At this year’s Academy Awards, there will be films that — believe it or not — are actually judged on their artistic merit. No one will remember them a year from now, or probably even a month from now, but these reels contain imaginative innovations and emotional depths that surpass those evoked by any nominee … Read more
Hello, my name is Hector E. Ramos-Ramos, and I intend here to share with you my observations, opinions, and concerns while I am abroad (primarily in Scotland), courtesy of the study abroad program at St. Paul’s own Macalester College. Although I am not originally from Minnesota, the home of Bunyan and Babe has grown on … Read more
“Do you ladies sew?” asked Rae Lundquist, a five-foot, fifty-something with a confident manner and long, silvering brown hair falling past her waist. Lundquist serves as costume director of MarsCon, a sci-fi convention that celebrates its tenth anniversary this month. As part of her duties, she had organized an educational field trip for her fellow … Read more
Sally Strle was showering in her house in Virginia, Minnesota, when the vision appeared in her mind: an open Bible with the words Rest On His Word scrolled on the pages and a pillow adorned with Catholic art and scripture. “I could see the beautiful pictures, even the phrase ‘Rest On His Word’ there, and … Read more
“Johnson is our name, cheering is our game!” The chants of a cheerleading squad echoed faintly inside Colin Denis’s classroom one winter afternoon at John A. Johnson High School in St. Paul’s inner-city Payne-Phalen neighborhood. Denis, looking the very epitome of a high-school science teacher with his wispy hair, thick glasses, and lab coat, collected … Read more
Who could forget the game last December when Douglas Stewart, the low-scoring walk-on from Minneapolis, stepped out from the shadows of his all-conference teammates to lead the Annapolis Fightin’ Crabs to a national championship? You’re forgiven if you don’t follow the defending champs; they don’t, alas, exist in the realm people persist in calling the … Read more
A story appeared in The New York Times on Valentine’s Day with the headline “Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?” It cited several recent books that bemoan America’s seeming self-satisfaction in the knowledge, that, well, we don’t need no knowledge, ’cause we’re Amurricans. I don’t think that’s the case. I think we don’t … Read more
Ninety-nine percent of the Mahi Mahi sold in the U.S. mainland comes from South America, and it is transported on trucks in very slow 3rd world process, so by the time the Mahi reaches the U.S. mainland it has a lot of shelf life on it already and the quality is very poor. Many people … Read more
It seems that not even ten years ago sushi was hardly known, or worse in smaller communities it was known as "bait." And if you asked someone if they liked sushi or if they had eaten sushi, the typical response was, "What suesheee??? Nahhh, we don’t eat our bait!" Now if you look around today … Read more
A girlfriend of mine just suffered a pretty bad breakup. So I did what I could. I took her out for the Colleen Kruse Pity Party (patent pending). A proper Pity Party begins with the sixty-minute Walk/Cry. I have found that it is best not to talk at all during the Walk/Cry. An hour of … Read more