Southside Pride

	Phillips/Powderhorn Nokomis Riverside

July 2010

Phillips Powderhorn :

Actors from the Strange Capers outdoor theater company are doing a little clowning around in preparation for their production of Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream." They will be coming to Powderhorn Park with performances every Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. from July 10 to Aug. 1. Admission is free but donations are accepted after the show. The production is directed by Randy Reyes, and they promise we'll be "tickled pink with delight."

Open Arms opens its doors

BY DICK SAUNDERS

Open Arms of Minnesota, the largest provider of meals for the chronically ill in the Twin Cities, celebrated two milestones in June —the delivery of its two millionth meal and the dedication of its new $8.1-million community kitchen at 2500 Bloomington Ave. S.

Some would say Open Arms’ entire history epitomizes “building pride on the Southside” magnificently, while demonstrating an ability to fulfill big dreams.

Started in 1986 in a small apartment kitchen in Phillips by Bill Rowe, Open Arms took 19 years to deliver its first million weekly meals to peopl living with HIV/AIDS. But it took only five years to deliver the second million as its clientele grew to about 1,200 by including those with breast cancer, multiple sclerosis, ALS and other chronic and progressive diseases.

Longfellow Station is moving forward

BY ED FELIEN

From Purina Mills

The demolition of the Purina Mills site at 38th Street and Hiawatha Avenue should be complete by the end of June, and the Longfellow Station
development should begin construction almost immediately after the site is cleared.

Southside Pride reported two years ago that the Longfellow Community Council and Capital Growth Real Estate had signed a Community Benefits Agreement that insured that the development company would be eligible for some part of
the Metropolitan Council’s $8.8 million Liveable Communities Grants. Dennis Geisinger reported:

The DFL Primary: an embarrassment of riches

BY ED FELIEN

They’re all good. They’re all very good. So, who do you vote for in the DFL Primary for Governor on August 10? They all have their good points. They all have experience. They’re all smart, and the Ship of State would probably be guided well by any pair of the three sets of hands. What’s the alternative?

Rest in Peace Bill Hinkley

BY ED FELIEN

When the music magic started to happen on the West Bank in the 1960s, if you thought of folk music you thought of Maury Bernstein. He was an encyclopedia of musical styles and exotic cultures. He had a folk music program on the U of M radio station. When I went to a Jewish wedding almost 40 years ago, Maury played the Hora and Klezmer music on his accordion. Bill Hinkley and Judy Larson accompanied him. I’d heard Bill and Judy play folk music before, but I was amazed at his versatility in playing Balkan dance music.

It’s not hard to bump up your credit score.
It’s not hard to lower it, either.

BY STEPHANIE FOX

Whether you have a good or a poor credit score, the fact you have one at all is the fault of the Minnesota-based Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO), which, in 1958, created the statistical basis for determining creditworthiness. The practice of using a set number by which prospective borrowers were judged didn’t become widespread until the 1980s. Because the score is derived from algorithms, it is considered impartial.

Critters, storms, deficient humans and the odd duck

BY JOHN KARRIGAN

Cedar Waxwing

As I have said several times lately, the park still has lower numbers of small birds than usual, but there are various things I can write about. Early in June I saw one Cedar Waxwing and the next day, five Cedar Waxwings near the northwest corner of the lake. Other people had reported seeing them, but I, so far, have only seen them on those two days. Chipping Sparrows, Song Sparrows, Eastern Bluebirds and Goldfinches can usually be found in small numbers along with Robins and Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers. And Chimney Swifts are often over the lake and northern part of the park.

I did see one (or two?) Saw Whet Owls flying on June 17, but I can no longer count on hearing them in the same area almost every night I go to the park, as happened in May. They have changed their mating, nesting or whatever behavior and lately can be heard less often and in random and varied areas of the park.

Introducing the new Superintendent of Schools

Bernadeia Johnson
Superintendent of Schools

As your new Superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools, I am extremely hopeful for the future and excited to lead our efforts to raise academic achievement for all students. I believe more strongly than ever that our top priorities lie in narrowing the achievement gap and offering all of our students a high-quality education that prepares them for college or a career.

