(light music) - [Announcer] "Almanac" is a production of Twin Cities PBS for the stations of Minnesota Public Television Association.

- Oh, do we have a treat for you tonight, a look back at some of our favorite stories and conversations from the past year.

It's all part of a special New Year's edition of "Almanac," and it all starts right now.

(gentle music) "Almanac" is made possible by members of this public television station.

Support is also provided by Great River Energy, providing wholesale power to 28 Minnesota electric cooperatives.

Delta Dental of Minnesota Foundation, improving oral health while advancing social equities, deltadentalmn.org/tpt.

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, a tribal nation focused on community and collaboration, especially in times like today.

and Education Minnesota, the voice for professional educators and students throughout the state, more at educationminnesota.org.

One Greater Minnesota reporting on "Almanac" is made possible in part by the Otto Bremer Trust, whose mission is investing in people, places, and opportunities in our region.

Additional support is provided by the Blandin Foundation, working to strengthen rural Minnesota.

- We have a special show for you this holiday week.

Eric and I and the entire Almanac team have picked some of our favorite stories from 2022 that we think deserve to be seen again.

- Kathy and I will be back in a few minutes with our own choices, but we start the hour with a story selected by Mary Lahammer.

(light music) - My most memorable story of the year was our interview with former governor, Jesse Ventura.

Following several U.S. Supreme Court decisions, I recalled the controversial independent governor had instituted a nonpartisan judicial appointment process that he was pretty proud of.

What was interesting to me was the reaction to his very progressive politics.

I think the American public and the world is looking at the U.S. Supreme Court.

I want to talk about your process.

- I approached judges looking at their qualifications and what they had done as a lawyer.

I wanted people who had vast courtroom experience.

You know, I didn't want someone who hadn't been in the courtroom to sit as a judge now, no.

I want someone who's been in court, and I formed a panel of very trusted lawyers I knew.

- Why is a nonpartisan judiciary essential for democracy to work?

- It has to be nonpartisan because they are there to rule on the rule of law.

They are not there to subject us to their own personal opinions of that law.

- Is the U.S. Supreme Court doing that?

Is this their personal opinions?

- Well, I will say this, they have two liars on the court.

How do we feel about that?

- Because of the Senate hearing?

- [Jesse] Yes.

- Is that what you're referring to?

- I watched them.

If they would've said that to me and I would've appointed them a judge, right?

I would be doing everything in my power to remove them, because I don't want a judge who's a liar.

A judge has the title of being honorable.

I think I named 73 judges, if I'm correct.

I'm so proud that one of my judges was a finalist, Wilhelmina Wright.

- [Mary] Oh, that's right, yeah.

So Wilhelmina Wright was one of yours?

- Oh, absolutely.

- Oh, okay.

- I appointed her.

I was so proud of that.

I was cheering on, put her on the Supreme Court.

And you know what?

The head guys of my panel warned me when I appointed her she could end up on the Supreme Court.

I was told that when I appointed her.

They said you have a superstar here.

- What about the court's decision that essentially overturns Roe v. Wade?

I was going back to your administration and remembering a veto that you issued, and I've talked to some folks in your administration, and upon reflection and upon my memory, the veto of the 24-hour waiting period for abortion was one of the harder decisions you had to make, wasn't it?

- What it was, and I remember Christine Jax, my head of education, she named it the "Women Are Stupid Bill," and that's what I referred to it then, as the "Women Are Stupid Bill," because, and here's the compromise I proposed to the Republicans.

I said, "okay, I'll sign the 24-hour wait if you include all elective surgery in it," which means if you're getting a vasectomy.

- Let's talk about the issue of abortion, though.

You inherently believe in a woman's right to choose.

- Absolutely, and that stems back to my mom.

My mom was a World War II veteran, a nurse.

She was the head nurse in surgery at North Memorial Hospital in the Twin Cities for the majority of her career.

And I remember, as a child, when Roe v. Wade came in, the relief my mother had at home, going, "Thank goodness."

I remember her saying, "You should see the things we get in the emergency room."

Watching back alley abortions come into the emergency room where both child and mother, many times, perish.

- I'm sure you've heard the Roe v. Wade decision puts a lot of other rights in jeopardy too, and possibly same sex marriage and gay rights.

And as a governor, you were the first governor to try to institute same sex partner benefits for state workers.

- Which the Republicans and the Democrats, immediately bargained away after I left.

- Do people remember you standing up for gay rights, for women's rights, do you think?

- Probably not, but I can go farther than that, Mary.

I drugged the first lady out of the house to go down and march and protest in the Equal Rights Amendment way back in the 80's.

- The two of you did that?

And should that still pass now?

- I made her.

I made her.

- Really?

You were a high school football coach.

You've had some things to say about religion.

What do you think about that decision?

Should high school football players be praying with their coach?

- I believe in freedom of religion.

I, myself, I'm an agnostic atheist.

I get angry because our society subjects me to religion.

- Can you tell us what you're driving?

Will you tell us?

- I'm driving two Teslas now.

- And why?

