BY DAVID TILSEN To be interviewed by Laura Waterman Wittstock was like being listened to by a wise friend. Then, afterward, you listen and think, why did I say that? I didn’t plan to open up that much. Somehow Laura was able to do that with people. Without ever compromising…
BY PAPA JOHN KOLSTAD Twin Cities health care activists are seeking changes to a state law that gives nearly free state collection services to a corporate giant. Health Partners/Regions Hospital enjoys the privilege of having the Minnesota Department of Revenue provide collection services for debt people owe for health care.…
BY ED FELIEN Estimates range from between 1,000 and 1,200 people who gathered on Sunday, Jan. 3 to protest yet another police killing of a young Black man. On Wed. night, Dec. 30, the Minneapolis police Strike Force/SWAT Team/Community Response Team/Roughrider Cowboys/or whatever this unit of the MPD is currently…
BY ED FELIEN By the time we went to press, there were three candidates for City Council in Ward 11: the incumbent, Jeremy Schroeder; Dillon Gherna, a young gay man who worked on Hutchinson’s successful campaign for sheriff; and Emily Koski, the daughter of former mayor, Al Hofstede. We asked…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE I can’t tell you (because I’ve lost track) how many friends and acquaintances have done major or minor remodels this year, or moved to a larger or smaller place, or just a different place, or just impulsively rearranged their furniture and changed their decor every couple…
BY SAFIYO MOHAMED This is a true story about how Amazon dehumanizes and abuses its workers for the sake of excessive profit. When Amazon (msp1) hired me and more than 50 other people in 2016, we joined over a thousand workers already working there. My first day was very exciting…
BY TONY BOUZA I have a tiny coterie of friends who, whenever we meet, immediately plunge me into esoteric, vehement exchanges on arcane subjects. Two such are the publisher of this tract (and I mean that in the sense of propaganda leaflet) and the sadly dead and missed Ivan Musicant.…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Throughout this pandemic, we have been noting businesses in various categories that have closed for good (and a few brave souls who opened businesses!).We’ve noted the impact on restaurants, breweries, retail and services, both vital (like groceries and pharmacies) and not so vital but still pretty…
The battleground that is Lake Street Lake Street,” Kay says in the beginning “ …surrounding the riots in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by the MPD… ” I take exception to her statement. The Minneapolis Police Department did not kill Mr. Floyd, a fired Minneapolis police officer…
Holidays are holy I love Debra Keefer Ramage’s essay “Holidays are Holy” in the December 2020 paper. I agree with the core ideas and values, and I hope that our society resets into something more equitable for everyone. However, I question two points: 1) The Israelites probably were not enslaved…
BY ELINA KOLSTAD My husband and I bought a car. When we sold our only car five years ago, we knew that there was a good chance we’d need to own a car again someday. Most of our transit pre-2020 was by public transportation. When Covid hit, our habits changed.…
BY MARIE BRAUN Two days after Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th president of the United States, nations around the world will celebrate the ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Wea-pons. This international treaty makes it illegal to “develop, test, produce, manufacture … use or…
BY KATHY KELLY Recently, an ad from Vote Vets featured the father of a U.S. Navy Seal, Ryan Owen, who was killed in Yemen. Three million people watched it. They heard Ryan Owen’s father urge them not to trust Donald Trump with the lives of their kids. “Look what happened…
BY MERIDEL LESEUR Editor’s note: The following remarks were delivered in 1988 by video to the Alliance for Cultural Democracy conference in San Francisco. I bring greetings from the Middle West and also from Time. On Feb. 22, I’ll be 88 years old. I’ve been a writer, an artist in…
BY ELINA KOLSTAD “Defund the Police” has sparked a nationwide debate, the likes of which we have not seen before, about what a safe community looks like and how we achieve that for ALL of our residents. The vast majority of people in Minneapolis support redirecting funds from the MPD…
