Author Archive
Something I Said: Should’ve Been
Dwight Hobbes. Photo: courtesy the author By DWIGHT HOBBES Art Knight should be the next Minneapolis Police Department Chief, but has too much integrity for his own good. That’s how he lost his deputy chief position and got demoted, calling the MPD out for entrenched, institutionalized racism. Knight said the department needs to improve how it recruits, trains and promotes minorities and women, stating the obvious. “If you keep employing the same tactics you’re just going to get the same old white boys.” Chief Arradondo dismayed black Minneapolis at large with that move, since he, himself won his job on the strength of overwhelming black support in a social climate that demanded a change from those same old boys. And, for that matter, racist female cops. In fact, in 2007 then-Lieutenant Medaria Arradondo was part of a successful lawsuit against the MPD on the grounds of an environment hostile toward black officers. One has to believe the publicly pull-no-punches Art [...]
A New New Year’s Resolution
By MARY ELLEN KALUZA January always brings up the whole New Year's resolution business – a promise to change our behavior. As I thought about resolution ideas, I found myself getting cranky. Resolving to do anything besides making it through the day in the darkest and coldest time of the year is insanity. The last thing I will do in January is throw away the remaining Christmas cookies or go out in the cold to exercise more. The failure rate of New Year's resolutions is 80%. Eighty percent! Why would we set ourselves up for failure only to feel worse about ourselves? Yet, it comes up every year: we are asked to set a goal we almost certainly will not achieve. That is not to say we shouldn't set goals that will help us prosper, live longer, and enjoy those longer lives. I propose we hold off on making promises to ourselves until the sun is higher in the sky and we aren't so cranky to increase our chance of success. “Fourth Month of the Year's [...]
