Photo: Deb Holman

Please, if anyone reading this is experiencing homelessness or knows of someone who may be living outside, in a vehicle or in an unheated building, call the Street Outreach hotline at 218-461-8505. An outreach worker will follow up on all tips and try to get people into shelter.

The Street Outreach Team is also in need of winter boots (all adult sizes), gas cards and warm hats and mittens. Donations can be brought to CHUM (102 W 2nd St) or Loaves and Fishes (1712 Jefferson St).

I’m sad, so sad, to have to leave my adopted home of the past 3 and a half years. With Cliffs closing the Duluth office, I need to move where the work is, so on Monday I start my transition to the Eau Claire area.

Duluth is truly a special place and one that I will hold in my heart. (I so want to stay that I’m even keeping the house I bought in Kenwood and will have a family member reside there.)

To those like minded folks that love Duluth as I do, I don’t have to list the reasons why. To those haters out there, you will never understand the attraction the the place. I have endured five corporate relocations in the 29 years my wife and I have been married. I have lived in the South, the West, and the Northeast, but nothing beats the Upper Midwest.

Farewell, Duluth, Bon Chance!

This is a fun little project I’ve been thinking about for a while.  I thought today is as good of a day as any to post.  Did I miss any?

I saw the Wise Fool Shakespeare production of A Christmas Carol this afternoon with Lucie Amundsen.

Lucie wrote:

Didn’t make it to the Wise Fool Shakespeare ‘s Christmas Carol? Dude, you missed out. Goosebumps, guffaws and a little case of the verklempts. Thanks cast for giving up your autumn to make my Solstice.

It’s true — community theater is hundreds of hours to produce a work as awesome as this one. I am grateful, as Lucie was, for all their efforts. Jodi Kujawa stole the show, for me, as the Ghost of Christmas Present doing a little fourth-wall breaking, too. But the whole afternoon was awesome, twice as awesome because Sunday was “pay what you can,” so the crowd was even more energetic than you might expect.

I ended today shopping at the Mall, where I saw Brian Rauvola shopping, too. Brian has done as much as any one man can to sustain a culture of photography in Duluth, and it’s good to see him take a breather from that work. I still miss the Duluth Photography Institute, which was his baby.

I have a lot of art experiences to relate this week, but I thought I should set aside two today, and a few more this weekend, when blog traffic is admittedly lower, I bet.

Here’s a bit of what you’ll find on this week’s PDD Calendar:

Chris Monroe’s new art exhibit opens, Sing! A Women’s Chorus is kicking off the hibernation season and the Handel’s Messiah singalong is taking place.

Get involved with the Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon, make some glass holiday ornaments and check out the opening of Fitger’s Salon & Spa.

The Minnesota Ballet’s Nutcracker is opening on Friday, Rubber Chicken’s Holiday Revue is going up, the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra is cranking out the holiday favorites and George Bailey is back up on the big screen. Merry Christmas, you wonderful old Building and Loan!

I ended my weekend at the Lake Superior Youth Chorus…