- Why?

Because I don't want a carbon footprint, and mine run off the sun.

I did my entire house in solar.

- Did you pay attention to the very last Supreme Court decision, not allowing the administration to regulate?

How do you feel about that?

- Well, you've got religion coming into government again, because all those people that don't believe in climate change, they're all the ones that believe the Lord's gonna take care of us.

- So where are you with President Trump right now?

'Cause this is a person I think you used to call a friend.

He came here, he talked to your people, he studied your playbook.

- Certainly, he did.

That was 20 years ago, and that was also when Donald Trump supported the Clintons and was pro-choice.

I think the question to ask me is why did Donald Trump change so drastically in 20 years from the person I met 20 years ago?

- Okay, why do you think so?

- For his own benefit.

- And how do you feel about that?

Would you still call him a friend?

Do you respect him?

- Oh, no.

- Okay.

- No, not at all.

I think Donald Trump is the worst thing that's happened to the United States of America.

His presidency, it's divided our country.

- On the flip side, how do you feel about Biden?

- Biden, to me, he won as more of a stop-Trump, anti-anything but, which had to happen, please.

I feel Biden's a career politician.

- Could you put it on a scale of one to 10, how interested in running for president?

- I won't do it just to do it.

There's other things in life that I would prefer doing, but my patriotism is always in the back pocket.

- And you're 70 right now.

- Yeah.

- Is it something you feel like you want to embark on?

- If I were 50, I'm all in.

- Okay.

- If I were 50 right now, all in.

- And you talk about being courted.

- I would love to debate Trump.

(light music) - This beautiful wintry backdrop behind me is the Stillwater Lift Bridge, now open for pedestrians and bicycles.

One of my favorite stories of this past year was also about bicycles, fat tire biking in Northern Minnesota.

(light music) Along Lake Superior's shore, winter reveals a special ethereal beauty for those who brave the elements.

A popular way to enjoy the season did not even exist 20 years ago.

Now, fat tire biking is here to stay.

- I think it's growing every year.

You know, it's just a way for riders to keep active in the wintertime.

Used to be that everybody put their bikes away in the winter and waited until the snow went away.

Well, now we've found a way to ride in the snow, and it actually is pretty much fun.

And so, yeah, here we are.

- [Kaomi] Kennedy and his group are bike trail enthusiasts.

They have helped develop dozens of mountain bike trails in Cook County.

- I think it's just a lot like riding a bike in the summer.

It's just the feeling of freedom, being out in the woods, one with nature, as some say.

And it's just a great feeling.

I mean, the elements come into play probably a little bit more in the wintertime.

You have to prepare, dress for the weather conditions, and it can obviously be pretty cold, and you have to be a little bit more aware of the trail conditions, you know, when even groomed trails are different day-to-day based on the snow or the temperature.

- Fat tire bikes were invented about 15 years ago.

Some guys wanted to ride bikes in the Iditarod race in Alaska.

They started making prototypes.

They had to figure out how to get a mountain bike to glide on snow.

Okay, Tim, so this is a fat tire bike?

- It is, and you can see the tires are way wider than a normal mountain bike would be.

Those are four- to five-inch wide tires that, typically, you need for the flotation, to keep you having traction on the snow or the icy conditions.

- And is it a bigger frame than a normal mountain bike?

- It's pretty much the same frame.

Generally, the fat bikes don't have suspension, so, really, the tire itself is where you get your flotation and your shock absorption.

- [Kaomi] This month, area tourism officials are hosting the Norpine Fat Bike Classic near Lutsen.

The course runs through 19 miles of the Norpine Ski Trail between Cascade River State Park and Superior National Forest.

The trails are maintained by the Norpine Trail Association.

There are two competitive races, an untimed tour, and a moonlight ride.

- What we find here for the trail, the forest generally around Cascade Lodge is what you'd see along the North Shore.

It can be a mix of balsam, aspen, birch, and you know, in the wintertime, all that leafy vegetation is down, so you can see a fair ways into the woods.

There are some sections where you've got some old growth, red pine, white pine, white cedars that are really kind of special places.

- [Kaomi] And while riding a fat tire bike is generally like riding a regular bike, these riders kept stressing one thing, tire pressure.

- So you test to see how soft it is.

If you're riding on a hard trail with two soft of conditions, you're gonna bog down, but if you're riding a soft trail with too hard of a tire, you're gonna dig in and it's not gonna be a very enjoyable ride.

So getting the right tire pressure is really important.

- [Kaomi] Gary Sjoquist is a longtime fat biker.

He pretty much started when it began.

- I spent 22 years in the bike industry, working for a company that really helped bring mass production to fat bikes, so a lot of these bikes here are made by our company, tires, rims, gloves, all that kind of stuff.

If you had asked me in 1995 will we ever be riding bikes on snow, I'd say, "Are you crazy?"

But here we are.

It's a wonderful way to get out.

- It's so much fun, and every time I get on my fat bike, I just kind of giggle, 'cause it just kind of brings me back to childhood.

