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Category Archives: Culture and History
Merry Christmas Mississippi River Style
The Mississippi River provides a backdrop to many American holiday traditions, but my favorite is Louisiana’s Christmas Eve bonfires on the levees. The story goes that the bonfires light the way for “Papa Noel”, the Cajun Santa Claus. Others say … Continue reading
Take the Great River Road to Glimpse America
If you want to get a feel for what it means to be America’s great river, travel it via the Great River Road. We didn’t do the whole thing, but we got a taste in October when we meandered four … Continue reading
Planning For The Birds
Bird vs. Stadium. The builders of the new Minnesota Vikings stadium forgot to take winged creatures into account when they designed a see-through, glass-plated façade sitting smack in the middle of the North American Mississippi River Flyway. As a dangerous … Continue reading
The Mississippi River & Africa’s Congo Share a Lack of Context
Anjan Sundaram weaves a personal tale in his book, “Stringer: A Reporter’s Journey in the Congo”. In a recent New York Times article he sums up how “We’re Missing the Story”. “The Western news media is in crisis and is … Continue reading
Resolved: Increase National Awareness of Mississippi River For More Engagement
According to “Statistic Brain” an on-line statistics nonprofit, 45 percent of Americans make New Year’s Resolutions and 38 percent absolutely never make them. This year I’ll be one of the 45 percent and I hope I’m one of the eight … Continue reading
Building Capacity for Change on the Mississippi River
The Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative marks real progress toward unified approaches for America’s great waterway. At their second annual meeting in St. Cloud, Minn. in June, the mayors expressed their understanding of and commitment to whole-river approaches to … Continue reading
Posted in Culture and History, Economic, Environment, Future of the Mississippi River
Tagged America's Waterway, EU Water Framework Directive, Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, National Dialogue for the Future of America's Waterway, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, WWF Keys to Effective River Basin Management
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Great News for the Mississippi River at Mayor’s Meeting
Great News: Over fifty mayors from Mississippi River cities and towns have landed a Memorandum of Common Purpose with the Corps of Engineers. Announcing this on Thursday, June 27 at a St. Cloud, Minn. meeting of Mississippi River Cities and … Continue reading
The Mississippi River as a Social Network
Consider how new tools to address complex issues can be right in front of us, and we don’t recognize them. Social Network, the movie, shows us this. So does America’s Waterway, dedicated to using civic engagement and social networking tools to create unified approaches to the whole Mississippi River. Continue reading
What We Might Learn From A Mapmaker
Recently those of us in the 21st century have increased our interest in those early days of photography. One reason is that we’re at a similar turning point with new technology causing us to see things differently. Continue reading
The Mississippi River Needs “Placeness”
According to Wallace Stegner, renowned American author and ecologist, there are two kinds of Americans: placed and unplaced.
