Myths, shibboleths and dogma

BY TONY BOUZA The job sucks. The Chief is a psycho. We’re going to hell in a handbasket. Morale has never been lower. These are a few of the bromides that drive police thinking. Civilians, though, are looking at Atlantis and don’t know it. An unfathomable world, several fathoms deep.…

Continue reading

Other December holidays share Christmas traits

Hanukkah Menorah

BY STEPHANIE FOX In December, Christmas takes over everything. Christmas music is everywhere, dozens of TV specials and shows have Christmas themes, decorations with Christmas themes fill homes, stores and the streets. Anything winter related becomes a symbol of Christmas, from toy soldiers to snowflakes to bells to stars to…

Continue reading

Let’s put the less fortunate to work

BY JOE SELVAGGIO Upon reading the amazing book “Amazing MN” by Lee Lynch, I found myself smug and proud of my adoptive state, Minnesota.  Fact after fact, picture after picture evoked, “Wow, I’m lucky to live here.” We have invested wisely in literacy and education, recreational sites, arts, sports teams…

Continue reading

We need a new city attorney

BY ED FELIEN This is the interregnum—that period between regimes, when the new government begins to organize themselves and the old government packs up and leaves. The new City Council will be deciding who will be president, who will be majority leader and who will head up the various committees.…

Continue reading

Congratulations!

BY ED FELIEN Congratulations to Jacob Frey on winning the mayor’s race. He ran a marathon and made it look like a sprint. He’s charming and he has infectious energy. He promises to be the most accessible mayor, ever. He even published his cell phone number on campaign posters: 612-968-4443.…

Continue reading

Bravo, Trump

BY TONY BOUZA On these very pages, on more than one occasion, I pleaded for the one thing I felt America needed most. I even wrote a book about the subject, and the result? Silence. I begged the President to convene a National Commission on the issue—and a black president—for…

Continue reading

How to be jolly

polarized

DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE OK, so admittedly this has not been such a celebratory year. This time a year ago we were stunned (most of us) by the election results and dreading the year to come. It could have been worse, but it was still pretty hard. The hurricanes and earthquakes…

Continue reading

CONFESSIONS OF AN UNREPENTANT MAOIST: Taking Power

campaign

BY ED FELIEN Before the Open Meeting Law, politicians decided destinies in smoke-filled rooms. Of course, that was also before the laws against smoking indoors. After the election, I was invited by Louis DeMars to a meeting at the Leamington Hotel to organize city government: free food, free booze, lots…

Continue reading

The future of Hiawatha Golf Course

BY ED FELIEN Hiawatha Golf Course got a stay of execution. The Park Board rescinded its motion to stop pumping at Hiawatha Golf Course in three years and moved the date up to five years. So, now, in five years, the Park Board will ask the Department of Natural Resources…

Continue reading

SPIRIT AND CONSCIENCE: The Church’s ongoing reformation

The mural on Trinity’s building at 20th and Riverside Is filled with biblical figures. The artist, Larry Rostad, wrote: “We have represented the extended family of faith with paint, in mural form …. Our hope is that Trinity’s mural will contribute to our neighborhood; may visible hand-painted images help reveal the INVISIBLE things of the Spirit.”

BY ELAINE KLAASSEN Cultural Uniqueness of Trinity Lutheran Congregation When I talked with Jane Buckley-Farlee, co-pastor of Trinity Lutheran Congregation, we discovered she had been at that church as long as I’ve been at Southside Pride—21 years. I’ve been reporting on religious groups, mostly churches, during all this time; overall,…

Continue reading