It's just a fun way to get out in the woods, and it's especially unique to be able to do that in the wintertime.

- Now it was time for me to try.

Okay, so just get on?

I'm kind of nervous to do this.

Yeah, the tires are feel a little different.

(Kaomi breathes heavily) It's quite a workout.

Admittedly, it was hard work, but it did feel like I was floating, and I'm already planning my next ride, because for a brief time, it made me feel like I had conquered winter.

(gentle music) - I gotta say, this was a tough decision.

Go with one of our guest conversations, a Kaomi Lee story, or a delightful David Gillette commentary that struck me and stopped me in my tracks.

In a world that goes by much too fast and is so chaotic, David decided it was time to get out of the fast lane and slow it all down.

Take a look.

(upbeat music) - [David] Is there anything more futile than trying to make life pass more slowly?

Do less, live in the present, savor the moment.

I've been practicing all of these, and they feel great, but let me tell you, the days, they just keep flying by.

It's a sparkle and a wink, and there's another year gone, forever gone.

There is one thing thing I've found that helps just a bit.

I've been shooting all my family videos in slow motion, and I mean it, this is true.

It's a simple effect, but I love it.

The world in slow motion is magical.

It breathes, it moves in civilized parabolas, and there's plenty of time to see all the painful stuff headed your way.

My phone is filling up with clips just like these, and they're my personal meditation superpower because I can strip the frenetic mortality out of whatever I want.

Nature.

My lips.

Childhood.

At a pace like this, it's just hard to imagine anything truly bad ever happening.

It's a reality that's just too graceful to accommodate malice, and you have to admit, these days, that's a pretty attractive feature for a phone.

- Last winter, "Almanac" data reporter Kyeland Jackson took a look at a controversial program known as the Medicaid Estate Recovery Program.

The program basically allows the government to recoup the costs of Medicaid expenses from the home equity of a recipient.

Kyeland Jackson has now moved on to be a reporter for the Star Tribune, where he gets a chance to do stories like this on a regular basis.

Let's take a second look at Kyeland's work.

- This is the house that used to belong to my parents, Marvin and Kathy White.

I own it now, since they've passed away.

Yeah, my dad, he was a contractor when he was younger.

He used to build houses for several years, and he built this house on his own.

He never had any blueprints for it.

He always said all the blueprints there up here in his head.

He never had nothing written down on paper, but everything always came out square.

My mom, she was originally a telephone operator for St. Mary's Hospital.

Then, after she had us kids, it was easier for her to stay home and take care of the kids, and pretty soon, she was babysitting for every family in the neighborhood out here.

- [Kyeland] For nearly 70 years, Kevin White's family home has been a foundation in the lives of his relatives and his neighbors, but that foundation is now at risk.

- This was the last big photograph that I have, where we were all together.

- [Kyeland] When Kevin's mom was hospitalized with type one diabetes, she qualified for Medical Assistance Estate Recovery.

It's a program where counties claw back what they spent on Medicaid recipients by going after their estates.

Months after she died, Kevin got a 13-page letter in the mail that said that she owes back $187,000.

To pay it back, the state put a lien on his family home, but by the time that his loan was ready, the housing market and his home's value had boomed.

That's when Kevin got another letter.

The state had canceled their first deal, saying that his lien amount had now doubled.

- Well, I don't agree with the way they go about the changing the rules as they go.

That's just not, not the right thing to do.

- How does this affect your trust in the state and its systems?

- I've gotten to where I don't really trust anything that they say.

Just because they said it or put it in writing doesn't mean that that's what they're gonna stick to.

- Kevin is one of many Minnesotans who are stuck in these kind of situations.

State data requested by Twin Cities PBS shows that more than 64,000 Minnesotans have paid into the estate recovery program in recent years.

That's raked in more than a quarter of a billion dollars.

And while that sounds like a lot of money, that is still less than 1% of what the state spends to cover people on medical assistance.

- We spend $7 billion on medical assistance in the state of Minnesota, and estate recovery is like grain of sand at the bottom of somebody's shoe.

We have a program that's active across our state, and we try to make sure that it's fair to everybody and that it's implemented evenly.

- Although state officials work to make sure that the program is fair for people like Kevin, many of their offices are short-staffed, and complicated loopholes are allowing some families to benefit from Medicaid without paying for estate recovery.

One report to Congress by a nonpartisan agency said that estate recovery programs across the nation are destroying intergenerational wealth opportunities and making wealth inequality worse.

- He built the house here himself in 1968, got the property from his parents.

- That may be the case for Kevin White.

He's worked at a chroming factory for 35 years now, and he says that the money he spent fighting this case is draining his equity and his savings.

But if you ask him why he does it, Kevin says that he wants to pass on the foundation and the legacy of this home onto his son.

- Yeah, I try to do a lot of cutbacks.

I mean, we don't go out to to eat or go to movies or don't travel anymore than we really have to, to try to save, save every little bit that we can.

I feel that it's worth fighting for to try to hang onto it.

If you know that it's wrong, just stick to your guns and try to fight for what you believe in.

