TWISP | This Week in Saint Paul: Monday, December 22–Sunday, December 28, 2014
December 22, 2014
We are halfway through Chanukah, on the verge of Christmas, and peaking at Kwanzaa around the next calendar corner, not to mention the other thirty-odd holidays that my friend Mooks tells us fall in December. If you have been looking at the Almanac arts calendar, you know how busy this world has been.
This Week in Saint Paul: Monday, December 15–Sunday, December 21, 2014
December 15, 2014
The days are getting shorter, but only for another week. In the mean time, taking in some festivities will help brighten the brief days. If you look at the Almanac arts calendar, you might get a little dizzy with everything that is happening. If you need some help choosing, here are some ideas.
Lowertown Reading Jam 2014-2015: “Dakota Writers Speak to Presence: Honoring the 38+2”
December 14, 2014
On the 152nd anniversary of the largest mass execution in the history of the United States: the hanging of thirty-eight Dakota men in Mankato for their role in the U.S. Dakota War, contemporary Dakota writers speak to Presence. We speak several generations after the U.S. Dakota War and the United States government’s expulsion of Dakota from Minnesota. We speak, even as we are often erased or misrepresented in mainstream media and culture. We are here. Please join us as we reflect, remember, and share.
Helping Father in the Garden on a Summer Night
December 14, 2014
Swatting mosquitoes in the rhubarb,
I watch you pull husky potatoes from the earth.
You roll them in your palms and scuff the dirt from their bulging eyes and moony grins.
Here’s Mister Potato Head!
The River Bench Series, Garden Encounter
December 13, 2014
The Cherokee Heights Garden Club has celebrated seventy-five years of service. They have faithfully beautified and tended the flowers on Smith Avenue at the High Bridge for years. Returning from
This Week in Saint Paul: Monday, December 8–Sunday, December 14, 2014
December 8, 2014
I am already winded thinking about all the things that are happening this week in Saint Paul. I know that as the season progresses, you might need a break, but first let me take a deep breath and start you on your trek around town and the arts and culture that make this Capital City a capital city!
This Week in Saint Paul: Monday, December 1–Sunday, December 7, 2014
December 1, 2014
Did I see you last week at one of the amazing happenings in Saint Paul? Okay, maybe we were just too busy to cross paths, or maybe I was enjoying my mom’s food way too much, or maybe we just didn’t look up from one of the grooves we were in while an artist or two was laying it down for us. Yes, we are busy, but maybe this week we can catch some friends along this artists’ way.
Kwame J. C. McDonald: He Faced Death with Courage
November 28, 2014
Kwame McDonald was a much-loved icon in the community. He was well traveled and well known across the country. My relationship with him—a relationship of associating and working together—lasted over thirty years, right up until the time he died. This is also a story about the manner in which he died, his whole attitude about life and death, and the acceptance of his fate.
Ironic Meetings of Ghosts at the Irish Fair of Minnesota on Saint Paul’s Harriet Island
November 25, 2014
The Irish Fair’s site along the pewter-gray, spreading Mississippi beneath downtown Saint Paul on the ample greensward of Harriet Island is majestic and invites celebration. The bustling and music-crammed Irish Fair with its snowy canvas tents, its black-tinted signposts, and plentiful green turf offers an Ireland of the mind to its visitors.
Lowertown Reading Jam 2014-2015: “The Crooked Rib?!”
November 24, 2014
Wednesday, November 26, Nimo Farah presents “The Crooked Rib?!” at the Lowertown Reading Jam! The Saint Paul Almanac is pleased to announce the premier performance in its 2014–2015 season of acclaimed Lowertown Reading Jams, which celebrate the rich literary history of Minnesota's capital city and the widely popular genre of spoken word.
Central Corridor Light Rail Construction
November 24, 2014
It will leave nothing. Nothing. The future comes, ripping the asphalt up—black, jagged slabs.
This Week in Saint Paul: Monday, November 24–Sunday, November 30, 2014
November 24, 2014
Yes, it’s winter, several weeks early. In honor of an early winter, I won’t make you stand here freezing for long. We’ll get right to the business of art and literature and culture. Also, since we haven’t the sanity to avoid this weather, maybe I can help infuse a little sanity into your holiday plans.