See photo essay #1 for background on the Civic Stories Project series that I’m blogging here on LoGro.
SANDI GERDES
See the background page on Sandi Gerdes and the St. Olaf students involved, both those in the AmCon class and those in Professor Meg Ojala‘s Intermediate Photography class.
httpv://youtu.be/KCNb000Zq8s
See photo essay #1 for background on the Civic Stories Project series that I’m blogging here on LoGro.
BONNIE JEAN FLOM
See the background page on Bonnie Jean Flom and the St. Olaf students involved, both those in the AmCon class and those in Professor Meg Ojala‘s Intermediate Photography class.
httpv://youtu.be/EM7DE3OB6io
See photo essay #1 for background on the Civic Stories Project series that I’m blogging here on LoGro.
FATHER DENNY DEMPSEY
See the background page on Father Denny Dempsey and the St. Olaf students involved, both those in the AmCon class and those in Professor Meg Ojala‘s Intermediate Photography class.
httpv://youtu.be/2_f3RuqzJjg
See photo essay #1 for background on the Civic Stories Project series that I’m blogging here on LoGro.
RAY COX
See the background page on Ray Cox and the St. Olaf students involved, both those in the AmCon class and those in Professor Meg Ojala‘s Intermediate Photography class.
httpv://youtu.be/cpeB4FjdjrE
See photo essay #1 for background on the Civic Stories Project series that I’m blogging here on LoGro.
DAVID BLY
See the background page on David Bly and the St. Olaf students involved, both those in the AmCon class and those in Professor Meg Ojala‘s Intermediate Photography class.
httpv://youtu.be/MwsQQwAhoo4
Last November, I blogged about the invitation that several Northfielders got to participate in the American Conversations Program (AmCon) at St. Olaf, me included.
The project ended last spring and I got word last week from Eric Fure-Slocum, Assistant Professor of History, that the Civic Stories Project was now live on the Northfield League of Women Voters site.
St. Olaf students in the American Conversations 102 and Intermediate Photography classes worked in partnership with the League of Women Voters to create these photo essays about Northfield-area community leaders. The fourteen leaders profiled in these photo essays are involved in a range of political, civic, and humanitarian endeavors in the local community and beyond (more about the project).
I’ll blog one photo essay per day over the next two weeks.
BETH BERRY
See the background page on Beth Berry and the St. Olaf students involved, both those in the AmCon class and those in Professor Meg Ojala‘s Intermediate Photography class.
httpv://youtu.be/zU7XwhfhNek
The weather was perfect for St. Olaf’s Reunion Weekend this past weekend. 
St. Olaf schedules many of the reunion weekend events in and around Northfield. This year, venues included J. Grundy’s Rueb ‘n’ Stein, The Grand Event Center, Jesse James Lanes, Northfield Golf Club, Contented Cow, Froggy Bottoms River Pub, Willinger’s Golf Club, and the Northfield Historical Society. Bus shuttle service was available to all off-campus locations.
The big entertainment tent downtown on Sesquicentennial Plaza was also good for Northfield-area businesses. From the last page of the schedule:
Special Thanks To: College City Beverage for its signs and hospitality; the Grand Event Center for providing beer and wine service at the entertainment tent; the City of Northfield for their support and coordination; the Defeat of Jesse James Days Volunteer Committee for its coordination and rentals; and the Quarterback Club for its catering services.
I took some photos Saturday night of the entertainment tent area:
Some out of town visitors were at GBM when it opened at 6 am today. Two were awake after playing softball all night. One wasn’t.
The Carleton wiki ("an unofficial, student-run website") says that Rotblatt:
… is an annual drunken softball game played during Spring Term. It has as many innings as the number of years since Carleton was founded. In recent years, T-shirts for people who arrive at Rotblatt early has become a major CSA budget item, exempted by tradition from rules that prohibit spending on personal property.
Mr. Ed Kuhlman stopped by my morning office at GBM on Friday to show me a newspaper called the National Public Opinion that he found in a recent batch of collectibles he’d purchased. This edition was Volume 1, No. 4, published on July 16, 1927. In true yellow journalism fashion, the headlines scream:
FARIBAULT, MINNESOTA, IS 48 PER CENT TAX-EXEMPT!
NORTHFIELD, MINNESOTA, HALF TAXED—HALF FREE
Faribault, Minnesota, is tied for first place with Northfield, in matter of tax exemptions
The Limit to Tax Exemptions in Northfield, Minnesota is the Sky With the Roof Knocked off
Carleton College seems to run the city.
We laughed because Carleton was in the news this past week for acquiring a commercial property downtown. The Nfld Patch article, Carleton College Purchases Building at 200 Division St., includes an email by Carleton’s VP Fred Rogers. Excerpt:
We believe this is a win for Carleton and a win for Northfield’s downtown. The College will effectively acquire new space in central campus, much cheaper than we could construct it. The office and professional uses of this important downtown building will be reinforced and increased. We intend to honor all existing leases and to leave the building on the tax roll at this time.
If Carleton does take the building off the tax roll, I predict the publisher of the National Public Opinion will turn over in his grave and come back to life as an angry blogger.