Big education news for 2024

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE From the ridiculous (Moms for Liberty) to the sublime (Notorious D.O.T.) The school board beat is not usually this tabloid-worthy, but have you all been following the (ahem) “career” of Bridget Ziegler of Sarasota, Florida? This fine, upstanding lady is married to Christian Ziegler, who was…

Continue reading

The quite interesting history of summer camps

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Too many pioneers! The history of summer camps goes back further than you would think. Maybe that’s why I came across many camps for “pioneers” while researching the topic. Created by Canadian Anglicans, the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc, Jewish Community Centers, Mormons, Lutherans, Southern Baptists,…

Continue reading

‘Never again!’ Again!

BY ED FELIEN In her Dec. 9 article in The New Yorker, “In the Shadow of the Holocaust,” Masha Gessen makes the case that Gaza is like the Warsaw Ghetto, and the Israelis are acting like Nazis: “For the last seventeen years, Gaza has been a hyperdensely populated, impoverished, walled-in…

Continue reading

Process as punishment in Assange case

BY MIKE MADDEN A hearing in London to determine whether Julian Assange can appeal his extradition order concluded on Wednesday, Feb. 21. Assange, whose health is deteriorating, was not well enough to attend the proceedings in person or by video link. He will continue to languish in Belmarsh Prison, also…

Continue reading

EPNI builds community ownership of Urban Farm

BY DANIEL COLTEN SCHMIDT Far too often, development means gentrification, displacement and exploitation. The East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI), the group which made state and national headlines through the environmental justice campaign to save the warehouse building formerly called the Roof Depot, is now engaged in developing a community ownership…

Continue reading

Phillips fights back on Smith Foundry

BY LUKE GANNON On Feb. 7, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) convened its second public community meeting on Smith Foundry following the damning findings by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in May of 2023, which revealed multiple egregious violations of the federal Clean Air Act. During this public forum,…

Continue reading

A question of balance – Letter to the Editor

Hi Ed, I was just at the Washburn library and grabbed a copy of the Southside Pride. I remember reading it when I lived on Chicago Avenue many years ago. Your front-page article (“Please, go to your DFL precinct caucus”) led me to suppose there would be a second article urging…

Continue reading

Cleaning up our lakes and ponds

BY KATHRYN KELLY The winter, the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) planned to dredge the Nokomis ponds. These ponds are called constructed wetlands and sequester sand and debris. The vegetation growth also takes up phosphorus before the water travels into Lake Nokomis. These constructed wetlands need periodic maintenance which includes…

Continue reading

Hey, Jason, can we talk?

BY ED FELIEN Hey, Jason, can we talk? I’ve been trying to reach you for weeks. But you won’t answer my emails or return my phone calls. On Jan. 4, I sent you the eight-point proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza we had just published in the January edition of…

Continue reading

Please, go to your DFL precinct caucus  

 BY ED FELIEN Please go to your DFL Precinct Caucus on Feb. 27. It’s a matter of life or death for Palestinian children. More than 10,000 Palestinian children have been murdered by U.S. bombs dropped from Israeli planes or from U.S. missiles shot from Israeli bases. A caucus is a…

Continue reading

Mr. Smith leaves City Hall

BY CAM GORDON Part 2 (continued from “Mr. Smith goes to City Hall,” Southside Pride, January 2024) On July 7, 2023, just a few weeks after Brian K. Smith retired from his position working in City Hall, I met and talked with him about his experiences. Last month in this…

Continue reading

Find your perfect summer camp

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE The past – another country When the pandemic struck a few years ago, planning for summer camp experiences became a huge challenge for both summer program providers and for families wanting their kids to attend them. It was especially so in 2021, when we still didn’t…

Continue reading

Valentine’s Day – how to celebrate this year

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Romantic dining Having a candlelit dinner at a romantic restaurant is a tried-and-true method of celebrating Valentine’s Day, and if that’s your thing, you can choose from a plethora of dining establishments in the Twin Cities. But cooking and dining in on something special is also…

Continue reading