Eric Chandler Posts

Remember Watson

May 04, 2024 No Comments

Goob, Fozz, and I hiked down around another switchback in the trail. We saw a family that passed us higher up on the mountain. A dad, his three kids, and a dog. I saw the dad standing there, blocking the trail. His son sat on a rock with his two sisters standing beside him.

As we got closer Dad said, “He’s not doing so good.” I assumed he meant his son.

I walked up and then saw the dog. Their golden retriever was lying on its side in the trail and panting. I thought: We’re part of this now.

Dad said, “His stomach is super hard, too.” I reached down and felt the dog’s stomach which had swollen up bigger than his ribcage. It was firm.

The Dad explained that the dog chased something and got all riled up. I can’t remember if he said it was a squirrel or another dog. But it was after the dog’s frantic chase and barking that he started to swell up.

“I think his stomach has flipped over,” I said.

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Random

Book Trailer for Eric Chandler’s Kekekabic

Jan 23, 2022 No Comments

I’m happy to announce that my new book, Kekekabic, is for sale now at Finishing Line Press! From now until March 25, you can preorder a copy of my book and it will ship to you on May 20. You can get a copy for $19.99 at finishinglinepress.com.

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Art, Sports, Videos

Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour returns to Duluth

Dec 17, 2021 No Comments

After a one-year absence, the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour returns to Duluth on Jan. 7-8 at DECC Symphony Hall. This stop on the tour is hosted by the Duluth Cross Country Ski Club, and proceeds from the event benefit local community ski projects. For more details on the event visit the PDD Calendar entry.


Events, Outdoors , , ,

Reflecting on the 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks

Sep 08, 2021 No Comments


History, News and Current Affairs

A Brief Remembrance of George Hovland

May 15, 2021 No Comments

I’ve only been in Duluth for 20 years, so in relation to George Hovland’s life, I’m just a newcomer. Even so, as a cross-country skier, my tracks crossed his over and over.

George always ran Snowflake Nordic Ski Center like a charity. The cashbox on the counter just sat there on the honor system. Each year, I signed up my kids for the KidSki program. This was during the window of time each fall where he gave a discount for signing up early. I paid full price because I could afford it. I also did it because, unlike a lot of things, I knew exactly where my money was going. I mean, outside of my family, cross-country skiing is my favorite thing. And each year when he got my check, George called me on the phone and said, “You shouldn’t pay full price. You can pay the discounted price.” And I said, “I know George. It’s me. I told you the exact same thing last year.”

One time, I was skiing classic style in the snow-blessed microclimate at Snowflake and George came up on me the opposite direction and said, “Great technique!” I was a little too pleased, but a comment like that from George, a 1952 Olympian, was like a benediction.

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Outdoors, R.I.P. ,

Perspective: A Review of Decennia by Jan Chronister

Mar 10, 2021 No Comments

Unforgettable things happen to us. Those pivotal events take on new meaning with the passage of time. Jan Chronister looks closely at those events in her past in her latest collection, Decennia (Truth Serum Press, 2020). The title means “decades.” Chronister splits her life into five of them and examines each in detail.

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Art ,

Two new movie packages join Banff Mountain Film Festival

Jan 29, 2021 No Comments

Two new Banff Mountain Film Festival movie packages hit the internet on Feb. 4 as part of the virtual world tour. Ruby and Sapphire movie bundles are joining the Amber and Onyx movie packages that are already online. The Duluth Cross-country Ski Club receives part of the proceeds when viewers use the link on duluthxc.com to get to the BMFF content.

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Outdoors ,

Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival 2020 Trailer

Nov 26, 2020 No Comments

This year’s Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour is virtual. Films are available online from Thanksgiving Day until Oct. 24.

Proceeds benefit the Duluth Cross-Country Ski Club if purchased via duluthxc.com. Once there, click “DXC link to BMFF” to get started.


Events ,

Charlie is Antiviral

Mar 26, 2020 No Comments

We washed dishes while watching the best concert ever.

I reviewed Charlie Parr’s March 25 Duluth Cider concert. We’re lucky to have him. Check it out here: Charlie is Antiviral.


Music, Recommendations

Million-dollar Wound

Nov 23, 2019 No Comments

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.

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Art ,

Sisyphus on a Skateboard: A Review of “To Keep Him Hidden”

Jan 15, 2019 No Comments

I reviewed Ryan Vine’s book of poetry. It’s good! Check the review out here.


Art ,

Two-Thing Story

Mar 11, 2017 No Comments

Eric Chandler - Saturday EssayI sat with my kids and played “two-thing story” as I tucked them into bed. This was a game where my kid picked two nouns out of the air and I had to come up with a story that included the two things. Then we swapped and I picked the two nouns and the kid would come up with a story. It was simple. Two kids, two things, and lots of laughs.

I like to make complex things simpler. I usually view my fellow man through a simple, digital filter. Ones or zeroes. Happy Shmo or Angry Shmo. Here’s an example: “There are two kinds of people: Those who think there are two kinds of people and those who don’t.” (Aren’t I clever?)

Here are some of the filters I use.

The first is called the Dunning-Kruger effect. David Dunning and Justin Kruger conducted studies and wrote a paper called “Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments (1999).” They published it in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. I gather we live in a post-fact world, but this is science if you still care. This is what it says in the paper’s abstract: “People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in many social and intellectual domains. The authors suggest that this overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it.”

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Art

I Did Love the Place Then

Apr 09, 2016 1 Comment

Eric Chandler - Saturday EssayAfter several hours of splashing around, I pulled myself up to the dock. I held onto the edge and floated. My daughter said, “Your wedding ring is gone.”

What kind of kid notices that? I thought she was kidding. Then, I looked at my left hand. No ring.

I spent the next hour swimming with a scuba mask trying to pull off a miracle. The lake water looks like tea because of the tannins. Or maybe even darker like root beer. As I swam down, I could barely see. I hoped to see a little glint in the gravel. It never happened.

So, now I wear a replacement ring. The ring I put on twenty years ago sits at the bottom of the Whiteface Reservoir, a permanent part of the St. Louis River watershed. I sit like Gollum on the dock, sip my gin and tonic, gaze out over the water, and wonder about my precious. My precious.

When I was a kid, I didn’t notice things like rings on my dad’s hand. But I noticed his finger and where it pointed on the topo map. It was deer season in Plymouth, New Hampshire. I was in high school and an important part of the game plan to fill the freezer with venison.

“I’m going to sit here at the top of this drainage,” my dad said. “You walk down the road on this side of the ridge to here. Come over the ridge and walk up the drainage toward me. If you hear a shot, sit down for five minutes. Then, when you hear two shots, it means I found the deer and you can walk to me.” He said drainage so much during the huddle, I thought he was talking about nasal passages instead of a small mountain valley.

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Art, Outdoors ,

Nirvana – “Lake of Fire”

Sep 21, 2015 2 Comments

Wanted to make sure this was logged if it hadn’t been.

I knew a lady who came from Duluth
She got bit by a dog with a rabid tooth
She went to her grave just a little too soon
And she flew away howling on the yellow moon”


Music

Duluth reference in The Goodbye Girl

Nov 19, 2013 3 Comments

It’s probably been dealt with here before, but Richard Dreyfus (as Elliot Garfield) and Quinn Cummings (as Lucy McFadden) have a conversation at the supper table in the 1977 film The Goodbye Girl and have this exchange:

I taught drama at Duluth Junior College.

You taught drama? Far out!

Very far out. It’s up near Canada.


History