Paul Lundgren Posts

United Way Chili Cook-off Tips

ChiliCookoff2009

Having attended the United Way Chili Cook-off numerous times, I have two pieces of advice to those who either have never gone before or don’t easily learn from past mistakes:

1) Don’t wear a jacket or sweatshirt into the event. It’s pretty warm outside this year, so maybe you wouldn’t have done that anyway, but my point is that no matter what the weather is like outside, there are 40 different kinds of chili being cooked for a giant crowd of people inside. It gets hot.

2) It’s best to go to this event with someone you don’t mind sharing food with. Instead of the two of you getting two portions of everything, just get one portion and share. If you like that particular chili, get a second portion. If you don’t, move on. You don’t want to waste a lot of time and stomach on a chili you don’t like, because there are many that you will like if you can get to them before they run out.

2009 United Way Chili Cook-off
Sept. 17 | 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. | DECC
$6 for adults; $3 for kids

Also, I should note two art openings going on tonight (Sept. 17) for your post-chilifest enjoyment:

1) “Burning Bridges,” new paintings by Eric Dubnicka at Washington Gallery from 5 to 7 p.m.

2) Photography by Nate Lindstrom at the Spiritual Deli from 7 to 9 p.m.

Since when are trampolines so damn popular? I mean, sheesh!

trampoline342

A neighbor of mine put up a big trampoline in his back yard yesterday. The weird thing about this, other than that mid-September is a strange time to assemble something that will have to be taken apart in October, is that I have two other neighbors with trampolines.

Can anyone out there identify a city block in Duluth with more than three trampolines? I think my block might have the record.

Duluth 2009 Primary Election Results

IVoted3489

41 of 41 precincts counted; 11,691 total ballots cast.

Duluth Fourth District City Councilor
Top two candidates advance
Kerry Gauthier – 1,006 | 44%
Gordon Grant – 565 | 25%
Heath Hickok – 472 | 21%
Matt Potter – 135 | 6%
Celia Scheer – 110 | 4%

Duluth At-large City Councilor
Top four candidates advance
Beth Olson – 5,429 | 26%
Dan Hartman – 4,749 | 23%
James Stauber – 4,464 | 21%
Becky Hall – 3,743 | 18%
Mike Akervik – 2,629 | 12%

Duluth District One School Board
Top two candidates advance
Ann Wasson – 1,394 | 50%
Marcia Stromgren – 1,016 | 36%
Gary Glass – 396 | 14%

Duluth At-large School Board
Top four candidates advance
Tom Kasper – 6,668 | 33%
Mary Cameron – 4,729 | 24%
Nancy Nilsen – 4,164 | 21%
Maureen Booth – 2,409 | 12%
Bryan Jensen – 1,965 | 10%

The Ones That Got Away

BentSnakeLake893457

This little snake managed to make the swim across Bent Trout Lake in Barnum without getting snatched into our boat. Roger had one lunge at it before it found refuge in the weeds.

A conversation that occurred about two hours later, when we saw a circle of small waves nearby on an otherwise calm lake:

Roger: What the hell is that over there?
Paul: Holy crap. Is that a whole school of fish?
Roger: I’ve never seen anything like it. Something’s going on over there.
Paul: Troll over! That’s gotta be fish or beaver or something.
Voice from the shore: Those aren’t fish! Those are scuba divers!
Paul: OK. Well, I guess we’re idiots then.
Roger: Yep. Pretty much.

References to Duluth in Popular Literature

Mark Twain’s Following the Equator
“A few ships rode at anchor in it — one of them a sailing vessel flying the American flag; and they said she came from Duluth! There’s a journey! Duluth is several thousand miles from the sea, and yet she is entitled to the proud name of Mistress of the Commercial Marine of the United States of America. There is only one free, independent, unsubsidized American ship sailing the foreign seas, and Duluth owns it. All by itself that ship is the American fleet. … For what Duluth has done, in building, equipping, and maintaining at her sole expense the American Foreign Commercial Fleet … we owe her a debt of gratitude which our hearts shall confess with quickened beats whenever her name is named henceforth. … Health and prosperity to Thee, O Duluth, American Queen of the Alien Seas!”

