river
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Charming La Crosse, Wisconsin and a Theory About the Uneven Distribution of Social Capital
A sprained ankle, a man in a bowler hat, charming downtown La Crosse, Mr. Johnson acts up, and a theory about social connectivity
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Into the Storm on the Open River
Unless we survive this storm. We are anchored on a long northwest reach in a stiff northwest wind with waves whipping up around us. The anchor is holding for the moment. How did we get here?
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Stuck on a Sandbar, Civil Defense, and Flying Predators
While making our way downriver, we saw lots of barges that were hung up waiting for a dredging operation around Alma. We found the mothership of tugboats. This one was enormous, with all the little tugs suckling at it like piglets. It is hard to convey the scale of this boat. We also encountered working barges…
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A Watery Death on Lake Pepin Narrowly Averted
The sun was shining and the wind was still and the waters were calm on legendarily treacherous Lake Pepin so we started drinking white Russians, what could possibly go wrong?
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A High Speed Water Chase, Flyswatting, and Madness
We venture on to Lake Pepin where we encounter both miracles and madness
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Engine Solutions, Party in the Lock, River Days, and a 97 Year Old Woman
More of the generosity of strangers in Prescott, WI and Red Wing, MN. A small town celebration and meeting lots and lots of great people.
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Lauren Donovan on Nearly Drowning at Lock 11
Lauren Donovan, who kayaked the length of the Mississippi River from Lake Itasca to New Orleans, talks about nearly drowning in Lock 11 near Dubuque, Iowa.
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Mike’s Shantyboat
Mike Mosedale is a great fella I met in St. Paul at the River City Review a few weeks ago. Since then I’ve adopted him as a great friend. He’s generously dumped on us all kinds of sweetness — oars and cleats for the Dottie, an old fishing pole, beers, great stories.
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Engine Troubles, Burger Lexicon, A Theft, and Much Generosity
St. Paul, MN to Prescott, WI and the many awesome people we met as well as a story of grievous mischief and unimagined generosity.
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Peter Rachleff on the Creativity of Poor People
Peter Rachleff, Professor of History, talks about how poor people in the Twin Cities have historically used the sawn ends and off cuts from the sawmills to build shanties.
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First Few Days on the River
We’ve had our first few days on the river. We went through out first few locks! Amazing. Especially going down, like being in a giant bathtub when someone pulls the plug. [KGVID width=”640″ height=”640″]http://peoplesriverhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/IMG_3563.mov[/KGVID] We met friends at 34th St beach where Robnoxious hosted a lovely going away party for the crew of the Secret…
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Living on the Shantyboat
Here are a few shantyboat details minutes before our departure from Boom Island.
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Send Off Party
Our Minneapolis friends are organizing us a Shantyboat Send Off Party Saturday evening 7pm at 34th St. beach In SW Minneapolis! Come see the boat, the crew, and hazel the dog! Camp fire & beers. Feel free to bring a bon voyage gift! Such needed things as AA & AAA batteries, rope, cornmeal, gallons of…
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Shantyboat Runabout
Today we powered up Mr. Johnson and motored about in the tiny Boom Island marina we have been moored at since we launched. Hazel and I crossed under the pedestrian bridge and out into the wider river.
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Shantyboat Open House
Drop on by to check out the Shantyboat, share stories, and browse the growing Secret History library.
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The Secret History Shantyboat is Afloat
This afternoon after two years of building, months of planning, and nearly a week of driving, we launched the shantyboat in Minneapolis.
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Minneapolis Reconnaissance
I have been in Minneapolis for the last week doing reconnaissance for our upcoming journey. Here is a selection of photographs from the trip.
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We Turn To The River – 2014 Trailer
The Secret History lyrical trailer from the talented Lauren Kincaid-Filbey with footage from the Sacramento River Delta.
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A Collection of Photos from a Non-Shantyboat River Float
I took a two-week break from building the shantyboat to float the Sacramento River. I post this here, because floating on these big rivers is where I got the craving for living on a shantyboat. Some of my favorite times are from drifting aimlessly in our DIY raft during hot summer days. These rafts were…