July 5, 2001 - Mainstreet Radio's Chris Julin visits Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center in Ashland, Wisconsin. The center turns tourists and school groups into voyageurs for a day, and takes them out on Superior in a huge, Montreal canoe.
June 13, 2001 - This week, people in Duluth are honoring the three black men lynched by a huge mob in 1920. The story is getting a lot of attention after decades of silence. But Duluth is still quiet about its *other* lynching. Two years earlier, at the tail end of World-War-One, a small mob tarred and feathered a Finnish working man in Duluth, and hanged him from a tree. To this day, few people in Duluth know the story. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Julin has this report.
June 7, 2001 - MPR presents a report entitled Postcard From A Lynching, which looks at the history of a 1920 murder of three Black men in Duluth by a local mob. It’s a history that many in Duluth tried to forget… but others fought to bring the horrific lynching to light in the community and bring dignity to the slain men. [Content Warning: some content, language, and statements used in this story may be triggering to listeners]
April 23, 2001 - There was a soupy mixture of rain, sleet, and snow.
April 12, 2001 - The Hillside Flyers are kids who tumble. But that's only part of the story. Many of the Flyers come from the poorest parts of Duluth, and they don't go to music lessons or summer hockey camp. Some of the kids have problems at school and at home, and tumbling with the Flyers is the only thing they believe they're good at. And they ARE good. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Julin has this story.
March 29, 2001 - Mainstreet Radio’s Chris Julin talks with Lee Murdock, a folk singer who sings about Lake Superior and the Great Lakes. Murdock has made his career singing songs of the Lakes, from 200-year-old sailors' work songs, to his own compositions based on Great Lakes folklore.
March 21, 2001 - Amateur boxers from Iceland have not lost a single round in international competition. But they haven't won any, either. For nearly 50 years, Iceland has been the only nation in the world to prohibit Olympic-style boxing. But this doesn't mean the country lacks pugilists. Tonight in Duluth a squad of boxers from Iceland will make history by entering the ring for a series of exhibition fights. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Julin has this report.
March 15, 2001 - Over-the-road truckers are famous communicators. A couple decades ago they made the C-B radio an everyday item. But across the country, thousands of truckers are better known for their letter writing. A group called "Trucker Buddy, International" pairs up drivers and elementary school classes as pen pals. Trucker Buddies send the kids letters and post-cards from the road, and the students get an inside view of life in a Big Rig. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Julin reports.
March 5, 2001 - Most college graduates these days can zoom, effortlessly, around the internet. They might know high-level mathematics, or they might be competent in genetics. But few of them can say, for sure, which one is the salad fork. Corporate recruiters say rough table manners can take the shine off of an otherwise attractive job candidate. So some colleges now bring in consultants to help students polish their manners before they hit the job market. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Julin went to the Etiquette Dinner put on by the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and he has this report.
February 22, 2001 - If you ride a snowmobile in Minnesota, you're supposed to keep your speed under 50 miles an hour. But anyone who's been on a trail or a frozen lake can tell you many snowmobilers break that law, and most of them go unpunished. Nearly everyone agrees there'd be less speeding, and less drunk driving, if snowmobilers saw more officers on the trail. But there just aren't enough officers to go around. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Julin has the second of our reports on snowmobile safety.