Ernest Hemmingway - The Torrents of SpringErnest Hemingway’s The Torrents of Spring
“The foreman was a short, iron-jawed man. He had once made a trip as far as Duluth. Duluth was far across the blue waters of the lake in the hills of Minnesota. A wonderful thing had happened to him there.”

F Scott Fitzgerald - The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
“A few days later he took him to Duluth and bought him a blue coat, six pair of white duck trousers, and a yachting cap.”

Dalton Trumbo LettersDalton Trumbo’s letter to Guy Endore
“I’ve seen their faces in a miners’ union hall in Duluth on a night when the wind off the lake blew the snow so killingly and so deep that cars couldn’t be used and everybody walked to the meeting.”

Willa Cather - The Song of the LarkWilla Cather’s The Song of the Lark
“I must go now. I had to give my lesson hour this morning to a Duluth woman who has come on to coach, and I must go and play ‘On Mighty Pens’ for her. Please tell Mr. Harsanyi that I think oratorio is a great chance for bluffers.”

Where in Duluth?

TreeFort43857

A special holiday edition of PDD’s photo geographical identification competition sensation thing or something.

As usual with “Where in Duluth?” there is no prize for being the first to identify the location of this photo, other than bragging rights.

Looner playing TPB Sept. 11

Now would someone kindly explain to me what a tamagotchee is? Not knowing is making me want to wang chung all over Sussudio.

Looner
Thirsty Pagan Brewing
Friday, Sept. 11 | 9 p.m.

Bumper Pool

BumperPool34895

When was the last time you played bumper pool? For me, I think it was in my grandmother’s basement in about 1984. I’m totally in the mood for a game right now. I must get the bumper pool itch every 25 years.

Nature Identification Quiz

natureid8934572

Is that a hawk, a turkey vulture or a twig?

(Shot today in Duluth, along the western hillside.)

Remembering Laura MacArthur

A commenter to the post about the house being torn down for construction of the new Laura MacArthur Elementary asked the question, “Who is Laura MacArthur anyway?”

Laura MacArthur was an elementary and junior high school teacher and principal in West Duluth for over four decades.

Born in England, she came to the United States with her family at around the age of 10. She attended high school in Wooster, Ohio, and graduated from the College of Wooster.

She came to Duluth in the spring of 1896, where she was assigned to teach Latin, algebra and civics to ninth graders at Longfellow School.

What’s wrong with having a keg at your high school graduation party?

GradPartyKeg3489572

Of course, I’m talking about a keg of root beer. What’s wrong with it? Let me tell you.

Rules for Teachers, 1905 and 1872

During my recent visit to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove, I had a good laugh reading two lists of rules on the walls of the little schoolhouse.

Fastest Vote in the West

DuluthBallot2009Primary347

Most precincts, like mine in West Duluth, have only two races on the ballot this year. At least we get to vote for two candidates in each.

Click here for a list of candidates that includes all the district races.

Job opportunity: Become the leader of Duluth’s music scene bureaucracy

HomegrownChicken2The Homegrown Music Festival is looking for a director to follow in the footsteps of Paul Connolly, who has stepped down from the position.

Homegrown is Duluth’s yearly celebration of local music, featuring eight days of concerts with performances by well over 100 bands.

The 12th annual Homegrown will be held May 2 to 9, 2010.

The festival director is responsible for the overall management of Homegrown.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation in Minnesota with Daniel Johnston, Laura Ingalls Wilder, my great-great-grandparents and a bunch of short-fiction writers

There comes a time in every Minnesota man’s summer when he climbs into a rusty conversion van with the love of his life and sets out across the state in search of everything and nothing in particular.

Once the dog and the cooler of beer are secure in back, it’s off we go.