‘Commentary’ Archives
City Songs for Loving the Earth: Growing Darkness
Photomicrograph of Stellar Snowflake, No. 304, circa 1890. Photo: Wilson Bentley, Smithsonian Institution Archives By LINDSEY FENNER We are traveling now through the darkest time of the year. This time can be a struggle for me. Winter makes those small dear moments of being outdoors more difficult to find. Everything is colder, slipperier, darker. I’m learning I need to be more intentional in how I interact with nature during these dark months. My plan this winter: Morning measuring routines: This past spring, I started doing daily precipitation measurements for CoCoRaHS- the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. Every morning at 7AM, I wander outside in my pajamas to see how much precipitation fell in the previous 24 hours. During this summer of drought, there was usually no rain to measure. But I found those few minutes gave me the gift of a scheduled moment every morning to notice– the rain yes, but also the early morning birdsong and the way the [...]
Something I Said: ‘Charmed’ Revisited
Dwight Hobbes. By DWIGHT HOBBES If something isn’t broke, don’t fix it. So goes the truism. Not always the case. Constance M. Burge’s Charmed (CBS/1998 – 2006) was state of the art pop. Solid scripts, strong cast about three white women waxing supernatural against the forces of evil. Charmed (2018 – 2022) reinvents that wheel, doing a fascinating job of it. Starting with casting Latinas as the leads, something nobody could’ve seen coming. Added to which, one sister is lesbian. And there’s a womanist bent. Talk about pushing the envelope, which isn’t all that surprising, considering Canada’s track record for quality commercial fare, including the supernatural hit Lost Girl. This time around for Charmed, there’s feisty firebrand social protester Mel (Melonie Diaz), sexy nerd cum genius biochemist Macy (Madeleine Mantock) and sardonically easy going college kid Maggie (Sarah Jeffrey). Ace ringer Rupert Evans (Hellboy) is glib, debonair [...]
Raise Your Voice
Peter Molenaar Vikings Fans Against the Bills By PETER MOLENAAR The emotional roller coaster ride might be stimulating, but one wishes our team would just blow them out of the water (so to speak) and be done with it. Evidently though, the magnitude and intensity of our collective prayer does manifest a material force on the field of play. In the end, the ‘blue wave’ prevailed against all manner of falsehood. Get this: EVERY HOUSE REPUBLICAN VOTED AGAINST ENDING BIG OIL PRICE GOUGING. Who then is responsible for inflation? Closer to home, General Mills hiked its prices five times since June of 2021, and the company saw its net earnings climb 32% in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. Excuse us for not believing that Governor Walz was responsible! However, while canvasing in Blaine under the banner of Teamsters Local 120, I did encounter a couple who insisted that Democrats foster pedophilia. Hopefully, repetition of [...]
