Last week’s Canadian fires brought me a scratchy throat and sights of suns and moons with colors that would make the artist’s palette envious. On alternate evenings, I saw the blood moon and the pink sun that hovered over Saint Paul and was reminded of the brilliant things happening in the stages, in the neighborhoods, and in the hearts and minds that made and consume it all.
The spectacle of the Fourth of July left us with a late night of fireworks after an exciting extra-inning ball game at CHS field. Last week was grand, but there are even more fireworks in store for this week. You cannot possibly catch them all, but Saint Paul is busy this week. Take a look, listen, feel, and taste. You will be glad you shared it with us.
Do I see myself in the water’s reflection? Do you? Or have we been written out of this Minnesota Brand all together? “The Minnie-rasure” of People of Color.
Can you tell that the days are getting shorter? I think we had better do something about it, capture them in the vision of our mind’s eye before they fade into night. But even though Saint Paul sleeps, stuff happens at night, too. Even in our Minnesota short-evening summers.
This week marks the grand opening of SubText Books in its new downtown space and this month’s Lowertown Reading Jam, A friend and former bookseller made me think of the importance of what we are doing in our community with art and literature. A friend and former bookseller made me think of the importance of what we are doing in our community with art and literature. She said of the two events, “I hope against the tide too … in many things, actually. Resistance is important, in small and large ways.”
As we strive to make a better world, be it in our personal journeys or to make a more equitable society, art-making plays a crucial—even transformative—role. This reading will ask, How does art transform our lives? Can writing a poem or making a painting act as an agent of social change? Does the process of making art transform what we are given?
It feels like summer. Shorts and ice cream and kids in the neighborhoods during the day. What will we do with ourselves? I don’t know where to start, or maybe I do. Let’s start with some summer reading.
Is it summer yet? We have baseball in Lowertown, we have several festivals under our belts, most young people are out of school and flower gardens are showing off their flowers.
Last week, we kicked off the summer with a big bash of festivals. There are more to come. Be ready for the whole festival scene to explode in July, but there is enough to keep us busy for now, festival or not. Hop on board the Saint Paul train and take in a few sips of it all.
Well, the Saints marched into Lowertown last week to the tune of sunshine and a delightful fracas. The home team won the home opener. This week, there is a lot more to celebrate. You can be a part of it.
The Saint Paul Almanac has done it again. We have come away with another Midwest Book Award, this year in the Reference category.
Stories and music are able to shine a light on our personal woes in a world of harsh realities: a lost love, the cruelty of others, systematic injustice and hard times. These tales and tunes are what move us, make us feel alive and inspire us.
Help us to SAVE OUR STORIES by supporting Saint Paul Almanac’s literary and visual artists, and filmmakers.
We need your contributions so we may continue our work. Thank you!