Wander & Wonder

In rural Minnesota, a longtime township clerk puts his faith in neighbors
Loren Ingebretsen has been a politician for 45 years at the most grassroots level of American politics, the township board. It’s vital work across Minnesota that rarely gets noticed. 
NASCAR on ice? Cars, community drive Minnesota’s frozen lake racers
Cars traveling at high speeds on glare ice might sound like a disaster in the making. But for dozens of drivers in Otter Tail County, it’s a recipe for winter fun. Meet the Bass Lake racers.
Duluth’s one-man newsroom embraces ‘bare-knuckles’ journalism
John Ramos started the Duluth Monitor in 2019 with an aggressive approach to reporting local news. His reporting has upset some local officials but he says readers appreciate his muckraking style.
Longtime Minnesota hockey referee trains next generation to make the calls
Alicia Hanrahan has worked hockey games from youth leagues to the Olympics for more than 20 years. She’s ready to put away her whistle, but not her skates. She’s working now to mentor the next generation of officials as demand climbs.
New tools, old ways help Duluth violin builder create an ancient sound
From a modest workshop, Dan Larson turned his love of music, history and woodworking into a life building violins, lutes and and other stringed instruments. He’s known internationally for creating sounds that reach back to the 16th century.
Red River Valley woman helps immigrants chase the American dream
Fowzia Adde knows inspiration can come from the darkest times. Seven years spent in a refugee camp in Kenya as a teenager fuels her drive to help immigrants succeed in Fargo-Moorhead. 
‘I wanted to do something cool’: Meet the man who made the Minnesota-shaped forest
Years before Google Earth, DNR forester Bill Lockner used hand tools and calculated all the angles and distances to etch Minnesota’s shape into a stretch of forest in Lake of the Woods County. He doesn’t talk about it much, but he spoke recently with MPR News.
‘High off the sound’: Fergus Falls engineer is a guitar amp hero
From his “one-man shop out in the woods” in Otter Tail County, throwback musician Maurice Skogen builds old-school vacuum tube amplifiers that generate a “spiritual sound.“
In western Minnesota, a writer rooted in two worlds seeks common ground
Columnist, county commissioner and former farmer Brent Olson is a “bleeding-heart liberal” in the middle of rural Minnesota Trump country. He tries to bridge that political and social gap in his national writing and through his local community work.
For this Minnesota living history teacher, the past is never dead
Arn Kind turned his passion for the past into a second career making history entertaining and educational in school classrooms and small town libraries across Minnesota. From Vikings to the voyageurs to Vietnam, he delivers lessons like few others.