Other Stories
Letter to the Lady Who Fell
I’m sorry you fell Tuesday night, a little after 8 p.m. I hope you’re okay. Your husband looked mighty upset when you fell.
City Critters in Saint Paul
Wildlife thrives in Saint Paul.
This morning, I roused two Red Tailed Hawks feeding on Mouse in my backyard. They flew off over our neighborhood community garden and disappeared beyond the rooftops.
Home Is Knowing the Path to Her Door
I laughed out loud when Bobbie finally confided to me the thought that struck her when she first heard my voice on the phone: “Oh, Lord. Another white woman looking for a Black care provider for her Black child.”
Graphic Memoir
THE ARTIST PATRICIA OWEN worked for the Peace Corps in Senegal. “They give you a mission, and when you get there, you find one
for yourself.
Deliverance
Rain obstructs the windows
And scatters the light from street lamps
Into illuminated circles on the sidewalk.
A Misty Dream of Glacial Saint Paul
For the past few summers, I have led geology tours around the Twin Cities for community education courses. The tours usually involve features such as caves, springs, and waterfalls.
The Restaurants of Frogtown
Left everything. Left Laos in ’78.
Followed a husband following Vang Pao.
Untitled
children burst from the earth
right outside my door
not waiting to be picked
Worms Eat My Garbage: A Saint Paul Love Story
“You look like yesterday.” Margaret set her crossword aside and smiled warmly from the bench outside Northwestern Hall at Luther Seminary.
Wafers
My father and I used to go door-to-door delivering wafers in a tiny gold case. I imagined my father gave me this job to make me feel special when all of the older kids went to school. When they disappeared behind the doors of St. Mark’s School with their starched uniforms and shiny pencil cases, I felt left out. As a remedy, my father quickly got me started in the business of delivering communion to neighborhood elders…
Hands
Cops know that hands can kill us
always, watch the hands
hands comfort, carry, bring safety
they hold, caress, and lift us…
They Build Ice Palaces There!
When I was eight years old and living in Pennsylvania, my father took a new job in Minnesota at the Saint Paul Foundry. He and my mother had immigrated to America from Scotland and always spoke lovingly of their hometown of Edinburgh, but work opportunities were better in America.
Swimming with the Sharks
Among our family stories is one with a lesson: Don’t try swimming with the sharks.
25 Random Things About Me And Saint Paul
RULES: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you. (I was tagged by Kimberly Nightingale, publisher of the Saint Paul Almanac.
A Minnesota Nice Story: The Area Reporter
For well over a year I drove around Ottertail County, poking around in its little towns, stopping whenever something caught my eye, asking “why?” a lot, and “who should I talk to?” It would be easy to make light of what I did under the title “area reporter,” just because the towns are small, relatively few people are affected by their decisions, and most of the world barely knows where Minnesota is, much less Ashby, Erhard, Henning or Dent. But that would be missing the point.
Clues to lost royal complex unearthed by LRT excavation crew
Workers performing advance utility relocation work in preparation for light rail construction in Lowertown have stumbled across what local authorities believe may be a long lost royal complex that is likely the final resting place of Boreas the Brrrave. It is not unusual for the refuse of bygone eras to turn up during large scale excavations such as that which has been taking place in Lowertown this past summer. Similar work on the Hiawatha Line in Minneapolis uncovered scores of bottles, household items and more than a few horseshoes. The quality, variety, and sheer volume of items discovered beneath 4th street have, however, prompted calls for a halt to further work on the project – if only temporarily.
My Unforgettable Lesson of the RNC
It was Tuesday in Mears Park, the second day of the Republican National Convention (RNC). We had already marched on Monday as part of the crowd of 10,000 protesting everything from the war in Iraq to the presence of Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu. Being part of a large group like that, you tend to only see and hear those things in your immediate area. But someone mentioned that they heard a cop say there had already been tear gas used farther downtown.
New book available Sept. 18
Saint Paul Almanac: Resistance and Resilience
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