BY TONY BOUZA “What do you have to lose?” Thus Spake Zarathustra! Well, Sarah Palin, of revered memory, might have responded: “How’s it working out for ya?” The Wall—ah yes, a metaphor for all that is good and wholesome about this great country. China has its Great Wall—why shouldn’t we…
BY DAVE TILSEN The burning and looting is terrible. It alienates the workers, it causes pain and suffering to many, it makes life in the city more difficult, and it increases support for the police. These are questions that dominate all conversations. The burning and looting does amplify Trump’s messaging,…
BY DEB TAYLOR Unprecedented levels of loneliness and isolation have swept our communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially affecting seniors, the most vulnerable to this persistent virus. The threat of this virus has kept older adults quarantined and distanced from their loved ones. “I haven’t hugged my kids and grandkids…
Why were there riots in Minneapolis? The New Yorker magazine occasionally runs an article that is a barn burner. Years ago, it published a long article by John Hersey about the bombing of Hiroshima that fit the same category. There’s no way I could do justice to another New Yorker…
BY ED FELIEN Is the nightmare over? Have the plague and pestilence gone? Have we buried the dead? No, the nightmare is not over. The madman still runs the White House. The plague and pestilence have not gone because there is no leader to rid the land of plague and…
BY NATHAN HOUSE If you live in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood, you may have recently seen people walking or biking in the streets in high resolution vests in the early morning or late night. These are volunteers of Powderhorn Safety Collective (PSC), a group of neighbors committed to alternative methods…
BY ED FELIEN Council Member Phillipe Cunningham was quoted in a recent article in The New Yorker: “No one could say that we didn’t try reform. We tried every kind of reform.” I phoned his office. No one was there. I left a message: You say you’ve tried everything? How…
BY OLIVER STEINBERG, GRASSROOTS – LEGALIZE CANNABIS CANDIDATE FOR U.S. SENATE Most elections only involve Republican and Democratic party candidates (in Minnesota, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, or DFL). If other parties’ candidates appear on the ballot, it’s by submitting nominating petitions signed by thousands of voters. A tough assignment! However, if…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Bloomington Avenue is just not the same without the May Day Cafe. I had been about to write them off as never coming back, but I just missed the boat. Since early June, on alternate Saturdays, they have been having a pop-up sale / fundraiser event.…
BY ED FELIEN Cierra Hoffman reported on Nextdoor that while she was in the Speedway at 44th and Lake, “I was standing at the register checking out when the gas station clerk ran outside abruptly and confronted a young woman (in her 20s) with a large black & white patterned…
BY MARGARET HASTINGS Editor’s note: On Monday night, Aug. 3, Margaret Hastings, Carin Peterson and Janet Nye, on behalf of the Decriminalization of Homelessness Working Group, pitched tents in the U.S. Bank Plaza across the street from the Government Center and City Hall. We were frustrated. Frustrated by the horrific…
BY TONY BOUZA America has been plunged into riots, pillaging, arsons and killings by the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police. The incident created an explosion whose reverberations radiate to this moment. The event goes to the heart of America’s No. 1 problem. Racism. America…
BY KAY SCHROVEN Significant concerns about health and safety continue at Powderhorn Park and have led to eviction of the west camp (the east camp having already been evicted between July 22 and 27) per the Park Board Superintendent Alfred Bangoura. Notices of Transition were served July 31, and an…
I am responding to the article “The Dream Deferred” that was published in the July Riverside edition of Southside Pride. I oppose the negative rhetoric used to describe the lives of people who are unsheltered. The description of homeless people given was only half of the story. The untold story…
BY ELAINE KLAASSEN Our times We live in a time in which the lovers of life and the haters of life are pitted against each other and I am nervously waiting to see if the lovers will win. I am a big fan of co-existence and flexibility and nuance and…
