Wes Modes
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Rough seas for the #Shantyboat. 15mph South winds with 20mph gusts on a 10 mile long north south reach.
Rough seas for the #Shantyboat. 15mph South winds with 20mph gusts on a 10 mile long north south reach.
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@justlikeharmony piloting the #Shantyboat through very rough seas. #river
@justlikeharmony piloting the #Shantyboat through very rough seas. #river
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New #Shantyboat invention! A Caucasian Floater, a White Russian made with ice cream.
New #Shantyboat invention! A Caucasian Floater, a White Russian made with ice cream.
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Logistical difficulties on the next episode of Shantyboat Guys! #Shantyboat #realitytv #dramanodrama #riverlyfe
Logistical difficulties on the next episode of Shantyboat Guys! #Shantyboat #realitytv #dramanodrama #riverlyfe
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Modern fertility symbol in Camache Iowa. #Shantyboat
Modern fertility symbol in Camache Iowa. #Shantyboat
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Shantyboat spotted in Dubuque
#Shantyboat spotted in Dubuque. River coincidence: this photo was sent to someone downriver who I ended up interviewing two weeks later.
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Downtown Clinton Iowa looks like an economic bomb dropped on it
Downtown Clinton #Iowa looks like an economic bomb dropped on it. On the other hand, #Walmart is doing a brisk biz in the edge of town. #Shantyboat #lowerwagesalways
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Secret History interview with Jenna Sanders, co-owner of @392caffe in Clinton, Iowa
Secret History interview with Jenna Sanders, co-owner of @392caffe in Clinton #Iowa. #Shantyboat
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Mini Stories from Clinton, Iowa
Clinton Marina History My Grandmother owed and operated the Marina that you are at right now until the 1970s. It was called the Anchorage then. Her name was Agnes (Schrader) Lutz. Everyone called her “Aggie”. She fished, hunted, made her own fish nets and decoys. She was named the first queen of our 4th of…
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Wallet contents drying out after dunking
Wallet contents drying out after having been dunked in the river s second time during an impressive storm. #Shantyboat
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Secret History on the front page of the Clinton Herald
Secret History on the front page of the Clinton Herald with @justlikeharmony. #Shantyboat #smalltownfamous #frontpage #art #river
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A Teeny Tiny Journey Through History
It is only by the good grace of God, that I am not holed up in a garage somewhere right now adding grimy details with a double ought paintbrush to a tiny little building of my own tiny imaginary town.
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Twin Towns of Gritty Charm and Regret
A reality TV star, a gay couple, a 12-year old hippy with an edge, and showers of vegetables and catfish
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International Sculpture Center: Wes Modes: Secret History of American River People
The Mississippi River runs deep through American culture. From early Native Americans to Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the Blues and Hurrican Katrina, the history of the country is in constant flux, much like the river itself. The fascination with the mysteries and power of the world’s fourth longest river is subtle, but…
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Rumors of the Death of Drive-Ins Greatly Exagerated
While we were in Galena I got a wild hair. I knew there was a drive-in somewhere around and thought it would be a fun family outing. When one of the girls told us excitedly that she’d never been to a drive-in that decided it. The drive-in was almost 40 miles away, but hey, you…
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Life with the Party People of Galena
We came to Galena for the day and stayed for four nights, meeting new friends, and someone we were supposed to meet a year ago. And we learned that there ain’t no party like a Galena sandbar boat party.
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The Magic of the Lock 11 Fishing Barge
Ed told us we absolutely have to go up around by the dam and check out the fishing barge, which he described as kind of a fishing pier, a bar, a restaurant (sorta), and a bait and tackle shop. I don’t know what I was picturing, possibly a mellow park setting and a touristy bar/restaurant,…
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Hazel on the River
Since Hazel has a more devoted following than the project, we offer a view of Hazel’s adventures on the river.
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Setbacks, the Musical – A Nautical Tragicomedy
The scene opens with the newly recruited shipsmates standing in a regimented line in order of height. The SKIPPER looks at his shipsmates affectionately and takes the iDEVICE out of his pocket to take a photograph.
