We're Fine, Thanks.

Prairie Public Radio reporter Dave Thompson files a report for NPR on North Dakota's economic miracle. The secret? Microsoft and oil.

All Things Considered: N.D. Economy Goes Against the Grain

Inauguration

Not missed in the big inauguration coverage is an appearance by "the only Jewish legislator in North Dakota," Eliot Glassheim, at the National Jewish Inaugural Ball. Enjoying even greater prominence was a delegation from the United Tribes Technical College that marched in the inaugural parade.

Chicago Is For Wimps

The Windy City, in the grip of sub-zero weather, looks to Fargo for advice on surviving a real winter.

Chicago Tribune: Battling Cold

Sorgatz Alert

According to the New York Observer, Mike "Rex" Sorgatz, formerly of Napoleon, is the toast of the New York new media crowd, possibly due to his spiky hair and oversize Elvis Costello glasses.

New York Observer: Rex and the City

Literary Bonanza

One book section, two North Dakota authors.

Chuck Klosterman and Louise Erdrich are both reviewed in the latest NY Times Sunday Book Review. One writer is accused of "pop culture name-dropping" and "intentionally obscure" cultural references. The other is called a "master tuner of the taut emotions that keen between parent and child, man and woman, brother and sister, man and beast." Can you guess which is which?

Klosterman: "Downtown Owl"

Erdrich: "The Red Convertible"

Speaking of Oil

Might-a spoke too soon about our indestructible economy.

Big Oil Projects Put in Jeopardy by Fall in Prices

Prairie Prosperity

As the American economy sinks deeper into the crap, North Dakota is almost recession-proof, according the front page of the New York Times.

Any adult North Dakotan can hardly remember a time when the state was not gripped with farm crises, bad jobs and constant out-migration. This prosperity thing is a little disconcerting.

A related question is, How bad did the rest of the country have to get for North Dakota to become the envy or every other state?

Travel

A New York Times article last week announces that travel has become cheaper, since no one has any money anymore and oil prices are under $50 a barrel again. At the very end of the story, there's mention of a guy in Seattle going to Fargo for Thanksgiving.

Thank God for this recession. We're saved. Unless we're economically dependent on the Bakken Field. Than we're screwed again.

New Yorker

Old: A New Yorker article from 2002 about the efforts to drop the "North" and become just "Dakota." The piece is a surprisingly even-handed look at a very stupid idea.

The New Yorker: True North

Chris Coste

For those who saw game one of the World Series, the guy behind the plate for Philadelphia was Chris Coste, Fargo native, late-career big league rookie and Phillies back-up catcher. The former F-M Redhawk has also written two books about his time in the minors and his long road to the majors.

West Fargo to Broadway

Self-described "theater bitch" Jan Maxwell has earned two Tony nominations and shown a talent for portraying unsympathetic characters and pissing off Alec Baldwin, all of which is commendable.

NY Times: Frightener of Tots, Enemy of Mediocrity

The Onion Follows Up

Reaction to Obama staff leaving North Dakota

Maybe We'll Go Blue In 2012

The Obama campaign pulls out of "those high Plains states where the livestock population far outnumbers the humans," notes an L.A. Times blog.

When is this thing over? Six weeks?

Boom

As long as oil prices stay above $75 a barrel, farmers around towns like Stanley will be able to afford heated tractors, and will continue to piss off their neighbors, according to USA Today, which reports on the jealousy that is consuming the oil-less on the Bakken Formation. If only they, too, could afford second-hand Lincolns.

Oil boom creates millionaires and animosity in North Dakota

Bonus: The inventor the modern diving board is from Stanley. Who knew!?

Byron and the Beautiful People

The Economist's bloggers catch Byron Dorgan hanging out with a crowd of Hollywood types, some of whom they can't name.

Economist: Democracy in America blog

Black Gold

CNN discovers the Bakken formation and "North Dakota's real-life Jed Clampett," who happens to have a very swank pad near Stanley.

Native American Idol

Marketplace, the public radio business news program, reported on the powwow circuit today, particularly the rising stakes in popular dance competitions. One dancer they focused on was Rusty Gillette of Bismarck, who's apparently a star in the dance contests.

Powwow pros keep eyes on the prize

Gillette, a former basketball notable in the state, also runs a graphic design business in Bismarck.

Literary-ness

Chuck Klosterman's first novel, Downtown Owl, is scheduled to come out in September. It's set in a fictional North Dakota small town in 1983, and Amazon.com has an excerpt.

In other literary news, Klosterman cohort Rex Sorgatz has established himself as a literary man about town in New York and has already earned the wanted/unwanted attention of Gawker.com, the media scene kings of snark.

Nice pic.

Little Big Horn

June 25 is the anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, which according to one participant, took "as long as it takes a hungry man to eat a meal."

The Little Bighorn is in Montana, of course, but Custer set out from his post at Ft. Lincoln, N.D.

Don't Be Gently Mocking Toward North Dakota

Humorist Dave Barry discusses making fun of the "Dakota" name change idea and having a sewage lift station in Grand Forks named for him. Plus, a follow-up from a part-time GF resident.

(That stupid "Dakota" ... No one even liked the plan yet people around the country still remember it. What a terrible proposal.)