I made it back to the liberal stronghold that is Minneapolis, although it took me longer than normal. Definitely longer than it took me to get to St. Paul this morning. Granted, when I boarded the 94 eastbound bus, it was during rush hour, and coming home, I stopped at Innuendo for Happy Hour first. The 7:46 schedule 94 bus never came, so I caught the 16 instead, at 8pm. It got me to Minneapolis at about 8:45. I probably should’ve waited for the 94 at 8:16, but I figured I’d still get home around the same time.

My overall impression of the day, though, was…meh. In a phrase that would’ve made Yogi Berra happy, “if you didn’t know it was happening, you wouldn’t know it was happening.” Now, that’s not to say that there weren’t events, that there weren’t rallies, that there wasn’t stuff that was newsworthy. What I mean is, if you didn’t live in the restricted area, if you didn’t work near the zone, all you would see is a lot of people, and a lot of cops. In other words, it would look like you were living or working in a city. Now, for St. Paul, that’s a bit of a change. In fact, I’d say that St. Paul seemed a lot more like Minneapolis today, in terms of general activity.

There was lots of conversation. As you walked through the skyway, or rode the bus, you’d hear people say things like, “Did you see that guy with the bullhorn?” or “Man, there were loads of cops in riot gear at the park!” But unless you went looking for it, or by misfortune, lived or worked in the specific areas, it didn’t really affect you.

And there were lots of cops, both in St. Paul and in Minneapolis. At every street corner, there is a police presence. I don’t know that I necessarily felt safer. I mean, no one is going to mug me with a cop right there, but if someone did mug me, I don’t know that the cop would’ve done anything. If I had a placard denouncing the government, I think the cops would’ve done something. Not necessarily violently, but there would’ve been a reaction. I just didn’t feel like they were there to police “normal crime”. You could probably blow a stoplight without too much worry of getting a ticket, unless your car was decorated to protest something.

I took a break from work and checked out the crowd gathering in Mears Park, along with the police presence in full riot gear across the street. I didn’t actually go into the park, but stood outside my building on 5th Street, between Jackson and Sibley. The cops were gathered on the corner next to where I was standing, taking up the whole sidewalk (pedestrians were allowed through, but had to step into traffic to get around them). I could also see more riot cops in front of the TPT Building on 4th, by looking down the alley. Vehicle traffic was busy for even rush hour, with extra motorcycle police driving around the block. More than once I saw people get out of vehicles with cameras and other recording equipment and head towards the park while the vehicles waited in traffic.

I couldn’t hear anyone speaking, and only the occasional burst of a siren as they kept traffic flowing.

The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office conducted four raids late last night and early this morning, three of which were in Minneapolis. Remember: St Paul, home of the 2008 Republican National Convention, is in Ramsey County. Minneapolis is in Hennepin County. Jason Barnett of The Uptake notes: “Why the Ramsey Co Sheriff is important - he’s the only GOP elected official in Saint Paul, and wanted to set up holding camps.”

On 2320 23rd Ave S in Minneapolis, aka Food not Bombs:
MnIndy: “Crackdown begins: Food Not Bombs house among Saturday raids”

On 827 Smith Ave in St Paul, aka the Convergence Center:
TC Daily Planet: “Police break down doors in night-time raid on anarchist meeting”

On 3500 Harriet Ave S and 3240 17th Ave S in Minneapolis:
MnIndy: “The crack-down on demonstrators continues”

A mass public meeting to discuss the raids will be held at 11:30 am today in Powderhorn Park.

The Uptake has video forthcoming. Twin Cities Indymedia is continually updating as well with submitted reports from citizens. Keep your eye on The Uptake, Indymedia, and MnIndy for continuing updates on further developments.

Women Run the Cities

The TC10 is a pretty sweet event, but unfortunately it’s so popular that not everyone makes it into the lottery. So if you already started your training only to find you didn’t get in but you would still like to complete the distance, try Women Run the Cities™ at Minnehaha Park.

Women Run the Cities™ is a running/walking event for women and girls featuring a 10-mile run, 5K run/walk, and 1-mile girls run. It is open to all women, from experienced runners and walkers to beginners.

The Minnesota Commercial Real Estate Women (MNCREW) organization created this event to encourage women of all ages to engage in a healthy and active lifestyle while promoting networking among professional women in the real estate industry.

[A] portion of the proceeds from Women Run the Cities™ will benefit the Ann Bancroft Foundation’s Dare to Dream mini-grants, which have helped nearly 600 girls and women in Minnesota.

The race course is a loop up one side of the Mississippi River, over the river, down the other side, and back to Minnehaha Park. This mirrors a portion of the TC10 and Twin Cities Marathon course.

It takes place the weekend before the TC10/TC Marathon. Late September is a good time of year for a road race. The weather should be good (last year’s record heat notwithstanding), the leaves will have started to change a little, and that part of town is just beautiful.

I will keep reminding you to go see the Jamal Lullabies until you can’t see it anymore. Friday at 10pm or Sunday at 1pm, at the Southern Theater.

Downtown Journal has some behind-the-Fringe-scenes stuff with folks from The Mistress Cycles, My Hovercraft is Full of Eels, Deviants, Mike Fotis, and the Fringe Sherpa program which I saw a description of in passing somewhere but didn’t hear or see much more about. Hey, Fringe, y’all might want to pimp this harder next year.

The Fringe’s myspace page is actually nice.

Fringe Famous has made its nominations and polls are open for the First Annual Fringies. Voting is open until Saturday night.

On to the reviews.

