First Christian Church, designed by leading Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, built in 1942. Also pictured: Large Arch by sculptor Henry Moore.

Columbus, Indiana: A Tale of Architectural Philanthropy

Kallie Rollenhagen June 29, 2019

When I say “Columbus” you say “Ohio?” And I say, “No, Columbus, Indiana!” Then I’ll tell you to watch Kogonada’s 2017 film, “Columbus,” set in Columbus, IN. You probably won’t, and it’s also not likely you’ll find yourself in the middle of Indiana anytime soon (unless you have the Exit 76 Antique Mall on your bucket list, in which case we’re kindred spirits and should be friends!), so let me tell you about it.

Linnahall in Tallinn, Estonia. An event venue built for the 1980 Olympics hosted by the Soviet Union. Abandoned in 2010, it’s currently undergoing renovations and should be completed in 2019.

Tallinn, Estonia: A Quick Glimpse of Post-Soviet Reality, 2017

Kallie Rollenhagen May 30, 2019

When trip planning for Scandinavia, I had no real plan of going to Estonia. The guidebooks all mentioned that Tallinn could be an interesting stop, but only if you had time. Perhaps that underdog/under-explored factor is what tipped my decision to convince J we should go.

More than a year later, it’s still the city I think about most, even though it was the only place we visited where we didn’t also spend the night. We took the 2-hour ferry ride from Helsinki through the Baltic Sea to Estonia’s capital city. We had done little research and were not sure what to expect. Our blank slates probably contributed to our continual state of surprise and delight.

Fermentation Fest // Farm/Art DTour

Kallie Rollenhagen October 17, 2018

What better place for art installations than the driftless hills of Wisconsin? One of my favorite art crawls is Wormfarm Institute’s Fermentation Fest + Farm/Art DTour.

Our camp-in site at Lac qui Parle State Park

Prairie Parks of Minnesota

Kallie Rollenhagen September 28, 2018

Having grown up in the less-lovable but more farmable plains of southern Minnesota, openness and waving grasses and a clear idea of where I’m going for the next five miles all make me feel most at home. So, my secret confession: the prairie parks of western and southern Minnesota are the most beautiful.

Photo and story referenced by Mike Belleme, published in The Collective Quarterly, Issue 4.

Staying Put

Kallie Rollenhagen September 26, 2018

I've shot guns, and dead animals were a part of my childhood, but I can't imagine scraping the brains from a deer hit by a Ford pickup as my sustenance. And I guess that bothers me, too: that lack of imagination, or rather, my own weakness.

Goldenrods

Kallie Rollenhagen September 20, 2018

While I'm quite good at names of people - the ones I know, not famous ones - I'm so bad at the names of other things: plants, flowers, birds, streets, clouds. Which is fine. For our mini-moon, we escaped to the driftless region of southeast Wisconsin. For a long weekend, we were surrounded by a field of yellow.

Independence Day in the Driftless

Kallie Rollenhagen July 7, 2018

At 8:30 am, J and I arrived at the Lenora United Methodist Church. I had texted my friend that morning to see if there was an actual address, and she confirmed that "no, you'll just get there and see a sign and it'll be small enough to figure out." Sure enough, we saw the sign when we coasted into the township of Lenora. The stone church was nestled in a lush little grove and dewy lawn clouded with mosquitoes.