Hans Eisenbeis God bless good spellers. We’ve been watching the national spelling bee with some interest, and we’re proud of our two local finalists. But it should be no surprise that we’re somehow able to find something mean to say about it. Like energy drinks, bike riding, and deep-dish pizza, spelling bees have gone extreme. Just read … Read more
Apropos of last week’s post on this month’s cover story, we received a thoughtful comment from Christian Dude. He took issue with our casting Sen. Dean Johnson as a possible candidate to head up a putative “Christian Left.” He wanted to hear more about what Sen. Johnson has to say about the role of religion … Read more
I’m out the rest of the week, but encourage you to check out the new issue of the magazine, which rocks pretty good, I think. If you’re especially nuts for silly gossip and local crazy-talk, and you want to know why we’ve been getting so many dirty looks from our so-called competitors lately, look at … Read more
It took us three days to get through Michael Sokolove’s provocative piece in the New York Times magazine about Sen. Rick Santorum—partly because we couldn’t stop talking about it before reading to the end. (A long, loud discussion over beers at Pizza Luce on Sunday night was especially energetic.) Of course, we can’t plan these … Read more
On Friday, Timothy Noah published the results of his online survey which asked the question, “If you had to pay to read each New York Times columnist, how much would you pay?” Apropos of the Times announcing that they were going to place their columnists in a premium subscription-only area of the Times website, Noah … Read more
We’ve mentioned before the many, many awards that are minted each year for every little print publication under the sun. Some forms of industrial recognition are more credible than others, of course, but mostly they are an exercise in narcissism. We’re not sure anyone outside the industry cares that much, given that any publication that … Read more
Not much has changed in the hoarse conversation about pro sports stadiums here in the Twin Cities, at least not in the last five years. Public antipathy and skepticism remain about the same, which is to say very high. If decision-makers have learned anything, it is that one does not speak about a new stadium … Read more
Clint Maxwell works out of an old creosote-smeared boathouse in East Beaver Bay on the North Shore of Lake Superior. His boat is a seatless iron tub, twenty feet long, like a dumpster with a prow and an outboard. The other day, he was casting off to check his nets. It was a bitterly cold, … Read more
When I login at home, I use the equvialent of the old wooden, crank-up party line—my dial-up America Online account. I have to admit that I always wait enthusiastically for the slow emergence of today’s headlines, like tea leaves swirling in the digital kettle. There are usually three main “news” headlines that rotate in a … Read more
We were a little pressed for time yesterday, since our presence was requested at Minnesota Magazine Day. This is an annual to-do over at the Hyatt, hosted graciously by the Minnesota Ad Federation. It consists of a “magazine grab”—basically a shopping spree for most major titles from Hearst, Fairchild, Conde Nast, and the other big … Read more