…and this is a 
It's right next door, but I haven't been to North Dakota that often. There are a couple of dates planned that will change that, though: on 24 September, I'll be in Fargo for a free movie night with the Red River Freethinkers.They'll be showing Julia Sweeney's Letting Go of God at the Fargo Theater at 6pm, and then for an anti-climax, I'm giving a lecture.
If Fargo is just too darned congested for you, I'll also be speaking at Minot State University in Minot, ND on 5 October — deep in the heart of the state. I'll put up more details about that later.
Comments
Posted by: Shaggy Maniac | August 25, 2009 2:50 PM
Fargo?! Everyone know Fargo is the armpit* of the state; Grand Forks is the true Athens of the North.
*I don't want to imagine what that makes Minot.
Posted by: Sven DIMilo | August 25, 2009 2:51 PM
Only time I've seen the Aurora Borealis was on the highway near Minot (MY-not, IIRC) back in, like, 1982. That's practically Saskatoon up there.
Posted by: Glen Davidson | August 25, 2009 2:55 PM
Fargo's just a Minnesota sales-tax-avoiding extension anyway (though I think border sales tax breaks have been implemented, after the border cities were decimated). Minot, well, that does partake in all of the barrenness of the Dakotas, where desolation enters the soul.
We'll see if an atheist can survive Minot.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p
Posted by: Tony Sidaway | August 25, 2009 2:59 PM
Just watch out for those wood chippers.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | August 25, 2009 3:02 PM
I may have to take a trip down to Fargo that day.
I saw "Letting Go" live in Cambridge. Will be nice to see it again.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | August 25, 2009 3:04 PM
We'll see if an atheist can survive Minot.
I was just there for a couple nights. The complementary bottle of wine at the hotel helped, and the Scandinavian Heritage Center was just lovely.
Posted by: PZ Myers
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August 25, 2009 3:08 PM
Why? Just in case I have a dead body in the trunk I need to dispose of?
Posted by: Brownian, Most Vicious & Petty of Pharyngulites
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August 25, 2009 3:13 PM
Please, Sven. Seeing places south of me referred to as "up there" is a little depressing. Consider us true Northerners before you go bandying about your australocentrism.
Posted by: j | August 25, 2009 3:18 PM
PZ--the city slogan at Minot used to be
"Why not Minot?" until of course someone came up in with an answer--"Freezin's the reason"
Posted by: Berner | August 25, 2009 3:19 PM
@#2
I'm in Regina and I don't even consider Saskatoon that far north. I was in Missinnipe this summer and that was pretty far north for me.
Posted by: Steve Ulven | August 25, 2009 3:29 PM
I went to Minot State from 1998-2000. I haven't been back since 2003 (been in the Twin Cities since 2002), but I don't things have changed too much. It may be a bit rough for the rest of the town that is not there to see you. You will likely have an article about you in the paper, they have nothing else to write about. You'll also be mentioned on the news, all they have to talk about are couples that have been married for 50 years.
However, as one poster mentioned, the Aurora Borealis is rather visible there. Usually more so in winter, but October I think you'll still see it well.
I may hit the Fargo thing, but Minot is a bit of a stretch, and I really hate that town.
Posted by: Dave | August 25, 2009 3:29 PM
If you're in need of any vehicular assistance, give my friend, Jerry Lundegaard a ring. He'll hook you up with a smooth ride and might even knock $100 bucks off that trucoat for ya.
Posted by: LinzeeBinzee | August 25, 2009 3:39 PM
If only that was a weekend and I'd drive the 3 hours south...maybe I'll call in sick...hmmmm...
Posted by: JD | August 25, 2009 3:45 PM
Why not Minot? was the tourist slogan.
Posted by: Jessica Jones | August 25, 2009 3:48 PM
ON MY BIRTHDAY. AT THE UNIVERSITY RIGHT DOWN THE STREET.
I THINK I CAN DIE HAPPY AND WITH MY CAPSLOCK ON.
Posted by: 'Tis Himself, Quel Dommage
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August 25, 2009 3:55 PM
I've been in Minot. I think I had a flat tire there.
Posted by: daveau | August 25, 2009 4:08 PM
My dad's from Minot; I've spent a lot of summers there. They used to have a huge sign on the chamber of commerce that said "Why not Minot!" (I don't think there was a question mark.)
Probably 30 years ago in Chicago, I had an older gay roommate who had spent, apparently, a lot of time in Minot, and described a thriving gay community there. He always said "Why not Minot?", although not in a tone that the chamber of commerce would approve of...
Anyway, why should we be surprised to find a thriving atheist community there?
