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Brian Voerding

Brian Voerding is a freelance journalist who has written for the Rake, Minnesota Law & Politics, Minnesota Monthly and other publications. Voerding wrote for the Winona Daily News, where he won awards for covering agriculture, government, politics, crime and other beats. While in Winona, he spent four months on a nine-part narrative series titled "A Year to Live," [PDF] which chronicled the last year of a terminally ill woman's life and her choice to die at home.

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Politics & Policy

A poet hooked on rhyme, reason and recycling

By Brian Voerding | 10/24/08
By Brian Voerding | Friday, Oct. 24, 2008 Is Larry Schug a poet who coordinates recycling, or a recycling coordinator who writes poetry? To Schug, that's not a fair question. Or even a question at all. He is, well, who he is.
Education

Food for thought: a college senior's project on co-ops

By Brian Voerding | 08/14/08
Just a senior project, nothing too expansive; something focused and finished off-campus, something to cap his self-designed political gastronomics major at Antioch College in Ohio.
Education

When St. Olaf students say 'Bon appetit!' they really mean it

By Brian Voerding | 08/12/08
College cafeteria food is an American cultural icon, a punchline to campus jokes, and a badge of intestinal fortitude for the countless among us who suffered four years of undercooked and greasy everything.
Education

Prof to law schools: Get beyond books and into the real world

By Brian Voerding | 08/04/08
Med-school students stick IVs into patients’ arms, operate on lifelike dummies. Psychology grad students sit in on client sessions. Developing actors memorize lines and produce plays; budding musicians rehearse and perform concerts.
Education

Your water: Via tap or bottle, it may well be municipal

By Brian Voerding | 07/23/08
If you live in Minneapolis, you probably smelled something funny in your tap water weeks before you heard the news. My water (I live in southwest Minneapolis) didn't smell, but starting in early July, it acquired a vaguely earthy taste.
Education

Political activism leads to self-discovery -- and teaching

By Brian Voerding | 07/22/08
As a high-school student in Shoreview, Mitra Jalali wasn't much of an activist. She had potential, she figured, but struggled to step up in such a structured environment. Read more... By Brian Voerding
Education

What smells like rotten eggs -- and can both kill us and save us?

By Brian Voerding | 06/26/08
Whenever a farm with odor problems makes headlines, what's causing the pollution is usually a single, colorless emission: hydrogen sulfide gas. Read more... By Brian Voerding
Education

Suit against dairy still seen as a rare, extreme step

By Brian Voerding | 06/25/08
When the state late last week sued a northwestern Minnesota dairy for air pollution, it initially seemed something larger, a warning shot fired at other smelly feedlots across the state. Manage the odor problems or prepare for a lawsuit.
Education

Court gives slap to AG's office, back-patting material to SaveWCAL

By Brian Voerding | 06/16/08
A judge had some harsh words last week regarding St. Olaf College's embattled sale of its radio station, WCAL (now 89.3 the Current), to Minnesota Public Radio in 2004. Read more... By Brian Voerding
Education

Even campus buildings have something to teach

By Brian Voerding | 06/11/08
There's a green building revolution occurring on Minnesota's colleges and universities. Read more... By Brian Voerding