(gentle music) - Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev died in August, and we had a conversation with two Minnesota fashion photographers who had the rare opportunity to photograph the state dinner when Gorbachev visited the governor's residence in 1990.

Let's take a look at part of that conversation.

Chuck, how did you fashion photographer guys get this gig?

- We were donated.

It was, we went along as a gift from Dayton Hudson Corporation, as many of the corporations in the area donated to the event.

Dayton's provided china and crystal and linens for the table.

They gave some fashion consulting and styling for Lola Perpich, and a couple photographers to take pictures.

- Was this in your skillset, doing this kind of shooting?

- To be honest, not really.

(chuckles) This is like a once in a lifetime thing.

So, in our business, you can reshoot something.

You couldn't really reshoot the Gorbachev visit, so it was crazy.

So, to say the least, we were pretty excited about doing this, though, when it came about.

- I'm sure a little nervous.

- Totally nervous.

- Yeah.

- We got some- - I mean.

- Go ahead.

- No, I was gonna say, when you bring up the photos, I was pretty good about looking relaxed, but underneath- - It was a whirlwind.

- Yeah, it was.

- We got some photos.

Why don't we take a look and you guys can, as we talk, you were stationed outside to begin with, outside the residence?

- No, we started in.

This is Michael, first thing in the morning.

Welcome to the governor's mansion.

We were there about 10 a.m., and the event started at two.

So there was a lot of time to get things in order.

- [Eric] Lot of help here.

- [Chuck] The staff of Goodfellows catered the event, so they were busy getting the tables set up and food prep in the kitchen during that early time.

- [Eric] How close did you guys get to the table?

- We were close to everything.

- Yeah, we were in the mix.

- [Eric] 'Cause there's not that much room around the perimeter of the table really.

- No.

- No.

- [Eric] The crowd outside was fun that day.

Even the protestors were having fun.

- Well, yes, there was high energy, I mean, everywhere.

- What was security like, though, for you guys?

I'm sure, because you were the only ones shooting for posterity in that area, you must have had- - [Chuck] It was tough.

I mean we had, I mean, I've never seen so many KGB guys.

And police with rifles on the roof and all of that.

But we had a security clearance fairly high for this, that, however those things happened, they pushed through pretty quickly.

- [Eric] Now, Mrs. Perpich's dress, that yellow number.

- [Chuck] Yes, this is the arrival at the mansion.

- [Eric] She really popped in that, that yellow dress.

- [Chuck] She really popped, she looked fantastic.

- But she was dressed by Dayton's.

Let's just, yeah.

- [Chuck] Yes, Dayton's, I believe the Dayton's Oval Room, which was the fashion service for women, pitched in and helped on.

- You were talking about the table, too.

That was about the only time we were able to really, people were sitting down, we'd have to track them down and we didn't have security guys trying to hold us back.

- It got a little calmer once everybody got at the table.

- [Eric] Robert Maxwell was, he had a very wild tie on that day, and he kind of dominated things.

- [Chuck] He did, yes.

He was a rather boisterous character and well-known.

He did know Gorbachev and had met him before.

He spoke numerous languages fluently, and so he was on Gorbachev's shoulder probably most frequently.

They were having their own personal conversation going back and forth.

- What did you think of Gorbachev?

He seemed like he was totally comfortable.

- He was really magnetic, man.

I mean, when he came out, I remember when he approached, it was almost like the Pope was coming.

He would stop and people would just rush the car.

It was unbelievable.

- [Eric] Now, as they were, go ahead.

- No, I was just, it was amazing.

- He definitely had a presence, and very calm, I thought, in the midst of what was very chaotic and energy buzzing around him constantly.

He seemed so calm in the center of that, and a soft, pleasant smile.

He acknowledged people right into their face.

- [Eric] Now, when they were leaving, you were sprinting down the road trying to keep up with the limo, is that the story?

- [Chuck] Yes, that is the story.

I don't know that I was supposed to be doing that.

Probably not, but in the frenzy, the photos now are just stepping outside of the mansion.

You can see the security up on the roof.

But I just ran out into it, not thinking, I'm still taking pictures, and I have a suit and tie on, so I kind of blended in with the suit and tie folks, and I was really wrapped right in with the security people.

When they got in the car, I just ran down the street with the car, taking pictures until they took off, and I realized I was the only person in the middle of the street with a couple of Secret Service guys wondering who I was.

- Chuck, not good.

- How I got there.

- Think I was back having some champagne while you were running down the... - And I had no idea.

- What kind of equipment did you guys use to shoot this?

- Well it's 35 millimeter.

- The old days.

- Yeah, old days.

- I had on-camera flash, which I probably should had my phone now.

I may probably take better, sharper pictures.

- It would probably take better pictures.

- So it's amazing.

- So, because you guys are fashion photographers, what was it like to work as a news photographer, in a sense?

- Totally different.

- It was tough, because, like I said, you don't have a chance to make a mistake, so thank God there were two of us.