Mortem Capiendum by Four Humors Theater
I had high expectations for this one, having seen previous shows by this group. I don’t know if it was because I was tired or what, but I just didn’t enjoy it that much. It was cleverly written and well acted, I just didn’t like the story. There are better choices you could make for the last weekend.

Phi Alpha Gamma by Dan Bernitt
Just now as I typed out “Phi Alpha Gamma” did I realize what those letters spell out. I had seen exactly one review of this show and it was glowing, but I tried to consider the source because of course a gay guy is going to be more inclined to rate a gay-themed show very highly but then I decided that’s a bigger plus because it means the topic was handled well. It’s the story of a fraternity dealing with the reputation it earned when one of its members gay-bashed a guy and further consideration of this reputation when a brother comes out in a chapter meeting. Having seen a lot of one-woman shows, a one-man show was a nice change of pace. Dan Bernitt was great, very effectively portraying four different characters and the world of fraternities. Recommended!

The Cody Rivers Show Presents: Stick to Glue by The Cody Rivers Show
I stumbled upon the Cody Rivers Show at last year’s Fringe and was totally blown away, so I had high expectations and every one of them was met. They’re like a live action They Might Be Giants song. I felt smarter for having seen it. So clever and funny and WTF?! and never a dull moment. Seriously, not one part of this show was bad. Recommended!

Further miscellaneous observations…

The Money Life Network has a series called “Frugal things to do when you’re in…“ featuring free or cheap things to do.

From the Minneapolis-St. Paul list:

• Lake Calhoun: A great place to go for the day to enjoy some sun, a canoe ride, maybe some beach volleyball and a nice walk around the 3+mile lake. It is the place to see and be seen in the summer months (FREE)
• Minnehaha Falls: The falls are a natural wonder, and definitely a must visit for shutterbugs. In the area surrounding you can take nice long walk from the falls down to the Mississippi river. Beautiful! (FREE)
• Minnesota Landscape Arboretum: A 1,047-acre garden and arboretum about 20 minutes outside of Minneapolis. Because of it’s natural beauty this is often a chosen as a great spot for weddings and for just getting some great pictures. (15 and under free, $7 adults. Free all day Thursday in the winter, and free on Thursday evenings from 4.30 p.m. until 8 p.m. or sunset in the summer)
• Lyndale Park Rose Gardens at Lake Harriet: Lake Harriet in south Minneapolis has a beautiful Rose Garden that has been blooming every year since 1907-1908. It’s a popular place for weddings, photography and peaceful reflection. If you’re going to Lake Calhoun anyway, stop by the Rose Gardens, it is just a short walk away. Also, right across the street is a beautiful Japanese Gardens (FREE)

Also on the list, Como Zoo, MOA, Marjorie McNeely Conservatory, Sculpture Garden, MIA, food, sports, museums, etc. etc. Full list here.

Previously, I had written a complaint or what you would call what I thought was an overreaching fee for being able to use the dog parks in Minneapolis. I guess I actually should be grateful that we have the amount of Dog Parks in Minneapolis we do. My dog still loves the dog park, but if I lived in St. Paul I guess I would have more trouble finding one.

According to this article on the Twin Cities Daily Planet St. Paul has only one dog park, but they are trying to get more. The article also talks about the Minneapolis fees and how they came about.

Beer and bikes?

Yes please.

I’ve been following the PedalPub story on my blog for awhile now and I’m pleased to say it’s finally a reality.

“The PedalPub concept came from Amsterdam, where passengers have always been able to drink on board (and that’s probably not the only thing they’re doing). But in Minnesota, the PedalPub ran into the state’s open-bottle law. ”

Thankfully, the DFL is an army of drunks (I kid) and Rep. Steve Simon from St. Louis Park (we all know how much drinking goes on in that city - Remember, I said I kid. ) drafted a bill to have the PedalPub grouped with limos and buses. Well that sweet bill became a law in May. I believe the term is puff, puff, pass the legislation.

I say let’s ride this 2000 pound peddle powered keg to glory!

Who’s in?

(Original Photo by Tom Wallace, Star Tribune )

Someone who didn’t like the Red Bull Illume exhibit felt compelled to make a statement.

Photo courtesy of Corporate Babysitter.

Dialing that phone number — (612) 230-6400 — gets you to the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board.

This is Why I Love Minneapolis: “New initiatives (for people smarter than me to spearhead)” Many related to getting around, which Leif does a lot of.

Minnesota Lynx: Photos on Facebook from the Lynk Up and Get Down 2009 season ticket renewal campaign shoot. All the players and Prowl decked out in ’70s high fashion.

Perfect Porridge: “Social Information Hoarder: MIMA’s Data Overload Panel and Helpful Links” This is Greg and others presenting to the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association.

Star Tribune: Data porn! (via s4xton)

About: “I-35 W Bridge: Before and After Exhibition Opens July 18″

Twin City Sidewalks: Sidewalk Closed Signs. Also see Bill’s new project, Twin Cities Streets for People, “where a team of Minnesota urbanists are going to try to keep tabs on what’s going on in the local urbanism scene.”

Eleventh Avenue South: Andy responds to criticism of his (perceived lack of) coverage of congressional candidates’ stand on GLBT issues (i.e., “Why don’t you light into Keith Ellison like you do Michele Bachmann?”).

Minnov8: Recapping PublicRadioCamp.

Minneapolis Issues Forum: “Minneapolis: getting power from our poop” … … … Heh.

See a baseball game played according to the rules from 1860 as part of the Minnesota’s sesquicentennial celebration. Saturday, 7/19, 11am, B.F. Nelson Park. (via NRP)

KFAI: Converting to digital and increasing power! (via Rhubarbarism)