North Country Girl: Chapter 1 — Duluth
In chapter 1 of a serialized memoir, Gay Haubner shares charming stories from her childhood in Minnesota.
North Country Girl: Chapter 2 — What I Didn’t Learn in Kindergarten
In chapter 2 of a serialized memoir, Gay Haubner recalls her Minnesotan upbringing, including starting kindergarten, watching The Bozo Show, and visiting her grandparents in Carlton.
North Country Girl: Chapter 3 — The Charms of South Dakota
In chapter 3 of a serialized memoir, Gay Haubner shares making the trip to Aberdeen, South Dakota, every summer to visit her grandparents.
North Country Girl: Chapter 4 — 411 Lakeview Avenue
Gay Haubner writes of growing up in Duluth, including picking berries, skating on homemade ice rinks, and exploring Congdon Creek.
North Country Girl: Chapter 5 — Congdon Elementary
Gay Haubner recalls the details of elementary school life, including Christmas concerts, the horrors of phys ed, and tuna noodle casserole on Fridays.
North Country Girl: Chapter 6 — A Very Ratty First Communion
Gay Haubner shares the tale of her first communion and being pitched into existential despair by strict nuns.
North Country Girl: Chapter 7 — We Have Ice Cream in the Fridge
Childhood tales of Mad magazine, Shakespeare, and angling for ice cream.
North Country Girl: Chapter 8 — Teacher’s Pet
Being the best third grader in Duluth, Minnesota, had its advantages.
North Country Girl: Chapter 9 — The Big City of Minneapolis
Gay Haubner remembers her mid-1960s trips to Minneapolis to shop at Dayton’s, eat at Nankin, and visit Santa Claus.
North Country Girl: Chapter 10 — The Return of Miss Ritchie
Gay Haubner shares memories of great fourth grade teachers, bad piano lessons, and learning to love music in Duluth, Minnesota.
North Country Girl: Chapter 11 — Summer Sleep-Away Camp
Gay Haubner shares stories of Camp Wanakiwin, including ice-cold lakes, smelly toilets, and late-night ill-informed sex talks.
North Country Girl: Chapter 12 — Country Club Days
Gay Haubner recalls her fifth grade year in Duluth, including country clubs, enrichment classes, and her mother’s brush with Junior League.
North Country Girl: Chapter 13 — Food, Glorious Food
Gay Haubner remembers the delicious food of her childhood in Duluth: bread in a can, apple pan dowdy, and the occasional sip of a Tom & Jerry.
North Country Girl: Chapter 14 — Meet the Beatles
At the age of ten, Gay Haubner learns about elocution, the Beatles, and that there is no justice in the world.
North Country Girl: Chapter 15 — Saturday Matinee at the Norshor
Gay Haubner remembers movies at the Norshor, the deprivation of the Seattle World’s Fair, and smelt fishing with her dad.
North Country Girl: Chapter 16 — Junior High School: Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here
Gay Haubner shares her stories of Bizarro World sleepovers and the horrors of junior high.
North Country Girl: Chapter 17: Life in a Boy’s Dorm
Gay Haubner recounts the highs and lows of junior high, including visiting a college boys’ dorm, suffering through music class, and being ignored by the popular girls.
North Country Girl: Chapter 18 — The Sixth and Seventh Circles of Junior High Hell: Home Ec and Gym
Gay Haubner shares memories of hot and heavy romance novels, horrible home ec dresses, and the continued humiliations of gym class.
North Country Girl: Chapter 19 — Duluth Dentists Gone Wild
Gay Haubner vacations in Mexico with a bunch of dentists.
North Country Girl: Chapter 20 — The 60s Arrive in Duluth
In 1967, the sixties finally trickled up to northern Minnesota.
North Country Girl: Chapter 21 — Youth in Revolt
1960s counter-culture in Duluth included wearing red pleather mini-skirts, subscribing to Avant Garde, and listening to The Who.
North Country Girl: Chapter 22 — Gay’s First Date
After being picked last at dances and generally being ignored by boys, Gay finally scores her first real date.
