“oh. and 20 journalists”
The words of my friend and T.C. Daily Planet reporter Sheila Regan as she is live tweeting the the protest.

What protest you may ask?

Here are the details, Neo-nazi group plans protest of YWCA anti-racism workshop.

A group of neo-Nazis plan to protest an anti-racist workshop Saturday at the Midtown YWCA in Minneapolis, sparking plans for counter-protests from community members.

Forty people have registered for the workshop, titled “More Than Skin Deep: Uprooting White Privilege and White Supremacy One Cell at a Time.”

What are those crazy cats at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts up to now?

Photo Uploaded on July 30, 2009
by Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Our collection maintenance technicians, Mike McCann and Maggie Davis, carefully clean Dale Chihuly’s Sunburst sculpture once a year with with a variety of tools, a chore that takes three hours. Sunburst is made up of nearly 1,000 individual pieces of glass and 100 feet of neon tubing—and weighs more than 3,000 pounds! Thanks to Maggie and Mike, the 10-foot sculpture of yellow squiggles is once again a bright and welcoming beacon. Stop in for some free vitamin D.

The Strib has an editorial taking a supporting position for cameras in Minnesota courtrooms.

This newspaper has long been an advocate of opening most courtrooms, at every level, to video broadcasting. We welcome recent word from two quarters about new support for efforts to crack the old bar to public scrutiny of the courts via video cameras.

I suppose in this day and age of COPS, Homeland Security USA, Jail, and Court TV that I shouldn’t be suprised by a bigger push for cameras in the courtroom. Here is some interesting history on the topic.

What do you think?

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Feel free to discuss the pros/cons in the comment section and I promise I won’t make a tv show out of your responses.

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Art and Emily attended the opening event for Titanic: the Artifact Exhibition at the Science Museum of Minnesota. This exhibit includes many artifacts recovered from the Titanic and is the largest exhibit the Science Museum of Minnesota has ever hosted.

Art’s part

If you went to elementary school in Minnesota you don’t really need an excuse to go to the Science Museum. You know it’s always fun and amazing no matter what is happening. (Hooray for science!) So you’ll understand when I say: while the Titanic exhibit wasn’t the most fun I’ve had at the Science Museum, it was on par for interestingness and entertainment (which is to say, on a level much above most any other things you can do around town).

There’s not much I can tell you about the artifacts themselves that you probably haven’t already guessed: they’re old, fancy, and mostly really depressing. It’s cool to see a period of time captured and undisturbed by ocean. But really, I found that the artifacts weren’t as haunting as they were kind of neat—especially the pieces/photos of the ship itself. I had a good time comparing the change in the size of toothbrushes over the years.

But it is a Titanic exhibit after all, which carries with it a certain level of haunt and definite extreme sadness. Which is why every Titanic exhibit needs some levity. But they’re not just going to give it to you like so many free roast beef sandwiches and complimentary glasses of Guinness—you have to take it. So here’s what you do:

1)    Ask the period actors questions they can only answer out of character. For example:

•    Do you travel with the exhibit, or are you just here in St. Paul?
•    What is the password to the wireless internet?
•    Aren’t you glad women in France can’t vote and won’t be able to for another 60 years?

2)    When you get to the timeline of wireless dispatches, read them as a Twitter exchange. When the Titanic radios for help in 140 characters, that makes it more amusing, I found.

The one negative thing I have to say about this exhibit is about the crowd flow. The exhibit is not set up to maximize people movement. So, don’t be a sucker: break free from the the You Must Stay in a Line yoke of oppression and meander. You’ll keep your sanity if you do.

Emily’s part

I felt like a very classy lady attending the reception before the exhibit opening. First of all, there were passed hors d’oeuvres, which always make me feel fancy yet awkward because of the difficulty of eating and holding a drink at the same time (the Guinness was free, so there was a lot of drink holding). Plus, there was an ice sculpture filled with shrimp AND roast beef sandwiches with THREE sauce choices.

That’s classy.

There were also children at the reception, which elicited mixed feelings from me. While I did enjoy hearing from a particularly cool two-year-old (and I’m not just saying that because his mother got us into the event) about how great dinosaurs and roast beef sandwiches are, I did not enjoy that there were Irish step dancers there. I’m all for celebrating your heritage, but those curly synthetic hairpieces they wear are super creepy, and I was feeling really bad for the one boy in the group, who I assume was forced into it by his mother. You know, because of the dancing. And the skirt.

After the reception, we headed into the exhibit, where we were each handed a boarding pass with information about Titanic passenger. I was a woman in second class, and Art was a man in third class. Therefore, we assumed I was going to live (“Women and children first!”) and Art was a goner.

With this in mind, we entered the exhibit, which I have to say was pretty cool. I couldn’t believe that 1) they were able to pull all of those artifacts from the bottom of the ocean; 2) what they did pull up was so well preserved; and 3) all of the actors working at the exhibit managed to stay in character despite the fact that they (especially the attractive young ladies) were constantly being asked questions not relevant to the time period.

