Loren Niemi

Here it is Christmas Day and I am finally getting to the Winter Solstice missive.  It’s late but perhaps just as well as I have had time to consider and reconsider what I want to say. To that end, this rumination is in two sections: one personal and if you are a reader of these annual texts, expected, and the other more philosophically grounded in the role and nature of storytelling in these times.   Two weeks ago, Jeni Smith was at the American School of Storytelling preppin

In June of 1985, three men armed with a snare drum, a baritone horn, and a pocket full of play money stood on Nicollet Mall and played a...

On the 20th of March, we marked the Vernal Equinox, the moment of astronomical balance in the great wobble that comes with the Earth’s...

Friends, On this first day of winter, I was wondering where to start this annual ritual of marking the turning of seasons. On one level,...

Friends, This Autumnal missive is late as is autumn itself. Summer is reluctant to leave, and though the light continues to slip away,...

Summer comes. Rain comes beneath great black clouds with quicksilver edges. Lightning? Thunder? Not so much. Rain in spasms, the sky...

Friends, My oldest cousin Duane, died on February 20th. Cancer. Woke up one morning paralyzed from the shoulders down, diagnosed with...

My scattered friends and beloveds, The long dark night of the winter solstice is upon us. 9:27 PM Central marks the arrival and to tell...

Summer Solstice arrives ((in the Central Time zone) at 9:57 AM. It’s sunny, 73 now with an expected high of 92. The air quality is “iffy”...

Now is the future (or at least part of it) that they said was coming and frankly it is as bad as they said it would be. What? Who is the...

1) I am late in posting this missive. As late as spring’s arrival in Minnesota feels. When I got on the plane to go to the Texas...

Here at the end of January in Minneapolis it is cold. -9 with a predicted high of 9 above and good news, February will climb into the...

The Solstice is upon us. The long cold night gives way to the still cold but sunny day. For myself, a time of ending a longstanding...

As the Founder of the American School of Storytelling I have been asked what exactly is your vision for the school? My answer is the...

Today marks my 75th birthday. If you will indulge me, I’ll make a few observations on my life so far and my intentions going forward. If...

The highlight of my summer has been Calumet Edition’s publication of my poetic memoir - “A Breviary for the Lost” – which explores the...

I see that I have been neglectful of blog posts this summer. July and August seemed to race by with their own crisis or pleasures and now...

The predicted high for today is 95 and humid. Yesterday it was 101 and felt like it. Welcome to summer, and what, in the climate collapse...

I see that I missed an April post. Perhaps that can be forgiven as the last 12 days of April were spent “on the road.” with performances...

My Face Book memories offered up a post from Colleen Kruse from this date in 2019, asking if it was time for us to do another performance...