Unreceptive
It’s been about 12 years since I’ve had cable television. My only exposure to it these days is when I’m on vacation and lodging somewhere it’s offered. My wife will search the channels for some kind of garbage to watch, then she’ll fall asleep and I’ll flip the channels, eventually stopping on network television unless one of those ESPN 30 for 30 documentaries is on.
When I was a kid I loved cable television, basically for three reasons — old sitcom reruns, professional wrestling and music videos. I still kind of like those things, but certainly not enough to pay for them. I never liked them enough to pay for them.
I had access to cable television for most of the era spanning roughly 1980 to 2006. I use the word “access” because throughout that period, one thing remained constant: I never paid a cent for it. Don’t get me wrong, I never stole cable (other than trying to watch scrambled HBO). I was just fortunate enough to live with people who were willing to pay to watch television. First it was my brother, then my dad, then various roommates and finally my wife. When Netflix hooked her it was the end of cable in our house. (more…)
Selective Focus: Mary Reichert
This week, Mary Reichert talks about how she stumbled into the art of felting and textiles. She’s become passionate about the craft, and has even gone to live in Central Asia to learn more about the history and techniques.
MR: I work with wool, making felt. How this came to be feels like an incredible mystery and also the most natural thing to happen. When I speak about felt-making I light up; I feel connected with the world. I have been most at home in my life working with a group of people making large community rugs. I did not grow up making things, surrounded by animals or wool, or ever imagine myself involved with fiber. (more…)
Martha’s Daughter restaurant opening Feb. 14
Photo by Wolfskull Creative
Martha’s Daughter, the Duluth restaurant replacing the Original Coney Island could open as early as next week. The eagerly anticipated chef-owned eatery has one final health inspection to pass on Friday. If all goes smoothly, the restaurant will open on one of the busiest dining nights of the year, Valentine’s Day. (more…)
Some Historical Notes on the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge
This video is part of a DVD Kenneth Newhams of Duluth Shipping News produced in 2005 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Aerial Lift Bridge. It features archival video courtesy of Don Hermanson at Keweenaw Video Productions.
Gaelynn Lea & Alan Sparhawk – Live at Square Lake Festival 2017
Longing for hot summer-concert days? Well, PDD posted a Black-eyed Snakes concert video here from last summer … and it mysteriously disappeared from YouTube the next day. So here’s a replacement — Gaelynn Lea and Alan Sparhawk from the same concert, the Square Lake Film & Music Festival in Stillwater last August. (more…)
Starfire-sitting
I saw an article in Slate today about the economic imperative for bands to tour and the need for childcare on the road. I was disappointed that Duluth’s own Scott “Starfire” Lunt was not consulted, let alone mentioned. His duty as nanny on Low’s 2003 tour will serve as more good fodder for an “official, unofficial history of Duluth” on PACT-TV. What Mrs. Doubtfire is to in-home child care, rawk-legend Starfire is to tour-bus child care.
Slate: “The 21st-Century Family Band“
Theater of All Sorts in the Twin Ports
Sure, all the theater illuminati were at the opening of the NorShor for Mamma Mia. But across the street and down the road, on Friday and on Saturday, other kinds of theater and performance were opening up at Teatro Zuccone and the Underground, and I want to give them a nod. (more…)
Old Photos of Jay Cooke Statue in Duluth
Jay Sonnenburg shares this old photo from his family collection. It shows Duluth’s statue of Jay Cooke across Superior Street from the Kitchi Gammi Club, date unknown. The statue was moved a short distance in the 1980s when I-35 was extended through the area. (more…)
Lake Superior Ice Stacking 2018
It’s almost an annual tradition. When the conditions are just right, small waves push sheets of Lake Superior surface ice to the shore, causing them to break into plates that stack and crackle in a way that’s both visually and aurally fascinating. Dawn LaPointe and Gary Fiedler of Radiant Spirit Gallery recently captured the phenomena in this video. (more…)
North Country Girl in the Saturday Evening Post
Gay Haubner’s memoir about growing up in Duluth during the 1960s has been running as a weekly serial in The Saturday Evening Post since May 24, 2017. It’s at 36 chapters and counting, indexed on the page linked below.
Circle of Hope Boot Camp
I went to the Circle of Hope Boot Camp at Clyde Iron Works on Saturday Morning. (more…)
Postcard from Duluth’s Hill Top
Set the Wayback Machine 105 years; this postcard was mailed Feb. 3, 1913. The message on the back was written the day before, and will require a translator. Stay tuned for that. Someone will answer the call to duty in the comments eventually. (more…)
Mom’s Apartment
Artist Toby Thomas Churchill invites you along for a tour of his mom’s amazing apartment.
Considering a Crocheted Afghan: What is an Immigrant Life?
My grandmother, an immigrant from Belgium, gave me a thick, crocheted afghan in my senior year of high school. I’m fifty years old now. I still have it. This black, white and gray acrylic afghan—one among hundreds she gifted family members—holds in its hooked stitches the last breaths of the life that she wove into mine. I don’t keep it on my bed today, but my kids will have to figure out what to do with it when I die; I won’t let it go during my lifetime.
