LWV and Carleton are co-hosting this film screening on Monday the 7th, and I thought you might be interested — perhaps even interested in posting about it on Locally Grown? Here’s the trailer. (There’s a shorter one you can watch here, too, if you have 3 minutes but not 8.)
It’s a really important topic, and a very cool film. And an amazing set of panelists for the discussion afterwards, to boot! Let me know if you have questions.
Jessica stopped by my office at GBM this morning with her daughter Astrid for the requisite photo op.
One of the new initiatives that this group developed was alumni entrepreneur recruitment. In addition to promoting downtown Northfield as a marketplace, we wanted to promote it as a business location, particularly to the graduates of Carleton and St. Olaf Colleges. We introduced the concept for the first time at this year’s Homecoming Weekends.
I knew this poster was in the works because back in early August, Ross had asked me to contribute photos for it and they needed one additional: a photo of creative class types working in a coffeehouse.
All month long, I kept watching for a good photo op from my early morning corner office at GBM but it never quite came together.
So on Aug. 29, noticing that I had the raw material for a photo, I asked the laptop users to switch tables. I then asked Nancy Amerman who was sitting with a group of runners to sit at my laptop for the photo. Perfecto.
It should be noted that Nancy felt no shame over helping to perpetuate this fraud, whereas at least I felt conflicted. And yet she calls herself a Christian. Go figure.
Not much in the way of fall colors in the above photos I took this morning adjacent to Carleton College’s Lyman Lakes but the monarch butterfly and the bees took priority.
A little more color in the photos below. I’ll try again later this week.
The selected photos are now part of an exhibition called Frames of Engagement that runs through Sept. 25 in the White Spaces at the Weitz Center for Creativity which opens to the Northfield community today with an open house, 3-6 pm.
This exhibition highlights civic engagement between Carleton, the Northfield community, and beyond. Situated in Northfield’s former middle school, this exhibition demonstrates Carleton’s desire to preserve and commemorate elements of the community’s past while also offering it a vast arena for future collaboration and connection.
I submitted six photos and when I visited the exhibition last night, was delighted to find out that they were all on display. I’ve added the originals to this album of photos of the walls of the exhibit.
See the large slideshow (recommended) or SLOW CLICK this small slideshow:
The independent film Girl Meets Bike is being shot in and around Northfield this week by the Minneapolis-based production company, Moto Girl Films, Inc. Why here? The Carleton College connection.
Actors include Ruth Menard as Kat; Melissa Pizaarro as Ty; Dave Engler as Becker; Palf Schirg at Martin; Sam Scherf as James.
Producer/Director: Eric Tretbar; Line Producer: Jessica Paxton; Production Coordinator: Aiyana Ruggiero.
Locals are involved as extras and more. More photos to come.
Update 07/11, 7:30 am: See the album of 28 photos (including the 7 above), the large slideshow (recommended), or SLOW CLICK this small slideshow:
After seeing a Tweet from Ross on Saturday, Robbie and I wandered through the Upper Arb to catch part of the baseball double header between Carleton and St. Thomas at Knights Field, the Carls’ new baseball facility northeast of the Recreation Center. Saaaaweeeeet.
A college club hockey game at Northfield’s ice arena was the scene of an ugly incident a month ago involving Carleton and St. Olaf students, both players and spectators. I just found out about it this week when a LoGro reader alerted me.
Having behaved badly at times during my college days at St. Thomas, I’m not quick to make a big deal over college kids doing stupid or offensive stuff. But this was over the top.
As far as I know, there have been no public statements about this incident from the administrations of either St. Olaf or Carleton.
Spectators howled and jeered as game play took a violent turn in the St. Olaf versus Carleton club hockey game on Friday, March 4 at the Northfield Ice Arena. The stands were packed with students, predominantly Oles, many of whom began the evening shouting profanities and other negative cheers, including the standard “Carleton sucks!”
