Young changemakers

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Janaan Ahmed, a junior at Patrick Henry High School (PHHS) in Minneapolis, is the 2019 student at-large director on the Minneapolis School Board. The activism for which Ahmed became known, almost a full year before her selection as student representative, was as one of the point…

Continue reading

U.S. stops talking to North Korea

BY RICHARD TAYLOR Sometimes, the venue for a meeting can tell us a lot about its goals, such as the aborted one between President Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam. As Trump put it, “Vietnam is thriving like few places on earth. North Korea would be…

Continue reading

Letter to Amy

BY TONY BOUZA (Publisher’s Note: I vigorously disagree with Tony Bouza’s analysis and my rebuttal follows.) The election for President begins in 2019—and that ain’t an optic. Trump—if he can survive to run (which I doubt) has no chance. Zilch. So, who should the Dems nominate? My secret choice is…

Continue reading

Letter to Amy, Part Two

BY ED FELIEN Amy, you stand with the old guard, establishment wing of the Democratic Party. You are a deliberate centrist. You believe in bi-partisan cooperation. You went on the goodwill tour of Neo-Nazi battalions in Eastern Ukraine with John McCain and Lindsay Graham a couple of years ago just…

Continue reading

We are fighting for the future we deserve

BY VANESSA ROMERO DEL CAMPO Four years ago I moved here from Mexico with my family and four friends. When we arrived, everything was new and foreign. We didn’t know where to go or how to start our lives over. But we found this apartment. I liked it because the…

Continue reading

Spirit and Conscience Love for the Earth

Love for the Earth BY ELAINE KLAASSEN Since all the great romantic loves of my life are now either married, dead, or sainted hermits, I decided on Valentine’s Day that my last great love affair will be with the Earth. As my good luck would have it, there was a…

Continue reading

The secret language of lovers

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE How did clandestine lovers communicate in the days before email, cell phones and Skype? Well, not surprisingly, it wasn’t easy. And just like today, when even encryption will fail if you don’t use it right, sometimes things didn’t work out so well. Take Romeo and Juliet,…

Continue reading

Beaten dog inspires kindness

BY ELAINE KLAASSEN A friend’s beaten dog inspired the kindness of Southside Pride’s IT support person. Celia Wirth and her husband, Ron Wirth, are friends with a senior citizen, Gemma Barry,  who lives a few blocks from the restaurant/bar where Ron is a brewer, Roma in Mahtomedi (50 beers on…

Continue reading