Rob Palson´s, a Riverton native with deep roots in the New Iceland area, has crafted Little Town, a song that weaves together the shared memories, pride, and traditions of Manitoba's small communities. Rod said that he wanted to create something that would resonate with people who, like him, grew up in or have spent time in close-knit towns. Little Town reflects his own journey and deep ties to Riverton and Hnausa, where he found sanctuary from the stresses of his advertising work. “The cottage and family time kept me grounded,” Rod shares. “It gave me a moment most weekends to be myself and leave the pressure behind.”...

In spite of the falling temperature, a large audience came out to hear Torfi H. Tulinius, who is at the University of Victoria as the visiting Beck Lecturer for the spring term, for his first lecture on Sunday, January 19. A medievalist from the University of Iceland, specializing in Old Norse-Icelandic literature, he's been here twice already. Before he began his talk, he told us that he and his wife, Guðbjörg, who is with him, had discovered that his wife is connected to Richard Beck in a number of ways. It is Richard and Margaret Beck who left their house to be sold to raise the money to create the Beck Trust/Lectures...

North Dakota is a prairie land, flat with fields strewn across the landscape with groves of trees popping up here and there. Often the trees were planted around farmsteads to give the settlers shelter from the harsh wind. Driving from the border crossing to Mountain, my eyes were set on the pretty fields, the breadbaskets where canola, corn, and wheat were growing under the warm sun. Before I knew it, I was driving the gravel road between Mountain and One Majestic Place. I felt this rare feeling that I was returning back home after some time away. Waiting for me there was Staci, a fine, kind woman who I had the pleasure of meeting two years prior...