Growing up on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, Michelle Goose listened to aunts and uncles and her father, who spoke Ojibwe “enough to spark my interest in it.” Today, she has a degree in American Indian Studies with an emphasis on Ojibwe language from the University of Minnesota, and she is a passionate advocate for the revitalization of language. Continue reading
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Ojibwe & Dakota: Protecting Minnesota’s vanishing first languages
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Heated contest ahead for St. Paul school board
UPDATED 1/30 – St. Paul will elect four out of seven school board members this fall, and the election season promises to be lively. Three of the incumbents are running, and at least nine other people have talked about challenging them. The first step comes at February 3 precinct caucuses. Issues include: Continue reading
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Birmingham to Bloomington
What lessons does Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail have for the city attorney in Bloomington? Take a look at my recent article in Al Jazeera:
Today’s civil disobedience continues MLK’s legacy
When protest targets injustice, public officials, police and prosecutors make choices about where they stand. Prosecutors can exercise their discretion to charge or not to charge, to seek a token sentence of community service or to try to hammer protesters with the full weight of available penalties.
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Refugees left adrift on ghost ships
During the first week of January, two more ships were abandoned by their crews, leaving hundreds of migrants stranded at sea, reports NPR. The ships carry anywhere from 400 to 800 people. Continue reading
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St. Paul Notes: Once in a lifetime
UAW mural at Ford Plant by Jonathan Haynes, used under Creative Commons license
The Ford plant’s departure leaves St. Paul with 125 acres of prime land on the Mississippi River. That’s an opportunity to build what St. Paul is calling a 21st Century Community, a “livable, mixed use neighborhood that looks to the future with clean technologies and high quality design for energy, buildings and infrastructure.” In an online forum, the city is asking for feedback as planning proceeds. The questions posed: Continue reading
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Answering my mother’s question about Charlie Hebdo
Photo by by Joroen Bosman, published under Creative Commons license
“But should they really publish such things?”
I want to say that’s the wrong question, but it’s not. I want to say that the question about Charlie Hebdo today is not whether they should publish such things, but whether they should be killed for publishing such things, or any things. The answer to the latter question, of course, is easy and clear.
My mother’s question, however is a different question, and the answer to her question is more complicated, bogged down in the distinctions between freedom and propriety and morality and legality, confused also by understanding what “things” Charlie Hebdo or any satirical publication has targets and why, past, present and future. Her question is worth serious consideration, especially by those of us who write, who publish, and who advocate for our political beliefs. Continue reading
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Seed dreams in the dead of winter
During the coldest week of the year, I’m looking at luscious red tomatoes on the cover of a recently-arrived 2015 seed catalog. Ever since I was a kid, seed catalogs have arrived in the depth of winter, filled with hope, promising that vegetables and fruit and flowers will roll around again. In deepest winter, a farmer’s fancy turns to spring. Continue reading
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New Year Labor Notes: The good, the bad and the ugly
Photo from Kopplin’s Coffee Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Kopplins
I’m writing this post at Kopplin’s Coffee, a local (St. Paul), family-owned business where the new year brought good news for workers:
“As of January 1, 2015, we will begin paying our employees not just a living but a livable wage. … As the owners, we are an integral part of Kopplin’s, but so too are our talented employees. … As we seek to create this alternative to standard ‘service industry’ chains, we choose to provide fair compensation (exceeding the “living wage” of $9.69 in Ramsey County). This validates the good work of our employees and creates a more stable and equitable pay environment for these people who bring beauty into our lives with the creation of their hands.”
Apart from Kopplin’s, where the coffee and the company are always good, here’s a round-up of the good, the bad and the ugly in labor-related news as 2015 begins. Continue reading
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Speaking truth to error about racism today
Photo by photologue_np <https://www.flickr.com/photos/44313045@N08/>, published under Creative Commons license.
Racism pervades all of American society, not just police interactions with people on the street. Even when people are not consciously racist, their actions show bias and that bias affects Black Americans every single day. Yet many, maybe most, white Americans do not see or understand or believe in the constant and corrosive effects of racism. The January 4 New York Times Upshot section listed some of the many studies showing bias in action in employment, apartment rentals, cardiac care, graduate education, used car sales, jury verdicts and even eBay auctions. Nothing new there — but a powerful reminder of the need to keep on talking, writing and educating people. Continue reading
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Just the facts — and a few outrageous and hilarious lies
Telamonia spider. Photo by Rushen, published under Creative Commons license.
Does a venomous, two-striped telamonia spider lurk under toilet seats in public restrooms? Is President Obama planning a run for a third term? Does China hold more than 50 percent of U.S. debt? The answers: No, no, and no. Continue reading
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Mary Turck