Posted by: j | August 25, 2009 4:12 PM
perhaps JD, the city slogan for tourism; as a tourist to Minot (mainly unwillingly in my parent's car), I believe that the general tourist slogan was more likely "Why Minot?"
Nonetheless, the point stands: brrrrrrrr
Posted by: Greg | August 25, 2009 4:24 PM
I saw you were on the schedule in Fargo and I am so pissed off that I won't be able to meet you that night. Any other night would have been better. :( :( Next time I guess.
(Pssst - the woodchippers were in Brainerd, MINNESOTA!)
Posted by: stogoe | August 25, 2009 4:26 PM
The Empire Builder stops in Minot; I remember getting off the train to stretch my legs for a few minutes on my way to Glacier a few years ago. That's the only time I've been there.
Posted by: Shaggy Maniac | August 25, 2009 4:47 PM
Pssst - the woodchippers were in Brainerd, MINNESOTA!
I think that would actually be White Bear Lake, MN.
Posted by: Skeptical DoDo | August 25, 2009 5:10 PM
Valkommen. PZ. We are looking forwarded to your visit. We will have a good time. The AFB slogan is more true "Only the Best come north!"
Posted by: CaroCogitatus | August 25, 2009 5:19 PM
I saw "Letting Go Of God" live in L.A. a few years back, and it's hilarious, inspiring, and just plain awesome.
Julia Sweeney is much funnier than they allowed her to be on Saturday Night Live.
Trying hard to contain my jealousy. Have fun!
Posted by: daveau | August 25, 2009 5:21 PM
Shaggy Maniac@21
Well, the movie says White Bear Lake, but anyone who has ever been there (St Paul suburbs) knows that ain't it in the movie. I think they just liked the name for sounding like it was in the middle of nowhere. I don't think the opening scene was shot in Fargo, either, but if they didn't pretend it was, then they'd have to change the title, since it appears nowhere else. I bet it was originally called "Brainerd" or somesuch and they changed it for marketing purposes.
As an aside, I have a lot of MN relatives who didn't get that the accent was supposed to be humorous. They thought it was perfectly normal.
Posted by: overburden | August 25, 2009 5:31 PM
As of 2008, the population of North Dakota was 647,000, with less than 3% professing 'no religion'. Fargo has a population of 90,000, so, there should be 2700 people at the show, give or take a few.
Posted by: kamaka | August 25, 2009 5:33 PM
To experience the finest the Red River Valley has to offer, one really must visit in January.
Posted by: overburden | August 25, 2009 5:43 PM
Yes, late January, but the crowds are unbearable.
Posted by: Mena | August 25, 2009 5:53 PM
Wow, lots of Saskatchewese people...
I'm both in the Chicago suburbs and Saskatoon. A real man would go and talk in Saskatchewan. In January. At night.
Posted by: Art | August 25, 2009 6:00 PM
Visiting ND? Good luck with that.
Posted by: Angel Kaida | August 25, 2009 6:15 PM
I'm so irritated! I've been here the whole summer, and you visit right after I leave?
Posted by: Kage no Kami | August 25, 2009 6:25 PM
HA. I'm living in Grand Forks. I might very well come down for that.
Posted by: kamaka | August 25, 2009 6:53 PM
PZ, are we going out for a beer afterwards?
I forget the name of the place, but there's a brew-pub in Fargo that serves up outstanding beers.
Posted by: PZ Myers
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August 25, 2009 6:58 PM
It is required that we go out for a beer afterwards. Isn't that understood by everyone?
Posted by: Shaggy Maniac | August 25, 2009 7:05 PM
daveau @24:
Well I concede that I don't know where the filming actually took place, but there are small cottages on White Bear Lake, so I think the story line is plausible. Being a Minnesotan from the St. Paul area, I especially enjoyed the line of the hooker in Brainerd who said she was from WBL: "Go Bears!"; I'm not sure why but that cracked me up as much as any part in the movie.
Posted by: kamaka | August 25, 2009 7:06 PM
Apparently not.
Posted by: Fil | August 25, 2009 7:06 PM
For some reason I read North Dakota and Fargo...and I imagine a dusty, begrimed PZ rolling into town in a stagecoach. Then I see him stepping out and taking off his hat, as he helps cute little Miss Atheist (the new school teacher) off the coach.
The nutty reverend, who has been glaring at the pair of them all the way to Fargo, then trips and falls flat on his ass, to make a classic scene complete.
Just shows how watching all those Westerns when you're a kid can mess up your mind... ;-)
Posted by: PZ Myers
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August 25, 2009 7:11 PM
I think of Deadwood. I'm really going to have to spice up my rhetoric for this talk.
