Keep citizen journalism alive in Phillips
Criticism And Self-Criticism
Yes, the revolutionary process is again unfolding and is, this time around, discernible and understandable even to us “broad masses”. It is natural, in this context, for the most “gifted” to step forward as “partisans of the people”.
It is natural, as well, that a competition for leadership status will develop between individuals and between political groupings. Some say that this competition is a good thing. However, a serious downside occurs when personal or sectarian interests are placed above the interests of the movement as a whole. When opportunism prevails, we all suffer the consequences.
Are manifestations of this “left-opportunism” inevitable? The answer is: yes. Yes, because many of our educated people are inadequately grounded among the working class and the oppressed. As the revolution gathers steam, it then becomes increasingly obligatory for the actors to embrace the practice of “Criticism and Self-Criticism”.
The Backyard Commission on Health: Commissioner’s Report on Accomplishments
By Janice Barbee, Cultural Wellness Center
Three years ago, Allina began the Backyard Initiative as an investment in the community’s power to improve its own health in partnership with the resources of the health care system. Allina has shown its commitment to the community engagement process as a strategy for strengthening the capacity for residents to care for themselves and each other. Over 300 people have become active owners of the Initiative.
The Backyard Initiative is a partnership between Allina Health Systems and the residents of the area around Allina Headquarters – included the neighborhoods of Phillips Community, Corcoran, Central, and Powderhorn Park. Also included in the partnership are the Cultural Wellness Center, which facilitates, organizes, and supports community residents to work together on health improvement; Hope Community, which is hosting dialogue among organizations in the community and exploring ways for organizations to support and complement community engagement; and Portico, Inc., which is providing health care insurance to residents in the Backyard who qualify.
The Backyard Initiative now has an infrastructure that includes 15 Citizen Health Action Teams, a one of its kind 35-member Community Commission on Health and a Community Resource Body comprised of influential leaders in community development, health care, and business. The community engagement process was designed and is facilitated by the CWC using a process that is able to both hold the communities’ attention and to inspire self-development. As the following demonstrates, the monthly community dinner dialogues and CHAT meetings with members of the community and members of the Allina system have become powerful learning labs for all involved.
The Neighborhood That Could
The Neighborhood That Could by Ramla Abdi (9 years)
Each and every day many things happen. One day one thing happened that changed a lot in some people’s lives. A neighborhood was full of people, grocery stores, a shoe shop, ice cream store and much more! But sadly all of it was destroyed. People got thrown out of their homes, got run out of their businesses, kids couldn’t play in the park anymore. The next day Vroom! Screech! A freeway was built. No more people, kids, stores. All that was left was a rusty road full of cars making a lot of noise. Now people live with a big wound. But a man covered all of those wounds…Mr. Peterson. He reconnected all those friends, families and so much more. If he can build a bridge, we can make a big difference in this community. Thanks, Mr. Peterson!
“Reflections” Mirror the heart and soul of youth and elders
REFLECTIONS abound on each page of this issue.
May your good reflections this Season of Holidays and Gatherings only be exceeded by the richness of revisited traditions and togetherness with family and friends.
Semilla Poetry Contest Winners
7-10 YRS. OLD:
Mariposa (Sp. and Eng.)
Insectos con alas, tienen seis patas
Vuelen, comen néctar, van a México
Me hace sentir feliz, alegre
Mariposas
The next NEW PWW Photo will appear in January 2012 Including THE BEST EVER PWW RESPONSE
The one and only correct contestant for the November Phillips What Where was by Matthew Roed. We have never had such a thorough answer along with additional commentary about Phillips. Here it is in its entirety:
Dear Editor:
My name is Matthew Roed and I live in Golden Valley and work at Abbott Northwestern Hospital where I read the Alley in the cafeteria after working night shift at Sister Kenny Institute as a Registered Nurse.
I would like to submit my guess for the Phillips What Where for November 2011.
