Healing

BY ELAINE KLAASSEN Thirteen years ago, within a period of 18 months, Mary Bergerson’s losses were more than anyone could imagine. Her mom died of brain cancer, her soldier husband took his own life, her youngest brother died suddenly, her step-children were taken away because her disability eliminated her right…

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Gust of Wind (mysteries)

BY ELAINE KLAASSEN Many years ago a little piano student of mine wanted to play a scary Halloween song. When we couldn’t find anything he liked, I wrote him a simple piece about the howling wind, the gusting, cracking wind, a windy Halloween night, when the trees groan and rattle…

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Best Buy just opened a Teen Tech Center

Best Buy just opened a Teen Tech Center at Hope Community, 611 E. Franklin, for teens ages 13 to18. Young women attending the center can participate in the Career Pathway program sponsored by the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, which offers post-high school career readiness help, including internships and mentorship. The…

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Go to your precinct caucus

BY ED FELIEN At 6:30 p.m. tomorrow, Feb. 6, your neighborhood DFLers will gather to elect delegates to the Legislative District 62 Convention on March 10. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to endorse a candidate to serve our community in the Minnesota Legislature. Call the DFL for precinct locations: 651-293-1200…

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Police priorities

BY ED FELIEN “America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.” –Oscar Wilde And the Minneapolis Police Department seems to want the worst of both of those worlds. Our police officers seem to kill our citizens with barbaric indifference, and the administration creates…

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A brief history of the heart

Aphrodite, Goddess of Love

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Valentine’s Day will soon be upon us. This day can be a boon to restaurants offering date night specials, confectioners and bakers due to the association with sweet things, florists, obviously, and greeting card makers and sellers. The last category will find new ways to depict…

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Poems by Demetrios Trifiatis

CUPID/EROS Oh! Erato, Muse of poetry of love Inspire me today! I supplicate you. For I aspire to wrote for him for HIM… HE… CUPID, The son of Venus,Goddess of beauty, And of Mercury, the cunning messenger of Gods. I implore you, oh Muse, Guide my pen, to write a…

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Nokomis, Hiawatha and Minnehaha

BY ED FELIEN From the forests and the prairies, From the great lakes of the Northland, From the land of the Ojibways, From the land of the Dacotahs, Ye who love the haunts of Nature, Love the sunshine of the meadow, Love the shadow of the forest, Love the wind…

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Welcome to Super Bowl madness

BY ED FELIEN When Mark Dayton called it “The People’s Stadium,” he knew from reading Orwell’s “Animal Farm” that all people are equal, but some people are more equal than others. Ticket prices for the Super Bowl will probably reach $5,000. Not a price that a lot of lesser equal…

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A brief history of the heart

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Valentine’s Day will soon be upon us. This day can be a boon to restaurants offering date night specials, confectioners and bakers due to the association with sweet things, florists, obviously, and greeting card makers and sellers. The last category will find new ways to depict…

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Who pays for their crimes? Who doesn’t?

I am sitting here in South Minneapolis on the darkest day of the year, Dec. 21, Winter Solstice. I am depressed and sad but not because of Seasonal Affective Disorder. The darkness represents an ignorance that is invading our city and our state (not to mention the country) right now.…

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Tergiversation

BY TONY BOUZA Haunted by the word and frustrated by the lack of an excuse to use it. Then along came our senator to the rescue. Al Franken is a great guy. Amazing career. Shoved Norm Coleman out of public life. SNL. A book with a title to die for—about…

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Police priorities

BY ED FELIEN “America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.” —Oscar Wilde And the Minneapolis Police Department seems to want the worst of both of those worlds. Our police officers seem to kill our citizens with barbaric indifference, and the administration creates…

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THE DISH: Eating for England

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE The George and Dragon 813 W. 50th St., Mpls. 55419 612-208-1047 http://www.ganddpub.com/ This isn’t really eating for England. This is eating in a vain attempt to assuage my mounting “homesickness” for British food, which is the presenting symptom of my general homesickness for England. Now don’t…

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