Category Archives: Uncategorized

                                                            INTERVIEW WITH JOHN SALMINEN MARK MUNGER: Hello, John. Kiitos for doing this interview. I first encountered you as an art teacher at Duluth Denfeld High School. JS: .   My interest in teaching dates back to the 1960’s. When … Continue reading →

This ginormous book was, like the experimental novels written by its subject, a bit of a slog. But I made it through Ellmann’s revised biography of the great Irish novelist and man of letters. Eventually. A scholarly tome, the book’s … Continue reading →

My novel, Suomalaiset: People of the Marsh was researched and written between 2002 and 2004 as an attempt to highlight, explain, and fictionalize the mystery of Finnish immigrant Olli Kinkkonen’s disappearance.  The question I’m often asked, as a non-Finn writing about Finnish … Continue reading →

The Torqued Man by Peter Mann (2022. Harper. ISBN 978-0063072107) Here we go. I was privileged to be asked to join one of Minnesota’s longest running male only book clubs, the Greater Mesabi Men’s Book Club (GMMBC), for their annual summer … Continue reading →

                                             MM: Could you tell the readers of FAR a bit about your Finnish heritage? AK:  My dad’s family … Continue reading →

The title of this review? Recently, I had the great fortune to do an online interview with Grammy Award winning, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee guitarist (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna, and a lengthy solo career) Jorma Kaukonen for … Continue reading →

Recently, I had the privilege of interviewing Grammy Award winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, guitarist supreme, Jorma Kaukonen, for the August edition of the Finnish American Reporter. Here’s the interview. Mark Munger: Kiitos, Jorma, for agreeing to do … Continue reading →

Yes, I am a retired judge. Yes, from time to time in my role hearing matters in Minnesota District Court, constitutional issues arose that required me to research and apply principles of law handed down to us by the Founders … Continue reading →

INTERVIEW WITH SARA PAJUNEN Mark:  I’d like to start by asking a bit about your connection to Finnish heritage. Where were you born and where did you grow up? What are your ancestral links to Finnishness? Sara: My grandfather was … Continue reading →

It started with a text. Patrick “Poncho” Scott texted me sometime after out annual Whiteface Fishing Opener, an event the Munger and Scott families have shared for more than fifty years. The gist of the message was “We should do … Continue reading →