Remembering Dorothy Day
2016
Dorothy Day and I go way back. Granted, I never met her, but I can’t help but feel a connection after volunteering every third Saturday for the past twenty years at the Dorothy Day Center in downtown Saint Paul.
The English Language Class
2016
To begin again after seventy, to change
from fluent Amharic, Ukrainian, Russian
to I speak a little English,
Learn the Fundamentals: An Interview with Billy Peterson
2016
Billy Peterson has left his impression on Saint Paul baseball for more than five decades.
My Second Grade Teacher
2016
I was seven years old, in second grade, and tired on a daily basis. Most mornings I arrived at Highland Elementary School after limited sleep. I was robbed of sleep by
Do We Remember . . . the North Central Voters League?
2016
The “sizzling sixties” stands out as one of the most dramatic seachanging decades in the annals of American political and social history.
The Good Ole Days All Over Again
2016
Hi there! Everyone talks about the good old days—how they used to be—what a difference from today. Remember when gas was 25¢ a gallon? And cigarettes 26¢ a box with a 1¢ tax? Wow!
Fire on Pig’s Eye Island
2016
Pig’s Eye Island owes its name to a nineteenth-century trader, Pig’s Eye Parrant, who sold liquor and guns along the Mississippi’s watery highway.
Cheesehead
2016
Conceived, born, and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin—that’s me, Paul Vincent Bartlett, a (displaced) cheesehead. And not of your typical Wisconsin lineage.
From the Beginning: Forums, Theater, and Music
2016
I grew up in the Dale-Selby neighborhood of Saint Paul. To be more exact, we lived in the upstairs of a duplex just off the corner of Dayton and St. Albans, one block from Dale and one block from Selby.
Art by Maya Rose
Mears Park
By Martin Devaney ● 2016
Where I first put my arm around you. Clad in red coats and autumn hats, we walked from the Farmers’ Market, bags of basil in hand, then arm in arm. The dog waited.
The Sweet Potato Lady (Deborah Torraine)
2016
When I see sweet potatoes, I often think of Deborah Torraine. Deb was a community organizer in the Twin Cities. She always referred to herself as a cultural worker; she was a mentor to new and emerging artists, and the Director of Community Engagement for the Saint Paul Almanac.