‘Cover Stories’ Archives
Who Writes for the alley?? You Do!!
Did you know that the alley is a bonafide nonprofit, has no paid writers, and relies on community members to create what goes in it? For fifty years countless neighbors in and around the Phillips Community have filled the pages of the alley. That’s remarkable to consider! The paper continues to be community driven. The small volunteer crew who gets the paper to press wants to showcase all voices in our little plot of land on this planet. Add your voice to the pages - so many ways to do so: Are you a poet? Please allow all of us to enjoy your poems - submit them to the alley.Is there a garden with particularly lovely flowers on your morning walk? Snap a picture to brighten everyone’s day.Do you have a serial, cliff-hanger story idea set in the community? They have been a big hit in the past - we’d all love to anxiously await each exciting chapter.What is happening in your part of the hood? Keep us informed! Neighborhood borders are just lines on a city map afterall.Is your [...]
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 [...]
