Selective Focus: Drinksgiving Storm of 2019
The city of Duluth is advising no unnecessary travel until further notice. “Plows are out in full force, but warm ground temperatures and rain have forced drivers to use chains to travel safely,” states a news release from the city’s communications office. “Please respect plow drivers and maintain a safe distance behind them.”
Meanwhile, here are a few of the sexier pics on Instagram. (more…)
Postcard of Foreign Ships in Duluth Harbor
Foreign Trade Zone #51 was approved by the Foreign-Trade Zones Board 40 years ago today — Nov. 27, 1979. The first shipment arrived on April 12, 1983. This undated postcard from Gallagher’s Studio of Photography shows ships in the Duluth Harbor near the Foreign Trade Terminal. (more…)
Snow-Fort City: It’s Time [UPDATED BELOW FOLD]
Calling all guerrilla snow-fort builders, amateur igloo engineers, wintertime sculptors, snowmen whisperers, and anyone haunted by dreams of city-wide snowball fights: It’s time.
Climate>Duluth: Bret Pence
Climate>Duluth host Tone Lanzillo interviews Bret Pence from Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light. Recorded in the PACT-TV Studio, Duluth City Hall.
PDD Gift Guide 2019
Happy ho ho holidays. It’s time once again for the Perfect Duluth Day Gift Guide, a list of nifty gifty things made locally or with a connection to the area. We’ve highlighted 15 items; if you know of others, let us know by dropping us a note or add suggestions in the comments. (more…)
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #29
Another trivia card from a board game purchased at Savers. (more…)
Good Knight – “Two Eighteen (Duluth, Minnesnowta Part II)”
Duluth-based rapper Good Knight unleashed part one of this song about a decade ago on MySpace. That version was simply titled “Duluth, Minnesnowta,” and appeared on Perfect Duluth Day in 2011. Part two, featured here, has not previously been posted on PDD. It contains a sample of “Drive” by Incubus.
Both “Duluth, Minnesnowta” songs are loaded with Duluth references and appear on the album Northern Exposure / 40 Oz. Below Zero.
PDD Quiz: November 2019 in Review
Test your knowledge of November headlines and happenings with this edition of the PDD quiz.
The next quiz, on winter celebrations past and present, will be published on Dec. 15. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Dec. 12. (more…)
MnDOT scales back Can of Worms project
The Minnesota Department of Transportation plans to announce two dramatic reductions to the $343-million Twin Ports Interchange project on Monday. The changes will directly affect the Lincoln Park business district, shown here in 2018. (Photo by Liftoff Aerials)
State officials will announce dramatic reductions in a major state highway project that was intended to improve driver safety, traffic flow and heavy load shipments through the heart of Duluth.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation will defer two critical pieces of its $343-million Twin Ports Interchange project due to increasing construction costs, officials told a Lincoln Park business group Thursday. A formal announcement and two public meetings are planned for Nov. 25. (more…)
Aerial photographer captures Duluth scenery
If Duluth’s views are breathtaking from ground level, wait until you see them from up high. Refresh you eyes with an unfamiliar perspective of familiar things.
Million-dollar Wound
This is a small town. So, we’ll probably meet and shake hands. You’re going to come away from it thinking, What the hell was that?
I’ll see it on your face. So, I’ll say, “It’s Dupuytren’s contractures.”
And you’ll say, “Doopa what?”
“My hand is screwed up. I’m not some perv going ‘deedle-deedle’ into your palm with my middle-finger. It’s an ailment.”
“Oh, I see. Sure, man,” you’ll say as you slowly back away. “Sure.”
So, I’m sorry for that. This is an open letter of apology.
