David Beard Posts

On Madweyaashkaa: Waves Can be Heard with Moira Villiard

Jun 03, 2021 No Comments

Duluth artist Moira Villiard is interviewed in the Spring 2021 issue of Open Rivers, an online journal “that recognizes rivers in general, and the Mississippi River in particular, as space for timely and critical conversations about the intersections between biophysical systems and human systems.”

The topic of the interview is Villiard’s animated video collage, Madweyaashkaa: Waves Can Be Heard, which was projected in February on walls at the closed Upper St. Anthony Lock and Dam in Minneapolis. The article can be read in the PDF version of the journal, beginning on page 50, or on a web page.


Art

Art outside Wussow’s Concert Cafe and Zenith Bookstore

May 09, 2021 No Comments

I parked to watch the new media installation by Daniel Benoit and Tom Moriarty. Below is the description from Facebook:

This installation is a pilot project initiated by the Duluth Public Arts Commission, with plans on the horizon for more rad art like this to be shown around Duluth 🌟

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Art , ,

UMD literary magazine Roaring Muse reactivated

Apr 14, 2021 No Comments

Cover of Roaring Muse.

From the story on UMD’s website:

UMD’s literary magazine Roaring Muse is a student-led magazine that was started in 1997 by UMD’s Literary Guild. Often including poetry, prose, and artwork, and edited by students, Roaring Muse sought to highlight the great work by UMD’s community, and at one point solicited submissions from community members outside the campus. Since its beginnings in ’97, the magazine has been published on and off and is currently back up and running.

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Art , , , ,

The We All Belong Creativity Exhibit

Mar 03, 2021 No Comments

The We All Belong Creativity Exhibit, an all-campus art show at the University of Minnesota Duluth with art, poetry and video makes its debut today. It is focused on the 2021 Summit on Equity, Race, & Ethnicity theme: “Being Antiracist, Doing Antiracism.”

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Art, Events

Duluth is where cool musicians go to retire

Feb 21, 2021 No Comments

Teenage Prayers photo by Orianna Riley from PopMatters.

Teenage Prayers is a band from my days in college radio in Milwaukee. KUMD and KUWS approach the college radio vibe, but in the 1990s, college radio was a thing, and Teenage Prayers was a part of the thing.

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Music

“Big Friendly Mike” was friend to many

Jan 13, 2021 No Comments

Obits are not common on Perfect Duluth Day, but Mike Hruza wasn’t a common person. He was known to hundreds, thousands of Duluthians as “Big Friendly Mike” because he worked for decades selling games and comics, or because he played games and talked comics with anyone who would listen (including the times I sat next to him on the bus).

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R.I.P.

Cluttered and Trapped in a Strange World: On (Not) Writing During a Pandemic

Jan 03, 2021 No Comments

Lake Superior Writers maintains a blog;  today’s post by Zomi Bloom is worth a look.

Cluttered and Trapped in a Strange World: On (Not) Writing During a Pandemic by Zomi Bloom<

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Art

Stormy or Calm

Nov 07, 2020 1 Comment

She called me after dinner. “I think I need to go to Bemidji. Something is wrong with Charlie.”

Charlie was her son, a slender, emo-goth kid, like I was when I was his age, but with a gregarious desire to be liked. Committed to social justice — as most middle schoolers seem to be, lately — Charlie was attending a language camp. The camp would end the next morning, so leaving that night was ahead of schedule.

“Swing by my place on the way there, and I will ride with you,” I told her.

She drove the first leg of the trip, down Highway 2 through Proctor into Grand Rapids, where we pulled over for gas. She called the camp to get clarification about why Charlie needed to be picked up. Was he sick? Food poisoning? Running a temperature? No. He had said some words that meant he had to leave the camp; he could not spend the night.

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Random

Duluthians consulted as national resources for bicyclists

Oct 30, 2020 No Comments

Avesa Rockwell and Jeremy Kershaw have been consulted as experts on bicycling in Shape Magazine. Kershaw and Rockwell lead Heck of the North, a company that plans events for adventuresome bicyclists, such as Le Grand du Nord, Heck Bikepacking Race and Heck of the North.

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Outdoors ,

Monday Night Trivia at Earth Rider

Oct 06, 2020 No Comments

So I’m looking for outdoor activities during the pandemic, and while Souptown is in Wisconsin, it is host to some of the coolest events.

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Events

Empire Lanes: Who knows the stories behind this story?

Sep 28, 2020 2 Comments

I found this comic in a fifty-cent bin. The online summaries are engaging.

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Art ,

New podcast about “Uncovering the Truth in Minnesota”

Sep 26, 2020 No Comments

I just found an investigative podcast based out of Duluth called “Uncovering the Truth in Minnesota.”

“Unconstrained, unbiased, and driven for the truth, follow us as we use journalism to tell the untold stories of Minnesota,” reads the description on Apple Podcasts. “Join your Co-hosts, Sarah Knieff and Izabel Johnson, for weekly episodes released on Tuesdays!”

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Random ,

Crystal Gibbins in North American Review

Aug 05, 2020 No Comments

Local poet Crystal Gibbins has published in North American Review. It’s fantastic.


Art

Ken Bloom on his photography

Jul 26, 2020 No Comments

Ken Bloom recently lectured about his photography for Coldsnap Photography. Check out the presentation on Zoom.


Art, Photos

Duluth blog brings Bible to Recent Events

Jul 18, 2020 No Comments

I follow Paving Stones Ministries, and I love the new post about “All Lives Matter” from a scriptural perspective.

There are people in today’s society for whom racism and marginalization are a constant and persistent problem. I have seen it on the streets of our cities. I have seen it in the hallways of our universities. Unfortunately, racism is alive and rampant in our country, and there are people who are being crushed to powder under its millstone. They are broken, they are hurting, and they are weary. THEY are the ones who need our ministry right now.


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