Tag: Minnesota

On star stuff, ‘Science’s Unruly Earth Mother,’ and the scientific art of empirical rebellion

May 22, 2013

BY DORION SAGANAward-winning science writer, editor, and theorist “Every scientific idea passes through three stages,” wrote William Whewell in his 1840 Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences: First, it is ridiculed.Second, it is violently opposed or claimed to be of only minor importance.Third, it is accepted as self-evident.  Other versions and variations have appeared since, with … More On star stuff, ‘Science’s Unruly Earth Mother,’ and the scientific art of empirical rebellion

Railroad wars and the St. Paul Union Depot

May 20, 2013

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‘So few Nates, so many, many Davids’: Six Feet Under and the return of death to the home

May 14, 2013

BY RACHAEL HANELWriter, university administrator, former journalist In the not-so-distant past, death and life co-existed in the home. Home was where people were born, and home was where people died. Upon death, the family prepped the body for burial, carefully washing it and clothing it. The body was then laid out in the parlor, and … More ‘So few Nates, so many, many Davids’: Six Feet Under and the return of death to the home

The Disenchanted: On Budd Schulberg’s Hollywood writing assignment with F. Scott Fitzgerald.

May 9, 2013

A Q&A with Benn Schulberg, who is the son of Budd Schulberg, author of The Disenchanted, which was reissued in a University of Minnesota Press edition in September 2012. The moving, controversial novel captured both the dazzling spirit and the bitter disenchantment of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age. It centers around an ill-fated screenplay writing … More The Disenchanted: On Budd Schulberg’s Hollywood writing assignment with F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald’s past and the writing of The Great Gatsby

May 9, 2013

Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald in September 1921 in Dellwood, Minnesota, about a month before their daughter, Scottie, was born. Image from Creative Commons; originates with Minnesota Historical Society. BY SCOTT DONALDSONLiterary biographer and author of Fool for Love: F. Scott Fitzgerald Toward the end of 1923, F. Scott Fitzgerald underwent one of his periods … More Fitzgerald’s past and the writing of The Great Gatsby

Ready for farmers market season? Find out when your favorite produce is in season and how to use it with tips from Beth Dooley.

May 8, 2013

Photographs by Mette Nielsen, from Minnesota’s Bounty. BY BETH DOOLEYHas covered the local food scene in the Northern Heartland for 25 years; author of, most recently, Minnesota’s Bounty: The Farmers Market Cookbook Opening days at local farmers markets are the most exciting of the year! Here’s our payoff for winter’s patience. Cooks can kick back … More Ready for farmers market season? Find out when your favorite produce is in season and how to use it with tips from Beth Dooley.

Mixed enthusiasm, fast growth: The early history of the St. Paul Union Depot.

May 6, 2013

The St. Paul Union Depot was among the busiest and best-known places in the city—one of the largest depots in the nation and St. Paul’s link to the world. Here, John W. Diers, author of St. Paul Union Depot, recounts a piece of that history, illustrated with images that appear in the book. Look to … More Mixed enthusiasm, fast growth: The early history of the St. Paul Union Depot.

How the great North Woods became such a huge tourist attraction—through planning and of course, obstacles in the road.

April 24, 2013

A party of four women canoeing near an island on Burntside Lake, August 4, 1940. Here, author Aaron Shapiro recalls his own memorable North Woods experiences and elaborates on the efforts and collaboration that went into making the area such a popular tourist destination. (Believe it or not, north-Midwesterners, this weather will be ours once … More How the great North Woods became such a huge tourist attraction—through planning and of course, obstacles in the road.

Why do we have such faith in creativity?

April 16, 2013

William W. Caudill, “The Busted Box,” New Schools for New Education, 1959, page 21. Despite its abstract nature, the term “creativity” is something of a hot commodity in contemporary educational rhetoric—a reminder of the discourse that flooded the U.S. after World War II. BY AMY F. OGATAAssociate professor at the Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, … More Why do we have such faith in creativity?

On healing, settler colonialism, and Hawaiʻi: How can we use Idle No More’s momentum to push for changes in education?

April 10, 2013

In The Seeds We Planted: Portraits of a Native Hawaiian Charter School, Noelani Goodyear-Kaʻōpua explores the paradoxes of reasserting Indigenous knowledge within a school system that has historically underwritten settler colonialism. She also asks how Indigenous and settler peoples can work together to unmake settler-colonial logics of elimination and containment. Here, Goodyear-Kaʻōpua comments on ways … More On healing, settler colonialism, and Hawaiʻi: How can we use Idle No More’s momentum to push for changes in education?