Category: Nokomis

DFL State Convention report

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE The Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party held its 2016 state convention on June 4 at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. I did not attend as a member of the press, but as an alternate, then upgraded to delegate, to Bernie Sanders. As a delegate I could be on…

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Theatre in the Round’s ‘Sense and Sensibility’

BY ADAM  M. SCHENCK A preference is, by definition, a greater liking for one option over another. For some odd reason, however, I cannot fathom how someone would not like the genre of the English romance, which focuses on romantic relationships and concludes with an optimistic ending, typically a marriage.…

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Thoughts on race by a biracial girl

BY ASHLEY FRAY My first memory of discussing about race was when I was 5 years old. My African-American father sat me and my sister down and gave us a speech on race. “You are proud Afro- Americans. Never trust a white man and never marry him. He’ll turn you…

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The new Nazi Order

BY ED FELIEN Are you concerned that the number of hillbilly militias, racist rednecks with assault rifles, has grown from a little over a hundred groups to more than a thousand groups in the last few years? Are you concerned that the FBI warned in 2006 that white supremacists have…

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Queen of Cuisine: Hello, Hi-Lo

BY CARLA WALDEMAR Hi-Lo Diner 4020 E. Lake St. no reservations parking lot in rear Move over, Mickey’s: You’ve got a shiny, new contender for Supreme Leader of the local diner universe. This classic 1957 diner traveled from a site in Pennsylvania to its new home on East Lake Street…

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At long last, a superintendent is chosen

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE On May 24, the Minneapolis Public Schools school board announced its final choice for the permanent position of superintendent—Ed Graff, formerly superintendent of schools in Anchorage, Alaska. Meanwhile, Michael Goar, who had served as interim superintendent since the departure of Bernadeia Johnson in early 2015, left…

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Hiawatha Golf Course Improvements Project public meeting

During the last several months, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and the City of Minneapolis, in collaboration with the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, have studied the effects of pumping ground water and storm water from the Hiawatha Golf Course into Lake Hiawatha. While no conclusion on future pumping has…

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FROM WHERE I STAND: Kissinger was not a peacemaker

BY POLLY MANN This May President Barak Obama bestowed another medal on Henry Kissinger—one of, at least, four he’s received, including the Nobel Peace Prize. If one were to choose one event that exemplifies the use of the word “oxymoron,” this would be it. (Oxymoron: a figure of speech combining…

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New Left Convention in Chicago, 1967

BY ED FELIEN Before driving out to Smith College in Northampton, Mass., I stopped at Chicago for the New Left Convention.  I went to Old Town, met some lovely people and we decided to bring a little bit of the Summer of Love to Chicago.  We talked a liberal church…

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Namings

BY TONY BOUZA Humans have extolled the virtues and memories of their heroes by naming things and places after them.  This serves as a gentle prod to memory as to the qualities we cherish and celebrate.  As with every other human activity this can be a fraught and complicated process.…

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It’s not Franklin, it’s ‘The Avenue’

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE White men may have physically built Franklin Avenue, but it was, to a large degree, Native Americans, since the 1960s, who made it what it is today. The unique paradox of the Avenue is that it attracts immigrants, whatever the newest, most vulnerable wave is, and…

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