The St. Olaf players were just as rambunctious as the fans. “St. Olaf had about as many penalty minutes as they had game minutes,” spectator Thomas Hegland ’13 said. When the crowd threw soda cans and bottles onto the ice, St. Olaf was penalized, and additional bottles and cans along with zamboni tires were thrown onto the ice in retaliation.
After several minutes the fight finally ended, leaving gear strewn across the ice. There were drops of blood from a referee, who had been “seriously injured,” as the St. Olaf student announcer stated over the loud speaker. The referee attempted to pull players apart. As he skated to the bench the fight left a deep sense of shame and disappointment in me.
Not only did I feel shame because of the fight, but also because of the cheers of “F— you, Carleton,” “F— you, Olaf,” “ugly b—-es,” etc., and because of the constant throwing of trash onto the ice. I was even more surprised that one of the St. Olaf students on the bench threw tires onto the ice and then walked out of the arena.
There were several other incidents that weren’t in the articles. I have no idea what happened in the St. Olaf locker rooms, but I do know that one of the Carleton players asked the police to watch the Carleton locker room, because St. Olaf fans were lined up outside the locker room when they went back in between periods. My friend’s stick and gloves were stolen when he was in the bathroom. I don’t know what happened in the Ole locker rooms, but I’m sure it wasn’t exactly peaceful either.
Lastly – the fight was ugly and intense. In addition to the players, several spectators actually jumped over the glass onto the ice so that they could join the fight – it was ridiculous. I have no idea who hit the ref, but both schools were equally at fault and it was really startling. I wasn’t aware that the game was called a draw, but it doesn’t surprise me.
In short, it was an ugly game. There were a lot of drunk fans from both schools, and the tensions elevated really quickly. I don’t expect another Carleton-St. Olaf game for a while.
The question may remain unsolvable. For the more immediate future, one of the written-up students suggested that the school warn students if there is knowledge of likely increased police activity. “I think the school really made a faux pas in this circumstance,” said the student. “A heads-up could have gone a long way… the school knows that students go to the hockey games inebriated.”
Produced by Sung Hyo Kim, a Carleton senior, this video can be seen by anyone visiting our website to find out more about our facility and our programs. It will be playing in our lobby for visitors to the shelter to watch, we can use it at events and for other promotional purposes as well.
We are so excited to be one of the recipients of a video from this wonderful program for non-profits in our community. PEHS could never afford to hire a professional to produce a video of this quality.
Hyo spent many hours at the shelter, attending events, interviewing staff, filming volunteers and visiting with adopters. From these many hours of filming he was able to edit it down to a high quality video that tells the viewer about PEHS, our mission, programs and services in just over four minutes. He also filmed actual spay and neuter surgeries performed by our shelter veterinarian, Dr. Charlie Gumbusky and then produced two more videos for us, in which you are able to watch a narrated dog and cat spay and a dog neuter. All of these videos can be found on our PEHS website under the Video Library tab. You can also find them on YouTube.
Hyo was such a pleasure to work with on this project. He was genuinely interested in our organization and was very professional, polite and accommodating in regards to filming during the times that would fit our staff schedules as well as the shelter schedule and working to really get to know about his video subject. I cannot say enough about how much we enjoyed working with this Carleton student. He is very talented and we hope to keep in touch with him in the future, as our staff grew to respect and enjoy his presence at the shelter. Hyo is from South Korea and he will be returning there once he graduates from Carleton College. He is a very ambitious young man and we know he will do well in whatever he decides to pursue after his graduation.
This class is a great gift to the non-profit organizations in the area who are picked by these students to produce a video each year. I believe there were 5 or 6 groups who benefited from this class in our community. Thank you to Paul Hager and Carleton College for teaching not only the professional production of these videos to these students and allowing our non-profits to benefit from it, but for also instilling in them the responsibility of giving back to a community and giving these students the opportunity to experience the benefits of the non-profits in this area.
I walked around the construction site of the old Northfield Middle School early this morning (hence the bluish color of the photos), soon to become Carleton College’s Weitz Center for Creativity:
… a facility geared toward creative collaboration that will support multiple student and classroom projects and allow faculty members to teach with words, images, sounds, and narrative in a variety of media.
