Columnists

Regular Columnists

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

 


Go to the movies

BY DAVE TILSEN I love movies. I also love theater, live and recorded music, television, watching sunsets, my grandchildren, OK, OK, way down deep I am shallow, but I am going to talk about this year’s movies, and what I expect and wish the Academy of Motion Pictures Sciences would…

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Go to the movies

BY DAVE TILSEN I love movies. I also love theater, live and recorded music, television, watching sunsets, my grandchildren, OK, OK, way down deep I am shallow, but I am going to talk about this year’s movies, and what I expect and wish the Academy of Motion Pictures Sciences would…

Continue reading

Stand-off at Standing Rock

BY DAVID TILSEN The Native people of the Western Hemisphere have come together to support the Standing Rock Lakota in their decision to not allow the Dakota Access Pipeline to be built.  They have clearly decided this pipeline threatens their existence. They will not be invisible any more.   Native nations…

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When ‘frosty wind makes moan’

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE In the deep midwinter, we like to keep our eyes on the light. Light entertainment, that is. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that so many cultures have—as well as a solemn observance about the birth of a prophet or a god or the struggle against…

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Which side are we on?

BY DAVE TILSEN Hennepin County police are busting heads in North Dakota?  How did that happen?  Most of us have heard about the oil boom in North Dakota.  It has generated jobs, but also problems: “Boom Towns,” earthquakes, money for some people, exploitation for others. For the Indian People, who…

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Voter’s guide to the precinct caucuses

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE March 1, 2016, is Caucus Night in Minnesota. When it comes to presidential elections, Minnesota is not a “primary” state, so there won’t be a Democratic primary for you to vote in. The only way you can register your preference as to the nominee of the…

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Confessions of an unrepentant Maoist

I. How it all began (2015 August Riv, September PP, Nok) I remember when it happened. It was 1961. I had just started graduate school at the University of Minnesota. I was doing research for a history of theater seminar. I was assigned a report on the Abbey Theater and…

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Mitch and John

Mitch and John BY ED FELIEN It recently came out that the new Republican House Majority Whip Steve Scalise gave a speech to a David Duke group of white supremacists and neo-Nazis in 2002. Scalise claimed he had no idea what the European-American Unity and Rights Organization (EURO) group stood…

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The search begins for a super-Super

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE It’s a funny old world. Back when R. T. Rybak was mayor of Minneapolis, he used to say he had the second hardest job in the city, next to Superintendent of Schools Bernadeia Johnson. “People care a lot about potholes, but they care a whole lot…

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Breakfasting with Alondra Cano

BY DAVID TILSEN In January, Alondra Cano officially started her new job as the council member representing the 9th Ward of Minneapolis. She said the work actually started the evening she was elected. Her phone began ringing and people began asking her to listen to them. As she started to…

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Vikings lawsuits summary

BY DAVID TILSEN For those who are confused, here is a quick summary of the various lawsuits to stop the stadium. In the Cohen, Woodruff, Ostrow lawsuit, they contended (correctly) that the stadium legislation requires the Vikings to pay for the parking ramp, and the city should not be selling…

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The Stadium Financing is unfair

BY DAVID TILSEN People have asked me a lot over the summer why I am trying to stop the new Vikings stadium. I have a few stock answers. One is that I have no objection to a new stadium, I just don’t think I should be forced to pay for…

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