‘Cover Stories’ Archives
Full Circle for May Day Cafe
By MARY ELLEN KALUZA Powderhorn Food Community Co-op, c.1975 Early days of the May Day Cafe, c.1996 The Mala yearsSign painted by Phil Vandervaart The Andy YearsSign painted by Forrest Wozniak I have to disclose that I have a familial connection to May Day Cafe’s early years, before the doors were even open. I babysat my young niece while her mother spent long days at the old Powderhorn Food Co-op deep cleaning, reconfiguring the interior, developing business plans, menus, finding kitchen equipment, tables, seating… It was a huge amount of work transforming 3440 Bloomington into the beloved community treasure that May Day Cafe became after opening in February 1996. Mala, my sister, was one of three original partners in the enterprise; within a couple of years she was the only partner left. Mala really set the tone for the Cafe’s personality. She was very generous with the space, letting community groups use it in the evenings for fundraisers or meetings, or [...]
Register Now for Free Community Journalism Training Series This Fall!
Certificate and Honorarium for registered 5 to 8 participants By CIRIEN SAADEH Community journalism is an accessible tool each and every one of us can use to tell stories that matter to our communities. Community journalism is stories about us, for us, with us - reported stories that help us make deeper meaning of the issues impacting our communities and give us the chance to celebrate and/or contextualize events. This fall, folks will have the opportunity to participate in a community journalism workshop series. The training series - brought to you by Alley Communications, publisher of the alley, Phillips West Neighborhood Organization, and the Journalism of Color Training Center, with funds provided by the City of Minneapolis - will culminate in a certificate in anti-racist community journalism, an honorarium, and a published article for each participant this November. Registration and attendance at all 6 workshops is required. WEEKLY SCHEDULEWeek 1: Introduction to [...]
Semilla Youth Leaders Add Beauty and Community to Phillips
By CAROL LEE CHASE and MARY ELLEN KALUZA The mural nearing completion. PHOTO: Carol Lee Chase Youth Leaders collaborating, working, and building friendships. PHOTO: Carol Lee Chase Over the summer a group of Youth Leaders ages 11-15, working with Semilla Center for Healing and the Arts, painted a mural on the doors and the steps of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church sanctuary at 2742 15th Avenue South in the Phillips neighborhood. Lynda Grafito, an active Twin Cities community artist and printmaker from Colombia, guided this project which wrapped up at the end of August. We asked Lynda what excited her most about this project: I am very excited about how much the youth have been involved in this project. I feel that they have learned a lot, have become familiar with the materials, painting, creating and installing mosaics, and memorizing each step to follow. But the most important thing about this whole experience is that they are making new friends and having [...]