In addition to housing the departments of Cinema and Media Studies (CAMS), and Theater, and Dance, the space will include a teaching museum, a dramatic theater, a cinema theater, dance studios, classrooms and a coffee shop. The building will also be home to the Presentation, Events and Production Support (PEPS) office and the Idea Lab, a shared, interdisciplinary laboratory for exploring and learning to use technology. The first phase of construction is scheduled to be complete in Fall 2011.
I’ve been doing a little barefoot running on the luscious green grass at Laird Stadium at Carleton College lately. On Monday, I saw a sign on the gate alerting people that Roundup (Wikipedia entry) had been applied and to “stay off grass until dry.”
Is this a cause for concern? Are there other cost-effective ways to treat a huge area of grass like this? unwanted grass in cracks?
Update 7/16 9 am: Thanks to the informed comments below, I’ve removed the words “for a healthy lawn” from the blog post title and replaced it with “for unwanted grass.”
I’ve also struck the phrase “a huge area of grass like this” from the second paragraph and replaced it with “unwanted grass in cracks.”
He was in Northfield yesterday afternoon and captured this video of a rainbow over Carleton College. How amazing is that? All I can say is, the Lord works in wondrous ways. Click play to watch. 57 seconds. PG-13 for language.
Demolition of the newer portion of the old Northfield Middle School began this week. I took these photos this morning at the corner of 4th and College. By the fall of 2011, it’ll become The Arts Union for Carleton College. The web site says it’ll be a
facility geared toward creative collaboration that will support multiple student and classroom projects and allow faculty members to teach with words, images, sounds, and narrative in a variety of media.
In addition to housing the departments of Cinema and Media Studies (CAMS), and Theater, and Dance, the space will include a teaching museum, a dramatic theater, a cinema theater, dance studios, classrooms and a coffee shop.
10:15 am update: For much more background and many more photos, see Rob Hardy’s blog post on Northfield.org: Old Middle School Annex Demolition.
The waters of the Cannon River have rapidly receded and in the baseball/soccer/ultimate fields behind Carleton’s West gym, have left a large sand dune. Perfect timing.
This Saturday, March 20, from 9a to noon, Carleton College is sponsoring a home electronics equipment recycling day. Items accepted include TVs, printers, fax machines, computer monitors, microwaves, stereo equipment, VCR’s, DVD players, electronic games, laptop computers, calculators, portable audio players, cordless phones, cell phones, keyboards, etc.
Depending upon the nature of the item, a variable small fee will be charged to defray the costs of recycling. (This opportunity is offered to individuals/households only, not businesses.)
For more information about what’s involved in manufacturing these items, why you should recycle them, and some heinous human rights abuses in this industry, see the Materials Processing Corporation blog:
E-waste sent overseas for processing to places like Guiyu has very detrimental effects on the health of the e-waste workers, and even the residents of the towns where this processing takes place: “According to reports from nearby Shantou University, Guiyu has the highest level of cancer-causing dioxins in the world and an elevated rate of miscarriages.”
Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to recycle electronics with firms that have promised to process everything they take in here in the United States. A list of these recyclers, which includes Materials Processing Corporation, can be found here.
For more information, dropoff location, and details on the fees, please see the Carleton website.
[show_avatar email=scriven@northfieldhistory.org]On Saturday March 20, the Northfield Historical Society (NHS) will be having its Annual Meeting and Membership Ball at Great Hall on the Carleton College Campus. The party starts at 7:00 p.m. There will be a short meeting at about 8:00 and right after that, Christina Schweitz and Sweet Jazz will play the night away!
The best part about the night is that it is FREE if you are a NHS member! You can come and listen to the wonderful music and eat all you want for FREE! If you are not a member, not a big deal you can sign up that night or online!
