Click here for more vintage Minnesota postcards.

When Melanie and I were in Duluth, we decided to run on up to Knife River, Minnesota to show the Great! Lakes Candy Kitchen ladies that a photo of their shop is included in the collage of northeastern Minnesota landmarks on page 46 of the November / December 2008 edition of Minnesota Moments Magazine. 

We first made the acqaintance of these artisans last year when we were traveling north of Duluth along the North Shore Drive which runs along Lake Superior.

We were told their passion this year is antique candy molds and we were invited into their kitchen, which is part laboratory, part art studio.

And even though the girls are getting ready for Christmas, we saw antique molds for every occasion displayed through out their shop.  They have been working in marzipan which is a doughy, almond-based type of confection lending itself to all kinds of shapes.  Of course the candy molds are often filled with chocolate, which happens to be my favorite bite to enjoy with a stout cup of coffee.

(Just a second, my phone is ringing.)

Looks like I need to cut this story short since Kasey just called and invited me to Sunday morning coffee.  She puts plenty of love in it - but counts on me to bring something to go with coffee.  Today it happens to include lightbulbs.  That doesn't sound right.

One time I dated a man who didn't drink coffee.  It didn't work out.

I took a road trip out to Montevideo, in southwestern Minnesota where I had the honor, yesterday, of participating in a panel discussion with an esteemed group of writers including newspaper editors, an essayist, published novelists, historians and poets. Guests attending the event were socially conscious students from a number of private colleges located in the Twin City area, and progressive local residents. The topic for discussion was Writing for Social Change. Oh! I almost forgot, there was a blogger at that table, as well.  Me. 

I am truly humbled to have gotten to sit at the "big table."  Starstruck, actually. Anyone who grew up with the experience of being invited to big family get-togethers knows that you have to wait for your turn to graduate from the little kid's table to the adult table.  The panel discussion was a partnership between CURE, based in Montevideo,  and HECUA.  

According to the HECUA website: The roots of the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs trace back to the 1968 riots and fires in north Minneapolis following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. The urgency and turbulence of the situation prompted Ewald (Joe) Bash, National Youth Director of the American Lutheran Church, to seek out an Augsburg College Sociology professor named Joel Torstenson to form a unique program for college students called Crisis Colony. Bash and Torstenson had both been active in developing new ways to understand the nature of the urban crisis.

I am grateful for the opportunity to represent new media in the pursuit of making this a better place to live.  I'm also grateful to Java River for one jukin' lunch, and being surrounded by brilliant individuals willing to work for a common cause.

Now this is something I looked forward to the moment I heard about it.  Duluth is home to one of ten Karpeles Manuscript Library Museums.  I think it's fitting that the documents we viewed are housed in a former church, because these bits of history command reverence.  I caught myself whispering in the presence of the documents that seemed most significant to me.

The Declaration of Allegiance to the Government of the United States by the North American Indian signed in 1913 made me very sad.  According to The Karpeles Website: This document marked the beginning of a ten year movement to grant full citizenship rights to the American Indian, finally given by the Act of Congress on June 15, 1924.   What????????????????

The purple thumbprints on the document above reminded me of the newscasts we saw from Iraq where that country's voters also showed us their inked thumbs.

Melanie was thrilled with being able to view a collection of letters written by Florence Nightingale during the Crimean war.  (Melanie is a former student from Lutheran Deaconess.) Nightingale had to tussle with the same people the American Indians did.  Deep in my heart, I just know things will even out in the end.

I was fascinated by the award to Florence Nightingale from Prince Albert and Queen Victoria.  It's all hand-written and the crest on the right-hand side was also hand-painted.

Future exhibits will include documents from Slave Trade Abolition in May, 2009 and The Stereoview Age in September 2009.  I can't wait to get back up there

Melanie and I walked from our motel down to the Lake Superior Maritime Museum in Duluth, Minnesota and once again my imagination started running away with me.  You'd think I was the one who read romance novels. 

We wandered around looking at ship engines, lighthouse lamps, and read about maritime history. But then Melanie discovered the berths and the notion of traveling on a ship began to seem attractive.  I'm currently reading Homeland by John Jakes, and clearly an immigrant's experience crossing the ocean doesn't have a speck of romance in it, but that didn't stop me from making a scenario up in my head.  I imagined the possibility of traveling on the high seas with someone adventurous and probably wearing something really stylish while doing it.

The berths looked very cozy to me.  But then I remembered this awful bout of vertigo I suffered from about a hundred years ago and that threw a bucket of cold Lake Superior water on that idea.  Melanie got especially excited about the Lewis and Clark display and picked up a pamphlet with a map.  At 5:30 the next morning she read out loud to me, from across the room, about their entire trip before I even got out of my bed.  I needed a nap after that.

