‘Commentary’ Archives
City Songs for Loving the Earth: “Wherever we protest we will go planting”*
Late blooming aromatic aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) is an important late season food source for bumblebees and other insects. The name “aster” comes from the Greek word for “star.” Photo: Ben Heath By LINDSEY FENNER As I write this in the middle of October, I am surrounded by the last blazing russet leaves of the wild plum and the rich burgundy leaves of the serviceberry. Most of the goldenrod and aster blossoms have turned into fluffy seedheads, all but the aromatic aster, which remains a spangled purple cloud even after snow and a hard freeze. Winter hasn’t quite begun yet, but I am already planning for spring in my garden because I have applied for a Lawns to Legumes grant. Lawns to Legumes is a program of the State of Minnesota’s Board of Water and Soil Resources that provides folks with up to $350 to create pollinator habitat in their yards. Most specifically, these grants are to help provide pollinator habitat for endangered insects like the rusty [...]
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 [...]
Raise Your Voice: Healing Little Earth
By PETER MOLENAAR Press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior: As established by order 3404 under Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, the Board on Geographic Names has voted on replacement names for some 650 geographic features previously designated by the word sq---. Yet, those familiar with Little Earth are acquainted with the prominent signage there: END PIPELINES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, TRAFFICKING, HOMELESSNESS, RAPE, ALCOHOLISM, RACISM, GENOCIDE. Certainly, the struggle for reparations must press forward. With this in mind, Elizabeth Royal, attorney for our Urban Farm project, believes we have a very strong case against our city’s intent to concentrate more pollution in the neighborhood… dirty air which imparts asthma, and yes, diminishes the learning capacity of our children. Moreover, our readers know about the Pope’s recent visit to Canada with intent to heal the historic trauma meted out by the [...]