Now you might be asking yourself, “Why should I join the Northfield Historical Society.” Well for one, you will be directly supporting the organization in town that is responsible for collecting, preserving, interpreting and honoring Northfield’s past. In addition, to that warm and fuzzy feeling you get for preserving Northfield’s past, you also get; the NHS newsletter, The Scriver Scribbler delivered to your home/business 4 times a year, FREE admission to other NHS programs throughout the year, FREE admission to the NHS museum year round, access to the NHS archives/collections at a discounted price and soon to come a new e-newsletter!
NHS memberships go directly into our operation budget to help put on programs such as, the Jr. Curator, Summer Assistant, Jr. Posse and SCOPE programs. These are all programs that engage Northfield High School and Middle School students in local history research and docent training. The membership also goes into fund programs like our rotating exhibits, the Outlaw Run, NHS publications, and speaker programs. Those are just a few of the programs.
We received this email from Nathan Yaffe, Carleton College student:
As part of my Environmental Economics and Policy class, we’re conducting research on the different stakeholders relevant to the annexation issue.
Our end product will be a public poster presentation on Monday, March 15 from 8:30-11 in the Great Hall at Carleton… My group is conducting a survey to determine public attitudes about the annexation.
Our questions came from a Ward 3 exit poll conducted by Erica Zweifel, who graciously agreed to share her poll results with us, but we’re hoping to collect more data.
Ultimately, the hope is for this to benefit the community, because our presentation will be attended by individuals involved in the decision-making process concerning this annexation.
Golf course architect Paul Miller (Paul Miller Design Inc) stopped by my morning office at GBM last week with the poster of Saturday’s Singing for Haiti fundraiser at The Grand Event Center.
Paul has been involved in peace and justice work in Haiti for over a decade and is the founder of the Haiti Justice Alliance of Northfield which is hosting the event. Money raised will go to the What If? Foundation, Feed My Starving Children, and Partners in Health.
While snowshoeing at the east end of the Cannon River Wilderness Area last weekend, I pointed out to my niece the approximate spot where Henry Fisk, the Rice County hermit, lived. Robbie and I happened upon his sparse living quarters when we first moved to Northfield in 1974 but I don’t remember if he was still living there.
Northfield News columnist Maggie Lee wrote several columns about Fisk (also spelled ‘Fiske’) back in 2006, and many people chimed in with letters-to-editor about him. (Do a search there on both spellings of his name.)
Anyone have memories of Henry? Anyone have a photo of him?
The bank thermometers read –28, –25 and –23 degrees F. at 7 am this morning. Carleton’s Weather page was showing –22.5.
We’ve been below zero since New Year’s Day around 4 pm but yesterday morning around 7 am, the temperature was considerably warmer… above boiling, actually. What was going on over there at Carleton? (A tip-of-the-blogger hat to Brendon Etter, Textbook Manager at the Carleton College Bookstore for the alert.)
While out for a little Shot of Solitude yesterday morning, I came upon a new sign adjacent to the Rec Center parking lot: “Carleton Student Organic Farm – Righteous Food.” I followed the path back to get a photo and saw that a student was working on another sign. He told me that this was the first year that the garden, in existence since the 60s, would be selling its produce to Bon Appétit, Carleton’s dining service. I asked him his name after taking his photo. “Griffin Williams.” I pulled out my wallet to show him my driver’s license. He was as shocked as I was, as neither of us had ever met another adult with the same first name… spelled the same way, too.
What happened to the Lake? Wednesday, August 12, work began on the Lower Lyman Lake/island shoreline restoration project. The first step was to drain the lake. Then the shoreline will be re-established with erosion control materials, planted, and back filled with soil. We expect to replug the dam and return to full depth of water by the time students arrive on campus. If you have any questions about this project, please call x4137.
kiffi summa: Our mothers consider the ‘bunched panties’ remark too squalid to pass either their sainted lips, or those of their darling daughters… and seriously doubt whether it was said during your father’s time!
Jane Moline: Griff: you really didn’t know my mother and how do you even know if I wear panties?
