Gravedigger Dave's Halfway House to premiere this Sunday at Zeitgeist

It's Time to Check In at Gravedigger Dave's Halfway House

Matt Rasmussen as Gravedigger Dave

A couple years back (2? 3?) I saw a film short at the DuSu Film Festival here in the Twin Ports. One of the films was titled Boots, a ghost story of sorts involving a haunted house and a contractor. Little did I know that this was a small slice from what would become a much larger film featuring haunted spaces and places here in the Northland.

This Sunday, March 1, will be the opening premiere of that larger film, Gravedigger Dave's Halfway House.

Producer/director Keith Hopkins had this to say about the film.

"In total I’ve been working on this project for 5 years. One of the segments, Boots, screened as a short film at DSFF several years ago. The filming of the documentary segments began in 2019. While I’ve been making videos and working in TV since 2005, I really started working towards being a film director in 2015.

"My premise for Gravedigger Dave’s Halfway House was to present a series of ghost stories, most of which I believe to be true, but some of which are fiction. The audience’s task is to separate fact from fiction as they’re watching the film. My motivation stems from my father, who loved telling ghost stories around the fire. It’s been my goal to channel his storytelling style and put it on the screen."

The GDHH ghost stories all take place in St. Louis County. Many of the stories are semi-familiar but Gravedigger Dave attempts to reconstruct their eeriest features on film.

When I was young the notion of haunted houses and ghost stories was always intriguing. My grandmother had books like Stranger Than Science and questions about what's real and what is not always manage to take root in fertile, open minds. Rod Serling's Twilight Zone fed the hunger for thrills, and today we have Ghosts on Netflix.

In fact, the purpose of my first novel was to create a story that would interest teenaged boys so they would become readers, hence I created a haunted house story, The Red Scorpion.

So Keith Hopkins isn't far from the mark to make an attempt to capture area ghost stories on the silver screen. You can read here the interview we did with Hopkins in November.

Ramona Marozas, who plays the Ghost Woman, said, "Keith Hopkins is sharing fiction and non-fiction ghost stories, and leaving it up the audience to interpret. That's genius. I've never seen anything like it and love it. It creeps me out. It also creeps me out that I myself could be so creepy. It took director Keith Hopkins to pull that out of me acting wise. I come off as someone who needs an exorcism who is stalking real life people."

The lead storyteller Gravedigger Dave is played by Matt Rasmussen a co-worker of Hopkins at KBJR. "I enjoyed every single second of it. It was the experience of a lifetime. I hope the character lives on for generations to come."

When Hopkins and Rasmussen became friends they found out that they both love horror movies and anthology films. "He showed me what he was working on, and we put together a five minute piece (with Rasmussen as Gravedigger Dave) that became huge, one of his best shorts. We did a second which led to this full length movie."

Again, the Premiere is this Sunday at the Zinema / Zeitgeist. Details here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/197803451407729/

Related Links
Duluth Armory Becomes Stage for the CW Duluth Television Program
A Visit with Local TV Producer Keith Hopkins About His Upcoming Film Gravedigger Dave’s Halfway House
For more Scary Stuff Visit with The Bleeding Critic

Mona Lisa North Shore Drive

As we headed up the North Shore's Scenic Highway I couldn't help but think of William Gibson's Mona Lisa Overdrive, my introduction to cyberpunk back in the late 80's. (Hence the title of this blog post.) The main character is Mona, a girl with a murky past and an uncertain future whose life is on a collision course with internationally famous Sense/Net star Angie Mitchell. In Gibson's world you go places you don't expect, with threads that unwind, sprawl and eventually return you to your own main storyline. And so it goes...

Sunday afternoon I took part in a Mona Lisa photo shoot featuring Ramona M in front of the lens, under shooter Dan Pugleasa's adept direction. As in Gibson's thrill-ride there's an international character in the story, and ours was Umm-e-Kulsoom, a young woman here in the States as part of a July exchange program involving journalists from Pakistan.

Umme from Pakistan played a role in the saga.

There are some people who will rush off and do an adventure with less thought then they would give to crossing the street. I used to be that way. Because I’ve become less inclined to impulsiveness over the years, perhaps making me a little stale, I accepted this invitation to tag along and write about this Mona Lisa photo shoot, Ramona Marozas modeling the iconic subject who appears in DaVinci's painting. Dan Pugleasa -- Less Traveled Photography -- believed he'd found the perfect location. As in brick-and-mortar retail selling, photographers also have a "location, location, location" mantra running through their heads.

The scene he envisioned turned out to be a secluded point where the Sucker River spills languidly into Lake Superior just North of the New Scenic Cafe. The privately owned waterfront property welcomed us warmly, as did its owner who was giving his dog a workout by flinging a toy out into the lake at regular intervals. As it turns out, he himself had been to Pakistan in recent years on international business.

Warm, but not yet mysterious.

