News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Wednesday April 30th 2025
Dakota Canoe Carved from One Tree at MAIC on Franklin Ave.
On March 10 at the Minneapolis American Indian Center a 19th century style Dakota dugout canoe was stretched into its final form using water boiled with with fire-baked rocks. The single piece vessel was carved from a 7000 pound cottonwood tree removed by City Workers in St. Paul. So far, more than 250 Native community members have participated in the collective canoe building project, which began in February and is being organized by Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi and the Great Lakes Lifeways Institute.
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CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF COMMUNITY NEWS IN PHILLIPS!
The year 1975 marks the conception of the alley newspaper. Volume 1, No. 1 went into production in the fall of 1975 with photography, writing, typing, and cutting and pasting, finally landing on Phillips’ doorsteps in January 1976. For a half century this humble neighborhood paper has been serving the community: focusing on serious issues, highlighting community members, announcing events, promoting local businesses, and so much more.
Fifty years is mighty impressive for a paper largely run by volunteers and a miniscule paid staff, written by our neighbors and serving a community burdened with an array of inequities and challenges. The current miniscule paid staff and volunteers are rightfully very proud, as should be our readers (some of whom have read every single issue!), for what good is a newspaper without its readers??!! We also cannot forget our advertisers, who have played an important role in the longevity of the alley. It is a bittersweet trip down memory lane to look at the small business advertisers from decades ago now long gone. But a few do remain (Special shout out to Welna Hardware – since Vol.1 No. 2!)
Over the next year the alley will treat you to highlights from the past 50 years and share other plans to celebrate this Golden Year.… Read the rest “CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF COMMUNITY NEWS IN PHILLIPS!”
Efficiency Be Damned
from the series Peace House Community Journal
By Marti Maltby
Like many people, I have watched Elon Musk’s dismantling of the federal government with everything from bemusement to unspeakable foreboding.
The bemusement comes from Musk’s own claims that he is making the government more efficient. If that was the real intent of the Department of Government Efficiency, Musk would be the equivalent of the kid whose dad throws him into a deep lake to teach him to swim. He flails around a lot but doesn’t accomplish much, and eventually he sinks out of sight. Musk has made many claims about how much he is saving the government, but the claims are not believable in the slightest.
Compare Musk’s approach to the investigation into Feeding Our Future, an organization that fraudulently billed the government for $250 million. The investigation required numerous investigators, working for years, to bring charges against hundreds of individuals. By contrast, Musk claims to have uncovered billions of dollars in fraud in a couple of days. His pronouncements are difficult to believe considering how complex most government programs are. Just learning how a single program works would take Musk quite some time. Learning how entire departments work, reviewing their files, and ending the waste in mere days is beyond his (or anyone else’s) capabilities.… Read the rest “Efficiency Be Damned”
Keep citizen journalism alive!
