BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE A little over a year ago, I heard of an effort to launch a Democratic Socialist Caucus in the DFL. I have called myself a democratic socialist since about the mid-1980s. I made the transition from anarchist (because of Ursula K. Le Guin, Emma Goldman, and…
BY ELINA KOLSTAD Anyone who has ever ridden the Route 21 Metro Transit bus, especially the stretch between Hennepin Avenue and Hiawatha Avenue, knows that it has some of the highest demand of all Metro Transit’s bus routes. The numbers bear this out. In the fall of 2018, Metro Transit…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Owamni is everywhere The January issue of The Dish may strike a discordant note. Written, as per the iron deadlines of local journalism, in the dying days of a year too full of dying, it still strives to strike a note of hope for 2022, and…
BY ED FELIEN You survived a pretty rough first term of office. Standing up to the president of the United States, sending him a bill for the added security necessary to guarantee him a safe environment to hold a political rally, was the easy part. You were getting good marks…
BY ED FELIEN “When he comes out of the hole and sees his shadow, then it’s six more weeks of winter.” It makes sense. If the groundhog comes out of his hole on Feb. 2 in Minnesota, and he sees his shadow, that means there’s most likely still snow on…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE The connection For the past decade or so, I have been thinking a lot, and acting – a bit less, but still acting – on ways to reduce my personal harm to the environment in the process of consumption. As the four “R”s tell us (reduce,…
BY TONY BOUZA The sitting (and I use the term advisedly) Chief of Police capped a distinguished police career with his greatest feat—the announcement of his departure. Mirabile dictu! In my insufferable hubris (“That Tony Bouza, he sure is full of himself, isn’t he?”—overheard one wag to another) I hasten…
The soldier and the peacenik I am a voracious reader and years ago when I read of the coming birth of a college in Marshall, Minn., where I was living, I decided to apply for the position of bookstore manager. Never mind that I had no experience in running a…
BY ED FELIEN Democrats are being seriously trolled by Republicans. Paul Gosar sent out a crudely modified anime cartoon depicting him cutting the head off Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). Marjorie Taylor Greene, during the 2020 campaign, posted an image on her Facebook page of her holding an automatic rifle alongside photos…
BY CHARLEY UNDERWOOD The other day on a forum that I read and contribute to, a former Minneapolis police officer linked a report at https://protectmn.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/The-Economic-Cost-of-Gun-Violence_FINAL-1.pdf, citing a study that showed that gun violence causes economic harm to cities as well as suffering for victims and those who love them. Statewide,…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE The title of this article is meant to gently lead you into a dark place. If I had titled it “Dying During the Holidays” you probably would have skipped it, right? Sorry about that. But now that you’re here, let me explain. If you’re one of…
BY TONY BOUZA America is in the throes of an agonizing debate—police reform—and it has no answers. Yet that’s how the U.S. tackles its problems—and often solves them—through heated fulminations and some final distillations into changes. The biggest problems—today—are racism and income disparity. George Floyd launched the discussion on race…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Restaurant news Have you heard of Goldbelly? I first heard of it last week, when I did a search to find where I could get good latkes without having to make or cook them myself. Of course, I meant to be searching for a local deli…
BY KAY SCHROVEN A year or two from now, can you picture yourself waltzing into the Longfellow neighborhood’s Coliseum Building at 2700 E. Lake St. for a cocktail, to shop for goods and services, secure a job, or view an art exhibit? Taylor Smrikárova, project manager for Redesign, Inc. (aka…
BY STEPHANIE FOX Minnesotans can boast about being number one in a lot of positive categories, but having some of the largest educational disparities among minority and low-income students in the country is no reason to brag. One factor in this disparity is that where white parents have higher incomes…