Griff Wigley: Jane/Kiffi, I did some family of origin research and it turns out your mothers actually said “A stitch in time saves nine” and “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” about 3-4 times more often than...
kiffi summa: Jane: Both our Mom’s were smart, and they knew about the problems with “borrowing trouble” i.e don’t stir up problems that are non existent; there’s enough current problems to deal with, and even some of...
Jane Moline: I can’t believe I have to bring up my mother’s advice: DON’T GO BORROWING TROUBLE! If some women want to join the fire department in Northfield, we must be afraid that our fire department MIGHT respond like North...
Vicki Dilley: How many lives can we even begin to count that have touched by the Youth Exchange program? Northfield has been involved in Youth Exchange since 1969 when we hosted our first student…since then 100′s of High School...
Tom Durkin: This event supports one of the crown jewels of the Northfield Rotary Club – the Youth Exchange Program. Northfield can be proud that we send out more than fifteen students annually for year abroad study programs. We also host several...
john george: Kathie- I knew I was sticking my neck out on that one!
Kathie Galotti: Geez John. Don’t get Griff restarted on the geese!
john george: Yes, more beaches would certainly accomodate more geese. We have to remember to be waterfowl friendly.
Susan Hvistendahl: I totally agree with you re the need for more beaches in Northfield, having just returned from a week in Puerto Vallarta. Could have had rum punches there but….well, after we visited a local tequila distillery and got to...
Bright Spencer: Oh, you both look so happy! Thanks for sharing. More pics please!
kiffi summa: Griff: whither goest thy right arm if it starts to “whither” (sic) ? sorry; couldn’t resist… stuck at home with a bad knee provides way too much time on computer!
Bright Spencer: i’ve been looking thru a site, crazyguyonabike.com that has lots of journals and photos from around the world.
jane fenton: Congrats, Griff! That’s my son Cliff in the orange hat. He’s revamped the recycling bin prototype. You should see it!
Griff Wigley: Don, I’ll keep ping pong in mind. I’d hate to have my right arm start to whither from a lack of racquetball. In the meantime, I’m trying to excite as many Northfielders as I can about mountain biking. I’ll...
john george: Griff- Iris will have to work real hard to keep you in focus on everything else. I shutter to think where this could go.
Griff Wigley: Name: The Local Joint Description: A handmade and vintage collective in Northfield, MN. COLLECTING.CREATING.COLLABORAT ING. Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheLoc alJoint Nfld News: Store to open in former ‘digs’ space
David Beimers: Hmmm… fans? air conditioners? ice cream?
Jessica Paxton: I know. But I don’t wanna spill the (cool) beans!
Megan Tsui: Edward, Sorry you weren’t able to attend. We’ll be posting notes from the meeting on the NEC website and if you send me your email, I’ll make sure you get a copy! If you (or anyone else!) would like to chat about it...
Edward Smith: I wanted to attend this, but was unable. Does anyone know if there will be a summary posted anywhere?
Kathie Galotti: My kid had a pretty decent AP Environmental Science class 2 years ago….he’s not a great math/science student, but this one got him interested in at least knowing enough science to create good policies. I remember...
Paul Zorn: A few years ago one of my daughters spent a year working in Copenhagen, largely in an office setting. All desks in her office could be raised or lowered to permit either standing or sitting positions. I have no idea whether such...
Griff Wigley: In today’s Strib: Office-dwellers stand up to ‘sitting disease’ Dr. James Levine has reviewed the statistics: One in three Minnesota adults is either diabetic or pre-diabetic, and one in four is obese. And he thinks...
Bright Spencer: The All Pro Game last Sunday between the AFC and the NFC was so enjoyable. The stess, the anger, the anxiety all gone…well I didn’t watch all of it, as I rarely do watch an entire game, usually just the beginning and...
Griff Wigley: Today’s Strib: Hockey safety goal expanded to youth In an unprecedented mid-year change, Minnesota Hockey is toughening the penalties for checking from behind and boarding. The change will affect 40,000 hockey players in the...
