Jennifer Vogel reportedly drove across North Dakota in writing her article, “No. 1 Hard: Notes on the emptying of North Dakota” [February]. Was she just looking for images and people to interview who would capture her predetermined story about North Dakota? Or was she looking to write about the economics that are actually at play here? I have to wonder, because as someone who recently moved back to North Dakota from Washington, D.C., my view about what’s happening here is much different. Many communities throughout the state are growing, not just Fargo and Grand Forks, as she suggests. North Dakota was one of only three states in the nation to show real growth in manufacturing. Minnesota was not one of the other two. In the most recent reporting period, the U.S. Census Bureau shows that North Dakota was one of only five states with a positive change in household income. In fact, ours was the largest change. Unemployment is at historical lows in many communities and job opportunities surpass people to hold them.
Yes, you can find ghost towns here–just as you can in Minnesota or any state where the railroads created towns every ten miles. But from the headline, to the photos, to most of the text within, “No. 1 Hard” uses a ghost town to illustrate life as a whole in North Dakota. This is no more accurate than a story focusing on inner-city Minneapolis to depict the state of affairs in all of Minnesota.
Shane Goettle,
commissioner North Dakota Department of Commerce
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