BY CAM GORDON The new term of the Minneapolis City Council is off to an ambitious start. They have hit the ground running with a new meeting space, new leadership, and a long list of new legislation that a few months ago would have looked impossible to get passed. They…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE From the ridiculous (Moms for Liberty) to the sublime (Notorious D.O.T.) The school board beat is not usually this tabloid-worthy, but have you all been following the (ahem) “career” of Bridget Ziegler of Sarasota, Florida? This fine, upstanding lady is married to Christian Ziegler, who was…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Too many pioneers! The history of summer camps goes back further than you would think. Maybe that’s why I came across many camps for “pioneers” while researching the topic. Created by Canadian Anglicans, the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc, Jewish Community Centers, Mormons, Lutherans, Southern Baptists,…
BY ED FELIEN In her Dec. 9 article in The New Yorker, “In the Shadow of the Holocaust,” Masha Gessen makes the case that Gaza is like the Warsaw Ghetto, and the Israelis are acting like Nazis: “For the last seventeen years, Gaza has been a hyperdensely populated, impoverished, walled-in…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Two openings and a bankruptcy Falastin is known in Duluth as a Palestinian pop-up, but they’ve been searching for a permanent home, and it looks like they found one. They are moving into the former New London Cafe on Superior Street and will open some time…
BY ED FELIEN Hey, Jason, can we talk? I’ve been trying to reach you for weeks. But you won’t answer my emails or return my phone calls. On Jan. 4, I sent you the eight-point proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza we had just published in the January edition of…
BY ED FELIEN Please go to your DFL Precinct Caucus on Feb. 27. It’s a matter of life or death for Palestinian children. More than 10,000 Palestinian children have been murdered by U.S. bombs dropped from Israeli planes or from U.S. missiles shot from Israeli bases. A caucus is a…
BY CAM GORDON Part 2 (continued from “Mr. Smith goes to City Hall,” Southside Pride, January 2024) On July 7, 2023, just a few weeks after Brian K. Smith retired from his position working in City Hall, I met and talked with him about his experiences. Last month in this…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE When I look at the Animal Humane Society website, I am amazed by the many previous societal ills addressed by their programs. Obviously, animal welfare is not perfect, or there would be no need for humane societies, but 20 to 40 years ago most of these…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE The past – another country When the pandemic struck a few years ago, planning for summer camp experiences became a huge challenge for both summer program providers and for families wanting their kids to attend them. It was especially so in 2021, when we still didn’t…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Romantic dining Having a candlelit dinner at a romantic restaurant is a tried-and-true method of celebrating Valentine’s Day, and if that’s your thing, you can choose from a plethora of dining establishments in the Twin Cities. But cooking and dining in on something special is also…
BY ED FELIEN “You gotta fight like hell, or you won’t have a country anymore!” “Immigrants are poisoning the blood of America.” Trump’s racist and nativist appeal is not new. It was the crusading ideology of the Know Nothing Party prior to the Civil War. From “Mitch and John” by…
BY STEPHANIE FOX Last year, food insecurity in the Twin Cities increased substantially. Visits to the 472 food shelves rose from 300,000 to 500,000. The Minnesota Legislature passed a bill to provide $5 million in emergency funds, part of the Minnesota Emergency Food Assistance Program. The bill passed the House…
BY ED FELIEN Let a hundred flowers blossom, let a hundred schools of thought contend. For those of you who are irretrievably nostalgic about your wasted youth and want to relive the resistance to the war in Vietnam, the music and the fog of psychedelia (when you could pull up…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Openings, closings and other changes I guess I’m going to keep this section. Lulls are only temporary; change is the only constant, according to Olivia Butler and other wise ones. Tavern on Grand will close permanently in June 2024, after nearly 35 years in business. It’s…
