BY DAVID TILSEN Over 45 years ago, several of us from the Alive and Trucking Theater gathered in a small apartment in Phillips. We were called by Sandy Spieler and Ray St. Louis to discuss a vision. They believed that regular festivals helped make communities strong, and that South Minneapolis…
Minneapolis residents have inherited a convoluted system borne out of early 20th century mistrust. No one trusted anyone so no one was given power. This resulting quagmire has hampered our democratic functions as “14 bosses” oversee city department heads and no one is held accountable. The new amendment would give…
BY TONY BOUZA One of the many flaws I’ve nurtured over what seems to have evolved into an interminable stay on the planet is a serious predilection for criticism. I’m always going on about this idiot or that fool. Surely I can’t be infallible on the issues. And I am…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE New eating places and concepts and “new to me” Amazingly, new restaurants and cafes and food service “concepts” keep on opening. Three fairly recent openings, in descending order of grandness (which pretty much relates to price and that pampered, entitled feeling, but not necessarily to actual…
BY ELAINE KLAASSEN Remember a few years back when Twin Cities Nonviolent partnered with individuals and peace organizations to create 10 Days Free from Violence in the Twin Cities? It was in the fall. The initiative wasn’t so huge the first year, but the next year, in 2019, hundreds of…
Call it murder The Catholic Agitator of June 2021, a monthly newsletter, carried an article by the journalist Chris Hedges, entitled “The Age of Social Murder” which should be required reading for all of us. He defines the murderer’s weapon as global warming, seldom defined or recognized as such. Each…
BY ELINA KOLSTAD Between the record- breaking heat waves, major floods from Michigan to New York, severe droughts throughout the West, and the possibility that the Champlain Towers South collapse was exacerbated by rising sea levels, you might have noticed the impacts of climate change have officially arrived. We no…
BY DEVIN HOGAN Filing for office in even-numbered years usually opens the Tuesday after Memorial Day. Per Minneapolis DFL tradition, the 2020 endorsed school board candidates met on that first Tuesday – May 26 – to file for office together, take pictures, and send out a press release. It was…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Bloomington Avenue is looking OK these days. I love to see it, because a year ago, I wasn’t sure. Businesses along Bloomington tend to be either very small and/or creative and unusual. Eateries capitalized on being cozy and intimate, and had to pivot to takeout, which…
BY TONY BOUZA Another proposed system change to reform the police. How we love gimmicks and formulaic answers. And yet, in our real lives, we mostly tend to be more practical. In the end we usually find that the person matters and the system can be manipulated. Talented folks make…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Dining rooms reopened and indoor café returns The Seward branch of Pizza Lucé has opened its dining room. Quite a few other Lucés have been open for indoor and patio dining for a while now. But this one doesn’t have a patio, so that may have…
BY ELAINE KLAASSEN The day before Easter, 2021, I went to George Floyd Square to meet with Marquise Bowie, a member of Agape, and Marcia Sanoden, a “make-the-world-a-better-place” reader of Southside Pride, to talk about her offer to volunteer at Agape and what that might encompass. But we didn’t sit…
BY ED FELIEN When I was a small boy attending Mass at St. Helena’s Church, I remember a sermon by my favorite priest, Father Don Schnitzius. The way Father Don told the story of The Ten Talents was slightly different from Matthew, Chapter 25, but the message was essentially the…
BY ED FELIEN On Sunday, June 27, Andrea Jenkins, the Black trans Minneapolis City Council Member, had her car surrounded by about a dozen protesters as she was trying to leave a Pride event in Loring Park. The ward she represents includes three of the four corners of George Floyd…
BY STEPHANIE FOX Minneapolis YWCA The YWCA has three Minneapolis locations, Downtown, Midtown and Uptown, and all were busy with activities and events. Then came the pandemic and things changed. During the governor’s shutdown the only thing open was child care. While the mandate eliminated most sports, activities that could…
