BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE We took a leisurely weekend ramble eastward on Selby Avenue and discovered some delightful places to share. Of course, most Minneapolitans know Selby Avenue is there, a couple of blocks south of Marshall Avenue, which is your handy gateway to St. Paul if you live near…
BY STEPHANIE FOX When the Minneapolis 6th Ward City Council Member Abdi Warsame and Mayor Jacob Frey announced the details on the city’s plans to build what they called an African village on a publicly-owned lot in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, the local reaction was shock and surprise. The announcement, made…
BY ELAINE KLAASSEN On Thursday evening, Sept. 5, I joined a group of about 70 concerned people in a global “Amazon Day of Action” at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA). According to Mighty Earth, one of the numerous environmental groups that organized and supported the event, the purpose of…
BY ED FELIEN The judge said he’d take the measure under advisement. He wrote me a letter a little more than a week later saying he was denying my petition: “Petitioner cites no specific legal duty—be it statute, ordinance, rule, or regulation—that requires the Park Board to remove rocks from…
BY ED FELIEN Wendy Knox has done it again. She has moved her Frank Theatre all over the Twin Cities. This time she’s at the Gremlin Theatre in St. Paul. She uses this intimate space to show us what it means to grow old in a production of two plays…
BY STEPHANIE FOX Members of the South High School community have been rallying for upgrades and fixes to the school’s Les Barnard Athletic Field for years. The bleachers were too small for the crowds who would come to cheer the South’s Gallant Tigers, the track was in terrible shape and…
How to Take Care of Captives I think that we in the peace movement are so accustomed to looking at the need for action that we tend to let slide the various bits of upbeat news in the world of international politics. The Star Tribune of Aug. 25, however, published…
BY ED FELIEN There is a Race War happening in America. Some very crazy white people are attacking and murdering people of color. Dylann Roof killed nine African Americans during a church service at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in 2015. White supremacist James Fields deliberately rammed his car into…
BY TONY BOUZA There is no doubt in my mind that the most vital institution in America is a free press. Period. And the responsibility of the Fourth Estate? Dig for and report the truth. I tried hard to lead my life as a public servant in service to that…
BY JIM TJEPKEMA Now is the time to gather on the shores of Gichi-gami—Lake Superior—and raise our voices so that Governor Walz, our state agencies, and all Minnesotans can hear. This gathering, titled The Gichi-gami Gathering to Stop Line 3, will be held in Duluth on Sept. 28 from 1…
BY KATHRYN KELLY We keep hearing that the pumping at Hiawatha Golf Course is bad. But why? Let’s turn this idea on its head and ask why is this pumping necessary? Why is Hiawatha Golf Course pumping so much water; where is all of this water coming from? Lake Hiawatha…
BY LUCIA WILKES SMITH “Sometimes they show us the ‘one-fingered peace sign’.” That’s the way Sister Brigid McDonald describes the nasty gesture made by some people who drive past a peace vigil. Brigid and her sisters—Kate, Jane and Rita—are Catholic nuns who were subjects of the History Theatre’s dramatic production…
BY ELINA KOLSTAD Recent discussions of policy, specifically the 2040 Plan in Minneapolis, have discussed the fact that we have severe racial disparities that we need to deal with as a city. This is encouraging in that the first step to dealing with a problem is to recognize that you…
BY ELAINE KLAASSEN Along with most of my friends, I wish to reduce my carbon footprint. My environmentally-friendly friends and I think if we live sustainably we can somehow alleviate and mitigate the climate heat that is exponentially encompassing the entire planet. (You know, the hotter it gets, the hotter…
The Women’s Prison Book Project (WPBP) is celebrating its 25th year in operation on Oct. 12, 2019. The project has sent requested books to women in prison and, for the past several years, to transgender prisoners locked up nationwide within America’s criminal justice system of mass incarceration. For our commemoration,…
