Category Archives: Uncategorized

                                                                  INTERVIEW OF STEVE LEPPÄLÄ MM: OK, Steve. I gotta ask. What’s up with the car? (Steve has been known to own a vehicle completely painted as a Finnish flag. Prior interviewee, Dr. Arnie Vainio, owns one of Steve’s … Continue reading →

MM: Mary Jane, could you start off our interview by telling the readers of FAR a bit about yourself. MJA: I am fifty percent Finnish and as I like to say I have the DNA test to prove it. All … Continue reading →

                                                                        ((c) 2025, Mark Munger. This article first appeared in the December issue of the Finnish American Reporter.) MM: Describe your family’s immigration story. FE: My father came through Ellis island in 1899 and went to Ely, MN to join … Continue reading →

This essay recently appeared in the Winter 2025 issue of Pheasants Forever Journal. Thanks to Tom Carpenter, PFJ Editor, for featuring not only my words but my wife’s art in this great, national hunting and conservation magazine. Thanks, as well, … Continue reading →

In the November 2025 issue of the Finnish American Reporter, I had the pleasure of interviewing my friend and Northwoods legend, Paul Metsa. This is an unedited version of that interaction. (c) Mark Munger, 2025 MM: Let’s start with some background. PM: … Continue reading →

(This story is excerpted from Duck and Cover: Things Learned Waiting for the Bomb (c) 2025. Mark Munger. Find your copy under the “Books” tab on this website.) DEAD LETTER                      Davy Crockett stood tall in the midst of the Mexican horde. … Continue reading →

John and Mark, FinnFest 2023 I met John Simon by a quirk of fate. I’d never heard of the man until, after being asked to participate in FinnFest 2023 (on the strength of my Finnish American trilogy of historical novels, … Continue reading →

Jack and Callie in Jack’s Solo Old Town Sometimes, my youngest son, a single, avid outdoorsman who works hard at his production job for a local company but plays equally hard on his three-day weekends (fishing every lake between Hayward … Continue reading →

Author John Simon and Me at FinnFest 2023 (Note: This eulogy was written for the Simon Family in lieu of me attending John’s upcoming Celebration of Life in NYC.) I met John Simon by a quirk of fate. I’d never … Continue reading →

Noted Northland blogger, writer, and reporter (Business North) recently read my second short story collection, Kulkuri (Vagabond) and Other Stories and had some very nice things to say about the work.  “Kulkuri (Vagabond) and Other Short Stories, is Munger’s second collection of … Continue reading →