Debra Keefer Ramage
Debra Keefer Ramage began writing freelance for Southside Pride in 2012, shortly after returning from a 13-year sojourn in England. She covers progressive politics, education, co-ops and neighborhoods. In 2017 she started doing Southside Pride’s restaurant review column, The Dish.
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Once again, and maybe even more so, the Twin Cities is heaving with winter-themed, holiday-ized markets, activities and cultural flowerings to enhance your mood and social standing as the days darken. As usual, we will focus on both grand traditions and iconoclastic takedowns, and privilege the…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE 1 Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command. Dinkytown is the University of Minnesota, and the Dinkytown experience is quintessentially the student experience. Even if, like me, you first experienced Dinkytown as a fully grown adult almost a decade away from your own college…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE We have come to a point in late-stage capitalism where a lot of the so-called philanthropy vying for well-meaning control of our lives is so inept, so blinkered by ideology, that it has become its own opposite. “Philanthropy” contains two Greek root words that mean, respectively,…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE As a “consumer,” you have three broad things on offer from Midtown Global Market: It’s a place to eat and drink, it’s a place to shop and hang out, and it’s a place with numerous neighborhood-based events to attend. The eating and drinking might seem similar…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE We took a leisurely weekend ramble eastward on Selby Avenue and discovered some delightful places to share. Of course, most Minneapolitans know Selby Avenue is there, a couple of blocks south of Marshall Avenue, which is your handy gateway to St. Paul if you live near…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE We have discovered some interesting goods and services on Chicago Avenue around the 48th Street commercial hub. In general, things are pretty stable around this location, with its prosperous but not flashy real estate, great schools, and strong neighborhood organizations and business owners’ association. The retail…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE We attended the Open Streets on Franklin Avenue a couple of weeks ago and man, there were a LOT of scooters. Scooters were a novelty rarely seen just last year at Open Streets. During my one-week visit to Atlanta this year in early August, that city…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE (Yeah, we’re hoping to sell this piece to BuzzFeed later.) But seriously, this is no joke. We were calmly and methodically doing our research to spotlight two upmarket small businesses and three long-standing nonprofits on Chicago Avenue when—BOOM!—one of the nonprofits, a 17-year-old, high-visibility presence…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Toward the end of 2018, a few high-profile business closings prompted concern in the media for the health of Grand Avenue’s business environment. In retrospect, this may have been unfounded. Although competing forces of gentrification and economic stagnation for all but the wealthiest consumers, as well…
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DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Open Streets Franklin Avenue is on Sunday, Aug. 25, this year, as ever from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Just like last year, the route stretches from Portland Avenue to 27th Avenue in the east (a block shy of the Seward Co-op store). As each…
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DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE This article is about good health, mental health—and breakfast. Obviously, these things are quite interconnected. We had a very fun Sunday morning breakfast at Hot Plate, a diner on Bloomington Avenue and 52nd Street. Hot Plate has been around for over a decade, having been started by…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Highland Park is one of three Saint Paul neighborhoods that is contiguous with Minneapolis (the others being Merriam Park and Midway), and it has a lot of attractive things for Minneapolitans to do and see when they cross the river. One of those is the Highland…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE The first indication we had that Open Streets may be hitting a stride of competency after over a decade of building up to it was that it was a lot easier this year to get advance information. The map with all the major presenter booths and…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Cedar Avenue is a place where you can get good deals from locally-owned, unique businesses. We are highlighting five of them, some only a couple of years old, and some over 40. How many other avenues in town, or even in the country, can supply you…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE All of the businesses highlighted this month have been in their locations on Franklin Avenue for more than 19 years, and some more than 40 years. This in itself proves their excellence in their fields, but there is no other discernible trait to tie them together,…
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