Support Ukraine

BY ED FELIEN As of November, 33,476 Ukrainian civilians have been killed by Russian bombs and missiles. And the unspeakable slaughter of innocents continued through Christmas Day and New Year’s. In contrast, the bombing of Guernica in 1937 by the German Luftwaffe that inspired Picasso’s painting killed only 1,654 people.…

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The divide between urban and rural

BY JOHN RYKHUS, JR. Many consider the oft-quoted phrase by Abraham Lincoln, “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” as almost cliché. But in reality, it may contain nearly as much relevance and be as applicable today as in Lincoln’s time. Taking into account the social upheaval and political events…

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There’s no place like home – finding “inspo”

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Inspo is not a tropical fish, like Nemo. Inspo = “inspiration” in millennial slang. Thanks for attending my tiny Ted Talk. In the throes of winter, even in the supposedly hopeful post-solstice part, it’s kind of hard to think about redecorating, remodeling, or (shudder) moving to…

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Trip to Africa is life-changing

BY ELAINE KLAASSEN Steve Floyd (not related to George Floyd) has been taking Black youth from South Minneapolis on trips to Africa since the early ’90s. Floyd feels that traveling to Africa is one thing that really works to help them heal from the effects of slavery throughout their history.…

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Lake Street Council rising

BY KAY SCHROVEN The Lake Street Council (LSC), a nonprofit organization, has been around since the late 1960s. It was formed to support businesses that remained on the Lake Street corridor as the escape from the urban landscape to the suburbs continued. This exodus began in the first half of…

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Declining civilizations

BY TONY BOUZA My very unscholarly appreciation of history includes the bromide that great civilizations implode through moral rot rather than outside challenges. As the saying goes, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.” I agree. A recent case illustrated the point.…

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Competing options for rent control

BY CAM GORDON The rent control debate is heating up. With the city’s rent stabilization workgroup completing its work in December, it now falls to the City Council to approve a policy and draft an ordinance if we are to have rent stabilization in Minneapolis. On Dec. 13, the 25-member…

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The women who moved a castle

BY WILLIAM BURLESON Much has been written about the former White Castle on the corner of 33rd and Lyndale in South Minneapolis. It is certainly a curiosity. Something about it says it doesn’t belong there, this prefab fast-food restaurant in a largely residential neighborhood on a shady tree-lined street. It…

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So far, so what?

BY ED FELIEN Kyrsten Sinema: Sinema’s great moment of fame came when she emerged as one of the principal architects of the bipartisan infrastructure bill. She suffers under the self-aggrandizing delusion that without her it wouldn’t have passed. It was a budget bill. It only needed 50 votes plus Kamala…

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How did they do that?

BY ED FELIEN What just happened? Did we get hit with an inflationary spiral that skyrocketed prices just before the election and then calmed down just before Christmas? It seems evident that a rise in gas prices began the action. This was caused—it was widely reported and believed—by the Saudis…

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Vegetables, vitamins and pickleball

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Healthy eating – let food be your medicine The phrase “Let food be thy medicine” is often attributed to Hippocrates. But a Dutch doctor specializing in nutrition and natural medicine (see www.drgoodfood.org/en/vitarecipes/foodfixes) scanned every known bit of writing by him and found nothing that can be…

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Holy Days of winter – we will survive

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Nine years of thinking about winter holidays This will be my personal ninth Holiday article in Southside Pride. I seem to take longer to write these than any other pieces I write, whether that’s because of or despite the fact that I feel somewhat ambivalent about…

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Nothin’ happening at 38th and Chicago, yet

BY TOM ABELES The area around the intersection at 38th and Chicago has achieved a stasis after the death of George Floyd. There are numerous major issues that need resolution. The most recent one to surface is the agreement of the city to purchase the former Speedway station and to…

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