- We're used to studio environment with lots of equipment, lots of planning, very controlled, and a team of people working on things, and the time to do it.

Event photography is, yeah, a whole nother kind of thing.

- Are these photos in some historical society or museum or somewhere?

Where are these images?

- To my understanding, two sets of, it was shot on 35 millimeter slide and duplicate sets were made.

The state got a couple of sets.

One went to the Minnesota Historical Society and one to the Department of State.

Dayton's Corporation kept a couple, and Mike and I got the dupe set for ourselves.

And there might have been a few others, but a few went out there.

- Because you guys have been in the business for a long time, you've shot a lot of different things.

Where's this rank in terms of your careers?

- This is a highlight.

I mean it was, any time you say that you shot Gorbachev, it's, "Oh, really?

Wow, that's awesome."

And I even feel like, you know, it's a historical thing.

I mean when I saw that he had passed, I was, it was tough to see that, you know?

'Cause I really, he was just such a influential person in Russia, you know?

- And a charismatic person.

- Well it was just that.

Yeah, he was magnetic, and like I said before, he was like the Beatles showed up that day, you know?

- Yeah, it wasn't just him, but everybody around him, whether they were near and involved in politics or the people on the street, you just felt it everywhere.

(light music) - Hi, I'm Tane Danger, and it is my job to introduce to you a montage of some of the favorite essays created for this year on "Almanac."

The producers told me that one of mine will be featured.

I hope that they weren't lying.

- This is a brand new show called, "Hey, What's Cooking on This Bus?"

where we get on a bus and we see if we can make breakfast by the time we get to our final stop.

Let's get cooking.

I like to peel and cut my onions with a wooden spoon.

Ta-da!

Gonna pour this in.

They call it a three-egg omelet for a reason.

Let's add a little bit of milk, not too much.

I like to whisk until you get to the next stop.

That's how you know when you're done.

(whisk taps) A key thing for cooking on the bus, you're gonna want a good cutting board.

If you you want to learn how to make this, all you have to do is watch my other show, New Yankee Bus Stop, and we're done, here it is, a complete three-egg vegetable omelet just in time for our final stop.

- What we really need to talk about is political meteorology.

As in there's a projected 9.3 billion state surplus, which means that the sun is shining and there is partisan hay to be made.

- That's right honey, it is fair season.

You got your strawberry festival in Cottage Grove, the Meeker County Fair in Litchfield, and about a dozen others.

I like to think of all of them as getting us ready for that great Minnesota get together later this month.

You see these smaller fairs are like going to the gym when you can work out and get your body ready.

And the Minnesota State Fair is the Olympics where you actually get the medal.

- Every year they do these articles about all the new foods at the fair.

Basically they take two or three things that don't go together and combine them, like raspberry glazed liver croissants or caramel sardine schnitzel.

For me, it's about the basics.

Milkshake, snow cones, mini donuts.

We only have 12 days to get it all in.

After that, it disappears.

It's like Brigadoon, and once it's gone, you can never go back again for a year.

- Attend a major concert these days.

And how do audience members express their pleasure?

Sure, they wave their cell phones, waved them in the air.

But I clearly remember what we did before cell phones, remember seventies?

Yep.

We held up and flipped out our BIC lighters.

- Fall happens to be the best time of year.

Fall is the best colors, the best sports, and most importantly the best gourds.

Oh my goodness.

There are so many gorgeous, groundbreaking, gregarious gourds guiding groups galore this fall.

These incredible fruits only show up one time of year, and I love it.

I love the pumpkin.

Pumpkins are essentially the John Lennon of gourds.

They tend to stand in front and are a little over mentioned, but who can blame them?

Pumpkin seeds, pumpkin spice, however you slice them, pumpkins are delicious.

- Here's the thing, if we don't figure this water business out as a nation slash world, people will go where the water is.

And those that felt some type of way about sending water to California will have to contend with Californians coming here.

Do we really wanna listen to transplants complain about how cold the winter is, how long it lasts, how absolutely miserable February and March are?

I think not.

(light music) - Have you ever walked into a building and thought, "Wow, this place is cool?"

This next story might make you wonder if the places you visit often have their own fascinating histories.

(light music) - [Narrator] There is a building in Owatonna that looks like a jewel box.

Arched windows, warm terracotta flourishes, not afraid of color.

It's now a Wells Fargo bank, but it started out under a different name.

- There is no more significant building in the United States.

This is one of, probably the top 10 most important buildings in the whole country.

And that is because of Louis Sullivan.

- [Narrator] Sullivan was a brash architect in Chicago, who was all about anti-establishment architecture.

He had some successes and also problems with money and drinking.

But Sullivan's ideas found a fan in an Owatonna banker named Carl Ken Bennett.

- He came up with it, it is form follows function.

In other words, the shape of the building, the form of the building should grow out of the function of the building.

And we have a perfect example of it right here.

What is the function?

It is a bank for farmers.

- [Narrator] Bennett wanted it to be a place farmers would feel at home, not a Greco-Roman stately building with columns.

And that was right up Sullivan's alley.

