The Quapaws on the river You may not have noticed, but there is a growing interest in nature tourism on the Mississippi River. I'm spent most of my time in the past few years along the northern half of the Mississippi, so I'm pretty familiar with the opportunities for nature tourism in those
Langston Hughes (1936) Here's a treat I want to share today. NPR and Codeswitch asked artist Afua Richardson to create a piece to illustrate a favorite work of art. She chose to illustrate the Langston Hughes poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers. You can see what she created here. But wait, there's more! Open
Sharon Day during the 2013 Mississippi River Walk When did you last think about what your life would be like without easy access to clean water? What are you willing do to for clean water? For Sharon Day and a dedicated group of Anishaabe women, the answer is that they are willing
As I was scraping ice off my windshield again the other morning, my mind began to wander to things like: How much would it cost to live in New Orleans for the winter? And, frozen bird shit is easier to scrape off the car than the liquid variety. Ice at Oquawka, Illinois I
Changing channels for the Red, Mississippi, and Atchafalaya Rivers In 1831, Henry Shreve, a riverboat captain who was always looking for ways to make it easier to navigate the Mississippi River, saw a bottleneck on the lower Mississippi and wanted to do something about it. At Turnbull’s Bend, the river made an
The first time I walked in the door of the Third Street Deli in Pepin, Wisconsin, Judith, the owner/chef, looked up from the grill and said “Ooh, a handsome stranger just walked in.” I was a little hung over—honestly, I was very hung over from a late night exploring the downtown bars in La Crosse—and