When we reached the end of the exhibit, we were able to look at a list of passengers to see if the person on our ticket survived. We both lived, which made me happy until I heard that my mom, dad, sister, and brother-in-law also all survived when they saw it in Milwaukee, which makes me think the entire thing is a big fat conspiracy.

You heard it here first, folks.

I was born on the shores of Lake Superior  (technically in a hospital) and I spent a good deal of my life on the lake’s shores camping, loitering, and admiring it’s beauty.

On more than one occasion I’ve had to issue a chilly reminder about the lake “Don’t kid yourself, that water’s beauty is concealing a murderous personality, Lake Superior will kill you.”

This reminder was often viewed as a joke and laughed off, but it was nothing short of sincere.

In her latest post Amy Crea blogs about the book So Terrible a Storm: A Tale of Fury on Lake Superior

“Published by: Voyageur Press

It was Thanksgiving 1905 and thirty-one ships were on Lake Superior, making the season’s last, daring run–a run old salts had warned against, but to no avail against the shipping companies’ demands.  What none of the sailors knew until it was far too late was that they would soon face the worst storm ever to hit the Great Lake, a storm that nearly half of their number would not survive.

 

This is the story of that fateful storm, and of one of the worst shipping disasters in the nation’s history.  As the storm strikes without warning, readers are taken aboard the SS Mataafa as it crashes into Duluth’s piers, half of the crew freezing to death overnight as the other half survives by dancing through the dark around bathtubs set ablaze with scuttled pieces of the ship–all while 10,000 Duluthians set bonfires on shore to guide ships to safety”

Amy notes “Interested in ships, storms, the North Shore, history, or how people react under severe circumstances? This book’s for you.”
 

An excerpt from the book written by on-the-scene journalist Mary McFadden:

“Another boat is being broken to pieces by the angry seas near Lakewood, but her crew is safe and sound. Still another is beached above the canal, her crew is safe with friends. What more despoliation and tragedy awaits this morning’s knowledge cannot not be guessed. Science and human endeavor and the mighty work of human hands were flouted all day and all night by the elements gone mad.”

Well yeah, there’s that,but it sure is pretty.

What do you think about Lake Superior? Ever have a near death experience in it’s waters? Have any favorite Lake Superior get away spots?

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The Mankato Free Press offers this storyabout declining membership at the Waseca VFW Post #1642. It’s not an uncommon story, either here in Minnesota or elsewhere across the nation. Younger veterans are just are not interested in these organizations, and their membership is aging and declining.  Also, the male-dominated organizations have been slow to make an appeal to female members, even as about 20% of those now serving in the military are women. Of course, some groups like the Waseca Post blame smoking bans for their woes, but the National Commandant of the VFW sees it differently.  As a veteran (and former American Legion member), I think this is too bad. There are a lot of veterans, both young and old, who could use some help and a common voice. 

I suggest the two organizations merge together as a single group that welcomes all veterans, and then make a serious outreach to the veterans of Vietnam, the Gulf Wars and Afganistan, as well as to peacetime warriors like myself.  What do you think?

Image from Sabes JCC website about Desaparecidos exhibit (Sylvia Horwitz).

An article about Argentina in the Star Tribune caught my eye yesterday. Latin American history (especially times of military dictatorship) is of strong interest to me. I lived in South America for six months, mainly to learn as much as I could about these events. So when something related hits Twin Cities, I’m all ears.

Times are tough in the US right now, but my hope is that everyone can stop & appreciate (for just a minute) the things we need not worry about; things like safely expressing our political beliefs, or knowing that our children are safe. Luckily we can take these things for granted. But there are people among us who haven’t always had that luxury, and they’re sharing their stories.

There is a photography exhibit depicting mothers of disappeared victims in Argentina at the Sabes Jewish Community Center until April 23 (there’s a podcast interview on the website with the photographer too, I haven’t checked it out yet but definitely planning on it). This Friday, Nobel Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel is going to speak at Metropolitan State. Adolfo is a human rights activist and torture victim from Argentina.

These were very dark, chaotic times in South America and these stories are much more than sad; they are sickening. It’s obviously not fun or exciting to hear these stories, but awareness is important and it helps us be thankful for living in a much different world. This is pretty sentimental for me, I’m surprising myself here! In any case, I hope some people have the chance to check these events out- I’m sure they will be very powerful.

Tired of giving the failing banking system yet another government handout? Want to nationalize the banks, or watch  ’em fail so the Invisible Hand of The Free Market can work its voodoo? Before you decide, take a look back at Minnesota’s past for the “Bank holiday” of 1933. Hat tip to MinnPost and author Iric Nathanson!

The Grinch Who Stole Minnesota

This year there are some mighty fine Grinch candidates from our fair state.

Who gets your vote?

McHale? Childress?

Petters? Paulose? McGuire?   

Someone else?

I just stumbled across this video showing history through photos from 1906 through Obama’s election. The I-35W Bridge Collapse comes in at 8:20.


Some graphic stuff here, so be forewarned.