Feature Stories

Sandhill cranes and spectators head to Nebraska’s Platte River

Lois Glewwe is out with a new South St. Paul history book
One would think writing a book about the place where you grew up would be easy. For Lois A. Glewwe, writing “South St. Paul: A Brief History” was almost too easy.
“What I found out was it was much harder than I thought because I could have written 600 pages easier than I could write 160,” Glewwe explains. “So to condense it down to a readable, accessible level was the challenge. I was constantly cutting and cutting.”

Cookbooks showcase Minnesota traditions

The Minnesota Historical Society Press recently released two cookbooks — “Come, You Taste” and “Astonishing Apples” — that are uniquely Minnesotan.
First-time author Joan Donatelle says now that “Astonishing Apples” has been published, she can finally cross writing a cookbook off her bucket list.

The Fox Cities area is full of surprises

Who would have thought that in 1882, the beautiful Victorian Hearthstone home overlooking the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin, would be the first home in the world to be lighted by hydroelectricity from a central station using the Thomas Edison system?
The event put the area on the map and launched unimaginable changes in how people cooked, cleaned, lived and entertained themselves in their homes.

I searched my closet for anything purple — my school color — and came up with a few shirts, a jacket, socks and even shoes to wear for my 50th college reunion at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois — the first reunion I’ve ever attended.