Go Gophers

Craig Cox [“The Long Bomb,” October] states that the Gophers generate “less revenue in a season that the University of Michigan rakes in during a couple of home games.” This would seem to imply that Michigan has several times the revenue that the Gophers have. Later, he states that Michigan generates twice what the Gophers … Read more

Subtract to Fore

Frank Jossi’s golf article, “The Missing Links” [September], is on target. Golf and cigars were here before they got trendy and will survive. Golf is not for everyone. But it is time to cut back on the overbuilding and let laws of supply and demand take over.Jim BohnSt. Paul

C’mon, Just a Few Details?

I like it that Stuart Greene is unabashedly a fan of his wife’s front and back porch [“More Than a Mouthful,” October], but there’s one thing he’s missing, summed up in the ancient adage “It’s not what you have, it’s what you do with what you have.” It’s not trivial for two reasons: 1) gravity … Read more

Straight Talk

In the mid-nineties, the Hang Ups were the most prominent purveyors of what was sometimes called ’Sota Pop. Lead singer Brian Tighe and his bandmates eschewed bar-scene three-chord punk for heart-on-sleeve harmonies and shimmering layers of melody, best exemplified on songs like “Runway,” “Top of Morning,” and “Jump Start,” the latter two of which you … Read more

Desert Island Duffel

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing, as the saying goes, and Leslie Johnson’s Mississippi Rag has devoted thirty years to keeping the swing alive. Her Bloomington-based newspaper is a torchbearer for early-twentieth-century ragtime and jazz. It may not have Rolling Stone’s circulation numbers, but it has worldwide reach; the Rag … Read more

Sole Survivor

Back in 1966, Dennis Hale had been sailing for three years, all of them on the 580-foot freighter Daniel J. Morrell. The Morrell was in its sixtieth year, one of the oldest of the many freighters plying the Great Lakes. The ship had just finished its already long season, but when another freighter developed engine … Read more

The Wreck of the Madeira

In late November 1905, one of the worst storms still on record overtook Lake Superior in what became known as the “Mataafa Blow.” Just north of Split Rock, the steamer William Edenborn struggled along the North Shore on its way to Duluth, towing behind it the Madeira, a massive 436-foot schooner-barge. As the winds swelled … Read more

The Big Blow of 1913

November is readily acknowledged as the stormiest month on the Great Lakes. Each year around the beginning of this steely month, over the largest bodies of fresh water in the world, two storm tracks converge. From the north bear down the Alberta Clippers, full of freezing polar air. From the lee slopes of the Rockies … Read more

Straight Talk

You’re probably most familiar with Tom McCarthy from his acting roles in Meet the Parents and TV’s Boston Public, but you may soon be hearing more about him as a director thanks to the impressive Sundance debut of his first behind-the-camera film, The Station Agent, which picked up both screenwriting and audience-favorite awards. It’s a … Read more