- This is all about the people.

It comes up from the bottom, not down from the top.

This was very successful.

It always has been a bank that people loved to bring their money to.

- [Narrator] Sullivan's drinking left much of the work to chief draftsman, George Grant Elmslie, and Elmslie's optimism and artistry is everywhere, like in this beautiful art glass.

- There are two design elements that I think are most interesting in the bank.

And one of them is this form, which I see about 20 of in the each of the windows.

And there are dozens more in the electro layers.

They look like this.

They have four lobes sticking out, and they actually represent humankind.

I think of them as a representation of the human soul.

And so what is Elmslie doing?

He is putting these representations of humanity inside of a growing thing-- inside of a plant.

So he's showing us the relationship between humans and nature.

- [Narrator] The electro layers are made of terracotta, an ode to plant life, they almost grow from the ceiling.

The four lobe shapes representing humans are entwined with nature.

And there's another theme at play.

- All over the place, you see little boxes inside of other boxes.

They're in the windows, in the president's office.

We have very complicated boxes within boxes, within boxes, within boxes, just like four layers of it.

This all grows from an idea called the fourth dimension.

- [Narrator] Dimensions of length, width, and height were known.

But at the time, a fourth dimension of space was an exciting theory.

It was a metaphor for an expanding consciousness.

And it's clear it was on Elmslie's mind.

- Einstein proved that the fourth dimension is time.

And so that idea replaced the idea that there could be a physical fourth dimension.

But the idea of a physical fourth dimension was very popular among intellectuals.

around the turn of the 20th century.

- Though Elmslie carried most of the weight, Sullivan is not entirely absent.

An arched window is reminiscent of Sullivan's transportation building in Chicago.

Here the two architects styles are shown side by side.

Sullivan on the left, and Elmslie on the right.

- Sullivan's band of terracotta here always to me looks like its intention.

It's all stretched out.

Whereas Elmslie's stuff is relaxed.

It's fat and happy.

It's growing stuff.

You can see the turmoil going on in Louis Sullivan's head in how he designed the terracotta.

And you can see the relaxed acceptance of inspiration that's coming from heaven or somewhere into George Elmslie's head.

- [Narrator] The bank cost $125,000, a huge sum in 1908.

What's extraordinary is that much of the original works remain today.

Some beautiful original features are gone.

This is a reproduction of one of the iron teller cages, possibly the most revered design element in the entire bank.

- There are a few people around the world that own the original iron teller cages.

They're just thought of as one of the most beautiful things Elmslie ever designed.

- [Narrator] It would be nearly the last hurrah for Sullivan and Elmslie together.

Sullivan fired Elmslie the following year in a bitter parting.

The bank itself went belly up 18 years later.

But even with this disastrous backstory, the building has remained beloved by the community.

- People have been proud of this bank in Owatonna ever since.

And they love it.

They think of it as their town symbol.

It's the most important thing to the world that exists in Owatonna.

- As director for "Almanac", I always enjoy having live music on the show.

This next clip is from acapella group Cantus.

As they celebrated their 25th birthday.

(acapella singing) ♪ I am sitting here wanting memories to teach me ♪ ♪ To see the beauty in the world through my own eyes ♪ ♪ I am sitting here wanting memories to teach me ♪ ♪ To see the beauty in the world through my own eyes ♪ ♪ You used to rock me in the cradle of your arms ♪ ♪ You said you'd hold me till the pains of life were gone ♪ ♪ You said you'd comfort me in times ♪ ♪ Like these and now I need you ♪ ♪ And now I need you ♪ And you are gone ♪ I am sitting here wanting memories to teach me ♪ ♪ To see the beauty in the world through my own eyes ♪ ♪ Since you've gone and left me ♪ ♪ There's been so little beauty ♪ ♪ But I know I saw it clearly through your eyes ♪ ♪ Now the world outside is such a cold and bitter place ♪ ♪ Here inside I have few things that will console ♪ ♪ And when I try to hear your voice ♪ ♪ Above the storms of life ♪ Then I remember ♪ That I was told ♪ I am sitting here wanting memories to teach me ♪ ♪ To see the beauty in the world through my own eyes ♪ ♪ Yes I am sitting here wanting memories to teach me ♪ ♪ To see the beauty in the world through my own eyes ♪ ♪ I think on the things that made me feel ♪ ♪ So wonderful when I was young ♪ ♪ I think on the things that made me laugh ♪ ♪ Made me dance, made me sing ♪ I think on the things that made me ♪ ♪ Grow into a being full of pride ♪ ♪ I think on these things ♪ For they are true ♪ I am sitting here wanting memories to teach me ♪ ♪ To see the beauty in the world through my own eyes ♪ ♪ I thought that you were gone ♪ But now I know you're with me ♪ ♪ You are the voice that whispers all I need to hear ♪ ♪ I know a please a thank you and a smile will take me far ♪ ♪ I know that I am you and you are me and we are one ♪ ♪ I know that who I am is numbered in each grain of sand ♪ ♪ I know that I've been blessed again, and over again ♪ ♪ I am sitting here wanting memories to teach me ♪ ♪ To see the beauty in the world through my own eyes ♪ ♪ Yes I am sitting here wanting memories to teach me ♪ ♪ To see the beauty in the world through my own eyes ♪ (acapella singing) (light music) - I got a chance to help out with the Almanac team this past year and even got a chance to do a little bit of storytelling.