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Two Nuns, A Gambler, and an Heiress walk onto a boat…
We’ve been the talk of the town to some degree. Dozens of people have made their way to the docks at the National Mississippi River Museum to check out our shantyboat. Many of them were clutching the article that came out in the Telegraph Herald last Friday. A lot of places we go, people ask…
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National Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque
The shantyboat is in Dubuque at the National Mississippi River Museum. The project is exhibiting and people are checking it out. I ask kids a simple question, and the reaction I get is split.
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The Real Reason We’re Here
Naturally, the adventure down the river, the playful interactions of the crew, the observations about the river and river culture are the sexiest most interesting part of the Secret History journey. The project is at heart about listening, to the river, to the rhythms of our journey, and to the people in the places we…
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A Brief Visit to Harper’s Ferry and a Mysterious Man
We meet a mysterious man in a historic town, but not the one you are thinking of.
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An Unexpected Accident, Clamming Goldrush, and Bald Eagles in Lansing
A breakfast disaster, repairs, an interview with a clammer, and a trip to see bald eagles coming to a McDonalds dumpster near you.
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The Night of the Biblical Plagues
We try to be just and virtuous people, but God knows the mind of the divine is mysterious and unknowable. And thus one evening in Lansing, Iowa He brought down his wrath upon us, perhaps because we had drunk two too many White Russians and did not even offer Him a cocktail.
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Inside the Shantyboat through the Driftless Area
A tour of the shantyboat and the Misssissippi’s unique Driftless Area
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Karen Galema, Mississippi River fisherman
Karen Galema in her life has been a fisherman, an EMT, a bookkeeper for the large fish market in Lansing, and finally the manager of the Lansing River History and Commercial Fishing museum. This is an excerpt from our interview in Lansing, Iowa along the banks of the Mississippi River.
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Shantyboat Guys New Episodes!
On the shantyboat we are 24 hours in each other’s hair in a 10′ by 8′ space, so we get a little punchy. What started as a story about a production company trying to make the non-drama of the Secret History expeditions into something cinematic and dramaful, turned into a silly idea.
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Introducing The Shantyboat Guys!
A few years ago when I was working on the shantyboat and keeping a build blog detailing the build, I got a call from a New York production company interested in a reality TV show about people living in homemade boats. They were calling it…
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Fellow Workers
I was sitting with Jeremiah in the Donboat under a tree in a backwater of the Mississippi and we were quietly listening to a recording of Utah Phillips while sitting and watching the changing sky and its echo in the still water. Here are some influences to the project.
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The Story of the Donboat
We brought the Painted Pig, a small johnboat we bought in the Bay Area. When we put it in the water we found it was about as rigid as a pie tin and as stable as a top. With one person in it, the water line was a few scant inches from the gunnel and…
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Louise and the Winona Backwaters
A promised date with Louise results in a shantyboat tour of the backwaters of Winona.
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Waukon Standard: California artist seeking stories of river history, lifestyles
A rustic recreated 1940s shantyboat, a daring river voyage, and a meticulous archive of river stories are all part of a multi-year art and history project being undertaken by artist Wes Modes of Santa Cruz, CA and entitled “A Secret History of American River People.” Modes set sail last summer on the Mississippi River to…
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Two Prairie Island Indian Community Interviews
I had the tremendous honor of interviewing two members of the Prairie Island Indian Community, part of the Mdewakanton Sioux band (“people born of the water”), located just north of Red Wing.
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Heartland Boating: A Secret History of American River People
Ten years ago, Wes Modes of Santa Cruz, California, was reading about a group of kids who were making whacky, homemade boats and then cruising them down the Mississippi River. That type of adventure resonated with Modes, a computer programmer and artist with a love of the water and an appreciation for the lyrical qualities…
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A Word About Hazel Dog
Of course you know our ships hound Hazel. Did you know she has her own Twitter and Instagram feed? Hazel’s Tweets Hazel’s Instagram
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We lost Amy, Minnesota recycling, and missing contacts
e lost Amy. Somewhere between last summer’s fieldwork and this spring, Amy went missing. She was with us at the end of last summer’s voyage when we were using her to communicate to barges and locks. Jeremiah has reason to think she was stolen at some point.
