Columnists

Regular Columnists

Ed Felien  •  Elaine Klaassen  •  Polly Mann  •  Tony Bouza  •  David Tilsen  •  Debra Keefer Ramage  •  Stephanie Fox  •  Johnny Hazard 

 


Have yourself a very racist Christmas

BY ED FELIEN Nothing can spoil Christmas quicker than hate. And racism is a special kind of hate. It dehumanizes a group, makes them less than human, and allows cops in the Fourth Precinct in North Minneapolis to treat African Americans like trash that has to be swept from the…

Continue reading

My trivial view

BY TONY BOUZA “What a great country!” The beginning of one of the many dumb jokes I love. Yet, for me, in there is contained the kernel of a central truth. Only an immigrant experiences the shock of change. I left a dictatorship (Spain) in Dec. 1937 to experience the…

Continue reading

Park Board shenanigans

BY ED FELIEN People are complaining of a smell coming from deals being made at the Park Board. Park Board President Brad Bourn appointed his best campaign worker, Kendall Killian, to a $114,000 a year consulting contract. They broke the contract into six-month periods, so it didn’t need board approval…

Continue reading

Books by local authors make great gifts

COMPILED BY ELAINE KLAASSEN According to treehuggers.com, “Icelanders have a beautiful tradition of giving books to each other on Christmas Eve and then spending the night reading. This custom is so deeply ingrained in the culture that it is the reason for the Jolabokaflod, or “Christmas Book Flood,” when the…

Continue reading

Becoming the Kindly Ghost

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Maybe it’s because of the ghosts in “A Christmas Carol,” or maybe it’s my majority Irish heritage, or maybe it’s just the natural feeling that comes around with all the sacred holidays, the longing for light’s returning, the pull of reuniting with family, but I can’t…

Continue reading

To kill the Golden Goose

BY ED FELIEN The Park Board continues to threaten to flood the Hiawatha Golf Course. They want to reduce pumping groundwater out of the golf course into Lake Hiawatha. The golf course in some spots is 2 feet below the water level of the lake. The water level is 2…

Continue reading

Pillsbury House Theatre supports our deepest values

BY ELAINE KLAASSEN Sunday night, Dec. 9, I went out into the cold dark night to witness wonderful collaborations—people creating art moments together—at Pillsbury House Theatre, 35th and Chicago. Children in the after-school program there had paired up with professional volunteer performers, playwrights and directors to create the little 10-minute…

Continue reading

A slim glimmer of a conscientious shopper

BY ELAINE KLAASSEN My friend Alex Chandler, who describes herself as a person with a passion for making the world a better place, is part of the ethical consumer movement. She looks for “companies that are committed to Fair Trade and environmentally-friendly practices, treat their employees well, and do not…

Continue reading

Still out of control, Part Three

BY ED FELIEN Hi Bob, Did you see the latest issue of Southside Pride with your picture on the cover? Was it a fair representation of your ideas? I’d like to take you up on your suggestion that we go over more carefully the police reports and evidence collected in…

Continue reading

Down with Boulder Dam, Part two

BY ED FELIEN The following is my correspondence with Michael Schroeder, Assistant Superintendent for Planning: Hi Michael, In your Sept. 21 email, you said: “I have a meeting with MPRB staff next week to look into this further. I understand the boulders were placed to mitigate a head cut in…

Continue reading