March 31st, 2026

I'm reading  2 stories  from Big River magazine, and calling this a Big River Sampler; one, a thought provoking story of homelessness by Reggie McLeod,  and a story by Fritz Funk of maneuvering a ferry designed for summer work, during winter 30 degree below temperatures - running between Lansing and Wisconsin after the demolition of the bridge over the Mississippi River. This beautiful magazine is one of my favorite things to see arriving in the mailbox. They have  been publishing stories about the Upper Mississippi River and the surrounding Driftless Area for 32 years and recently they have launched a non profit, Big River Voice  that will play a more diverse role in our communities in the future. Look for more info on bigrivermagazine.com and bigrivervoice.org. Big River Magazine dot com has available many stories from older issues; check out Restoring Driftless Area Prairies, by Pam Eyden,  Effigy Mounds of the Wisconsin River Valley by Sara Millhouse, Nature Reawakens at Nahant Marsh, by Emily Styron and many many more.