This past summer, I attended the Minnesota Aurora Women's Soccer game.

Let's take a look.

- Let's go.

We are Aurora FC.

- We have two girls in the club.

They play.

So this is a big chance for them to see women doing what women should and can do.

- So far, this is our first game, but everything I've seen has been impressive.

You go unbeaten and I want these girls to learn from them.

That's my biggest thing.

But it's a great thing for the city, one of the Loons.

And I think this is gonna be huge for Minnesota.

(all cheer) - Coming together, making the most that we can outta this opportunity.

And this summer has been better than probably any of us could have asked for.

And so it's just great to have something in the Twin Cities.

- I've found a way to be on staff, and I think it's been really awesome.

I think it's really great for the development of women's soccer.

And I think that this just proves that this is what people want.

People want to support women in sports, and they wanna watch it, and we play good soccer.

So it's really exciting to be a part of.

(audience cheers) - It's really cool.

This feels really empowering to have our kids be able to see what it looks like at a professional level.

- What do you think about the game today?

- Good.

- This is my daughter's first ever sporting event.

And so it's great to see her be able to watch women play and be inspired by, you know, women's sports.

- Very family friendly.

- We had a good time.

- Yeah, we loved it.

- People that care about women's sports, they care about equity and inclusion.

I feel right at home here.

(upbeat music) - It's hard to put into words, but I think it means a lot to a lot of people in a lot of different ways.

I know when I was growing up, there wasn't anything like this for players.

So to me it's just so great that we have this here.

It's something that youth players can aim to be a part of in the future.

It's inspiring.

- There you go.

- It's always nice to see the little girls kind of have someone to look up to and kind of be able to hope and see that they can also one day do this.

It's been really fun, kind of being that inspiration and that role model for the little girls, especially out here.

(all cheer) - Go Aurora.

(light music) - We end tonight with a conversation that really struck me, in 2019, former Twin Cities broadcast journalist, Pat Miles, lost her husband and found herself unexpectedly unprepared.

So she wrote about planning for one of life's most important transitions, death.

She stopped by earlier this fall and spoke with Cathy about her new book.

- Pat Miles, so great to have you here.

Thank you so much.

- Oh Cathy, great to be here.

Thank you so much.

This book is an advice book for folks to start thinking about what to do before a loved one dies.

But Pat, we have a society that doesn't wanna talk about death or dying.

So this is a pretty tall order.

- I know, in fact, when I was trying to think of a title for it, somebody said, "Don't ever put the word death in anywhere near the book because nobody wants to death."

- So I mean, it was hard to kind of work around that because it is a story about, and it's really not, it's my story, but it's many other people's stories.

But it's a story about losing somebody and then sort of the things that happened to people as a result of not being prepared for death.

And you know, it's interesting because after Bucky died, I really did prepare myself so that when I'm gone, my family, the people who love me can just grieve me and they won't have to deal with a lot of problems, because that's what happens.

You end up not being able to grieve because you have so many issues to deal with.

And when had happened to me, I thought, "Boy, I can't be the only person that this has ever happened to."

And sure enough, almost every person I talked to, something came up, something was left undone, something was left unsaid.

And you pay a price for that.

So why not prepare?

We prepare for everything else in our lives.

- We prepare for births.

- Yes.

Right?

We we prepare for having a child, for going to school, for getting married.

So why not prepare for this?

Because I feel so much better now about dying.

I'm not as afraid of dying as I was before.

- I have to be honest though, you know, as a well-known journalist, Bucky Zimmerman was such a well-known, excellent attorney.

I would've thought you two would've been prepared.

- Wouldn't you think, yeah.

Well, and I compare it, I've said this before, like the plumber who comes home but doesn't wanna fix his own leak.

And so we didn't talk about it.

I just assumed because he was an attorney that everything was taken care of.

And but here's the problem.

If you don't deal with it when you're well and times are good, it's too late when times are bad because then you're dealing with somebody who's sick and dying.

And the last thing you want to talk about is can you write down your account numbers?

What's the passcode to your phone?

You're not talking about that stuff.

You know, you're trying to keep that person alive and well.

And you're not talking about, well, what's gonna happen to me when you die?

That's the last thing you're thinking about.

- You wrote in the book, and you mentioned this, this quote did strike me though.

"We all need to pay attention.

We all need to make sure that we have a binder with all the information that the people you leave behind are gonna need if you do not come home tonight."

- That's exactly right.

You leave your account numbers, you leave your passwords, you leave the people who need to be contacted, you need to leave your life insurance information.

Somebody said to me, "Well Pat, if I put all that in a binder, what if somebody breaks into my house and takes it?"

And I said, "Well then put it in a safety deposit box."

