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Hi! I’m Amanda Kosior

I created this website in 2017 to tell stories about nice people, and North Dakota, and nice people in North Dakota, and myself. Thank you for reading, and feel free to send me a message about whatever is on your mind (especially if whatever is on your mind is something nice I can talk about on North Dakota Today or in the Grand Forks Herald). If you want to vote on Sundays for the outfits I wear on TV, follow me on Facebook.

Weekly Amanda


  • School lunch | April 14, 2026

    School lunch | April 14, 2026

    If you know us in real life, you know that Kyle is BY FAR the superior parent when it comes to school participation.  Looking for a field trip volunteer?  Look no further; Kyle is there.  Running…

  • The birth of the great American novel | April 8, 2026

    The birth of the great American novel | April 8, 2026

    My parents came up for the weekend and brought with them grandparentness: chocolate chip cookie bars, videos of model trains, presents for two very spoiled children, and love. They also brought a bagful of my childhood…

  • Spring cleaning | April 1, 2026

    Spring cleaning | April 1, 2026

    It’s spring.  SPRING!  SPRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING.  Sweet mercy, I love spring.  I don’t care that we still have snow on the ground and it’s 35 degrees the minute the sun sets.  I do care that the birds are…

  • Rough Rider Industries | March 25, 2026

    Rough Rider Industries | March 25, 2026

    Late last year, I toured North Dakota’s maximum-security prison in Bismarck.  If you didn’t know that or would like a refresher, I’ve put a link inside the story below to the article that prompted my dad…

North Dakota Today


Grand Forks Herald


April 18, 2026 | Lucy and Landyn light up Valley Senior Living

We have a lot of great kids in Grand Forks, and I want to tell you about two of them. Meet Lucy Restad and Landyn Adams. Lucy is 11 years old and Landyn is 9; in May, they will be named the North Dakota Long Term Care Association’s Young Adult Volunteers of the Year. The award is presented to volunteers under the age of 20 who have significantly contributed to the quality of life of a community’s long-term care residents. Typically, the Long Term Care Association only honors one person each year. Lucy and Landyn, however, are exceptional. Continue reading

April 4, 2026 | Eric Ripley and the new Career Impact Academy are growing region’s next crop of professionals

Back in the 2000s, Sadie Ripley and I sat next to each other during the Grand Forks Chamber Leadership Program. At the time, North Dakota was battling the out-migration of local 20-somethings toward bigger cities and bigger jobs. As Sadie and I were in the early days of our careers — and Sadie had excitedly confided to me that she and her husband, Eric, were in the early days of pregnancy with their first baby — the community was especially supportive of giving us professional opportunities that would keep us in Grand Forks. Continue reading

March 21, 2026 | Blizzards, breaches and being 17: A look back on 1997’s Blizzard Hannah

After a springtime snowstorm, Grand Forksers over the age of 40 are required by social law to turn to their children, grandchildren and younger friends and say, “You know, back in April of ’97, we had a three-day blizzard named Hannah and that’s one of the reasons it flooded.” Continue reading

March 7, 2026 | For the owners of Grand Forks’ Urban Stampede, it’s the beans that bind

My little sister and I grew up in my family’s clothing store, Silverman’s, in downtown Grand Forks. When we weren’t working Crazy Days, wrapping presents or measuring teenagers for prom tuxedos, we were eating kuchen at A Taste of Norway and weaving in and out of the tables at the antiques store. We spent hours upon hours upon hours of our childhood at the City Center Mall, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Continue reading

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