After a short exchange, Dan, Umme and our Mona Lisa scoped out setting, selected a backdrop and proceeded to get down to business. It was something of a play in three acts. In the first act, Dan focused on capturing the Mona Lisa reproduction. Mona had come dressed for the part, wearing a crown of flowers. She had clearly been practicing "the look" and getting the hands lined up right, fingers laced over the wrist just so. The DaVinci Mona Lisa did not have one of her hands decorated with Henna, but no matter. It was not a detraction.

It was apparent Ramona had been working on how to capture the mystery in her expression. It was as if she were disengaging herself from herself on the inside, becoming removed from herself as it were, the grey-blue eyes becoming distant, perhaps lost in time while Pugleasa's camera clicked and snapped.

The second act took place in the lake itself, as both cameraman and model became immersed out by an outcropping of rock thirty yards from the shore. Act three involved our Pakistani guest who with great enthusiasm took control of the camera, directing her subject into various postures and positions.

Lining up the money shot.

After a timeless interlude, the four of us hiked back through the forest and up the trail to the car, soon heading back into town. As in William Gibson's story, the Mona Lisa will be jacked into cyberspace... to be enjoyed by fans in her new iteration.

Here are a few of the shots that were captured... each a story.

As long as we're being capricious, whimsical and wry, we might as well close out with a poem about that chimerical smile and the look mirrored in her eye. 

Mona Lisa Smile

She has a mysterious smile

Folks wonder what it means
It’s been written in the text books
And envisioned in some dreams

Nat King Cole crooned a song
About Mona Lisa’s smile
Folks have wondered curiously
And studied her awhile

Did she smile because of love?
That wistful little grin
A thought perhaps in her mind
As she remembered him?

Did her face appear in a dream
Her talented artist had one night?
Or was it, in fact, the face of the man
Who sketched his own mirrored sight?

Of course no one will ever know
The true story of the smile
But it’s great fun, don’t you think?
For she truly could beguile!
Marilyn Lott

EdNote: For the record, only the three high caliber photos at the end are Dan's. I can only take credit for the inferior work that precedes it.

Weekend Open House Shows Why the Great Lakes Academy of Fine Art Is a Gift to Our Community

Friday evening at the GLAFA  (Photo courtesy Ramona Marozas)

Tricycle by Jeffrey T. Larson

How does light work? How does perception work? How do we synthesize everything in our minds to form images of the material world? Light reflects off the surfaces of things, yet we do not see the light waves moving through space as it strikes the surface of things. How is it, too, that while our eyes are in motion everything appears fixed in time and substantial. We move about within a space and yet the room doesn't move with us, unless you've had too much to drink. Why do colors shift when the light is brighter or more restrained?

Photo courtesy Ramona Marozas

The Great Lakes Academy of Fine Art is having its second annual student/instructor exhibition this weekend. The school uses a method of teaching that was developed in the 17th century called the Atelier method. Students spend hours every day drawing a two-dimensional reproduction of a 3-D object using techniques that enable them to accurately depict reality. The first year is devoted to drawing and learning to see. The second year students also begin painting, but it is not till year three that they introduce color to their paintings. Next year's open house is expected to be a yet more vibrant one as second year students look forward to the broadening of their pallets.

The images here are from this weekend's open house, which continues today for several hours, from noon till three. After that the students and instructors will break for the summer. Jeffrey T. Larson and son Brock are looking forward to a painting trip to the mountains of Colorado later in the week. And the students look forward to seeing what new themes will spring from their own imaginations, with more advanced skillsets for translating their visions to reality.

Co-founders Jeffrey T. and Brock Larson (Ramona M photo)

Ramona M, right and center. w/ artist Daralyn Berg Peifer

Showing how it's done when working from real life.

Photo of student by Ramona M.

Early in evening. Students eager to share their achievements with friends
family and fans.

Friday evening was another stellar open house for the school. I paid a visit Saturday afternoon to grab some of the photos here and offer my best wishes to the students who have clearly demonstrated their willingness to commit to a very demanding regimen. The proof of the pudding is in the eating they say... They have achieved new levels of eye-hand coordination, learned new ways of seeing, and have promising futures. I can hardly wait till next year.

REMINDER: Doors will be open this afternoon from noon till three. Take advantage of this opportunity to get inspired.

Related Links
How the Eye Sees
The Atelier

A Visit with Producer/Journalist Ramona Marozas: Take One

Photo credit: Ivy Vainio

Ramona Marozas joined the CBS newsroom in 2013 thinking she would only be here a year. It has been about five and her love for Duluth's beauty and the people here has only grown. so that she may never leave. Her interests are broad and her enthusiasm palpable. And she's the only Native American producer/journalist in mainstream television, an achievement she takes real pride in.

"I looked forward to becoming a strong Native journalist so much while in college, and the appeal of giving a voice to the voiceless was so strong," said Marozas. "Now, being the only Native journalist at a mainstream television station within CBS 3 Duluth's coverage area, it is my reality. Natives make up less than one percent of newsrooms across the country."

Marozas grew up in Andover, but Duluth is in her blood now. "A part of me can't leave. I have ridden the Blood on the Tracks Express during Dylan Fest, attended the Bob Dylan Writing Contest, watched Charlie Parr shows, been inside the Historic Duluth Armory and threw baseballs with Alan Sparhawk--I don't remember if he actually threw one--while helping with the new Duluth CW show Night at the Armory, during homegrown and fell in love with the words strewn across the Duluth music scene. There's something magical about this place."