There are ways to get around this and a lot of people don't wanna give their passcodes or their account number, so just put it somewhere so that somebody has access to it once you don't come home.

- And I love the fact that you wrote to your daughters an intention letter because I think when you do have a a plan, there might be some misunderstandings when it comes to money as it's doled out after one's death, you know, but an intention letter, you're pretty clear as to why people are getting certain items perhaps.

And also it talks about you as who you were.

Which is wonderful.

What your legacy, you want it to be.

And this was the advice of a good friend of mine who's a financial planner.

And the intention letter is not legally binding, but let's say you have a disagreement over you and your brother disagree on what to do with dad's cabin up north.

And you wanna sell it, and your brother wants to keep it.

Well, here's what dad wants you to do if you guys don't agree on it.

And it's little things like that, because I will tell you right now, there will be disagreements.

There will be things that come up, and there will be fights that can end relationships and family ties.

- That's so sad.

- It is very sad.

But a lot of it is just because people don't talk about it.

You know, one of the chapters in the book is about stepchildren and the title of the book is "Dad Never Told Us".

And a lot of problems arise between the stepmother and the stepchildren because dad never told them what he was gonna do.

And they believe in many cases, well, that's not what dad would've wanted us.

That's not what dad would want us to have, you forced dad to do that.

And so they don't understand, and no information has been left behind so that they know why dad did what dad did.

- The attention letter is great.

See, before we go, I read somewhere a long time ago, and I this is about you personally.

Now after the death of Bucky, that a broken heart is an open one.

How are you doing?

- Hmm.

You know, I am at the point where I'm trying to reimagine my life.

I mean, when you lose somebody, it's like your first reaction is, this can't be happening, this can't be happening.

This is not my life.

And you just can't.

It takes a while to accept the fact that that person is gone.

They're not coming back.

And you know, I say I was Pat Miles on TV and when I married Bucky, I was Pat Zimmerman.

And now I'm not either one of those people.

And so I am trying to reimagine for myself a new life and it's a process.

And I finally, now this is gonna make my year to focus on that.

You know, the first year I spent dealing with all the issues, the next two years I spent writing this book, and now I'm gonna focus on where I'm gonna go with what I have left.

(light music) - Viewers often tell us that they're big fans of the index file section of the show, and one of the highlights of the index file year happened a few weeks ago when we asked a question about a famed eatery in Moorhead.

The right answer turned out to be music to our ears.

Take a look and listen.

We asked you about an eatery in Moorhead 1955.

This restaurant claimed to have invented a famed item that is still on the menus today across the country.

We told you this invention is commemorated at the restaurant where this culinary history was made.

And we gave you a couple of hints.

Hint number one, this is a well known delicacy.

And then hint number two, creative guesses will be valued.

What Moorhead Eatery was the site of famed food invention in 1955.

We heard from many of you, Lonnie and Jeff and Jim called in with fond memories of the marvelous buffet at the Comstock Hotel.

But the real creativity came in the form of a right answer.

Mitchell, the poet, of course, is famed for calling in with rhymed answers to our history questions.

But this week, Mitchell outdid himself with a poetic musical composition and performance.

Let's all listen to Mitchell's right answer, which is an ode to the Dilly Bar, which was invented at the historic Dairy Queen in Moorhead in 1955.

And we apologize to lovers of Ireland everywhere.

Mitchell, you're on.

♪ Oh Dilly Bar ♪ The temps will soon be freezing ♪ ♪ Like soft-serve ice cream in a chocolate shell ♪ ♪ My Dairy Queen is closing for the season ♪ ♪ And so to you, I must soon say farewell ♪ ♪ But they'll be open when the blooms of flowers are new ♪ ♪ And spring drives out the vestiges of snow ♪ ♪ I will be there just waiting to devour you ♪ ♪ Oh Dilly Bar, Oh Dilly Bar ♪ I love you so (upbeat music) - We hope you've enjoyed this special look back at 2022.

"Almanac" will return next Friday with a live show featuring the top news of the week.

- And as we say goodnight, let's revisit a musical highlight from the recent past.

It's a bit of holiday music courtesy of Chuck Lazarus.

Let's watch him as we roll the credits.

Thanks for watching.

See you again next Friday.

(light jazz music) - [Narrator] "Almanac" is made possible by members of this public television station.

Support is also provided by Great River Energy, providing wholesale power to 28 Minnesota electric cooperatives.

Delta Dental of Minnesota Foundation.

Improving oral health while advancing social equities.

deltadentalmn.org/tpt.

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, a tribal nation focused on community and collaboration, especially in times like today.

And Education Minnesota, the voice for professional educators and students throughout the state.

More at educationminnesota.org.

One Greater Minnesota reporting on Almanac is made possible in part by the Otto Bremer Trust, whose mission is investing in people, places, and opportunities in our region.

Additional support is provided by the Blandin Foundation, working to strengthen rural Minnesota.

"Almanac" is a production of Twin Cities PBS, for the stations of Minnesota Public Television Association.