature, my relationship to Lake Superior, the secret history of Duluth, and other stuff. This is essentially everything I’ve written since Covid, with a couple oldies. I keep this updated.
Favorite Writers/Biggest Influences
Jorge Luis Borges(opens in new tab). William S. Burroughs(opens in new tab). J.G. Ballard(opens in new tab). Stanislaw Lem(opens in new tab). Italo Calvino(opens in new tab). N is for Nostalgia: Peak Bradbury(opens in new tab). Synchronicity in Action: How I Met the Late Ralph Abraham(opens in new tab).
Avant-Garde Women of the Dada-Situationist Axis
This series was inspired by the Greil Marcus book Lipstick Traces(opens in new tab), which spawned my desire to write popular essays about the era from Dada to Situationism. Most of the men had been over-examined at the expense of the women. For instance, it seemed to me like you could get away with writing a biography of Guy Debord without mentioning his wife Michele Bernstein at all, but you could not get away with a biography of Bernstein that doesn’t mention Debord. By focusing on the women, I found fresher material providing perspective on the men too. The men necessarily appear, in relationship, providing a fuller understanding of the scene as a whole. Some women like Sophie Taeuber have garnered a sizable amount of academic and critical attention, but I can yet try and offer something original. As well with Emmy Hennings, the majority of the scholarship about her being in German which I do not read. I am proud to say (as of this writing) that my post about Eliane Brau is the only English-language article about her on the internet:
Eliane Brau: The Invisible Icon(opens in new tab). The Shakespearean Tragedy of Peggy and Pegeen Guggenheim(opens in new tab). Michele Bernstein: Queen of the Situationists(opens in new tab). Sophie Taeuber: Founding Dadaist(opens in new tab). The Hundred-Jointed Dancer and the Laban Ladies(opens in new tab). Emmy Hennings: “Shining Star of the Voltaire”(opens in new tab). Review of the Novel “Branded” by Founding Dadaist Emmy Hennings.(opens in new tab) Gertrude Stein Makes No Sense(opens in new tab). Elsa the Dada Baroness, Djuna Barnes, and Margaret Anderson(opens in new tab). What Does William S. Burroughs Owe Djuna Barnes?(opens in new tab)
The Adventures of Lake Superior Aquaman
Lake Superior Aquaman is best understood as a 10-year performance art project in which I slowly got taken over by an alter-ego. It documented my personal discovery of Lake Superior while dressed as Aquaman. I still use it as a pen name and I still respond to it in the street:
Freediving the Edmund Fitzgerald(opens in new tab). Nautical Milestone for the Duluth Autonomous Navy(opens in new tab). AP: Lake Superior Bull Shark Eradicated by Duluth Autonomous Navy(opens in new tab). Sharkgate: the Lake Superior Bull Shark Conspiracy(opens in new tab). On the Recent Ice Angler Rescue(opens in new tab). My Origin Story(opens in new tab). Acceptance Speech: Mayor of Snow-Fort City(opens in new tab). Iceberg Ride One Year Ago Today “Do Not Attempt”(opens in new tab). Lake Superior Eats Lesser Bodies of Water for Breakfast(opens in new tab). PDD Headshot Backstory(opens in new tab). The Winter of My Discontent: Lake Superior Wild Ice Report 2021-2022(opens in new tab). Stock Lake Superior with Seals and Orca Whales: A Modest Proposal(opens in new tab).
The Secret History of Duluth, Minnesota
Stories that could or should be true:
The 2005 Duluth Art Institute Riot(opens in new tab). World’s Longest Comments Thread(opens in new tab). The Floating Island of Fremont, Duluth’s Breakaway Township(opens in new tab). Lake Inferior: The Underground Lake Beneath Lake Superior(opens in new tab) (Related: “What About the Legend of the Underwater Lake?”(opens in new tab)). The Janus, Ghost Ship of Lake Superior(opens in new tab). Duluth, Minnesota and the Lost Confederate Gold(opens in new tab). Three Academic Papers on Duluth and the Lost Confederate Gold(opens in new tab). Lake Superior Sea Monster: Three Fatal Encounters(opens in new tab). Glensheen Denies Occult Rituals of Disgraced Congdon Nephew(opens in new tab). (Related: Occultists Deny “Glensheen Denies Occult Rituals” Story(opens in new tab).) Bob Dylan’s Last Hit(opens in new tab). The SuperiorLab-Marquette Disaster(opens in new tab). Zeppelins Over Duluth(opens in new tab). Duluth’s Granny: Nazi Sub Hunter(opens in new tab). Obituary of Peter S. Svenson, Minnesota’s Rogue Historian(opens in new tab). Duluth’s Lost Township on Chester Creek(opens in new tab). The History of Cloquet, Pierre the Pantsless Voyageur and Duluth’s Missing Vermeer(opens in new tab). I was Left for Dead at Nopeming Sanatorium in the 1918 Fire(opens in new tab). The Northland Sportsmen’s Club Wild Game Dinner(opens in new tab). The Wreck of the Ophelia(opens in new tab). Sir Duluth and Father Hennepin on Mushrooms(opens in new tab). Minnesota Land Surveyor’s Deathbed Confession, 1907(opens in new tab). Last Call at the Pilot House(opens in new tab). The FBI Paid for My Co-op Membership: Duluth Food War 1975(opens in new tab). Sir Duluth Historical Timeline(opens in new tab). The True Story of the 1963 Duluth Third Place Little League World Series Champions(opens in new tab). Mark Twain and Joseph Conrad Destroy a Duluth Hotel Suite(opens in new tab). Lake Superior’s Nazi U-boat Wreck. Duluth’s Little Libraries. Also: Ghosts of the French River: The Book (with Erin Sola)(opens in new tab).