Since I work in this neighborhood, I felt that I should know why it was so named and who inspired the naming.
So I decided to figure it out…
Searching – A Serial Novelle Chapter 33: In Their Unknowing Grew A Great Joy
The procession was led by a group of children, dressed in bright red vests and carrying the most beautiful stars on thin poles. Each star had a face, and each face had a story. Ahead, the bright star on the church tower grew bigger and bigger. A guitar and the words of a Christmas bolero floated from the tower. All around them, Angel and Luz could see the faces of people illuminated by their candles, and as they prepared to cross 28th Street, the police stopped the traffic and waved the freezing pilgrims through.
All around the church steps, brown lunch bags with candles growing. The crowd passed underneath a large banner that said only “¡Bienvenidos!” and entered into the old church. You could almost hear each body release the cold as they stepped into the warm.
Luz and Angel intended to sit in the back. Angel had been to church only once in the past few years, for the funeral of his friend Andres, who was shot down in plain daylight on Lake Street. Luz had gone to Mass faithfully with her Tio, but always felt that the people were staring at her, staring into her wounded, broken soul. She would pray to God, but more often than not, she felt that God’s eyes were leading the crowd that glared. But tonight was different.
Potter’s Field Tales no less rich and fascinating! Generosity doesn’t tell it all!
This marker was placed on the grave of 350 people provided by the University of Minnesota on 11-11-11. UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA Dedicated to the memory of those whose generosity extended beyond life for medical school anatomy teaching during the years 1914-1916.
By Sue Hunter Weir
There are 350 people buried in the cemetery’s Potters Field whose remains were used as research subjects in anatomy courses at the University of Minnesota during the years 1914-1916. They were, to the say the least, a colorful lot: homeless men, prison inmates, men who were both the instigators and victims of crime. If they had one characteristic that they share was their social isolation; when they died, their bodies went unclaimed by friends or family. Other traits that many, though not all of them, shared, were alcoholism, mental illness and the effects of poverty.
In the early part of the last century, state law required the county coroner to turn over the remains of anyone whose body went unclaimed to medical schools. Because so many people believed that their bodies and souls were to be reunited on Judgment Day, the idea of dissection was, for the majority of people, unthinkable. As a result, there was a shortage of cadavers which made the laws governing unclaimed bodies necessary. (That practice ended in the 1960s).
Of those 350 people buried in the cemetery, 100 were infants who were stillborn or died shortly after birth in one of the two major charity hospitals in the area. Of the remaining 250, eight were adult women; the rest were men. The lives of the men are surprisingly well documented. In many cases, their deaths occurred in public places: in rail yards, on the street, at construction sites, or in jail. Eleven of the men have reams of paperwork, relics from the time they spent as inmates Stillwater Prison. Another nineteen of the men are identified only as “unknown man,” who, although their names weren’t known, died under circumstances that were considered newsworthy.
The death certificate for one of those men lists his occupation as “yegman,” meaning he was a safe cracker. Police believed that he was one of several men who robbed the Thief River Falls railroad station of $7,500 in October 1913. When the robbers got together to divide up their “earnings,” a fight broke out and the unknown man was shot and killed by the other members of his gang.
Winter Solstice celebrated in stories, dance, and runes
Nordic Roots storyteller and singer Kari Tauring and folk dancer Carol Sersland, along with Tapestry Folk Dance Center, bring the joy of this festival of light to the Tapestry Folkdance Center on Sunday, December 18 from 6 to 8 pm to celebrate the Winter Solstice which marks the time when the days slowly begin to lengthen and the light returns to the world. Celebrated as “Jul” (yule) in Scandinavian countries.
By Carsten Smith
The winter solstice marks the time when the days slowly begin to lengthen and the light returns to the world. Celebrated as “Jul” (yule) in Scandinavian countries, Nordic Roots storyteller and singer Kari Tauring and folk dancer Carol Sersland, along with Tapestry Folk Dance Center, bring the joy of this festival of light to the Tapestry Folkdance Center on Sunday, December 18 from 6 to 8 pm.
