BY ED FELIEN 1. The U.S. is in the unique position, as Israel’s storehouse of ammunition and weaponry, to demand an immediate end to hostilities. 2. With support from the U.N., the U.S. must commit to the restoration and rebuilding of Gaza. 3. The U.S. and the U.N. must recognize…
BY CAM GORDON Part 1 – The Rise Last year, the city of Minneapolis saw an exodus of staff in two of its smaller and newer departments: Racial Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, and Performance Management and Innovation. Both lost all their staff in 2023. One of those who left was…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Change without pain Sometimes you know you need a change in your home environment. Kids have moved, your partner has passed away, or your marital status has changed. Your ability level may have changed, or you’re just tired of all the STUFF. You would move to…
BY ED FELIEN Erica Bouza Fragile and delicate. The last time I saw her was in their bedroom. I looked at her and almost wept. The sadness and loss she read in my eyes frightened her. But she was strong as steel when convinced of a righteous cause. I wrote…
BY ED FELIEN The Star Tribune missed an opportunity to fully explain the extent of Donald Trump’s connection to the white supremacy movement when it published “Trump denial strikes familiar tone; Professing ignorance on Hitler similar to remarks about Klan, QAnon, Proud Boys” by Jill Colvin on Dec. 28. They…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Openings and closings – I spoke too soon? Last time I mentioned that these were becoming less frequent, and I might drop this section, but then the end of the year (or something) caused a rebound. A Bar of Their Own, a sports bar that shows…
BY KAY SCHROVEN “It’s not the strongest of the species that survive but the most adaptable.” – Charles Darwin Chris Montana and his wife Shanelle of Du Nord Social Spirits are a living example of Darwin’s theory. When Du Nord’s well-laid plans were interrupted in 2020 because of the global…
Speech by Ilhan Omar: “I am also saddened by the fact that 535 Members of Congress could come together in one breath and fully condemn the horrors of what Israelis experienced, and that there is now only a few handful of them who could get to the point of saying…
BY CAM GORDON The 2023 election is over. On the Southside, the races in Wards 8 and 12 were the most hotly contested, with some of the highest numbers of people voting. Aurin Chowdhury won Ward 12 with 6,525 votes on the first round over Nancy Ford and Luther Ranheim.…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE An almost all-purpose gift idea We’ve all been there. A major holiday is just a week away, and we have put off getting a gift for an important person in our life. When this happens to me, I usually get them a book. Here is a…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE What makes us human? Is it our capacity to love, to imagine the numinous, to conceive of our own Creator? Or is it our belief that we are somehow beyond the reach of the natural, so that we try to separate civilization from our fragile, earthly…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Be a superperson! You can be an actual superperson with these three weird tricks. 1. Eat superfoods! 2. Use superherbs! 3. Move your superbody! But, I hear you say, how do I know what is really a superfood when almost every food claims to be? And…
BY ED FELIEN Most Palestinians want peace. Most Israelis want peace. But Hamas and right-wing Israeli politicians know that their ticket to success is to sow the seeds of fear and loathing. If they can convince their people that there is a tiger at the gates that wants to devour…
BY STEPHANIE FOX It’s nearly Christmas and here in the North, that means holiday lights, tinsel-covered trees, and lutefisk. For many, it isn’t Christmas without a traditional bite or two of this iconic Norwegian delicacy. What many people don’t realize is that most of the country’s lutefisk originates right here…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Openings and closings We usually start with these, as they have been numerous in the upheaval since 2020 (and were even pretty frequent before then, due to economic chaos). But things seem to be leveling off, so I may drop this practice. The only notable closing…