I should refer to all creationists as "hoople-headed cocksuckers".
Posted by: daveau | August 25, 2009 7:29 PM
Shaggy Maniac-
Does the name Roseville mean anything to you? I'll concede maybe on the lake proper it looks like that. Of course it was a long time ago, I more remember shopping centers on Hwy 61, but maybe that was Maplewood.
Either way, in the movie it seemed like "White Bear Lake" was even farther from the Cities than Brainerd. You know, on the way to "Fargo."
There were all kinds of little gems like that "go Bears" line. Hilarious.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | August 25, 2009 7:30 PM
It is required that we go out for a beer afterwards. Isn't that understood by everyone?
Please tell me there are places in Fargo that have better beer menus than here in Grand Forks. Hoegaarden and Stella Artois do not a Belgian section make.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | August 25, 2009 7:32 PM
I should refer to all creationists as "hoople-headed cocksuckers".
I will remind people that "cocksucker" should be reserved as a term of endearment. Cocksuckers do, after all, make the world a better place. A much better places. Creationists, not so much.
Posted by: daveau | August 25, 2009 7:34 PM
Oh, yeah, and PZ, I don't think that anyone who lives in the teeming metropolis of Morris (gateway to Alexandria) should be making too much fun of Fargo & Minot. Now, Williston, there's a jerkwater town...
Posted by: Qwerty | August 25, 2009 7:41 PM
Don't go looking for the King of Clubs bar in Fargo. It was in the opening scene of the movie, but the actual location of it was on Central Avenue in NE Minneapolis.
And...*sob* it's... *sob* been... *sob* torn down.
Wahhhh!
I always thought it had a great name and facade, but to be honest, I never went there as I prefer to frequent bars with a gay clientele.
Posted by: Fil | August 25, 2009 7:42 PM
"Hoople-Headed Cocksuckers"?
LOL
Rude evolutionist is rude.
I am now reminded of that most excellent English folk song "Fly Up My Cock".
Whoops, I forgot to put in the comma (I bet everyone Googles it ;-)
Posted by: kamaka | August 25, 2009 7:47 PM
It's a given. GF is the worst beer town ever...
Posted by: Qwerty | August 25, 2009 7:47 PM
So, quite a bit of the movie was shot in NE Minnapolis as the opening wasn't the only scene shot there, then.
Yea, you betcha; doncha know!
Uffda, you foreigners have to buy "How to Talk Minnesotan" by Howard Mohr.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | August 25, 2009 7:51 PM
It's a given. GF is the worst beer town ever...
The entire upper Midwest does criminal things to coffee. I experienced a feeling of pure relief and glee when I found LaVazza in the grocery store the other day (third store that evening searching for something, anything.)
Posted by: GaryB | August 25, 2009 7:53 PM
OK, fellow Saskatchewanians, we need to organize a PZ kidnapping one of those nights to get him to come up here.
PZ, if you can see your way to Regina some day for one of your famous talks, I can guarantee thousands of exploded conservative heads on one side and a shitload of Canadian beer and bacon on the other.
Posted by: kamaka | August 25, 2009 8:08 PM
when I found LaVazza in the grocery store
Oh, do tell where. The best I can find is Sumatra...
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | August 25, 2009 8:13 PM
Oh, do tell where. The best I can find is Sumatra...
Down at the Super One. It's the Oro. I was soooooooooooooooooo happy. One less thing to mail order or stock up on in Winnipeg or Minneapolis.
The Hugos on 32nd had La Vazza for drip coffee makers.
Posted by: kamaka | August 25, 2009 8:19 PM
One less thing to mail order or stock up on
Yah, last time I went to Wisconsin, I came home with a trunkload of beer.
Back on topic... you're going to Fargo for the atheists night out? See you there.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | August 25, 2009 8:23 PM
Back on topic... you're going to Fargo for the atheists night out? See you there.
Yup. Already got another first-year faculty member coming down with me, too. (Will likely shoot for a few more.)
Posted by: Ian H Spedding, FCD | August 25, 2009 8:29 PM
As an ex-pat Brit who married a Minnesotan and now lives in Fargo, I will be there on Sept 24th.
I like the place, although I was a bit disappointed that it was not much like the movie. Nobody speaks in that sing-song Scandinavian-influenced accent. It has a charming little zoo, for example, with some lesser-known species from centraal Asia (my wife and I are among the sponsors of the Pallas cats there). I also like snow for which ND natives all think I'm quite mad.
