Call for Poems and Nonfiction Writing (Journals, Essays, etc.) about “What I Learned from a Travel Experience”

University of Minnesota Duluth students in Writing Studies 4200, “Writing and Cultures,” will edit a collection of creative writing (poems and nonfiction) about what can be learned from a travel experience. They are soliciting writings from everyone (students, alumni, and the broader community) on this topic for inclusion in the collection.

Selective Focus: Heidi Feroe

Heidi Feroe plays guitar at open mic night

Photo by Terry McCarthy

Heidi Feroe is a multimedia artist and member of the band Babie Eyes. In both her visual art and music, Feroe uses art as a vehicle to explore her identity and connect with community.

Video: Changing Seasons in Grand Rapids

Video by TruNorth Productions.

Merry Kiss Cam and Bizzaro Duluth

Noting when movies reference Duluth is a top hobby on Perfect Duluth Day, but when its comes to Merry Kiss Cam — the flick that has more Duluth scenes than any before it — we hesitated. So now we’ll let Minnesota Public Radio explain the convenient taxi system, clean street-side snow and disappointing hockey team that make our city great.

Postcard from the Lakeview Castle circa the 1940s

Lakeview Castle, 5135 North Shore Drive in Duluth Township, got its start circa 1914 as a fish stand and coffee shop, eventually growing into a restaurant, lounge and motel.

It ceased operation at the end of 2009 and the Clearwater Grille opened there in the fall of 2010.

Mike Lindell dragged out of Duluth Buffalo Wild Wings

Duluth was mentioned on the Nov. 2 episode of the NBC comedic talk show Late Night with Seth Meyers. During a segment titled “A Closer Look,” Meyers cuts into My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, suggesting it’s strange he made so much money on pillows because he doesn’t look well rested.

“He has the energy of a guy being dragged out of a Buffalo Wild Wings in Duluth for stuffing barbecue sauce in his pockets,” Meyers quips at the 9:25 mark in the video above.

Ripped at My Neighbor’s House in 2002

[Editor’s note: For this week’s essay we’ve once again pulled out a relic from the archive of Slim Goodbuzz, who served as Duluth’s “booze connoisseur” from 1999 to 2009. Twenty years ago the Sultan of Sot spent an afternoon obstructing someone’s homebrewing plans and wrote the article below for the Dec. 25, 2002 issue of the Ripsaw newspaper.]

It all started about two months ago, when my neighbor came pounding on my door with a bunch of little pumpkins in his arms. By his report, the pumpkins had sprouted up without being planted, putting him in the unexpected position of having to come up with a use for them.

You see, my neighbor is a go-getter. He’s one of those people who actually mows his lawn, trims his hedges and shovels his sidewalk. He’s the kind of person who notices when pumpkins spring up on his property.

“Look at them. Just look at them. I didn’t even plant any seeds,” he raved to me in astonishment, as if he was holding eight little baby Jesuses birthed from the Virgin Mary’s garden. “What do you think I should do with these?”

“Make beer,” I responded, as if the answer wasn’t obvious.

I tested ChatGPT’s morals and things escalated quickly

I asked the AI illustrator craiyon.com “Are you sentient?” Its cagey reply was the pantheistic picture above. So I was eager to see how ChatGPT would reply to the question. I also wanted to test its AI morals. Here’s how it went.

Selective Focus: Boubville 2022

Ollie Morris (left) helped curate the tree (behind) that’s spoofing the one found at Bentleyville. (Photo by Jess Morgan)

Described as a “punk version of Bentleyville,” Boubville is a winter celebration centered around connection and play between artists as they imitate the light displays found the Bentlyville “Tour of Lights.” The event is also functioning as a fundraiser for the Embassy art collective. Despite the recent blizzard, Duluthians looking to connect and dance still made it over to the first night of Boubville.

Seven AI-generated poems about Duluth, written by ChatGPT and illustrated by Dall-e 2

AI image prompt: a Japanese woodblock print of a large lake in a storm with a city on a tree covered hill in the background and seagulls in the sky

ChatGPT prompt: Write a haiku about Duluth

Duluth by the shore
The waves crash and the gulls cry
Nature’s symphony

Media Excavations: Chun King

I’d never seen the canned and frozen food magnate Jeno Paulucci until I found this ad in the Media History Digital Library.

Local podcast challenging to listen to

… and I don’t mean in terms of the audio quality.

This Duluth-based podcast has international reach. What They Don’t Tell You About Being a Survivor is “a podcast that builds community amongst those affected by trauma, with the purpose to promote healing and social change.” What makes it challenging to listen to is the intensity of the topics, the intensity of the personal experiences shared. According to the website …

Thundersnow in Duluth

Duluth’s Mollie Johnson captured the sounds of thunder during this morning’s blizzard.

Globe News, landmark store in Superior, changing ownership

Globe News owner Tom Unterberger, left, has sold his store to a new ownership group led by longtime customer Jon Fritsche of Poplar. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)

A landmark Superior collectible store — along with its iconic sign — has been sold to new owners who plan to maintain all its nostalgic charm.

Globe News owner Tom Unterberger announced last week that he has sold the historic building at Tower Avenue and Belknap Street along with all its contents to a partnership group headed by a longtime customer. Unterberger and his wife, Jill, purchased the building with the help of his parents in 1982 and slowly converted its corner newsstand into a retail store filled with books, music, trading cards and a wide variety of vintage gifts.

Award for global engagement goes to Duluthian

Dan Nolan recently won a statewide award for teaching about internationalization. Below is the news release for the announcement, but I thought it might be more important to remind folks of the cool work Dan has also done for internationalization for the city of Duluth.