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Continue reading →: Reflecting on My Most Popular Blog PostsI did one of these about a year ago, where I checked out my blog stats and looked back on the most popular blog posts. It’s interesting to me to see what makes this list, versus my own personal favorites. The most popular post of all time continues to be…
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Continue reading →: Is this DEI?Every February I get a little nervous about work. For the past five years or so at the University of Minnesota, I’ve written a recurring Black History Month feature we call “Where It Starts.” In the series, I interview a mix of Black students/alums/faculty about one or more of a…
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Continue reading →: Burrito Mondays, Taco TuesdaysTonight I stopped at a taco shop that caught my eye with a “$1.59 tacos” sign, but the deal was for Tuesdays, so I got a burrito. I asked the taco lady if Tuesdays were really busy, and she said yes, but Mondays are actually busier, because Monday they prep…
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Continue reading →: It’s been a long week, but it’s finally DunderdayI’ve always said that there is no better way to deal with a challenge or a problem that you’re having than to get into a vehicle and drive away from it. There are other ways, of course. Airplanes, for example, will take you away from your problems much more rapidly.…
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Continue reading →: Exploring Highway 1: A Scenic Journey Along California’s CoastAs it was nearing dusk, I drove 20 miles north from San Simeon SP on Highway 1 as it leisurely winds through the hillsides with views of the pacific cliffs, exposed bare clay in some places where they’re too steep for vegetation, and covered in green where the cliffs can…
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Continue reading →: Reflections from Pismo Beach: Surfers and SweetartsI was squatting down on the beach searching for jelly bean stones when I looked up to see a very attractive woman walking toward me. I struggled to stand up, my bad knee causing me to rise unevenly, and I said to myself, “try to look cool, try to look…
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Continue reading →: Exploring Sedona’s Vortex EnergyI have become one of the beachcombers, we human scavengers among the gulls and other shorebirds. Each day I walk from my campsite the half mile to the beach, then shuffle through the sand with my head down. We search for treasures among the washed up stones and scurry like…
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Continue reading →: When I travel I get chattyI arrived at California’s San Simeon State Park on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 12, after a brief stay in the southernmost part of Sequoia National Forest, which, as far as I could see, had no sequoia trees (generally they are hard to miss). They must be farther north. San Simeon SP…
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Continue reading →: Welcome to Kantexihoma, land of disenchantment
I have seen the London Bridge in person, but I have never been to London. How, you ask? A little more than a year ago I would have asked the same question, but that was before I found out that in 1968 some lunatic (visionary?) purchased the 930 foot bridge—originally…
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Continue reading →: Wish you were here + bonus poem (poemus)
I’m leaving soon on another camperland adventure, towing my little R-pod trailer to Big Sur, California, where I’ll work from home for a good part of the remaining winter. Twenty years or so ago I was there with my tent, and I recall it as one of the most beautiful…
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Continue reading →: Potato Don’t Count
Inventions I’ll never create, businesses I’ll never start, and titles of novels I’ll never write. Sometimes I think of inventions I’ll never create, businesses that I’ll never start, and titles of novels I’ll never write. I like to think of myself as the proverbial “idea man,” where I come up…
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Continue reading →: What do I care?
Why did you vote the way that you did and how will the outcome of this race affect you? I believe, in the wealthiest nation on earth, that all Americans should have healthcare. But I have healthcare, so what do I care? I think that if you work a full-time…
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Continue reading →: Beyond Yard Signs: Finding Unity in Political Division
Dig deeper. Yard signs won’t save America I’ve spent the past two weeks working from my camper in Northern Minnesota where the fall colors are waning and tourism is officially on the downswing. By the weekend most of the leaves will disappear. What is not gone, though, is politics and…
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Continue reading →: Some Hard-hitting Reporting
I’m still up in northern Minnesota after two weeks of working from a campsite, on my way back this weekend. My lawn needed mowing when I left, and I know of no one who might have mowed it. And with the temps falling, it’s time to winterize my camper (until…
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Continue reading →: To Heal Our Rural-Urban Divide, America Needs A National ‘Trading Places Day’
It’s the only way America survives. The rural-urban divide in America is real, and it’s getting worse. That’s why we need a national “Trading Places Day” where urban residents switch places with rural residents. Hear me out. Most cities in America of any size vote liberal, while most rural areas…
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Continue reading →: Exploring Northern Minnesota’s Hogback Lake: A Camping Adventure
I took to the northwoods last weekend, along with thousands, maybe tens of thousands of other Minnesotans. Along the North Shore near the popular and photogenic bear and bean lakes—which, since Instagram, seem to have more traffic than New York City—cars lined up waiting for a turn on the six…
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Continue reading →: Fall Preparations
I planted a couple dozen tulip bulbs today, so that they can be the first things up in the spring and the rabbits can eat them before they bloom, the bastards. When planting tulip bulbs, I kind of feel that quote from Martin Luther, who when asked what he would…
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Continue reading →: Welcome to the Theater of Despair
A couple of weeks ago I got some kind of stomach virus where I was vaguely nauseous, but primarily the bug expressed itself on the other end. And since I work from home, my toilet became my office chair, which led me to contemplate the lack of back support toilets…
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Continue reading →: Why I Chose a Heat Pump Over Traditional Systems
A few months ago, I wrote briefly here about a heat pump that I had installed, a more efficient source of heat than a traditional furnace. The main point of that post was more of a reflection on my severe, sometimes crippling nostalgia, but then a couple weeks ago I…
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Continue reading →: A new poem
I’ve long said that I’m good for about one poem per year, but as the years have gone on it seems more like it’s one about every 18 months. You’d hope with a quantity so low that the quality would be high, but I don’t want to get your hopes…
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Continue reading →: Lake Superior Circle tour, part 3
I left Pancake Bay about 1 p.m. intending to drive 200 miles to Pukaskwa National Park on the north-central shore of Lake Superior. Unlike provincial parks in Ontario, Pukaskwa still has first come, first served spots, but by the time I got there at 6 p.m. everything was booked. Fortunately,…
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Hi. I’m Adam Overland, a writer based in Minneapolis. These are the meanderings of my muddled mind. I’ve written humor columns for various print publications, so naturally that’s dead and here I am, waiting for the last gasp.
