HOLIDAY HOOP-LA Among the many catalogs I receive at Christmas is one from Hammacher Schlemmer. Just why I don’t know. I’ve never bought so much as a pin cushion from them. It’s filled not only with things I can’t afford but even more with things I don’t want. You can…
BY ED FELIEN That’s what it sounds like, “Git outta here!” The Planning Commission last month just approved zoning changes that will ultimately mean the removal of communities of color and those of us who live in the inner city in affordable housing and replace us with Young Urban Professionals…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE This holiday season, I am contemplating redemption. I am initially inspired by a nontraditional modern Christmas carol by Bruce Cockburn, dating from an album released in the early 1990s, “Cry of a Tiny Babe.” The chorus proclaims, “Redemption rips through the surface of time in the…
BY TONY BOUZA Once a guy gets to my age, he needs to ask himself whether he’s ever engaged in sexual harassment, in any form: “An unexamined life . . . “ Well? After a mental search, I remembered. It was August 1994. Erica was selling her jewelry at the…
Do Genocide and Slavery Ever Become History? Too many of the book reviews I find online, in magazines or books are too long for my use. So, I end up writing reviews of reviews. Following is my review of a book review written by Deborah Lipstadt and published in The…
BY ED FELIEN Please help us celebrate Mayday next spring, on Sunday, May 3, in Powderhorn Park. Like everyone else, we were shocked and saddened by Heart of the Beast’s decision to cancel their participation and organizing of Mayday for next spring. Last January HOBT started telling the press that…
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…
How Can We Protect Our Children? I suspect that the overwhelming majority of American women could come up with a childhood experience like mine. It occurred when I was in grade school and involved our next door neighbor, Mr. Blank, who owned the biggest lumber yard in the town. Every…
By Tony Bouza Erica, telling me a friend of ours—educated and sophisticated—had consulted a psychic, set me to thinking—after overcoming nausea. Psychics are clever scoundrels, preying upon our gullibility using their study of human nature. They observe the external (appearance, body language, etc.) and exploit our hopes and dreams. With…
BY STEPHANIE FOX Jake Reber is a man on a mission, focused on a campaign to get his city government to come up with solutions to fight the rising crime rate in South Minneapolis. Earlier this year, he started talking with his neighbors, hearing about their personal experiences with property…
BY ED FELIEN You have to wonder if there wasn’t another phone call that night. An earlier phone call from Putin, telling Trump if he withdrew American troops from Syria, Putin would personally keep the Russian Mafia bosses off Trump’s case for the casino bankruptcies. The Turkey dodge was just…
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…
Affordable Housing Something has to be done about the ever-increasing gap between the poor and rich, especially as it relates to the availability of affordable housing for those who need it. The National Low Income Housing Coalition reports that in no state in the union can a full-time worker earning…
BY ED FELIEN Thousands of people showed up at the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis to tell our President, in the words of Mayor Frey, “Love Trumps Hate in Minneapolis.” The demonstrators were peaceful but determined. They stayed past midnight. There were minor confrontations and scuffles, but no one was…
BY STEPHANIE FOX On the Sunday before the first day of school in Minneapolis, four barbers at Fresh Cuts Barber Shop made sure that 62 kids would look sharp as they walked through their school doors. The annual event gives free-of-charge haircuts to students, kindergarten through 8th grade, before school…