The Institute for the Study of Light and Water
Surrealist weather reports:
The Institute for the Study of Light and Water(opens in new tab). The Institute for the Study of Light and Water reviews endless summer 2022(opens in new tab). Fall weather report(opens in new tab). Another psychedelic weather report(opens in new tab). Duluth View Checklist(opens in new tab). What if the South Shore was a mountain range?(opens in new tab) Related: The Duluth Psychedelic Sermon(opens in new tab) and Duluth: Bird City(opens in new tab).
The Duluth Superhero Community (the Richardsonverse)
My brother and I wrote serial fiction for the Transistor (RIP) for many years, including the Duluth-based sci-fi “Novelty Theater”, which became “The Guys Who Never Stop Fighting”, our superhero concept. That is the genesis of the below:
Alternate Duluths(opens in new tab). Index of the Duluth Superhero Community(opens in new tab). The Haunted Groom(opens in new tab). Apple Man: Duluth’s Depression-Era Action Hero(opens in new tab). The Alworth Incident(opens in new tab). Planetary Distress Call Recorded by UMD Observatory(opens in new tab). Plutonium Loves(opens in new tab). My 100% True Adventures(opens in new tab). Escape from Wisconsin(opens in new tab).
The Unbearable Lightness of Being Jim Richardson
Personal essays:
Convivial Memories of an Epicurean Hedonist Con Mucho Gusto(opens in new tab). Schrodinger’s Beer: A Refutation of Quantum Physics From the Duluth Bar Scene(opens in new tab). Dreams and Themes(opens in new tab). For Father’s Day I Denounce My White Confederate Heritage(opens in new tab) (Related: my interview with Robin Washington about the essay(opens in new tab)). I Demand a Lakewalk(opens in new tab). I Don’t Want to See Another Naked Woman As Long As I Live(opens in new tab). Project SULTAN: A 13-Year-Old’s Plan to Take Over the World(opens in new tab). A Weird Experience Writing About Great Lakes Shipwrecks(opens in new tab). The “Sorry” Bowl(opens in new tab). My Psychic Powers(opens in new tab). A Psychogeographical Map of Duluth, 2004(opens in new tab). I Tested ChatGPT’s Morals and Things Escalated Quickly(opens in new tab). In Memoriam: Duluth Artist Max Moen(opens in new tab). Boner Problems(opens in new tab). Jimi Hendrix, LSD and My Grandmother(opens in new tab). The Lost Coast and the Ghost Choir of Mount Shasta(opens in new tab). R.I.P. Burly Burlesque(opens in new tab). Attention Billionaires: Get Bent(opens in new tab). Ghost Dogs(opens in new tab). The Grateful Dead vs. The Velvet Underground(opens in new tab). Christian Boarding School Texas Football(opens in new tab). Adrift in the Duluth Triangle(opens in new tab). Become the Dark(opens in new tab). Co-op Insider Tells All.
On Bob Dylan
Life in the Dylanosphere:
The Committee for Building a Giant Colossal Statue of Bob Dylan(opens in new tab). Giant Colossal Bob Dylan Statue FINALISTS(opens in new tab). Press Releases Supporting Giant Colossal Statues of Bob Dylan(opens in new tab). 100 Giant Colossal Statues of Bob Dylan: Duluth Region (Google Map)(opens in new tab). 100 Giant Colossal Statues of Bob Dylan (the video)(opens in new tab). Bob Dylan on Duluth and Minnesota(opens in new tab). Bob Dylan’s Last Hit(opens in new tab). Jesus Christ Meets Bob Dylan in a Hotel Room in Tucson, 1978(opens in new tab).
Miscellaneous
Some of my Indy-Rock Guitar Goddess She-roes(opens in new tab). More of my Indy-Rock Guitar Goddess She-roes(opens in new tab). The Musician as Inventor(opens in new tab). Johnny Depp – Amber Heard Trial vs. Ukraine War: A Mashup(opens in new tab).
PDD Selective Focus: Jim Richardson 10/5/2018: “My 20-year cartooning run in Duluth remains essentially unbroken.”(opens in new tab) I immediately went on hiatus lol
PDD Select Gems:
2019: #3(opens in new tab)
PDD Most-Read Essays:
2020: #2 and #3.(opens in new tab) 2021: The top five(opens in new tab). I told PDD Editor Paul Lundgren I wanted to sweep the most-read 2021 essays and then I did so, my Babe Ruth moment although here Paul likens me more to Muhammad Ali: “Never before has one author landed more than two works on Perfect Duluth Day’s list of the top-five most read Saturday Essays. And now, like some literary Muhammad Ali, Jim Richardson landed not three, not four, but all five. Total domination. He also had the sixth-most-read essay of the year, just to rub his popularity in the noses of every other writer in town.” I just write more really. 2022: #s 2, 3, and 4.(opens in new tab) 2023: #s 1 (with Allen Richardson), 3, and 5.(opens in new tab) 2024: #s 1-4(opens in new tab). 2025: #s 1,2, 4, and 5(opens in new tab).
For the completist: Here is the list of everything I’ve ever posted(opens in new tab) on PDD including my top 30 photos(opens in new tab) and my top 20 videos(opens in new tab), and here is an index of my media hits(opens in new tab). Thanks fam.