I guess I don't see any cruises in my future, unless I would be on a ship headed to Alaska.  That might be OK.  They don't have waves up there, do they?

See?  There I go again.  I'm hopeless.

Melanie and I hopped in the car and headed up to Duluth for an overnight adventure.  Melanie says sometimes she just has to take a trip somewhere or she'll crawl out of her skin.  As for me, my skin is just fine and I generally need a little prompting to go anywhere, which Melanie doesn't understand at all. 

On the way out of work the day before our trip, I had the presence of mind to nab my Just East of West CD and shove it into my purse to listen to on our road trip - even though we were headed Just North of South. 

Melanie's husband, Crabby Dave, listened to  the Just East of West CD recently and said "this guy is really good."  And Dave knows, because besides being a gifted woodworker, he is a musician and has played with a variety of bands in southwestern Minnesota.  And I'll let you in on one more secret about Dave.  Crabby as he seems, he has compassion.

Here's how I know.  Toward the end of my ex-husband's life, I  shared an ample apartment with him after his diagnosis of cancer. One Saturday I lugged his big, expensive Cordovox accordion out to the car and we headed down to Melanie and Dave's where Tom got to jam for one last time.  Tom performed in a small country band out in the sticks when he was a young man and missed having the opportunity to play.  This seemed like a good time to pretend I was the good witch and grant him his wish. 

So Melanie played guitar, Crabby Dave played bass, Tom played the accordion, and they wrangled me into playing the drums.  I clacked the drumsticks over my head and yelled "one, two, three, four" and off we went.  I got much higher grades for style than substance banging away, but who ever said the good witch had to know how to play the drums?

A couple of months later, at Tom's funeral, here came Melanie with Cd's of Tom's last jam.  Old Crabby Dave had recorded the whole performance and memorialized it on disk.  Now who would have expected that?  I think we should give Dave a round of applause.  Given such an act of kindness, he deserves to sleep well at night.  And as for the drummer on that CD - well, I won't quit my day job!

I'm am fascinated by the concept of average citizens being trained to help keep our newsrooms honest and accurate with cellphones.  It's a brilliant concept developed by Minnesota son and blogger, Chuck Olsen, and gives truth a chance to set us free.  I lifted the following information from theuptake.org in order to be completely accurate.

The UpTake, a video-based journalism website, empowers everyday citizens to get involved in media and politics, both through viewing and creating online content, as well as by becoming citizen journalists.  Praised by Minnesota Public Radio, Wired.com, The Boston Herald and others for their instant live-streaming coverage of protester/police scuffles at the Republican National Convention, The UpTake has made ground-breaking progress in citizen journalism. 

Through the use of cellphone cameras The UpTake is able to broadcast the news the moment it happens

For individuals interested in learning how to be a citizen journalist, just go to the website.

This is so crazy, it just might work!

I am blown away by the photos of hot air balloons from Belview, Minnesota.  The community of Belview, located on the edge of the Minnesota River Valley in southwestern Minnesota, hosted the event earlier this year. 

 I intend to be there next year to take my own photographs!  For more information about their hot air balloon display and the charming community of Belview, email Lori at belview@mvtvwireless.com. 

Click here for more photos. 

Next year's hot air balloon display is scheduled to coincide with Old SOD days on September 18th & 19th of 2009. 

*The balloons are sponsored by area businesses for the thrill of watching and snapping some jukin' photos.

Vintage Postcard from Fairfax, Minnesota.  For more information about this postcard collection, click here.

CURE is teaming up with HECUA and local writers to sponsor a "Writing for Social Change" Panel discussion on Thursday, Nov. 20th from 10 a.m. till noon at the UCC Church at 212 N. 4th Street in Montevideo . 

The panel discussion will feature writers Joe Amato of Marshall, Joe Paddock of Litchfield, Florence Dacey of Cottonwood, Jim VanDerPol of Kerkhoven and Athena Kildegaard of Morris.

p.s.  If you can't make it Thursday morning, perhaps you can take in Wednesday night Nov 19 from 8 to 10 p.m. at the Java River Cafe.  The same college students who will be at the panel discussion are organizing a "Reading Riot" open stage night.  Again it is free and open to all forms of creative expression -- poetry, music, stand up comedy etc.   The students want to "mix it up" with local artists and the "creative class" of the Upper Minnesota River Watershed. If you or someone you know would like to perform, call me here at the CURE office toll free: 1-877-269-2873