Letter to the Editor

You’ve probably never heard of DARPA, the secretive Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Defense Department. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, in the 1990s, DARPA has been active in many areas, from solving infectious disease to transforming humans for the theater of war. For example, with…

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Prisons

BY POLLY MANN There I was sitting on the long bench facing the condominium’s mail boxes going through the mail—at least eight requests for donations from organizations that, each and every one, represent good causes. I delegate the majority to the recycle bin since there’s a limit to what I…

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My dissertation

BY ED FELIEN Before the 20th century, drama entertained by telling a story.  The first modern innovation came with Henrik Ibsen’s introduction of social purpose to the story; his plays used drama to prove a thesis: a woman’s need for self-actualization—“A Doll’s House”; the need to confront a community about…

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Black Lives Matter

BY LARA NORKUS-CRAMPTON The Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar Clark held a rally and march despite frigid temps on Dec. 19.  Hundreds of peaceful protestors representing a diverse coalition of civil rights, community, labor and faith groups marched for several hours from the 4th Police Precinct to Downtown…

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Paris and Raqqa

BY ED FELIEN Or, should we say San Bernardino, Paris and Raqqa and Beirut?  A day before the Paris attacks, two ISIS suicide bombers killed 43 people and injured 239 in Lebanon. Or, should we say San Bernardino, Paris and Raqqa and Beirut and Russia?  A Russian tourist flight from…

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Did Jesus celebrate Hanukkah?

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE The short answer is yes. The long answer, ah! That is a story rich in incident, with enticing side journeys into such areas as hermeneutics, historiography and linguistics, part of a wider question about the history of these celebrations, one Christian and one Jewish, and how…

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Release The Tapes!

BY ED FELIEN Early Sunday morning, Nov. 15, 911 Emergency was called to treat the victim of an assault at a party in North Minneapolis.  Paramedics called for police support once there, because, they said, Jamar Clark was interfering with their treatment of the young woman.  Police came and intervened. …

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We torture, and we don’t seem to care- CIA whistle blower and APA reformer talk about consequences of torture 

BY TOM DICKINSON On Nov. 12 the illegality of torture and the grotesque ways it has misshapen our country were highlighted in two presentations given by CIA whistle blower John Kiriakou and American Psychological Association (APA) reformer Bradley Olson at Hamline University and the University of Minnesota.  These talks gave a…

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Congratulations Margo!

Congratulations Margo (age 4), you’ve won a $50 gift certificate for Pepito’s Restaurant to take your family to dinner. We were excited to receive 38 outstanding entries, and only wish we could have had 38 winners. The judging was done by peers, children of some of our staff members. They…

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Graduate School, 1961 to 1966

BY ED FELIEN I graduated with my B.A. in June of 1960. That was it. I’d done everything I was supposed to do. I’d been a good Catholic boy, until I couldn’t handle the emotional, psychological and philosophical contradictions, and I just quit. I grew tired of the Jesuit reasoning that conjured…

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FROM WHERE I STAND

BY POLLY MANN Minnesota without poverty Nancy Maeker is an activist who really is active in proclaiming her message. She’s the former director of an organization called “Minnesota Without Poverty” and I became one of her followers after hearing her speak at a meeting of “Every Church A Peace Church.”…

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