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News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Thursday March 28th 2024

SOMETHING I SAID: The Animal Factory

Book Review

By DWIGHT HOBBES

a photo of the author
Dwight Hobbes

Rule of thumb goes, the book’s better than the movie. Edward Bunker’s The Animal Factory (St. Martin’s Minotaur) and Franchise Pictures is a tossup. Both are brilliant. The novel’s narrative is fluid, with compelling immediacy. Co-screenwriter John Steppling teams with Bunker for an ingenious adaptation.

Bunker (Education of a Felon: A Memoir /St. Martin’s Griffin,) made his way from the wrong side of the law to a career as screenwriter-actor (Animal Factory, Straight Time). He was “Mr. Blue” in Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs

Franchise Pictures

The Animal Factory protagonist, 20-something, privileged Ron Decker is slapped in prison so the judge can stand hard on white offenders, not just criminals of color. Never mind that Decker, no angel for sure, dealt weed and coke, but this is his first bust. He’s a politically correct scapegoat. Street spawned, veteran of incarceration Earl Boen takes him under his wing, shows him the ropes. In a hellish environment, they become unlikely allies, then fast friends – in an environment where young, pretty Decker can use someone influential having his back. Circumstance irreversibly changes their lives. Some brute thinks he can rape Ron. Earl’s crew convince him otherwise, ganging up to stab the guy, severing his spinal cord. … Read the rest “SOMETHING I SAID: The Animal Factory”

Artifacts and Curios (and a Piano)

Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery: 206th in a series

By SUE HUNTER WEIR

The caretaker’s cottage is a wonderful place. The two front rooms were built in 1871, which means it may well be the oldest existing stone building in South Minneapolis outside of Fort Snelling. The back room was built during the Great Depression by workers employed by the Works Progress Administration, a program designed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt to create jobs for displaced workers. 

But it’s not just the structure that’s interesting. The inside of the building is something of a way-back machine. There are artifacts and relics dating back in some cases to the 1870s. None of the items are of any great monetary value, but they capture a piece of Minneapolis’ history that might otherwise have been lost.

The Layman family, the cemetery’s original owners, were prodigious recordkeepers. There are dozens of ledgers in which they recorded the sales of cemetery plots, some for as little as 50 cents. There are Lot and Block cards which show who’s buried in every grave (not a small task to maintain, given that there are currently more than 22,000 people buried there). There are burial permits dating back to the 1870s, and index cards with the names and burial locations of not only those who are currently buried in the cemetery, but also of the 5,000 or so who were removed.… Read the rest “Artifacts and Curios (and a Piano)”

January 23 Events

Community Journalism Trainings

Thursdays:

January 5, 4 PM – 5 PM

January 19, 6 PM – 7:30 PM

February 2, 12 PM – 1:30 PM

Online (Zoom)

Free

Interested in learning more about community journalism, or getting involved in the alley?  Receive free, professional community journalism training through these upcoming workshops being offered in partnership with Journalism of Color. While we’re still scheduling local in-person trainings, we do have a few Zoom trainings already on the books. Trainings are always FREE and always open to members of the Phillips community. You can attend one training or more (each training will have similar content). RSVP by emailing ciriens@journalismofcolor.com


Thursday Evenings at ASI

Thursdays

3 PM – 8 PM

American Swedish Institute

2600 Park Avenue

Free

Explore the ASI with free museum admission from 3-8pm. There will be live music on select Thursdays. https://asimn.org


Organ Recital by Katelyn Emerson

Sunday, January 8

4 PM

Mount Olive Lutheran Church

3045 Chicago Avenue South

Free

Organist, lecturer, and pedagogue Katelyn Emerson is internationally renowned for performances throughout North America, Europe, and Asia that are “thrilling from beginning to end” and showcase repertoire from the 14th to 21st centuries with “impressive technical facility and musicianship” (Cleveland Classical).… Read the rest “January 23 Events”

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