“This Jultid Celebration will be an interactive performance, suitable for all ages and all activity levels,” says Kari Tauring. Kari received a 2011 Minnesota State Arts Board Folk and Traditional Arts Grant to develop a series of workshops and two celebrations. The Jultid Celebration is the first and in March, there will be the Ostara, a holiday that merges into our contemporary Easter celebration.
The Jultid celebration is open to everyone. While some of the participants will have attended the story hours and dance workshops that Carol and Kari have been leading throughout the fall, “There are enough people who will know the dances that everyone else can just join in!” says Kari. The dances will be at different levels, so experienced folk dancers will be challenged and complete beginners will find dances tailored to them.
Of course, the Jultide will include traditional, seasonal food. Attendees will receive a Jul gift of a rune on a string as they enter the dance space. Runes are the traditional Norse alphabet and each rune has a special meaning beyond its use as a letter. Kari, Carol, and Stavers in the House (musicians who create rhythms with stavs, or staffs) will present an Opening Toast and special program to welcome all to the Jultide. And then, the dancing begins!
If you would like to join Carol and Kari for a workshop before the Jultid, please come to the Tapestry Folkdance Center on December 4 from 1 to 3:30. $10 for adults; $15 for families up to 5 people.
The Jultid Celebration is December 18 from 6 to 8. $10 for adults, $15 for families, up to five people.
Dates for spring workshops, story hours and the Ostara celebration can be found at www.nordicrootsdance.org
Kari is also presenting a series of Nordic story hours for families at Ingebretsen’s Scandinavian Gifts. These story hours complement the content of the dance workshops, though both the workshops and the story hours can be enjoyed individually. For details on the story hours, please visit http://ingebretsens.com/classes/culture
The Descendants
“ The Descendants”(2011)
*****
An Hominem Enterprises Drama/Comedy
Cast: George Clooney (Matt or Matthew King), Shailene Woodley (Alexandra or Alexis King), Amara Miller (Scottie King), Patricia Hastie (Elizabeth King),Beau Bridges (Cousin Hugh), Matthew Lillard (Brian Speer), Judy Greer (Julie Speer).Running time: 115 minutes. Director:Alexander Payne.
Heartfelt film that presses the drama pushing what’s deemed a comedy too, to the back burner. As such, it’s just as well the drama takes center stage because in my view–in this film–it’s a better movie.
All of the breathtaking cinematography by Phedon Papamichael takes place in Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawaii or nearby islands. Standing on what is one of the world’s stunning paradises is George Clooney, as Matthew King in an unfortunate dilemma: a wife Liz (Patricia Hastie) in a coma from a water-skiing accident and either selling or keeping a great estate he inherited from his great-grandmother , a native princess married a non-native (haole) businessman.
Matt has two daughters Scottie (Amara Miller)and Alexis (Shailene Woodley), 7 and 17, respectively, misbehaving and sometimes mean-spirited towards their dad. I hardly feel empathy as the girls on a number of levels,but as the movie tracks forward I begin ease my frustrations about these wayward 21st century kids. The older daughter shocks Matt with the revelations his wife was involved in an illicit relationship with another man on the island before her tragic accident.
Stunned by what Alexis has just revealed, Matt sets on a mission to find the mystery adulterer, a man of considerable financial success on the island.
Alexander Payne meshes winding stories, usually quasi- or-complete road movies such as “About Schmidt(2002(and “Sideways”(2004),with “{The Descendants”with artistic skills.
George Woodley’s character has difficult decisions to make such as what to do with his wife on a respirator and if he should, with conjunction with his cousins, sell the land they inherited generations before.
What’s more, George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, and the whole cast really (Amara Miller never acted before until “The Descendants”), are superb. George Clooney’s performance is Oscar worthy and Shailene Woodley should be considered for a nomination for best supporting actress.
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