It’s a real thing, though. Dupuytren’s contractures. Collagen collects in the fascia of my hands. It forms ropes and cords that slowly pull my fingers inward toward my palm. It started twenty years ago with the middle finger of my right hand. Then my left thumb got in the game. Not wanting to be left out, the ring finger of my left hand joined in. Somewhere along the line, hands weren’t enough so it started up along the bottom of my feet behind each of my big toes. Most recently, my right ring finger curled up next to my right middle finger. I guess he missed his neighbor. Now, I’ve got a fresh rope pulling my left middle finger inward. The good (maybe bad?) news is I can’t flip anybody the bird anymore. (more…)
Postcard from a parade on Superior Street in 1909
This postcard was mailed 110 years ago today — Nov. 23, 1909. It depicts a scene on the 300 block of West Superior Street in Downtown Duluth that appears to be a Fourth of July parade. (more…)
Five Years of Selective Focus
Five years ago, on Nov. 21, 2014, Selective Focus was launched on Perfect Duluth Day as a weekly photo-submission series. Tim White coordinated and curated the series, announcing a word or theme, then he posted submitted photos related to the theme. The first post was sparked by the word “Randomness.”
Below are some other highlights from the first iteration of Selective Focus. (more…)
Moments and Truth: Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank
Joshua Priestley’s 2009 documentary Moments And Truths follows the Duluth band Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank on a nationwide tour and into Brooklyn, N.Y. for the Traveling Show recording sessions.
Featuring Teague Alexy, Ian Alexy, Paul Grill and Marco Benevento.
Alexandera Houchin: Where the Water Ends
Cloquet native Alexandera Houchin is best known as the 2018 and 2019 women’s Tour Divide winner. The annual self-supported bicycle race follows the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, which crisscrosses the Continental Divide from Banff, Alberta, Canada to Antelope Wells, N.M.
In this video, produced by the University of Minnesota Duluth, Houchin tells her story of growing up never seeing a Native American dentist or doctor, and deciding to counter that with plans to practice dentistry on her reservation.
Trampled by Turtles – “Our Town”
Another new song from the upcoming Trampled by Turtles EP Sigourney Fever, available Dec 6. The album features five cover songs; “Our Town” is an Iris DeMent cover.
Video by Mitch Peterson; photos by Banjo Dave Carroll.
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #28: KBJR Edition
Another trivia card from a board game purchased at Savers. (more…)
Dylan Thomas – “Duluth Street”
It’s not easy to find reliable information online about musician Dylan Thomas, since he shares the name of a famous Welsh poet. But what seems to be the case is that in 2007 Thomas released the album Pieces of an Overhead View, featuring a song with Duluth in the title and the lyrics. (more…)
A Day in the Temperance River Watershed
The cold weather arriving makes me long for an August day camping and hiking the Superior Hiking Trail. Here’s a video I made this past summer of such a day.
Hillside Grievers
This is an epilogue to a previous Saturday Essay, published in 2018.
Poppy the Mini-Rex rabbit doe never had babies. She pulled out her fur and made nests for nothing. It wasn’t her fault: the buck we tried to breed her with was past his prime. His owner called to apologize.
“I am sorry I didn’t notice that Frodo’s man-parts shriveled up. But good news: he has a son!”
Whenever I thought about calling the number on the sticky note labeled “Buck,” I remembered we had something to do in thirty days when the kits would be born. Then came winter and another summer. Now it’s too late.
In the middle months, that time people in other places call “Spring,” we adopted a puppy.
Lola showed us that the rabbits were just a warm-up. So were our own babies, for that matter. Once again, Jeremy and I took turns waking through the night and keeping track of bowel movements. Soon we found ourselves having those ridiculous, sleep-deprived “I’m doing all I can!” arguments of yore. (more…)
Selective Focus: “Everyday Mayhem” by Kip Praslowicz
Photographer Kip Praslowicz has a show opening Thursday, November 21 at the Kruk Gallery on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Superior. Much of his work has a very matter-of-fact feeling to it, a straightforward documentation of places, people and scenes. But there is a dry sense of humor in his work, especially when taken in as a larger collection. This week we get a preview of the show, and hear how the pieces for the show were chosen.
Was there a criteria for the images selected for this show?
1) The exposure made sometime between 2010 and 2019
2) The exposure was made on color, medium format film. 6x6cm or 6x9cm (more…)
Zenith News has gone dark
Another alternative publication in Duluth appears to have fallen to the wayside. Zenith News has not published an issue since April. (more…)