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Showing Off the Shantyboat in the Twin Cities
We were fortunate to have the opportunity to exhibit twice in the Twin Cities over as many days. One was at the Minnesota History Center as part of Nine Nights of Music. The other was at the St. Paul Yacht Club as part of a River City Revue. The History Center is like an enormous…
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Two Great Interviews in the Twin Cities
All and all, it was an amazing and emotionally exhausting day that came closer to my desire to highlight contested history, resistance, histories that didn’t make the establishment narrative, and stories about women, people of color, and non-dominant cultures.
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Minneapolis City Pages: River City Revue explores Mississippi culture
The event gives you a chance to see the art shanty boat created by Wes Modes. Last year Modes, who is an MFA student at the University of California, took his boat on a trip down the Mississippi, collecting stories of how people live on the river.
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StarTribune: Pictures of the day.
Top Photos for June 30. Kara Yorkhall and daughter Juliette,3, stepped unto the back deck after chatting with captain/artist Wes Modes who will traveling on the Missississippi for the next three months or so. At the Minnesota Center, gathered on a 1940’s shantyboat on display as part of “A Secret History of American River People”…
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An Afternoon Thunderstorm
A summer rainstorm blows in while we are in the tin-roofed shantyboat in the St Paul Yacht Club in St Paul MN.
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Down to St. Paul and Out in a Storm
A lock and dam, a sacred place, and then out on the river in a small boat in a pounding rain storm.
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Mississippi Launch and an Evening Expedition
Another blowout, a launch, a full house, an expedition, a bonfire, and a wedding.
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Dubuque Telegraph Herald: River exhibition will dock in Dubuque
A rustic shanty boat, a daring river voyage and a meticulous archive of river stories encompassing a multi-year art and history project. It might sound like something out of the fictitious works of Mark Twain. But for California artist Wes Modes, it has been his reality for the past year-and-a-half.
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A Midnight Journey to the Bone Yard
The potholes were deep, nearly as deep as our growing fear. Trees loomed on either side. Thunderclouds threatened on the horizon. Hazel dog was unaccountably agitated. We flew down the Iowan country road through thick fields of fireflies, a kind of hillbilly hyperspace.
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Roadtrips are always more interesting when your wheels fall off
As we were about to hit the road, a lady in the car in front of us was irritatingly gesticulating at us. What could this lady possibly want? What was she trying to tell us? Another person who wants to stop us o give us an enthusiastic thumbs up about the shantyboat? Jeremiah went to…
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River City Revue — People of the River
Are you in or near Minneapolis? See the Secret History project. Wednesday, July 1st, 7-9PM Saint Paul Yacht Club on Harriet Island Get Tickets & Details Here! Featuring ‘A Secret History of American River People,’ an art and history project created by digital and new media artist Wes Modes: https://peoplesriverhistory.org/ Walk the docks of Saint Paul Yacht…
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24 Hours
Tomorrow morning early we pull out of Santa Cruz towing the shantyboat. The journey has not yet begun, yet I’m so tired I could lay down my paintbrush and take a nap right now. This kind of tiredness is big the kind of tired fixed with a night’s rest, but the kind of tired from…
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Artist On Art: Wes Modes, Artist Interview
Artist Activist, Wes Modes came onto Artists on Art, June 18, 2014, to talk about his newest project, The Secret History of American River People, a slow meandering trip down the Mississippi in a shanty boat collecting stories. Using audio, video, and digital media, Secret History archives and presents oral histories of major American rivers,…
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1 Mississippi: Reeling in River Stories
What would you do with a houseboat the size of an office cubicle? Well, if you’re itinerant artist and general river enthusiast, Wes Modes, you embark on a multi-month journey down the Mississippi River. I had the pleasure of meeting Wes at the first River City Revue of the summer. Wes and his trusty companion,…
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Dry Docking the Shantyboat
In preparation for our journey to the Mississippi River in a few days, we had some work to do on the shantyboat. The hull needed painting and the motor well needed to be resealed so we needed to put the boat up in dry dock.
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24 Hours and Gory Details
Just 24 hours and just over $1000 to go on the kickstarter! We’re almost there. So close, we can taste it.
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Readying Shantyboat and Other Trip Details
So while the Kickstarter has been doing its thing and we’ve been trying to promote it and talk you into sharing it with your friends, family, strangers, etc. (It’s not too late!) we’ve been hard at work making sure the expedition will be successful. Every weekend for the last several months Jeremiah, James and I…
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A Request to Tell a Friend or Three
Thanks for your support of A Secret History of American River People. We received a huge vote of confidence from Kickstarter when we became Friday’s Staff Pick. The campaign started off great guns, staff pick, great video from Regina Ortinez, lots of attention, but slowing now a bit. We really want to make sure we are able…
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Reddit: I am an artist spending the summer in a shantyboat on the Mississippi River gathering stories of river people. AMA!
