Tonight is the third “debate” (I really don’t consider them debates at all – they are more political theatre, like two gladiators in the Coliseum in ancient Rome.) Unlike the Coliseum, every frown, misspoken word, will be captured for posterity, to be sliced out and to be used ad infinitum forever…at least until the election, […]
George McGovern has died. He was 90 at the time of his death in Sioux Falls. Permit me a memory of a great man and humanitarian. October 21, 2005 – 7 years ago today, it was a Friday – at the Bell Museum Theater at the University of Minnesota, we went to see the film […]
Thursday night with the musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra was, I thought, as good as it could get. But that was before the Saturday afternoon performance of Willy Wonka by a great bunch of thespians from Proact. The Orchestra and conductor Skrowaczewski got their deserved standing ovations; so did the cast bringing to life Willy […]
UPDATE: October 20, 2012. Page E1 of Variety Section of Minneapolis Star Tribune by Larry Fuchsberg, here. (click to enlarge all photos) The musicians union website is here; e-address contact@MinnesotaOrchestraMusiciansDOTorg. To the best of my recollection, this is the first time I’ve published two blog posts on the same day. (#634 is below, on this […]
Tonight we go to a special concert given by the locked out Minnesota Orchestra. The details of the concert are here. You likely still have an opportunity to attend this concert. At the very least, become aware of the issues in this most important attempt to break the back of a proud union of outstanding […]
(Click on photos to enlarge. Both photos from Minnesota State Fair 2012) Three weeks from today, the 2012 U.S. Election will be over. Optimistically, possibly 60% of those who are qualified to vote will actually mark a ballot somewhere, hopefully reasonably well informed. We basically make the decision on who we vote for privately. “Don’t […]
Earlier this week I was paying a tiny bit of citizen dues to the Democratic candidates I support, and walking along a street in Maplewood came across a hand-lettered piece of poster board with two words on it: Vote NO! That was all it said. The owner of the house, an older man of my […]
Less than 24 hours from now Debate #2 will be concluded. Earlier today a good friend sent her contribution to the political vocabulary: “Sharing with you that I just coined a new word: “Romneyesque,” adjective meaning a desperate turn (flight) toward the center.” Madeline Simon Thanks, Madeline, who is, like me, someone who watches what […]
The best blogger on politics I know is a retired guy in Los Angeles. Alan, aka Just Above Sunset, offers very long commentaries six days a week, summarizing what other well informed people are saying about political issues of the day. His posts typically arrive in my e-box about 2 a.m. I always scan their […]
At Franco-Fete, Martine Sauret, visiting professor at Macalester College in St. Paul, gave a talk on Louis Hennepin. Here is the pdf text, in French, of Dr. Sauret’s remarks: Louis Hennepin. Texte Dr. Sauret’s remarks were presented to a diverse group, including students and teachers of French, persons of French-Canadian descent, and others. For those […]