In advance of a new novel from Eco (The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, due next summer), we are treated to a compilation of essays in which the renowned novelist and heavyweight scholar wrestles with the universe of language and writing. At once scholarly and sardonic, On Literature collects eighteen essays on everything from syntax … Read more
We fell asleep listening to stories about how Grandma passed her psychic ability on to our father. While he lay in his pram, Gram clipped his pinkie fingernails, boiled them in horseradish sauce, then poured the compound on a patch of dirt behind Fluffy’s doghouse. Father told us that to complete the transfer, he was … Read more
In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, farm animals overthrew the evil Mr. Jones and created a utopia where “all animals are equal.” However, the pigs, who led the uprising, gradually began acting more like the hated Jones. By the book’s end, the pigs had morphed into porcine Mr. Joneses and the farm into a place where … Read more
Baby, we really haven’t come a very long way when you consider the women of antiquity. Cleopatra, in particular, had the full power package. The last of Egypt’s pharaohs, influential consort of guys like Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony, a rabble-rouser of the first degree, and a woman who really knew a few things about … Read more
A VRS (very reliable source) reports that while he was working for a BIF (big investment firm) he witnessed several horrendous CLMs (career-limiting moves) executed by some high-powered VIPs (come on, you know that one). On one occasion, said VRS was at a certain decidedly not-straight Minneapolis bar when he felt someone’s hands groping his … Read more
One of my favorite ways to pass the time while standing in line at the grocery store is to analyze the contents of the carts of the people around me. I like the incongruity of it. Gazing up and down the lines, it’s not unusual to see a cart containing a sack of generic Froot … Read more
Remember when the Santa stories stopped making sense? Maybe you wondered how he could be at both Southdale and the MOA, or why there was brown hair growing above his ear. Author James Solheim is the perfect guy to get to the bottom of such mysteries. In his first book, It’s Disgusting–and We Ate It!, … Read more
Do our public schools really suck? Don’t take a legislator’s word for it—ask an actual teacher. Or you could go hear Landsman read from her inspiring and illuminating books, Basic Needs: A Year with Street Kids in a City School and A White Teacher Talks About Race. Take note that twenty-five years of work in … Read more
You need to kick-start your life, no? Aren’t you searching for that mystical buzz of inspiration that comes with seeing others achieve their dreams? Well, cheer up, Charlie. For a lucky few in our Twin Cities, and far more in places across the country, the dream of a creative and self-determined life has been found … Read more
Drummer Stacey Jones had his hand in several “kinda cool for a minute” mid-nineties alternative rock bands, including Letters to Cleo and Veruca Salt. With an enthusiastic nod to Cheap Trick, the Boston-based American Hi-Fi, his latest band, comes to town determined to change the musical landscape as we know it. OK, actually, they’ll be … Read more