As for beer, in West Fargo there's the Three Lyons English pub which isn't really but it has a passable selection of English beers to make a change from American gnat's and makes a reasonable stab at British "pub grub" like bangers'n'mash.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | August 25, 2009 8:34 PM
As for beer, in West Fargo there's the Three Lyons English pub which isn't really but it has a passable selection of English beers to make a change from American gnat's and makes a reasonable stab at British "pub grub" like bangers'n'mash.
I know what I'm voting for!
Posted by: Susan | August 25, 2009 9:29 PM
I LOVE Fargo. If I had to live in the US, that is where I would choose to live, Austin, TX coming in close second only because of my huge crush on Matt from Atheist Experience. Grand Forks would be a close second. But then the only other places in the US I have only been to is California - got sunburnt -, Minneapolis - can't live in a city I have trouble spelling and Buffalo, NY - never found the shopping mall. There is a great needle craft shop in Fargo called Nordic Needle. People are friendly and they know alot about sewing. Never brought up god though.
Posted by: Brandon Goodell | August 25, 2009 9:35 PM
Awesomeness - I've been hoping for either an event in Fargo or an event in the cities that coincided with the occasional personal budget bump that happens every couple of months.
Posted by: Berner | August 25, 2009 9:48 PM
@#47
GaryB I 100% agree. While our Christians kooks are relatively mild in Regina, they do love to write into the Leader Post to cry about how atheists are ruining society. I keep having to write and tell them to STFU and deal with our secular constitution and government.
Posted by: GaryB | August 26, 2009 12:11 AM
@#56
Berner, have you listened to Gormley and his sycophants whine about the attack on Christians? Apparently they can't even celebrate Christmas.
Posted by: justawriter | August 26, 2009 12:12 AM
Don't go dissing Minot. It's the stripper bar capital of North Dakota. If you are into other performing arts, it is the smallest community in the U.S. with an active opera company.
For after the event, if the drinking group isn't too large, I would recommend the Blue Rider, which is not a stripper bar. It's owned by an art prof at Minot State who is fairly well known for his abstract cowboy art (yeah, I don't get it either) and its decor and clientele are as eclectic as is possible in Minot. Decent selection of import beer and wine, especially for the size of the establishment.
Hmm. No website but here is a news writeup.
Posted by: Bob Angstrom | August 26, 2009 12:21 AM
I have never been to ND but from what I hear it is a remote outpost of snus chewing Norwegians. Uffda! I might be right at home there.
Posted by: KHRK | August 26, 2009 12:29 AM
I'M TOTALLY GOING TO BE THERE!!
Posted by: Jadehawk, OM | August 26, 2009 12:34 AM
yes!!! I can so do that, even on foot if necessary! Finally a PZ event I can actually attend :-D
Though, I'm gonna try to go to Fargo, too. I like the Fargo Movie Theater
Posted by: Jadehawk, OM | August 26, 2009 12:36 AM
two years and counting; which is nothing on my boyfriend, who has lived here half his life :-)
Posted by: Jadehawk, OM | August 26, 2009 12:48 AM
bah, i must be tired, to be able to think of the teater and the movie theater simultaneously and substityte one for the other while writing :-p
Posted by: Jadehawk, OM | August 26, 2009 12:51 AM
fuck.... I'm going to sleep, I've made myself look sufficiently silly now.
Posted by: kamaka | August 26, 2009 1:01 AM
Ummm, yah, sure. You missed the 35 below zero part, didn't you?
It takes your breath away.
Posted by: Berner | August 26, 2009 9:39 AM
@#57
I refuse to listen to Gormley. He's too stupid for words.
Posted by: Lilie | August 26, 2009 9:59 AM
Would you believe that they are showing the movie 'Fargo' outside on a building the night of the show?
Posted by: marilove | August 26, 2009 12:20 PM
My family is from Grand Forks, ND. :) I may be visiting for Christmas. I am born and raised in Arizona. BLIZZARDS OMG I MIGHT DIE. :(
My grandmother lives right near the Red River.
Posted by: KI | August 26, 2009 12:27 PM
The only thing that has kept me from emigrating to my favorite state was the movie "Jesus Camp". If it is true that ND has a sizable freethought community I may be joining them quite soon.
Posted by: Verimius | August 26, 2009 2:09 PM
While you're in the Peace Garden state, you should consider a visit to the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople, home to the beloved "Professor" Peter Schickele.
Posted by: jerry | August 26, 2009 4:32 PM
that's my deae, wade
Posted by: Susan | August 28, 2009 9:49 PM
@ 65
I didn't mention that I was born and raised in Winnipeg. Which is NORTH of Fargo and a lot colder. We have a high of -35 C in the winter.