Well written! I will have to visit someday.

This guy is the next Ernest Hemingway! Except for the alcoholism and womanizing and suicide. Maybe not so much the athletic stuff either. Mostly the writing I mean.

Awesome, John. I remember the lake walk from when I was there several years ago. Your "travelogue" makes it come alive. Good job.

Are you certain your a 'leftist'? I wonder..........

Out of 100 Duluthians on the average, I see 1 well dressed and its usually an aging woman in her fifties, sixties or seventies with $200 clogs, $700 glasses and white hair that tapers her face. The men suck here in their beards and lumberjack backwoods approach.

You are complaining about people being underdressed and then waste time posting pics of people who shop at the Goodwill.

I am very happy to see that people are getting organized and forming some kind of political body such as the "Babysafe Project". I will do all in my power to spread the word and have been doing for quite some years. As we all know, cellphones are only a contributing factor to this problem. Senior family members need to be aware of the dangers for pregnant and young mothers as well as all who live within the confines of an organized social structure that relies on wireless (WiFi), cellphone towers 4G soon to be 5G, driving or walking, wireless smart meters, automobiles that rely on bluetooth, satelite, electric power, etc. to locomote, wireless TV sets, thermostats, IPads being used by children as well as ITouch and other wireless toys that are far from being harmless and though they have wireless capability like telephones, are never talked about and may potentially be more damaging. The Europeans are more advanced than North Americans in their research on this problem and have come up with some rather ingenious ways of strengthening peoples innate capabilities to cope with a problem that won't go away soon. More information on this can be found on the emftransformation.com site.

Agree with the above comment. I was really enjoying the article as an Australian until hitting the false information about Australia Day and your national anthem blunder regarding Waltzing Matilda. Lost credibility for me after that....such a shame.
Most suburbs and towns in Australia have a memorial where ANZAC day services are held. I started attending them again in the past few years and strongly disagree with your view that we are there to "proudly celebrate the senseless death or dying" of Gallipoli. The mood is always sombre and reflective with the focus on "Lest we forget." Of course Advance Australia Fair is sung but so was this one at my local gathering in 2014, and it's clearly not about Gallipoli...I think you've got us pegged wrong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urtiyp-G6jY&feature=kp

Your taste is improving but you should never compliment yourself. If you look good, leave it up to others to tell you.

You're obviously a talented writer. How about using your power for good instead of spreading negativity? You seem to be bent on trashing Spirit Mountain. That theme is pretty beaten and pretty tired. How about doing positive to help rather than positively bashing? I know you can do it. I have faith. And no, continual bashing is not positive.

don't listen to Ginger, keep asking questions others don't ask and bringing awareness to the issues :-)

I hope this works!

I love this picture.

How did you survive the the black heart of one Dick Cheny? We've had men who were fools, evil, ignorant, pretentious, self important men and women in our government but Cheney takes the cake in all of those categories. He is responsible for much dispair, gagging and worst of all, the killing and maiming of many military men and women. This along with your other columns is precious to me cause it's hard to make an excuse for any politition when you're the one pointing out their greed, failutes and foibles.

We have been going for the last 7 years (missed the first year due to an Alaskan Cruise) Would like to win these tickets to go for free this year.

Please vote for Ray "Skip" Sandman for CD8 this fall! He IS the voice for the children of Northern Minnesota!

This article is firmly based in current science. Methylation of mercury by sulfate-reducing and iron-reducing bacteria in anoxic fresh water sediments is of increasing concern. Given the already present mercury contamination, mining of ferrous and other sulfide ores will only increase the burden of neurotoxic methyl mercury in affected waters. It's necessary to investigate this thoroughly before permitting any proposed PolyMet mine.

Congrats Bob, Paul and Ted for all your hard work.

Although I know a Leo that is totally this, I myself am a Leo and am nothing like this. I'm actually kind of insulted. Not all Leo's are the same.

Despite whether or not the resolution on transparency passes, the person or persons who have made allegations should not have the option of remaining anonymous. I would think that in order for the statements to be validated, the person who has been defamed should have the chance to meet his perpetrators. If someone is not brave enough to put their name on it, I would personally tend to not believe it.