I am Wes Modes, DIY boater and artist. For years I’ve been building DIY boats, often out of trash, and floating down major American rivers. Last year, we put our homemade untested houseboat in the Misssissippi River for a month to gather stories of river people (with my ex-sweetheart at ship’s mate). When we did…
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Secret History Summer 2015 Kickstarter
We are excited to announce the Secret History Upper Mississippi Expedition Kickstarter! Thanks to your support, last summer we traveled across country with the Shantyboat to the Mississippi River and spent a month gathering stories of river people. We interviewed dozens of folks, adventures, scientists, storytellers, river rats, boathouse people. Then we came back and…
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The Producer’s Log: MFA Exhibition Reportback
Introducing Regina Ortanez who has been working as a producer on the Secret History project for the entire academic year. This is an excerpt from her production journal during the MFA exhibition.
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Introducing Freddie
You remember last year when we were on the river with Mr. Johnson? We got him a friend. We want to introduce you to Freddie.
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2015 Summer Voyage on Upper Mississippi
Starting in late June, the Secret History shantyboat will be back on the Upper Mississippi River for a series of exhibitions and an entire summer of fieldwork gathering river stories.
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What happened to the last 5 months?
Grad school. That’s what. MFA Exhibition prep. Reading books. Production of the Secret History web doc. Working with the production team. That’s where. Whew. Okay, so I can take a deep breath. I just finished with the four day UCSC Digital Art and New Media MFA exhibition in which I and 11 other artists exhibited…
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Meet the Production Team
Meet the production team that helped make the Secret History of American River People web documentary.
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Maiden Launch (vintage remix)
The shantyboat Dotty’s maiden launch. Dropping a completely untested boat into one of the largest rivers on the continent.
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Life On the River – 2015 Trailer
The amazing Secret History River Life trailer by filmmaker Monica Yap.
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Jessica Bierbrauer and the Future River
Jessica Bierbrauer, director of the Great River Road Visitor & Learning Center in Prescott WI, talks about the future of the river.
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John Sullivan and Fish Kills
John Sullivan, retired DNR officer in La Crosse WI, talks about river water quality and battling sources of pollution.
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Jessica Bierbrauer and Lost History
Jessica Bierbrauer, director of the Great River Road Visitor & Learning Center in Prescott WI, talks about personal stories that are lost or buried.
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Kali Arlene and Latsch Island
Kali Arlene, Latsch Island boathouse resident in Winona MN, talks about living on the river and interactions with the people who live in town.
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(Frozen) Water Under the Bridge
A week on the Mississippi River in the dead of winter results in some delightful and productive meetings.
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Ice Fishing Shack on Lake Winona
One of my goals in returning to the Upper Mississippi was to talk to people using the river in its frozen state. I’d been hearing stories of ice fishermen for years on Prairie Home Companion, but had never seen or experienced it.
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La Crosse Boathouses
Down in La Crosse for the day, I hung out for a bit where boathouses line both banks along the partially frozen Black River.
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Ice on Frog Slough
The other day I had just finished talking to the great people at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum which boasts an amazing collection of art by European masters and contemporary artists. I had a moment or two before my next interview so I went down to the river where the boathouses on Frog Pond had…
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An Intense Winter Fieldwork Trip
Tomorrow I am leaving for Minnesota and Wisconsin for a week of intense interviewing. 14 interviews in 6 days. Along with river experts, artists, and community engagement people, I hope to be talking to Hmong, Vietnamese, African-American, and Prairie Island Indian folk who are connected with the river. Along with all my cold weather gear,…
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Experiments with Multimedia
The production team and I are working on cutting various transitions between segments in the Secret History Web Documentary. Here is a sweet river moment I wanted to share. It makes a nice soothing backdrop for a nap.
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Shantyboat at FIGMENT Oakland
A Secret History exhibited at FIGMENT in Oakland, a one day art festival that brings Burning Man values of creative expression, gift economy, and participation to our urban environment.
