BY TONY BOUZA The writer has a unique series of responsibilities. The first is to truth. Relevance and humility follow. Gratitude and respect for the reader, and I’m sure there are more. Facile, no? No. If our President has reminded us of nothing else, he has reminded us of the…
BY ELINA KOLSTAD The city has tried and failed to reopen the intersection at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue off and on since it was closed down by protestors after George Floyd was killed in May. These efforts have been unsuccessful and I, for one, am grateful to those protecting…
Medicare isn’t just a single health plan. There are various parts, some of which you get from the government and others that you can purchase from private insurance companies. Parts A and B make up what’s known as original Medicare, which comes directly from the government. Part A. You can…
On the eve of the six-year anniversary of Cargill’s pledging to stop clearing forests, 30 Mighty Earth activists gathered at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, which houses a Cargill gallery, to commemorate the commitment and sign an oversized renewal-of-vows contract. The document contained an empty line at the bottom for…
BY ELAINE KLAASSEN During the 1990s, my friend Marie was the director of a shelter for homeless women and children sponsored by a small Christian denomination. I visited her once at the shelter and I could see that she gave her whole heart to her work. She smiled at residents…
BY ED FELIEN Around 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 23, Kenosha police officers responded to a reported domestic when a woman called saying her boyfriend was present and was court-ordered not to be on the premises. Officer Rusten Sheskey and his partner tried to detain Jacob Blake. He resisted arrest. They…
BY ELINA KOLSTAD We just went through a second stint of authoritarian lockdown in the form of curfews declared and the National Guard occupying our streets. Many will say that misinformation was at fault here. A Black suspect was said to have been shot by police. Riots broke out. The…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Since May 25, 2020, Chicago Avenue in South Minneapolis will forever be associated in history with the “George Floyd uprising.” In fact, the exact location where the murder of Floyd occurred, 38th Street and Chicago Avenue South, is unofficially renamed George Floyd Square (and making that…
BY ABĒ R. LEVINE Carmen Means rallies the crowd at the “Peoples’ Press Conference” on Saturday, Aug. 15, at the George Floyd Memorial site in front of Cup Foods. Means, along with memorial caretakers, have submitted demands to Mayor Frey in response to George Floyd’s murder. Five women organizers who’ve…
BY KAY SCHROVEN Gardens are growing in four Minneapolis parks and others are in the works, including Powderhorn Park. If you haven’t completed the Powderhorn Park Community Garden Survey, please do so now. Nearly 100 responses have already come in. Your input will help the garden planners know just which…
BY KAY SCHROVEN Powderhorn is not the only neighborhood in the Twin Cities recovering from a unique summer, but surely we’ve had our share of challenges: protests/riots, destruction, violence, including the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the MPD, unemployment and hundreds of unsheltered neighbors living in beautiful…
BY TONY BOUZA “What do you have to lose?” Thus Spake Zarathustra! Well, Sarah Palin, of revered memory, might have responded: “How’s it working out for ya?” The Wall—ah yes, a metaphor for all that is good and wholesome about this great country. China has its Great Wall—why shouldn’t we…
BY DAVE TILSEN The burning and looting is terrible. It alienates the workers, it causes pain and suffering to many, it makes life in the city more difficult, and it increases support for the police. These are questions that dominate all conversations. The burning and looting does amplify Trump’s messaging,…
BY DEB TAYLOR Unprecedented levels of loneliness and isolation have swept our communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially affecting seniors, the most vulnerable to this persistent virus. The threat of this virus has kept older adults quarantined and distanced from their loved ones. “I haven’t hugged my kids and grandkids…
Why were there riots in Minneapolis? The New Yorker magazine occasionally runs an article that is a barn burner. Years ago, it published a long article by John Hersey about the bombing of Hiroshima that fit the same category. There’s no way I could do justice to another New Yorker…
