Sacred Water
By Diane Wilson ● 2022
The Oceti Sakowin, or Seven Council Fires, which includes the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota peoples, carry an origin story that teaches the sacred nature of water. This relationship is embedded
School of big and small
By Didi Koka ● 2022
It has been an occasional evening routine to watch a nature program. It is a nod to the bigness of world and a balm to how little seems to get
Isaac’s Blessing Bags
By Tanaǧidaŋ To Wiŋ ● 2022
When we left our quiet townhome in Inver Grove Heights to move to our first home on the Eastside, as a mother of two young men I was extremely nervous.
Art by Demont Peekaso Pinder
I Wish
By Allysza Castile ● 2019
Last night I woke up out my sleep and I cried for you. I tried to hold it in, but my tears just flowed like an endless river that would
Art by Demont Peekaso Pinder
Survive These Evil Fates
By Valerie Castile ● 2019
Children are a gift from God, a small, innocent replica of ourselves. Our job as parents is to love, nurture, protect, and teach, to bring forth the great qualities of
Art by Moriah Pratt
Philando Castile
By Norita Dittberner-Jax ● 2019
In that Cathedral atop the highest hill in Saint Paul, we gathered for Philando. He came on a white catafalque drawn by horses, his coffin carried up the hill by
Art by Ta-coumba Aiken
William Taylor, First Fiddler of Minnesota
By John Heine ● 2019
Who led a band in the Minnesota Territory known as “the favorite of the dancing public”? A Saint Paul resident, barber, and Black man by the name of William Taylor.
Evelyn, Aging
By Christina Joyce ● 2017
AUNT EVELYN AND I HEAD TO CALVARY CEMETERY, as we do every June, to place flowers on Uncle Jerry’s grave. Along Front Street in Saint Paul, this Catholic cemetery is
Art by Immanuel Bratzel
Tell me again
By Julia Klatt Singer ● 2017
about the man with the pear tree who lost his wife after fifty-six years of marriage and how he had that old gnarled tree in his backyard, and that that
Why Ain’t You a Doc?
2016
Doc Bozeman tried to concentrate on that bullet—black and glistening with blood—and not on the fact that it was lodged in John Dillinger’s shoulder. Muscle and tissue gripped it like the gangster didn’t want to give it up, and Bozeman maneuvered to get a grip with his forceps.
Remembering Dorothy Day
2016
Dorothy Day and I go way back. Granted, I never met her, but I can’t help but feel a connection after volunteering every third Saturday for the past twenty years at the Dorothy Day Center in downtown Saint Paul.
Learn the Fundamentals: An Interview with Billy Peterson
2016
Billy Peterson has left his impression on Saint Paul baseball for more than five decades.