When I moved to north Minneapolis in October 2001, my “posse,” with perhaps one or two exceptions, was, shall we say, perplexed. Oh, everyone liked the house, a recently renovated five-bedroom house with Birdseye maple hardwood floors and leaded glass windows. The neighborhood—that was a different matter. My former wife warned my two oldest sons … Read more
The next time you wake up at three in the morning, sweating and shaking and befuddled by what the appearance of Barbara Flanagan’s bustier in your dream could possibly symbolize, don’t just make yourself a glass of warm milk, roll over, and try to forget about it. Oh no—that’s what someone in Andrew Carnegie’s day … Read more
At the 2002 State Fair, the Minnesota Pork Producers Association unveiled a catchy new slogan: “Today’s Pork: Created With Enduring Values.” Ever curious, the Gastronomer asked a representative if these might be, specifically, Christian values. According to Muslim values, of course, pork is “haram”—not allowed. To Jews, pork is “treyf,” or not kosher. “Rural values,” … Read more
We pedaled our singlespeed bikes for three days, roughly 50 kilometers each day, from the Thai-Cambodian border. We were traveling on National Highway 6. Some highway; it’s like a bloody Cal-Trans orgy, only they forgot the asphalt and somebody stole a fleet of Toyota Camrys which cannot be driven slower than 95 mph, kicking up … Read more
Long before Scud missiles, Apache choppers, and Shock and Awe, warriors lived and died by the sword. That spirit survives — albeit tempered by civility and an official rulebook — in a former bowling alley on Chicago Avenue in South Minneapolis. Here, the Minnesota Sword Club has operated for 20 years. Just the other day, … Read more
Two days after one of those giant statues of Saddam Hussein was toppled in Firdos Square, and had its head chopped off and dragged through the streets of Baghdad, artists at the University of Minnesota were participating in the art department’s 34th Annual Iron Pour, casting new and graven images for artistic fulfillment and academic … Read more
Having seen all the news reports on the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, I sat down with two physician colleagues of mine who specialize in infectious diseases and asked them the obvious: Are we all going to die? “Yes,” they answered in unison and without hesitation. “Of course everyone dies,” Dr. Dan … Read more
Alan Ralston started collecting De Sotos in the mid-80s, including the white wagon with a 361 parked in the front of his shop, one of two street-worthy sleds he has so far restored from his fleet of nine or ten. In back, one of the Fireflites holds an intact Torsion-Aire suspension. “I would have been … Read more
Last year, President George W. Bush issued a proclamation designating May 1 as Loyalty Day. “Whether born on American soil or abroad, Americans appreciate patriotism and loyalty to our country,” he read from a prepared speech. “Americans affirmed this sense of loyalty for their homeland during and following the attacks of September 11, 2001.” As … Read more
There’s a cute little gift shop on 42nd Avenue in South Minneapolis called Wasteland. There isn’t much to the place, and the hours are erratic. It seems mostly to be a storefront reserved for the editorializing of its eccentric owner. In lieu of a strong geopolitical or psychosocial opinion one way or another, the window … Read more