It feels to me like there are organizations in Duluth well-poised for a project supported by the Herb Block Foundation. After all, we are home to the Civility Project. If there is an organization interested, I’m interested in helping — after all, it’s sponsored by a famous cartoonist.
Three of Duluth’s best sledding hills are at Bayfront Park, Wheeler Field and Keene Creek Dog Park. One of the city’s best beaches is at the base of Ely’s Peak. OMC Smokehouse is a popular spot in Canal Park.
As part of the Duluth Poet Laureate collection being built at the University of Minnesota Duluth Kathryn A. Martin Library Archives & Special Collections, Sheila Packa donated some poetry placemats that were collected for use at an Empty Bowl event.
Please enjoy this highly accurate map of Duluth and Superior.
[Editor’s note: For this week’s essay we’ve once again pulled out a relic from the archive of Slim Goodbuzz, who served as Duluth’s “booze connoisseur” from 1999 to 2009. Twenty years ago the Sultan of Sot visited C’s Lounge, 1419 Banks Ave. in Superior, which today is the location of a Kwik Trip convenience store. The article below appeared in the April 16, 2003 issue of the Ripsaw newspaper.]
Whenever I go to C’s Lounge — and I’ve been known to do that from time to time — I find myself baffled that I’m in Superior, Wis. Hell, I’m baffled that I’m in the 21st century. Walk into C’s and it’s like walking into Hibbing in the 1970s, not that I have any idea what that would be like. Nonetheless, that’s the feel.
The place is dark, in a good way, with amber and red lights hanging from the glittery ceiling. Everything else is either red or the color of wood. In fact, it looks and feels a lot like the Regal Beagle from Three’s Company, except that instead of spotting Jack Tripper and Larry, you’re more likely to spot middle-aged white trash.
The best thing about C’s is that the drinks are cheap and strong. It’s not uncommon for the drink specials to be something different and surprising, such as $2 Manhattans. For the domestically inclined, beer comes in big mugs for under $3. And, for folks like you and me, tap Busch Light is always 65 cents a glass. That is information to be treasured.
As a former Catholic, educated by Jesuits for eight years, I am thinking through the intellectual tradition that I have left behind as I prep for the supercool visit from Br. Guy Consolmagno, a Vatican astronomer who is coming to Duluth.
About today’s essay, I told editor Paul Lundgren, “I love the April 1 publication date. This essay pulls back the curtain on my hoaxy stories, yet immediately discredits itself with the date. Beautiful!”
On March 31, in conjunction with the Twin Ports Festival of History, Duluth historian Tony Dierckins gave the presentation “Duluth’s Greatest Myths.” I am pleased and proud he included my Perfect Duluth Day writing in a brief mention. He was kind enough to share the slides, below. They list some of my efforts and I have annotated them.
As I told Tony, I draw a distinction between my fiction and my myth-making “essays.” Both are set in Duluth. But for instance “The Alworth Incident” presents as non-fiction, but quickly reveals itself to be a screwball superhero origin story. Maybe it could become a rumor, but it is not designed to be believed per se. However my “myth-making” material, such as Lake Inferior: The Underground Lake Beneath Lake Superior, is specifically designed to live on as urban legend. These myths have “tells” but readers may miss them. Also, I have tailored the stories so Duluthians want them to be true. Lundgren called them “Duluth fan fiction,” naming the new genre. Allowing me to publish them as “essays” aided the crime. They were also tagged as “Hoaxes – Fake News – Satire – Folklore.”
Regularly, I am ecstatic to live in a city whose politics so smoothly reflects my values. And regularly, the Duluth Monitor reveals that, when it comes to its regulatory authority over developers utilizing the limited resources of space and property, my city lets me down, always choosing to side with people with money.
In honor of the Academy Awards on March 12, this week’s PDD quiz takes a look at mentions of Duluth on the silver screen. A previous quiz on this topic was published in August). If you’re looking to cheat study up on references to Duluth in popular culture, check out this sweet PDD tag.
The next PDD quiz will review the month’s headlines; it will be published on March 26. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by March 22.
Complicated Warding
Michelle Matthees
Jan. 1
Press This!
Available at michellematthees.com
I Think I Know You
Julie Gard
Jan. 2
FutureCycle Press
Available at barnesandnoble.com
White Pine: The Natural and Human History of a Foundational American Tree
John Pastor
Jan. 5
Island Press
Available at islandpress.org
A study/position paper by the Institute for the Study of Light and Water.
Any mountain building on the South Shore is to be opposed. A positive feature of Duluth’s view of Lake Superior is that Wisconsin is barely there. Lake Superior takes up almost half your view; Wisconsin (being flat) is just a thin strip between the lake and the sky. So the sky basically sits right on top of the lake. From our quaint hillside, we gaze over Lake Superior and down upon Wisconsin, that piteous, benighted state. Wisconsin presents a thin band of color: green in summer, fall colors in autumn, white or gray or brown in winter. It contains flecks of texture. But it contributes so little to the view overall, one might wish for the visual interest a mountain range could provide.
But there are benefits to Wisconsin being flat. One of those benefits is that on clear days, the sunrise immediately strikes the water with that intense glittering effect, the blinding mirror of the morning lake. But what if Wisconsin had mountains? What if, instead of an unobstructed view of the sky, the South Shore had a mountain range?
This informative article refers to the “legend” of Lake Inferior, which originated here at Perfect Duluth Day with my 5/8/21 Saturday Essay, “Lake Inferior: the Underground Lake Beneath Lake Superior.” From a blog post to legend in less than two years — oh, internet! The informative article summarizes the “legend,” linking to the PDD Saturday Essay as the source, which is repeated in a second article seemingly plagiarizing the first:
On Midway/Becks Road, about a quarter mile south of Interstate 35 and just west of the former Nopeming Sanatorium, sits a softball — or perhaps youth baseball — field that doesn’t appear to have been played on in about 40 years. These photos are from November.
Lake Superior Writers is seeking nominations for the 2023 Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards.
The categories have changed and are as follows: Nonfiction; Fiction; Children’s Literature; Middle Grade/Young Adult; Poetry; and Memoir. Art/Photography is now part of the Nonfiction category. A $40 entry fee is required for each nominated title.