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Lauren Donovan and the Creepy Guy
Lauren Donovan, who kayaked the length of the Mississippi River from Lake Itasca to New Orleans, talks about an unexpected meeting while camping along the river.
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Sunset on the Sacramento Delta
A relaxing evening at sunset from a recent trip on the shantyboat on the Sacramento River.
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The Producer’s Journal: Catching up
A note about the Producer’s Journals: They make either super awesome insider geek info or the most boring blog ever, depending on your inclination. Your mileage may vary. So if you are the type of person who watches the Making Of segment after the main feature on the DVD, read on… I was getting stern…
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The Producers Journal: A Week of Amnesia and Delirium
It was a strange week of going through the motions with a strange kind of stoner consciousness. A delirium possibly due to just pure information overload.
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Beautiful People I’ve Interviewed
With help from numerous people who work and live on the Mississippi River, I am creating an ongoing digital archive of personal histories. These are just some of the people I interviewed as part of A Secret History of American River People.
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History of Flatboating and a Charming Educational Film
A very brief history on the evolution of river craft from flatboats, store boats, and shantyboats.
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Secret History Shantyboat Exhibiting in November
At two art exhibits in November, the shantyboat will be on display, with the Secret History archive and library on exhibit within.
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Ken Lubinski on the Resilience of Nature
Ken Lubinski, river ecologist at the USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center in La Crosse talks about a winter walk and the resilience of nature.
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Unusual photos of the Shantyboat
Two unusual portraits of the shanyboat from inside, one a panorama and the other an interactive frozen moment.
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Santa Cruz Sentinel: Artist turns a journey down the Mississippi into rich oral history
We’re all sharing our “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” anecdotes around the metaphorical water cooler this time of year. Long-time Santa Cruz artist and activist Wes Modes has his story too, though it might sound to many ears as if the summer vacation he’s talking about is the summer of 1881. Modes launched an…
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People’s History Expedition on Upper Mississippi: A Reportback
The Secret History expedition — a reportback on the journey, with photos, video, and reportbacks from the rest of the crew.
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Film and Digital Media Independent Study
This independent study provides a focused research experience as we analyze the Secret History archive from a post-modern historical standpoint and present the archive through film/video and new media.
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Support For This Project
We had a successful fundraiser which covered a portion of the expected costs, but particularly challenging were some of the sneaky show-must-go-on surprise costs. We could use your financial support.
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PA’s Diary #2, lovingly entitled A Leaf on the Wind
The Production Assistant’s report, a lock and dam, a cute town with no river rats, and a storm.
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This River Life Drawing to a Close
For weeks and miles people have been asking us, “How far you going?” and really we had no way to answer that question. We had no idea how far we’d get. We knew, however, that we had limited time.
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Brownsville Boathouses
After La Crosse, we made our way down to Brownsville where there are several groups of boathouses. Boathouses are houses that float, differentiated from houseboats which are mobile.
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Jim Ehrsam and Other People Not Interviewed
On the day before we were leaving La Crosse I met a man who’d lived in his boathouse on the Black River for 65 years. It kills me that I didn’t have the time to interview him, though we did sit for a while and watch the sunset. I’ve found it takes about three days to set up…
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A Night in Winona and the Production Assistant’s Report
A report back by PA Jeremiah upon his departure at La Cross, Wisconsin
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![Small and Not So Small Town Press [Updated]](https://peoplesriverhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/5D3_0978_0-672x372.jpg)
Small and Not So Small Town Press [Updated]
We’ve done our best to try to let people know we are coming downriver. Some of the local press have picked up our story.
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La Crosse WXOW: 2 art students take journey in shantyboat on Mississippi
Two art students from California are traveling down the Mississippi River this month in a one of a kind boat, while working on a project called Secret History of the American River People.Wes Modes and Kai Dalgleish are both masters art students at the University of California Santa Cruz, floating down the river in a…
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La Crosse Tribune: Artist plies Mississippi in Shantyboat to net historical portraits
California-based artists Wes Modes and Kai Dalgleish are traveling down the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to Davenport, Iowa, collecting oral histories and stories of river people. Modes, a grad student at University of California Santa Cruz, is doing the project for his master’s thesis. The Shantyboat, built largely from salvage from a chicken coop, is…
