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 “Well,” I tweeted, “now I can cross ‘being manhandled at a DFL convention’ off my bucket list.” I didn’t mean to be vague tweeting, but I was still trying to sort out exactly what had gone down and how I felt about it. It all began…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Closings – a nearby Aldi, Dumpling, Glass Endeavors Several months ago, Aldi closed their store in the Hi-Lake Shopping Center. Ever since the Aldi opened in part of the former Rainbow Foods space at Lake and Minnehaha, there had been two Aldis in easy walking distance…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Groceries and bakeries – Oxendale’s and Asa’s Bakery May is finally here and it’s time to shine some sunlight on 34th Avenue and 50th Street and its nearby businesses and organizations. Let’s start with getting some groceries in. Oxendale’s is a small local chain with one…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE There have been a number of significant changes along East 38th Street in the past year. We only have space to tell of some of them. Let’s visit the places on 38th starting at Nicollet Avenue South and moving eastward toward 42nd Avenue South. Nicollet Avenue…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Openings, reopenings, closings, reclosings Just kidding. Well, not really. It is like that sometimes. Anyway, two that have recently closed or announced imminent closing are Grand Catch on Grand Avenue in St. Paul and Dumpling on Minnehaha Avenue. One that will have just reopened by publishing…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE To me, Al Hildenbrand was one of a score or so of people who joined Walker Church during the 13 years (1998 through 2011) when I was in England. I knew him first just as the person who had taken on the role of the opening…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE I made a quick visit to the south Minneapolis end of Chicago Avenue just as we were emerging from a long and, for me, very isolating winter. I had let my car battery die, and had sort of lost the will to drive, which meant I…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Chances are, if you know 10 people who consider themselves environmentalists or some version thereof (ecosocialist, ecofeminist, environmental anarchist, left-wing prepper) you will notice that they all have different approaches to their activism, and often different “takes” on what informs their beliefs, what matters the most,…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE So many changes, so few column inches What a year this has been for Lake Street! I have to warn you right at the start, there is no way we can cover everything new and different since April 2021 along South Minneapolis’s most vital street. It’s…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Closings in food and drink From Racket.com and other sources we learned that Tin Whiskers, one of the original artisanal Minnesota breweries, is closing this year. Buy up their inventory while you still can, if you’re a fan. From Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, we learn that 35-year Dinkytown…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE The big story In a deliberately coordinated effort, MFT59 and MFT59-ESP, representing teachers and other professionals in the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) respectively, and SPFE (SPFT 28) representing both sections in St. Paul Public Schools (SPPS), filed “intent to strike” paperwork on Wednesday, Feb. 23. As…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Now we know what’s going where Augustine’s was A new restaurant under development by a couple with a recognized track record of great restaurants has been announced for the space on Selby Avenue in St. Paul previously occupied by the French bistro Augustine’s. Kalsada, which means…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Why keep small and unusual pets? Not everyone can keep a dog or a cat in their living space. For reasons ranging from disabilities to allergies to rules for renters, sometimes if one wants an animal companion, they have to look for other alternatives. I have…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE The outlook for the third summer of COVID In 2020, virtual summer camps were born. But when we published our piece on summer camps in early March 2020, we had no idea what was to come. And neither did the organizations offering summer camps, many of…
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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Resisting diet culture If you feel the alluring pull for a dietary “renewal” every January and have a vague feeling that you’re being played, you need to read this excellent piece by dietitian Christy Harrison in the Eater – “How to Avoid the shameless creep of…
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