EN: How did you come to take an interest in TV journalism as a career?

Always ready to go to bat for a story.

Ramona Marozas: I was always a curious child. Writing is a passion of mine. Maybe one day I'll write a book. Being a journalist has been one way to be a storyteller. My job is hard, it's not easy. I sit at a computer every day and decide what is going to be in the CBS 3 Duluth 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. shows. There's a lot of responsibility in that. I go to meetings, learn what the stories of the day are and pitch some myself, read through important press releases, stack shows in an order during the newscasts, write headlines and show teases, create graphics for the show, and have a million deadlines. And that's only a snapshot into the news day that changes every day. The only thing that doesn't change is the fear of making a mistake.

There is extra time that needs to be taken in double-checking EVERYTHING. I need to remind myself to breathe sometimes, but I wouldn't change it for the world. Right now, news is so important. Also, I am involved in extra-curricular activities, such as acting for fun, participating in journalism conferences, maintaining relationships, trying to get yoga in. Life's a lot. Maybe it will never slow down, unlike Blood on the Tracks Express [Duluth Dylan Fest], which when the train stops, it does funny things in order to turn around and get the riders back to Duluth. Those stops during life and connecting with nature serve as much-needed times of reflection. They are sanctuaries needed to maintain sanity.

EN: You mentioned disappointment that there's never been a time of less trust in the media. Can you elaborate on that and why this is a serious problem today?

RM: I have mentioned before that I have some disappointment that there's never been a time of less trust in the media, which was an article the Native American Journalists Association shared. However, after much research, I found that some other articles point out that there's never been more trust in the media than now. Maybe there's more trust in local media, and less trust in national, or maybe it is vice versa, that I do not know. All I know is that the importance of being a voice for the voiceless, and the necessity of media being a watchdog (of the government, corporations, society, etc...) was bred into me in my upbringing into journalism as one inhales air to survive. In the summer of 2008, I attended the Crazy Horse Journalism Conference. During college, I spent summers at the American Indian Journalism Institute, and at Native American Journalism Association conferences. I spent college summers in journalism internships across the Midwest. It especially hit me in my college media law class exactly how important it is to have investigative journalism in our society. I suggest everyone learn anything they can either in school or online from First Amendment and Journalism Law classes, or through research.

EN: How has social media changed TV news?

RM: Social media has changed TV news so much. I remember my instructors elaborating on how important social media is in college, and how it has evolved the industry, many of them not even knowing how it was going to. But I have gotten so many Native-related stories through social media. It is amazing, and great, how people have reached out to me and shared their stories in the hope that they would not go on deaf ears. I love social media. Granted, I need to learn how to unplug myself. I am required to use social media for my job, so I use it a lot, but when I'm not working then I need to turn it off. But I'll be at home and I'll see something newsworthy, screen shot it and email it to whoever is working. We have someone working 24/7 because the news never stops. Holidays off are not expected, guaranteed. You learn that in school. They tell you a lot in school that a journalist realizes the true reality once they actually get into it, lol.

EN: What's your favorite part of being a producer at CBS 3?

RM: The fact that every day is different, it never gets boring. I love my bosses, and all the people I work with. I love my job, and I will never forget it until the day I die. I will tell stories about working as a journalist in Duluth on my death bed.

EN: What are the biggest challenges for TV journalists today?

Inside the newsroom with (L to R) Matt Swanson, Dan Wolfe,
Ramona, Jennifer Austin and Shawn Frost.

RM: My challenge is to de-stress from everything. The things I have seen as a journalist are sad. When I started in Duluth I was sent with a video camera to the scene of a child who had fallen from a second story building. It was terrible to see, but when everyone who had gathered heard that baby cry, you could see, but mostly feel, the relief spread across everyone. I have heard of my co-workers being at homicide scenes, even been at some myself. You see people who have lost their homes in fires. These are hard stories to tell, but it is important they are told. You watch the movie All The President's Men, the show The Newsroom, and as a journalist, the chills up or down my back--all around it, shivers up or down my arms--or all around them. It's an honor to hold this position and it is not taken lightly.

EN: You've stated that you identify as Native American with roots in the Bad River Reservation. How many reservations are there within the Northland News sphere? Would you say that there is a greater cross-pollination or influence by Native culture here than most other places? In what ways?

RM: As a Native journalist, my boss has said before that I am a critical player in the newsroom with my understanding and connections within the Native community, which makes up five percent of our region's population. There is a significant percentage of Native population here in the Northland, seeing that overall across the United States, Natives make up less than one percent of the population. It is vital we have a Native journalist working in mainstream TV stations here in the Northland, and as I recruit young Native journalists, hopefully we can get more working in mainstream TV in our region.

* * * *

REMINDER

Tonight is the first episode of the CW Duluth program Night at the Armory.

9:00 p.m. on KBJR Channel 6, Duluth