‘Cover Stories’ Archives
Lake Street The Great Street
By BOBBIE ERICHSEN Caption: Neighbors documenting their memories and experiences at a Lake Street Community Archive Pop-Up event at the Midtown Farmers’ Market on June 28. Invitation If you love East Lake Street — live near, work there, or feel connected —please, add your stories to a collection of memories. Incentive I’ve lived near the Lake Street Corridor most of my adult life; knowing it as a street, state highway, blocks of businesses, and a place of stories, contradictions, resilience, and creativity; significantly, centuries ago a walking trail of Indigenous Founders and animals between the Mississippi River and Bde Maka Ska, at the end of West Lake Street. Events five years, decades, and centuries ago inspired the creation of an additional way to hold its stories. That’s how the idea of East Lake Community Archive began. Community Ownership Community members dreamed and realized transformative projects before: Midtown Greenway from [...]
James J. Welna 1953-2025
By SUE WELNA Jim Welna, guided by a genuine interest in how he might make life better for those who shared his world, lived a life of servant leadership. He embodied Maya Angelou’s reflection, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” People lucky enough to cross paths with Jim knew they mattered more than anything else on his agenda. To our great loss, Jim died of recently diagnosed pancreatic cancer on May 26, 2025. James Jonathan Welna was born on August 17, 1953, in Minneapolis, MN, the first child of Patricia and Virgil Welna. He was soon joined by his sister, Virginia, and then brother, Mark. For the first nine years of his life, the family lived with his maternal grandmother. His foster sister, Pauline, joined the family later in their own home. Early on, Jim learned the value of economy and resourcefulness, and that lesson served him and his family well for his entire [...]
50 Years of the alley with 42 years of “Dave’s Dumpster” and “Spirit of Phillips” Cartoons
Dave Moore and Linnea Hadaway have enriched almost every issue of the alley for the last 42 years with two cartoon series, “Dave’s Dumpster” and “Spirit of Phillips.” Moore moved to Phillips in 1983. He and partner Linnea Hadaway have observed waves of change in the Phillips Community for over 40 years while working in medicine, literature, and education. Encouraged by former alley Editor Steve Compton, they began the "Spirit of Phillips” cartoon series in 1987. Dave was enthralled by the life and quotations of Wendell Phillips, heavily influenced by Ann Greene Phillips, which he read in the biography “Wendell Phillips: Prophet of Liberty” by Oscar Sherwin. “Our neighborhood is named after this freedom fighter. Linnea and I are proud to illustrate quotations from his speeches. I like sharing art with my neighbors. I wish some would say ‘I can do better than that’ and send in their own!” With their unique creativity and artistic abilities, Dave [...]