Bright Spencer: I like hockey and all sports very much. I was a star basketball player in my day. I don’t remember anyone suffering any major injuries in all my hs and college days. I feel certain that coach’s know who does what and...
john george: You are correct. That is why I didn’t allow my children to attack the character of their siblings just to support their position. There do need to be some kind of ground rules in any discussion so as to keep individual...
kiffi summa: The issue could be considered to be: what is “conflict”, and what are two sides of a discussion… see #33 re: the Mayor’s admonition to Peter Dahlen at the joint Council/ChartComm meeting. I don’t see how...
john george: Kiffi- This is a good article, and I agree with most of it. Just thinking about my kids in their youth, there was always some conflict between them, but our goal as parents wasn’t to force them into some weiner form but to help...
kiffi summa: A very interesting article in the Jan.30th New Yorker magazine on the nature of the dynamics of creative discussion; it’s entitled “Groupthink; the brainstorming myth”. Based on studies done by a psych professor at...
Griff Wigley: Kiffi/Kathie, I didn’t have that reaction. But I’ve put up a new blog post to discuss it and everything else related to the Fire Department so let’s shift the discussion there.
Kathie Galotti: I read Betsey’s blog and, like most of Betsey’s blog entries, found it well-written and making a very good point. Though I agree that geographic districts aren’t the only way to represent different constituencies,...
john george: Griff- The NN editorial presents the difference between geographic representation and ideological representation. Right now, the wards establish geographic representation. With this approach, depending upon the voter turnout, a person...
kiffi summa: I hope that people will use the link here on LG to read the current posting by Councilor Buckheit on her blog, re: wards versus all at-large, and take the opportunity to comment. Once again, the NFNews has not given a very well...
Griff Wigley: Nfld News editorial: Keep the current ward system intact
Sean Hayford Oleary: In any case, this issue doesn’t seem like it needs to be another opportunity to dis/agree with the current council. Regardless of how focused on the downtown (or not) they are, it’s clear this change would not...
Griff Wigley: In today’s NY Times: Turning to Kettlebells to Ease Back Pain Kettlebells, cast-iron weights that have been used for centuries to train Russian soldiers and athletes, appear to be a promising therapy for back and neck pain, new...
Sandy Vesledahl: UPDATE ON RHONDA: We are very happy to report that Rhonda was adopted over the weekend by a local family. Rhonda’s new mom is a Family Counselor and Rhonda will be going to her office with her and helping with her clients. So...
Megan Tsui: Griff, The NEC is moving forward with the idea of a non-profit Coworking Incubator/Accelerator space. Megan
Megan Tsui: What do you think? Come to the Community Dialogue and tell us! January 31st from 2 to 4 pm at the Archer House lower level conference room. Share your ideas, thoughts, and dreams about a Coworking Incubator/Accelerator space in...
kiffi summa: I would hope the City’s Historic Preservation Commission would explore this option, and the appropriateness/allowability for use on properties within the Historic District. Thanks, Jim.
Jim Haas: I was reading a story by Porter Fox about his visit to Copenhagen. He mentioned in passing that the city is vigilant about removing graffiti using high-pressure washers with ice crystals as a mild abrasive. I did a little rudimentary...
kiffi summa: The LWV observer reports are meant to be a summary of actions taken, not a ‘blow by blow’ transcript. This is the reason that anyone deeply interested should watch the meeting for themself, if they want a full...
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Arts & Culture, Civic Orgs, Volunteerism 
and Dowd, Carleton College, Feed My Starving Children, Feed Them With Music, Grand Event Center, Haiti Justice Alliance of Northfield, Haiti Relief Gateway, Labor Arbitration Institute, Madrigals, Ophaug, Partners in Health, Paul Miller, Paul Miller Design Inc, Porch Collective, Schmitz, Singing for Haiti, St. Olaf College, The Brothers Frantzich, What If? Foundation 
As part of my Environmental Economics and Policy class, we’re conducting research on the different stakeholders relevant to the annexation issue. 
Posted to the Carleton News page: 
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