Strong Women

This is the first of our podcast series from KAXE/KBXE's Strong Women.  Not broadcast on the radio they are a little more off-the-cuff.  Let us know what you think! 

We've been holding Strong Women focus groups at KAXE/KBXE in the last year, talking with women in rural northern MN about their lives and experienced.

This time when we gathered we talked about women supporting other women.  Laura Connelly led this focus group and in this conversation she talks about themes that surfaced and what they mean.

Our Strong Women conversations will continue on the radio, and soon, podcast only conversations as well!  Stay tuned!

Sarah Strommen is the new DNR Commissioner for the state of Minnesota.  We had a chance to talk about the hot-button issues like Chronic Wasting Disease, Aquatic Invasive Species, Enbridge Energy Line 3 Pipeline Project that the agency works with and the MN Legislature and the DNR's budget, slot limits for fishing and Minnesota's state park system.

This morning we welcomed back MN author Lorna Landvik to talk about her new novel just out from the University of MN Press "Chronicles of a Radical Hag (With Recipes)". 

Lorna is the MC of the Friends of the Brainerd Public Libraries Wine and Words events coming up in August at Grandview Lodge.  Tickets are now available and sell out fast! 

Catch up on our series from the past, Invisible by Design.... conversations with and about domestic violence survivors. 

We've been producing our Strong Women series on KAXE/KBXE for about a year now.  Interviews with women who are elected officials, mothers with extraordinary stories, authors and women who work hard and are passionate about their work. 

We continue our Strong Women series with a family of women who are making their mark in business, in culture and in fashion.  Laura Connelly and I got to spend an hour talking with Delina, Lavender and Snowy about their connection to the past, their business and what it means to be strong.  Check out I Am Anishinaabe to find out more. 

I was knocked out by Sarah Smarsh's new book "Heartland:  A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth".  It woke me up to the fact that most of what is written about women, written about being rural, is coming from white men.  Sarah doesn't shy away from the fact that she is white, and what that means to her growing up.  But she looks at things like what the term white trash implies.  What being a teenage mother does to a woman in a rural area.  One of my favorite parts of our conversation was at the end wh

We continue our Strong Women series with an analysis of a focus group recently held at KAXE in Grand Rapids.  Laura Connelly lead the conversation - she's a recipient of a Bush Fellowship and studies and leads conversations with a focus on human-centered design.

We continue our series with strong women in northern MN with Grand Rapids Council member Tasha Connelly.  She tells us what led her to run for office and a couple of important issues facing the city of Grand Rapids. 

Do you know a strong women with a story to tell?  Email us!