North Country Girl: Chapter 23 — A Global Citizen Goes to the Deeps
After being picked last at dances and generally being ignored by boys, Gay finally scores her first real date.
North Country Girl: Chapter 24 — Boyfriend and Girlfriends
Gay Haubner enters high school in the 1960s and remembers bad boyfriends and great girlfriends.
North Country Girl: Chapter 25 — No Smoking
Gay Haubner grades high school in Duluth in the late ‘60s as follows: girlfriends—A+, boyfriends—B-, Hey Jude—C, smoking—F.
North Country Girl: Chapter 26 — The London Inn
Gay Haubner remembers teen-age weekends in Duluth, including raucous nights at the London Inn.
North Country Girl: Chapter 27 — Broomball and Other Activities
Gay Haubner shares high school hijinks, including broomball, a drug-addled Global Citizenship class, and a particularly memorable moon landing.
North Country Girl: Chapter 28 — The Age of Aquarius Comes to Duluth
Where Gay changes her glasses for contacts, ditches her boyfriend, gains confidence, and meets the first love of her life.
North Country Girl: Chapter 29 — A Teenager in Love
The 1970s, sex, and psychedelics shaped Gay Haubner’s sweet sixteen.
North Country Girl: Chapter 30 — Winter Tales
Gay Haubner shares winter tales of mind-expanding drugs and mind-blowing skiing in Minnesota.
North Country Girl: Chapter 31 — Goodbye Father, Hello Mr. Chips
When Gay Haubner’s dad moved out of the house, she felt sympathy for him, and even idealized seeing the world with him, until she found out the real reason he left.
North Country Girl: Chapter 32 — Bamboozled at East High
African scams, summer jobs, and psychedelic sessions with her boyfriend kept 16-year-old Gay Haubner busy.
North Country Girl: Chapter 33 — The End of Childhood
African scams, summer jobs, and psychedelic sessions with her boyfriend kept 16-year-old Gay Haubner busy.
North Country Girl: Chapter 34 — The University of Drugs and Boys
African scams, summer jobs, and psychedelic sessions with her boyfriend kept 16-year-old Gay Haubner busy.
North Country Girl: Chapter 35 — The High Cost of College
Gay Haubner shares tales of her sophomore year at the University of Minnesota, including Mr. Steak, spring break, and hitchhiking adventures with pantsless creeps.
North Country Girl: Chapter 36 — Pracna on Main
When her dad doesn’t come through with the tuition check, Gay has to figure out a way to pay for college on her own.
North Country Girl: Chapter 37 — Latin Lovers
It may have been one of the worst Minnesota winters ever, but Gay finds a few silver linings.
North Country Girl: Chapter 38 — Cinderella Goes to the Disco
Gay recalls the absolute best night of her life.
North Country Girl: Chapter 39 — Life as a Mexican Groupie
Gay Haubner continues her Acapulco Spring Break romance with Fito Giron, Champagne, and Carlos’N Charlies.
North Country Girl: Chapter 40 — Return to Mexico
After a glorious Spring Break in Acapulco, Gay returns to Minnesota where it’s even more miserable than she remembered.
North Country Girl: Chapter 41 — The Playboy from Chicago
Gay returns to Mexico and soon takes up with a tall, dark, handsome (and old) American.
North Country Girl: Chapter 42 — The Trophy Girlfriend
Gay settles into a languid life of drinking, nude sunbathing, and (not) eating.
North Country Girl: Chapter 43 — Sweet Home, Minnesota
Gay leaves Acapulco to return to Minneapolis, her old job, and her old boyfriend.
North Country Girl: Chapter 44 — A Narrow, Naked Escape
Gay finds herself naked (and afraid) in Minnesota.
North Country Girl: Chapter 45 — That Toddlin’ Town
Gay spends a wild weekend in Chicago with James and decides it’s like Acapulco…on ice.
North Country Girl: Chapter 46 — Locked in the Coat Check
With a crummy job and a crabby boyfriend, Gay once again reconsiders her options.
