Congratulations on your article about University Grove [Sweet Spot, October]. Your large photo of the building with colorful panels is a two-story library addition to a fifties Close house now owned by professors Helen Foster and Fred Cooper. The firm’s “Wolfe House” next door (now owned by Dudley Riggs and his wife) featured panels with … Read more
In your October cover story, “We Live Here,” you wrote about the new mosque being built in Rochester. Your writer said, “When complete, it will be the first new mosque ever constructed in Minnesota.” I would like to let you know that this is not true. There has been a new mosque built in Richfield, … Read more
I greatly appreciated the thoughtfully written article on the Outdoor Scripture Sign Crusade [“The Ruin,” by Joe Hart, September]. Kudos to Hart for gracefully rendering the sincerity of his subject’s Christian faith. Mr. Hart’s personal theological commitments, however, seem marred by some muddled thinking. While he admits to having “a kind of rueful respect for … Read more
Here’s Barb Pratt of Minneapolis taking a little rest on her van trip with Alan Kahn (also of Minneapolis) in upstate New York—–yum!! What a pie it made!! Author(s) and Location: Barb Pratt
The Orient, said Metternich, begins at the Ring. It is hardly surprising an Austrian statesman of the early nineteenth century should think the Near East was as close as the suburbs of Vienna. The Ottoman Turks besieged the Austrian capital at least twice and the favor was returned each time an Austrian army, arrayed boldly … Read more
During my childhood, the whirl of the eating season that begins this month was usually ushered in with that most agreeable social function, the potluck supper. Friends gathering, sharing food of their own making–it is a humble community feast where everyone gives and takes and huddles against the encroaching cold. In the car, I always … Read more
Those fond of appropriating F. Scott Fitzgerald’s observation that “the very rich are different from you and me” rarely include the follow-up—the part about why they are so. “They possess and enjoy early,” Fitzgerald explained in The Rich Boy, “and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where … Read more
Up to the 1960s, the apron served as a potent symbol of American womanhood. These lovingly adorned little swatches of cloth represented comfort and security and perfectly browned pot roasts. Then the women’s movement came along and the frills fell away. Since then, aprons have mostly been utilitarian and unisex, of the “Kiss the Cook” … Read more
Libby Larsen has an athleticism and youthfulness that’s unusual for her fifty-four years. Her tiny, five-foot frame is lithe and wiry like a marathon runner’s. And she talks as fast as it looks like she can run. From the moment she walked into the D’Amico & Sons café near her South Minneapolis home, she was … Read more
Number, Name—Identifiers; Description 0, Calm—Skin tone normal; Passive agreement, no apparent problems 1, Flap—Dirty looks cast Long periods of silence, punctuated by grunts 2, Squabble—Eyes narrow Widespread nitpicking, mild name-calling 3, Dust-up—Some color in the cheeks; Ungrounded accusations, small threat of physical contact 4, Spat—Clenched fists, jaw; Open name-calling, disagreement on facts 5, Row—Notable presence … Read more