Season seven of Perfect Duluth Day’s “Saturday Essay” series has drawn to close, and it’s time to look back with the usual popularity contest. In 2021, Jim Richardson pulled off an unprecedented sweep of the top-five most read essays; this year he remained the click hog, but holds a more reasonable three out of five works deemed by Google Analytics to be your favorites.

Next week we’ll highlight a few “select gems” judged by attributes other than page views, but this week it’s all about which ones had the most people tap the Read More button.

Before digging into the 2022 countdown, here’s the standard paragraph that spells out for the uninitiated how the “Saturday Essay” feature works:

PDD publishes an essay on most Saturdays — like three out of every four weeks or so. Yours truly, Paul Lundgren, is the editor. A small group of writers are featured somewhat regularly, but anyone is welcome and encouraged to submit a piece for consideration. Shoot an email to paul @ perfectduluthday.com to inquire.

And now, let the countdown begin …

#1: David Syring’s “The Public Complicity Trick”
… a tale of abuse and broken trust, and the fight for control of the narrative.

#2: Jim Richardson’s “Lake Superior Eats Lesser Bodies of Water for Breakfast”
… in which the author turns a nuanced issue into a no-duh.

#3: Jim Richardson’s “SuperiorLab Marquette Disaster”
… in which transcripts are shared from science’s first permanent presence at the bottom of Lake Superior.

#4: Jim Richardson’s “Psychogeographical Map of Duluth in 2004”
… a conceptual map illustrating what made Duluth cool in 2004, and the nature of scenes as social units.

#5: Anna Tennis’ “His Body”
… in which the author tries to get over the mess that loving her father so dearly made in her mind.

So there are the goods. Read or reread and enjoy. We’ll be back with new works of literary splendor in 2023.