If you mix blue paint with yellow paint, you get green paint. If a Finn and an Indonesian “get together,” as my teenage boys would say, a child produced by that union would be Finnish-Indonesian. However, in our race-warped culture, when a black person and a white person produce a baby, something different happens. The … Read more
For starters, let’s say that I’m not going to write about the election or the war. You and I have both been around the block enough to recognize that I am no Bill Hillsman, and nothing I say is going to change your mind on these matters. This is because you are a stubborn creature … Read more
A few weeks ago, central London saw the largest demonstration it has ever witnessed. A good-humored crowd of 407,791 people marched through the streets. These were not folk normally given to protest. For the most part, they were quiet country people, though to be sure they enjoyed their day out in the capital, cheering, singing, … Read more
Is there such thing as “harvest time” anymore? You can buy apples in June, tomatoes in January, and there are bananas year-round at our local Farmer’s Markets. Nature’s bounty is but an email away to Simon Delivers. The harvest used to be a glorious time of celebration after the hard work of bringing in the … Read more
Why can’t I be Dave Eggers? It’s a question every writer between the ages of 20 and 40 has been asking for the last five years. An understandable question. The 32-year-old Chicago native has been blessed with two rare gifts: the ability to compose hilarious prose about virtually anything, and an uncanny knack for self-promotion. … Read more
How many art-house theaters does one town need? A city’s “real” cultural vibrancy can often be measured by the size of its network of art-house cinemas. While the Twin Cities scene is hardly New York, we’re well ahead of cities of comparable size. Fifteen years ago, the Uptown and University Film Society were about the … Read more
It started as a tiny inventory issue four years ago, no big deal. So why has their stock taken a billion-dollar tumble? And why won’t anybody just say it like it is? It’s not exactly Enron, but there’s something funny going on at Minnesota’s venerable, publicly-owned grocery supplier. The Hopkins Police Department is headquartered in … Read more
The sugar glider is an adorable, furry animal that measures about a foot in length—roughly half body and half tail. This expensive flying marsupial comes from the Australasian rainforest, and it’s suddenly become popular here and nationwide. The animal is named for its attraction to sweet tree fruits of the rainforest canopy, and its ability … Read more
You hear it on the streets. On the news. In the halls of Congress. There’s no agreement on the issue, except this: “Iraq” is a problem. There are at least four common ways English speakers say the word “Iraq,” including “Ee-RACK,” “Ih-ROCK,” “Eye-ROCK,” and “Uh-RACK.” Which is correct? Technically, none. The Q at the end … Read more
Hank Lederer is an “anticipatory thinker” who plots trends. From this plotting, he hopes to predict all the great (and not-so-great) things that might await us in the future, from cryogenics to extraterrestrial colonies. He is a futurist, and he is my tax accountant. Each spring when my kitchen table overflows with W-2s and 1040s … Read more