During the summer, we are busy. We are working to find new ways to increase student achievement. Summer is a wonderful time to make learning fun and interesting for children. Summer school classes began June 28. Our summer school programs for elementary and middle school students target the areas of reading and math through an exciting new curriculum: Seeds of Science, Roots of Reading. The summer programs we offer also incorporate activities such as canoe trips and visits to local parks and museums. The courses accelerate learning, expand vocabulary and provide students with a hands-on approach in the classroom.

New Southside garden on Chicago Ave

In the Powderhorn and CANDO neighborhoods, right on 34th and Chicago, is a new community garden. Located just next to the new South City Cafe, the garden has been the scene of many participants. They are busy almost every day, digging, planting, watering, and now, actually harvesting vegetables and flowers. A Latino boy, Brian, one of our most reliable gardeners, got the first radish last Monday! The garden is the vision of Silvia Perez and the group Mujeres en Accion y Poder, in conjunction with Powderhorn Park Neighborhood Association. Silvia, Veronica, Katie and Kathleen have coordinated the effort, with huge contributions from many community members. The city of Minneapolis threw in a truckload of compost, and many volunteers have contributed rototilling, plants, seeds and tools.

Cedar Avenue: the gateway to happiness

BY ED FELIEN

Newly arriving immigrants from Scandinavia drifted to the Cedar Riverside area and Snoose Boulevard in the 1880s and ’90s. Cedar Avenue at 5th Street had Dania Hall, a settlement house for Scandinavians where they could

speak their native tongue and find jobs and lodging. Most immigrants came out of rural poverty and were anxious to find work to pay back the friends and relatives that had loaned them money for passage into the new world.

The early part of the nineteenth century had seen the final collapse of feudalism in Scandinavia. Grazing and pasturelands had been held in common. Whole villages used these lands communally. No one got rich, but everyone lived comfortably. Then, with the advent of capitalism and the importance of private property, the common lands got sold, and eventually a few wealthy landowners drove the others out.

What’s love got to do with it?

BY BARNABY DEVITT

Tina Turner sang:
Oh, what's love got to do, got to do with it
What's love but a second hand emotion
What's love got to do, got to do with it
Who needs a heart
When a heart can be broken

Is it true, as Bobbie Dylan says, that "love makes the world go 'round"? Or, do we live in an indifferent universe, on a planet created by a cosmic force that has no interest in us?

Art, is that you?

BY TONY BOUZA

The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA to devotees) is arguably (and I’d argue for it) America’s Cultural Avant Garde.

There is where we expect art’s boundaries and artistic freedom to be expanded. Cutting edge, controversial and the bete noire of censors everywhere, it is a precious oasis for intellectual refreshment.

Now an exhibit has ended after 100 seven-hour performances (opening to closing the doors) called “The Artist is Present.” The thing is simplicity personified—or, is it? It invites dismissiveness and derision.

Anti-war protest at Senator Klobuchar’s office June 17

BY ED FELIEN

On Thursday, June 17, at 4:30 pm about 25 anti-war activists gathered outside Senator Klobuchar’s office on Washington Avenue in South Minneapolis to protest her support for the escalation of war in Afghanistan.

The Anti-War Committee in its press statement said: “Since the deployment of 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan last December, civilian casualties there have increased dramatically. Rhetoric from the Obama administration expresses concern for civilian deaths, but the violence continues.

Last month, Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry reported that civilian casualties jumped by 33 percent in a recent month-long period.

Jim Hightower talks about populism

BY JOE GROSS

Whither populism? Or to put it in other words: What is populism, really, what the heck happened to it and is it still alive?

To hear Jim Hightower talk about it, populism most definitely is alive; it just might not call itself populism. And it has nothing to do with Tea Party activists.

"Populism is not just incoherent outbursts of anger," Hightower says. We're sitting in Dominican Joe. The former Texas agriculture commissioner, and current radio host and author of "The Hightower Lowdown" newsletter is looking exactly like you hoped he would look—cowboy jeans, shirt and hat. "It's a long-term effort by ordinary folks to take economic and political power out of the hands of corporations that are running roughshod over our economy, our energy supply and our government. That's partly why we're doing this event."