Families are big and complex. They can gift us things we don’t understand until many years after they are given. I had the great fortune of living in Omaha, Nebraska, with my grandmother during my junior and senior years. She was in her seventies, alone, and no longer able to drive because of deteriorating vision. I was a grandson who desperately needed refuge from an abusive dad. I’d lived with an aunt and uncle for the second half of my sophomore year. They had already raised three children from another aunt (a story for another time) and had three of their own kids at home. They both worked—he was a cop, she was a secretary. Even then, in the early 1980s these were not high-paying jobs. (more…)
Selective Focus: Michael Smisek
Michael Smisek is a designer and artist whose work would be hard to miss around here. He and his wife operate the DLH Clothing company, and also Šek Design, where they have worked with a number of high-profile clients in the area.
MS: I primarily work as a graphic designer but my background is in drawing and painting. I have a degree in Fine Art from UMD and I find that a lot of my work still takes on a ‘painterly’ quality – especially when designing posters and other collateral for print. I tell all of my clients that I begin every project with open ears and a pencil in hand. I know it sounds corny but it’s absolutely true. Some designers jump right on the computer and use Photoshop tricks and things before truly thinking through the goals or issues that a client faces. If you look at our Šek logo, you can see that the accent above the ’S’ actually doubles as the tip of a pencil. (more…)
What’s on tap at the NorShor Theatre?
No, the question here is not the figurative “what entertainment is on tap?” but rather “what is literally on tap in terms of craft beer at the NorShor?” (more…)
R.I.P. West Duluth Video Vision, Mariner Mall Younkers
Two longtime Twin Ports stores will soon close. Fox 21 reports the West Duluth Video Vision store will close this week. The Duluth News Tribune reports Younkers in Superior’s Mariner Mall will close within 12 weeks. (more…)
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #6
More from the Duluth Trivia Deck found at Savers.
1. What famed product was sold by Duluth Tent and Awning?
2. What does a McGiffert loader [on view in the railway museum] load?
3. Who held the first motorized dairy operation in Duluth/the region?
4. Where is Mission Creek located?
5. True or false? A quarry near Mission Creek yielded much of the brownstone used in Duluth buildings.
6. True or false? The first brick structure in Duluth is still standing at E. Superior Street.
7. Where is Munger Terrace?
8. T/F: When the Torrey building was constructed, it was fireproofed by covering its iron and wooden beams with terra cotta or baked clay.
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Historic downtown Superior building gets detailed restoration
The Empire Block opened in 1892 on Tower Avenue in the heart of downtown Superior. Newly restored apartments will be open for showing in February.
A meticulous, top-to-bottom restoration of a massive 19th Century building in downtown Superior will offer jaw-dropping views for new residents, historic charm for new businesses and a boost to city center redevelopment efforts. (more…)
Tadpole Sourdough: Bread by Subscription
Tina Higgins Wussow – Photo by Lissa Maki
An entrepreneurial Duluthian has turned her passion for bread making into a business. Tina Higgins Wussow launched Tadpole Sourdough, a community supported bakery, out of her East Hillside home last fall. (more…)
Lake Superior Magazine 2018 Photo Contest Winners
Duluth’s Dan Vander Ark took first place in the Nature category of Lake Superior Magazine‘s 23rd Annual Photo Contest. His photo, “The Turtles Four,” was shot near Iron River. Galleries of all the winning photos and runners up can be seen on lakesuperior.com. The winners were featured in the magazine’s February/March issue, which also marked the publication’s 40th anniversary. (more…)
PDD Quiz: January 2018 in Review
How much do you remember about the first month of 2018? Quiz on and test your knowledge of local current events!
The next PDD Quiz, “Love (Or Like), Duluth Style,” will be published on Feb. 11. Please send question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Feb. 8th.
The Dexter Project
Dexter Ojeda is a 10-year-old Duluth boy who has a rare form of cancer that has no cure. One of the last items on Dexter’s bucket list is to star in a horror movie. Duluth’s Death Calm Studios and Dexter Ojeda’s family are determined to make Dexter’s wish come true, but they need help make it happen.
Some General Instructions
“Ships sided against a canal’s side may be touched and
Patted, but sleeping animals should not be, for
They may bite, in anger and surprise.“
— Kenneth Koch
Treat others as we treat those who are dying — with tenderness and kindness — as we are all, at our own pace, dying. Avoid telling others what will happen to them after they die, especially to threaten them, because this smacks of eschatological terrorism. Both idealization and devaluation of another person can be a defense against envy, and putting someone you consider an asshole on a pedestal is doubly troublesome.
Don’t pretend that large groups of people are all the same, as simplistic opinions about others are the source of much grief. There is beauty in diversity, but danger in division, as we can be conquered when divided, and manipulated by irrational beliefs. Beware the competition among various one-and-only gods, it is also the cause of much trouble. It’s best to avoid pretending to know the will of God, and to not pass laws reflecting his taboos. It’s not good to remain in an infantile state, accepting dogma at face value, or to confuse symbolic and literal truth. Of course we are free to believe Zeus runs the show from Mount Olympus if that makes us happy, and does no harm to others. (more…)