Over the years, the NewsCut staff has lived vicariously through the cross-country journeys of others. Quite often, they’re canoe trips down the Mississippi River.

We also have a fondness for those who paddle against the current, which is why it’s worth noting today that five paddlers, four of them from Saint Cloud, have made it to Minnesota in their quest to travel from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. They say no one has ever traveled the route in one trip. Read more

With increasing frequency, some large envelopes have been arriving in my mail lately. My mother has been sending me her treasures — the remnants of my childhood. She’s 93 now and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why, particularly since she’s been voicing alarm that she’ll die one of these days and nobody will find her. There are things to do, and, for her, one of them is distributing her keepsakes. Read more