Photo by James G Miller, used under Creative Commons license
Want to rent in downtown Minneapolis? Latitude 45, a 13-story building with 318 apartments, is conveniently located at 313 S Washington. The Strib reported (back in October) that the building was a product of a public/private partnership , with the state of Minnesota contributing $472,000 for site clean up. Monthly rents run $1300 to $1600 for a studio apartment, with two-bedroom units going for $2500 to $3000. Amenities include a direct skyway connection and a heated rooftop dog oasis. Continue reading
Outside the glass windows of the office, the incessant clatter and clashing of the
Look at the photo above. This is a bus stop. In St. Paul, a city committed to “
Downton Abbey is new. NCIS is new. Sherlock is new (not very good, IMHO, but new.) So why is the news in reruns? We have, once again, a stupid, mean-spirited deportation move against Central American families and children. Ultra-right-wing, anti-government, white supremacist grandstanding — take over a bird sanctuary? Really? And a re-run of old gun control rhetoric, with minimalist but highly choreographed executive action substituting for actual gun control. 
Ana Lizet Mejia’s brother was killed by gangs in Honduras, and she fled with her son to the United States. Hers was one of a wave of Central American families seeking refuge in the United States in 2014. Now she is in detention, targeted by Obama administration’s new raid-and-deport policy, which started over New Year’s weekend with 
I plan to walk more in January, despite icy sidewalks. I plan to read more and have a stack of poetry and novels and nonfiction to tackle. I plan to write more, too — on a variety of topics, personal and political, local and global. That includes recycling contracts in St. Paul, Glendale public housing in Minneapolis, solar greenhouses and winter gardens across Minnesota, and bad bus stops in my neighborhood. 
Mary Turck