BY ELAINE KLAASSEN A friend’s beaten dog inspired the kindness of Southside Pride’s IT support person. Celia Wirth and her husband, Ron Wirth, are friends with a senior citizen, Gemma Barry, who lives a few blocks from the restaurant/bar where Ron is a brewer, Roma in Mahtomedi (50 beers on…
BY AUTUMN CHMIELEWSKI, MHA, MA The month of February often brings to mind oversized chocolate boxes and construction paper cards. But Valentine’s hearts aren’t the only ones taking center stage this month. February is also American Heart Month. The designation was first made by President Lyndon B. Johnson in the…
BY STEPHANIE FOX In a corner of the basement at Minnehaha United Methodist Church, George Gallagher is organizing boxes filled with non-perishable foodstuffs. He and volunteer Conrad Larson are working to get food to people living in parts of southeastern Minneapolis, people who might otherwise go hungry. Larson is one…
From the Longfellow Forum: There is no question that there was a public relations contract for the 2040 Plan with the former head of the Republican Party, and that Heather Worthington, the director of Long Range Planning for the City, lied to hide it. The documents are clear. I went…
BY DAVID TILSEN We had another wonderful MayDay parade, ceremony and festival last spring. The creativity of the puppeteers, sculptors, playwrights, performers and other workers continues to be first rate, and our community supports and benefits from this joyful annual celebration. In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask…
BY TONY BOUZA The name certainly conjures a shudder of emotion—cum—eroticism. As a cop in New York, I observed the information that the local distillate—illegal and popular—was, of course, called Kong. Potent. That it killed or blinded many of its imbibers did not appear to be a deal breaker. Hooch…
BY ED FELIEN What does the Los Angeles teachers’ strike have to do with Minneapolis? Well, actually, quite a bit. Some part of the strike was about wages. They got a little bit of the raise they asked for four years ago. They got smaller class sizes and school nurses.…
BY ELINA KOLSTAD Whether or not the number of bulldozers per capita will increase due to the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan, it must be noted that Minneapolis is ALREADY being bulldozed. One lot at a time, one iconic restaurant at a time, sometimes a city block at a time. If…
BY NASRO ABSHIR My name is Nasro Abshir. I am the founder and owner of Family First Choice Childcare. My mom and I used to have two childcare locations—one in the Phillips neighborhood and the other in Loring Park. While commercial displacement has been talked about as a “concern” for…
BY JOHN KOLSTAD Willie Murphy, longtime leader and pinnacle of the Twin Cities blues and R&B community has died at age 75. Willie is hailed as a Legend, and it certainly is true. I heard a fan once tell him that he was a legend and he replied, “yah, everyone…
BY ED FELIEN On Thursday, Jan. 3, County Attorney Mike Freeman released this statement: “Two Minneapolis police officers will not be charged in the fatal shooting of Travis Jordan, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Thursday.” Officers Ryan Keyes and Neal Walsh fired a total of eight shots at the…
BY ARTHUR HIMMELMAN Engagement invites people to the table Shared power gets people what they want to eat A wall poster during the mass uprising in France in 1968 read, “You participate, she participates, I participate, they decide.” Malcolm X: “Just because you invite me to the table does not…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE There was a flurry of interesting and useful events in December, but I was not able to squeeze a resistance persistence article into the paper to tell you of them. The one that still sticks with me was put on by an organization called No More…
BY ELINA KOLSTAD The Minneapolis 2040 Plan is not just an example of government greenwashing; its supporters have also created a toxic atmosphere in our city that negatively impacts future efforts to achieve true climate justice. I don’t own a car. My husband and I sold our car three years…
BY RICHARD TAYLOR In 2017, Trump threatened North Korea with “fire and fury.” Kim Jong-un promised to “tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire.” By June 2018, they were holding hands. What happened? Events followed Trump’s default negotiating style set down long before he became president. He tells us…