North Country Girl: Chapter 47 — “I Would Like to Purchase One Gun”
Gay takes off to — where else? — Mexico, but she and James run into a little trouble along the way.
North Country Girl: Chapter 48 — The Accidental Model
Gay returns to Acapulco, where the circumstances are not quite as glamorous as they were last time.
North Country Girl: Chapter 49 — We Turn Outlaw
Gay and her boyfriend return from Mexico with more than just sun tans.
North Country Girl: Chapter 50 — In Search of Lost Daughters
Unplanned — and unpleasant — road trips abound for Gay, who goes to California to find her sister and Winnipeg to meet James’s daughter.
North Country Girl: Chapter 51 — Big Pink and the Invisible Man
Gay and James meet up with an old friend who’s colorful in more ways than one.
North Country Girl: Chapter 52 — The Whipped Cream Wars
Gay shares her modeling exploits in Chicago, including scruffy photographers, an unfortunate Dorothy Hamill wedge, and throwing the first pitch at Comiskey Park.
North Country Girl: Chapter 53 — Hello Groucho, Good-bye James
Gay trades in James for a hairless, toothless Yorkie and makes the best of her modest modeling career.
North Country Girl: Chapter 54 — California Nightmares
Will or won’t Gay pose for Playboy?
North Country Girl: Chapter 55 — A Chicago Courtship
Gay falls in love with Michael, Chicago blues, and the Cubs.
North Country Girl: Chapter 56 — The Accidental Pornographer
Gay moves from model to writer at Oui magazine.
North Country Girl: Chapter 57 — Broken-Hearted in Chicago
Things go sideways for Gay in matters of work and love.
North Country Girl: Chapter 58 — Jobless in NYC
After a brief recovery period in Minneapolis, Gay moves to New York with no money and no job prospects.
North Country Girl: Chapter 59 — Of Magazines and (Naked) Men
After several fruitless and alcohol-soaked meetings with the editor of one magazine, Gay’s fortunes take a turn when she lands an interview at Penthouse’s sister publication, Viva.
North Country Girl: Chapter 60 — Me Too
Gay gets a job a Viva magazine, but it might be more than she bargained for.
North Country Girl: Chapter 61 — The Flying Fake Penthouse Pet
Gay finds herself filling in as a Penthouse Pet, an adventure that involves mud, race tracks, and an Army helicopter.
North Country Girl: Chapter 62 — Diamonds are a Secretary’s Best Friend
At Viva, Gay tries to keep Miss Keeton happy, avoids Anna Wintour, and betrays her larcenous heart.
North Country Girl: Chapter 63 — Chocolate, Bars, and Bears
Gay finally gets to write a magazine article at Viva, but much like the vacation that follows (and most other events in her life) nothing goes as planned.
North Country Girl: Chapter 64 — The Accidental Editor
Gay gets a makeover, gets a hand-me-down from Anna Wintour, and gets a promotion.
North Country Girl: Chapter 65 — “You’re Fired”
Gay gets a new boss at Viva, and things don’t go quite as planned.
North Country Girl: Chapter 66 — “Dear Penthouse Forum…”
Gay lands at Penthouse and gets the worst possible job at the magazine.
North Country Girl: Chapter 67 — The Best Job in the World
For the new service editor of the best-selling men’s magazine in the world, every day was Christmas.
North Country Girl: Chapter 68 — Life at Penthouse Magazine
Gay takes a trip to Finland to test Kawasakis, drink beer, and rub elbows with the snowmobile press.
North Country Girl: Chapter 69 — Spanish Bombs
Gay wrangles a boondoggle to Spain to visit a non-existent casino, eats her way through Mallorca, and stumbles into an intriguing proposition.
North Country Girl: Chapter 70 — The Computer Guy and Me
Gay leaves Ibiza, returns to New York, and wonders why anyone would ever need a computer in their home.
North Country Girl: Chapter 71 — Me and the Other Guy
Gay encounters the spark that blazes her life to the ground.