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Mr Keillor, I enjoy reading

March 13, 2006 |

Mr Keillor,
I enjoy reading letters from fans around the country listening to your show while in snowstorms and long-haul trucks, but I have a huge confession to make. In the mid 1980's, I had a professor at the University of Wisconsin who loved PHC and talked about the show in her speech class. I belittled her for it. At 18 years old, with a pink mohawk and pierced nose, I was into the whole punk rock scene and even ran off to New York City for 2 years.

But, by the time I was 24, I was back in the fold in time to attend thirteen years of lutefisk dinners and pancake breakfasts with my Grandmother. (Thank Goodness!) I'm now nearing 40, with a happy family and a successful business. I have even recently joined the Sons of Norway. My family has never discussed this period in my life, although when my husband and I were dating, my brothers took him aside and warned him about my "dark side". Will this guilt ever subside about being a Norwegian/Lutheran who went through a punk rock phase?

Inga Pederson
Blaine MN

Don't beat yourself up, Inga. Your old speech teacher was glad to have you stand up in class and contradict her — speech is drama, and what's drama without conflict? I assume your hair has recovered and your nose has healed. Your going to lutefisk dinners for thirteen years with Grandma makes up for everything. Everything. There's nothing to discuss. So come along on our PHC cruise to Norway in the summer of '07 and we'll cruise through the fjords between Bergen and Trondhjem and one night you can get up and sing "Voodoo Child" with Rich Dworsky.

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