Nokomis

The March on Washington, August 1963

November 9, 2015 November 9, 2015

BY ED FELIEN By the time of the March on Washington I was already too radical to believe I was needed or wanted. It was to be a mostly black affair, and communists and Marxists weren’t invited. Organizers of the March had been fending off criticisms that the March was…

MPS yields to community pressure

November 9, 2015 November 9, 2015

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE In a stunning reversal, after initially defending the choice of a $1.25 million contract with publisher Reading Horizons, the Minneapolis School Board reversed its decision and cancelled the contract at its meeting on Oct. 13. The meeting was packed with angry parents and community members who…

Geography lessons and gentrification

November 9, 2015 November 9, 2015

BY ED FELIEN Last month Council Member Alondra Cano organized a meeting in her ward (9th Ward) to discuss gentrification. More than a hundred people showed up to listen to experts talk about how gentrification of neighborhoods prices poor and working people out of their homes. Most people when they think…

We must not look away

November 2, 2015 November 2, 2015

BY ED FELIEN On Tuesday, Oct. 20, at about 6:45 p.m., in the bus shelter at Lake Street and Park Avenue, Jessica Denise St. Marie was shot multiple times in the head. She was 28, African American and homeless. Adopted when she was 8, her adoptive mother said, “There was…

Powderhorn Birdwatch: Powderhorn Park’s great lake welcomes travelers

November 2, 2015 November 2, 2015

BY JOHN KARRIGAN I might have more travel adventures to write about this month. Or I might not. The world-renowned Powder-horn Lake actually receded enough that the concrete walls around some of the lake were again visible after being underwater for most of the summer. The water has again come…

Brice: Rice, global warming and GMOs as a solution

November 2, 2015 November 2, 2015

BY KARI ANDRADE Rice is the single most important grain worldwide for human nutrition. Rice accounts for one- fifth of all calories consumed. As a hippie child I learned the macro-biotic diet was the healthiest way to eat; as a result I hated brown rice and veggies for a long…

Children and adults will “Speak for the Trees”

November 2, 2015 November 2, 2015

How can we save our environment and save our environment at the same time? We need the light rail in order to eliminate the use of fossil fuels and we need the trees so we can breathe. But can we sacrifice the trees for the light rail? Isn’t there a…

‘Straight outta Compton’ is straight out of the USA

November 2, 2015 November 2, 2015

MEL REEVES WITH TEDDY SHIBABAW AND 19 OTHERS Hollywood, Calif. “Straight Outta Compton” is a great movie, entertainment at its best. And, while depicting the lives of poor Comptonites who come out of the so-called underside of American life, the movie is as American as you can get. It’s a…