Cigarettes on Wheels
She clutched two things with one arm. A Styrofoam coffee cup, already half-empty, apparently, was tucked between her elbow and her black jacket, its black lid somehow holding on for dear life, surviving the squeeze. “Holiday,” it smushedly said. The
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A Minimum-Median-Maximum Wage, or Something
A “minimum” wage is hard to define across a country as diverse as ours. A wage that’s truly “minimum” in South Dakota would be sub-minimal in California; a “minimum” wage on the coasts would approach the median in Mississippi. But
Read MoreIs affordable housing still a ‘human right’ in an unaffordable place?
My latest opinion column in the Duluth News Tribune raises the point that spending millions on “affordable housing” in unaffordable places is a slap in many rural Americans’ faces. Beware cheesy references to Aesop’s fable about the Country Mouse.
Read MoreA Whopper of a Wage
My opinion article in the Duluth News Tribune considers the effects of a “living wage” on multi-earner vs. single-earner families. It also features a slew of bad Burger King puns. P. A. Jensen (@RuralityChecker) lives in Minnesota
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For Fun: Liberal House on the Prairie
“Well, Caroline, the world’s going to hell in a handbasket.” “Charles!” “But it’s true,” Pa said, stomping off his boots at the door. He handed her a rabbit by the back feet. “Did you know McSweeney’s isn’t carrying fresh produce
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Do Teams that Lose More Also Lose by More?
Or, do teams that win more win by more? My latest data-driven article at College Hockey News answers both questions by examining game data from the last seven seasons of NCAA Division-I men’s hockey. P. A. Jensen
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Beware “The Million”
She was squatting and lunging like a powerlifter, heaving, her neck straining, little ligamentendons popping under a blonde ponytail. A nursing-assistant MMA fighter in pink scrubs, locked in a death match with a super-heavyweight. Which was kind of true, except
Read MorePattern Recognition: Trends in Goal-Scoring among College-Hockey Conferences
Do some conferences in men’s college hockey score more goals than others? Have more lopsided margins of victory? More ties? My latest at College Hockey News crunches the numbers. P. A. Jensen (@PrideOnIceCream) lives in Minnesota with his wife and
Read MoreNot-So-Photo Finish: Competitive Balance within College-Hockey Conferences
I recently wrote a data-driven article for College Hockey News about whether some conferences’ championship races are routinely more competitive than others. As always, thanks for reading. P. A. Jensen (@PrideOnIceCream) lives in Minnesota with his wife
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Do You Golf? A Case for Small-Town Generalism
“Alright—let ‘er rip.” That’s my friend Matt, kind enough to go golfing with me. He’s a good enough golfer to know how to help you, and a good enough teacher to make you feel like you’re learning instead of being
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Jensen Fawn Care: Man’s Struggle Against Nature, Kinda
My captor is a fawn, young enough to have spots. It waits, watching sentinel over my backyard, nosing itself and panting in the sun, then lounging in the shade as the afternoon rotates around it. It waits diligently, probably just
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Outsiders: The Gender Balance of Housework, Inside and Out
Our editor has written an article about household gender roles for A Voice for Men. Check it out here.
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Poe-try
He died before I could get another chance to see him for the first time. Louis Jenkins, plainspoken prose poet, was speaking at a poetry reading in the biggish city, in a liberal church, hosted by the independent bookstore. So
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Support Local Journalism, They Said: A Small-Town Model
The gnome was on its ass, face up, smiling. It had obviously been in a street fight, and lost to the street—or driveway, anyway. The tan-and-rusted minivan doing its predawn rounds with hazards flashing had wandered off that driveway, its
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For Fun: Post-Viral Parenting
The virus lays bare the trades we’ve made. Trading our time for money, we’re told, is what we all do. Fair enough. Trading our kids for money, we’re not told, is also what we all do. Fair not enough. Foul.
Read MoreArc Enemies: Comparing a Two-Point Arc in Hockey to Basketball’s Three-Point Arc
A two-point arc in hockey? No thanks. Our editor’s latest at US College Hockey Online outlines why an extra-point arc works in basketball, but wouldn’t in hockey. (Our editor sorts his social media into separate accounts; to get his takes
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The Progressive Flat Tax
Imagine that we didn’t pay income taxes online, or by check. Imagine that we paid them in person, in cash, on Tax Day. Maybe everybody in town would bring sacks of cash to the Central Tax Pit and dump them
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Coronavirus and Gratitude
By writing this I hereby forfeit the popularity contest that I was never going to win. Friends, I come bearing inconvenient news: we’ve missed the point about the coronavirus. Yes, yes, this flavor of coronavirus is, indeed, a big deal.
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Minnesota Nice on Ice: An Ode to the Spectacle (and Diversity) of College Hockey
I recently saw a fight at a college hockey game. No penalties were assessed—it was a Politeness Fight. Parents stood nearby, watching their kids shoving… the puck into each other’s hands. “Here, you take it,” said one boy. “No, I
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For Fun: Lady Trojans Invade the Northland
“Next on the agenda is Principal Swenson for an update with the mascot problem. Ray?” “Thanks. As some of you know, we got a cease-and-desist letter from Really Equal for All demanding that we change our sports logo. Apparently a
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