At the State Fair, conscientious mothers frequently warn against the Midway because “Dangerous people hang out there.” Who are they afraid of? In a word, carnies. Last year, Sheila brought her 10-year-old son Ivan, who couldn’t wait to hit the Midway. She begged him to go to the Poultry Barn first, to look at the … Read more
With seats on the Minneapolis City Council, and tens of thousands of supporters in the Twin Cities, the Green Party is the liberal vanguard of Minnesota politics. So why don’t you take Ken Pentel seriously? Photos by Terry Gydesen The Rice Street parade hasn’t started moving yet, and this is causing problems for Ed McGaa, … Read more
According to the guidebook at my dentist’s office, we live in one of the best metropolitan areas in America, and recent census figures say our incomes are among the highest nationally as well. Indeed, the McKnight Foundation reported recently that more people visited the five major Twin Cities museums in 1998 than went to see … Read more
You could run but you couldn’t hide. In the weeks surrounding the release of Bruce Springsteen’s new record, the man was everywhere. Interviews in Time, Rolling Stone, and the New York Times, a live concert from the Jersey shore, Letterman appearances on two consecutive nights, three installments of Nightline—yes, Nightline, because even though it’s not … Read more
Consider the radish. A noble vegetable to say the least, the radish is easily recognized by most people. While it may not be universally loved or fawned over on chic menus around town, the radish has a fame that allows it to be readily picked out of a veggie bin. Unfortunately familiarity, or lack thereof, … Read more
Some countries come up so often in the news that you feel you ought to know more about them. There is a painless way to achieve this. Read travel literature. An intelligent travel book provides more enlightenment than any number of newspaper accounts of the latest atrocities, as well as placing in a longer historical … Read more
Last night my son Max got jolted awake by a nightmare. In his dream, our car got slammed from behind and Max catapulted out of his seat. His head got wedged in the crevice between the front passenger seat and the car door, and it knocked the wind out of him. “But the scariest part … Read more
Uncle Tom. Aunt Jemima. Clarence Thomas. For most white people, these names represent, respectively, a literary figure, a picture on a pancake box, and a conservative African-American Supreme Court justice. For those of us on the darker side, they represent something much more ominous. Being called one of these names is tantamount to being called … Read more
There’s a new father at the restaurant where I work. I asked about his daughter the other day. “She’s doing great,” Dave said, radiating paternal pride. “I took Maya to her six month appointment this afternoon. The doctor said that out of a hundred babies born that same day, she’s the biggest one. Heaviest and … Read more
Susan Power is known for her “powerful characters,” but she’s a powerful character herself. She was born in Chicago in 1961 of a mother from Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota and a father from Ithaca, New York. She went through Harvard Law School before entering the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and knocking off her MFA. … Read more