jack zaleski

Two surveys by the Gallup organization go a long way to explain North Dakotans’ satisfaction with what some might define as the status quo. The results also suggest that the majority political class in the state can rest easy as election time nears. Gallup found that 77 percent...

I am among a minority of Americans who believe the nation should restore space exploration to a priority. After the scientific and engineering triumph of the 1969 lunar landing and subsequent trips to the moon, NASA’s manned space program began a slow slide from the national consciousness....

I’m not sure when the term “Beatlemania” became part of the language, but it was an apt description of what exploded onto the American scene in February 50 years ago. I remember the time as if it were yesterday. I was a senior in high school. We were emerging (never to fully...

So the kiddies at a Grand Forks school didn't like dance rules and bolted to an off-school site so they could gyrate as pornographically as they pleased. What else is new? The story last week was a generational rerun of the conflict between always-changing culture (dancing) and the...

Here are three suggestions for your summer reading. Two of the three might seem surprising choices, but bear with me. Sometimes a serving of heavier fare can be a satisfying literary treat. First, go light and fun. "Gridlock," by Byron Dorgan and David Hagberg. (Tom Doherty Associates...

I bought a couple of pounds of apples the other day and discovered they were Braeburns from New Zealand. New Zealand! Crisp and sweet, the imports were really good. Then I took a short -- very short -- guilt trip. Isn't it fashionable these days, I pondered, to refrain from buying...

I grew up in a ragout of Roman Catholicism that was spiced with ethnicity. Until about the mid-1960s, when my generation was shedding ancestry as a vital element of identity, Catholic churches in my blue-collar hometown in southern New England were distinguished by their connection...

The best thing that could happen to Democrats in the run-up to the 2016 election campaign is a Republican slate of Sarah Palin for president and Rand Paul for her running mate. It's a dream ticket for Democrats, a nightmare for Republicans. As the Republican Party attempts to put...