‘Commentary’ Archives
Messiah Before Profit
By Peter Molenaar Faithful readers of the Alley will recall two pages from last month”'s issue, devoted to the conversation surrounding the fate of Messiah Lutheran Church. As things stand, Messiah will be marketed, starting at the rumored price of $800,000. Any takers other than the adjacent corporate interest which intends to demolish it? Hey, when inside these historic sanctuaries, I feel the presence of my Swedish ancestors. However, the question is way deeper than my self-centered concern. Check it out: “Messiah Lutheran”'s interior presents”¦ lavish use of wood, with pointed arches emblematic of the English Gothic style, carved wood paneling, and the intricate stained glass window above and behind the altar lends the interior a graceful ambience”¦ perhaps the most splendid interior architectural feature is the system of wood hammer beam trusses, each characterized by a series of sizable vertical members with lathe-turned [...]
FRANK REFLECTIONS: Whose land is “Our” land?
BY FRANK ERICKSON Homelessness within the Native American Community is much higher than the white community. What white Europeans have done to Native Americans is beyond words. The most important issue our society will deal with in the next 100 years is”“who has the right to own things around here. My ancestors come here, unjustly take the land, and then play capitalism into the equation. So the wickedness grows every day as the white landlords continue to raise rents and the rate of homelessness among Natives only increases, the chance to get a roof over their heads becomes further out of reach. Greed is just the surface problem. The whites have no right to own the land and the commerce.
