News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Sunday December 21st 2025
“The story is our escort”
By Harvey Winje
The headline above, from The Alley Newspaper, April 1984, is still relevant in April 2013 because the 40-year saga of the Phillips Pool continues. The next chapter is being written as you read this. You are welcomed to be a part of this chapter.
Wendell Phillips Junior High School
The Pool is empty again!
The story intensifies as the characters”' levels of passion and available time move between those who are deeply involved to the casual observer and some in between. The hundreds of activists who have been involved in the Pool through its 40- year history are amazing. Read the article from April 1984 on Page 5 for just one example. A few activists from the beginning are still involved. Some activists are new. Nonetheless, all are working to keep the playing field level as they pursue their various plans to fill the pool.
The various plan details and their possible impacts are obvious and important; more pool possibilities vs. less greenery and parking; less pools vs. more variety of ages and ethnic involvement; more pools/more money vs. more public use/possibility of less neighborhood use; and, many more.
May we hope and strive for understanding each other”'s concerns all the while understanding that the lessons we leave in the story for our progeny are as important as the lessons of water enjoyment, safety, and survival.… Read the rest ““The story is our escort””
100th Tale: From Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery
Thank You Sue Hunter Weir
Alley Communications, on behalf of hundreds of families and thousands of individuals express our tremendous appreciation to Sue Hunter Weir, local resident historian and writer of 100 “Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery.”
The lives of many people have been enriched by her extensive research, honoring of personal stories and legacies, anecdotes, statistics, and personal quotations woven into 100 narratives . Each of the 100 Tales has its own engaging stories so it is remarkable that she can end each “Tale”; the secret of anticipation that keeps readers awaiting the next Tale. Readers need not fear the end of the Series because about 28,000 people (7,000 were moved, but their stories remain) have been buried at this place formerly Layman”'s Cemetery at Lake Street and Cedar Avenue.
These stories live on in family photo albums and scrapbooks, websites and oral storytelling traditions. Alley Communications is honored and pleased to have been able to be the exclusive first publisher of these “Tales”.
Sue Hunter Weir”'s vivid, respectful sharing of these stories helps us to appreciate the past, gain insight into the context of those times, draw connections to our present and underscore the words of Chinua Achebe, “the story is our escort; without it we are blind.”… Read the rest “100th Tale: From Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery”
APRIL POOLS!
NO FOOLING! It”'s Historic!
In the City of Lakes and Land of 10,000 Lakes!
We are living in an historic time in Minneapolis: we are on the verge of having our first indoor public aquatics facility and it”'s located right in the heart of the Phillips Community. When completed, this fabulous new aquatics center will provide swimming lessons for everyone (including adults), a state-of-the-art competition swimming and diving venue, exercise and aerobics classes, and community swimming.
In recent months the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board joined us in our belief that Minneapolis should have an aquatics facility. At the MPRB Board meeting on March 6th, President John Erwin stated that the city has a “moral responsibility” to ensure that children in the city learn to swim and, in particular, those many children with no real access to lakes and swimming lessons. This is why it”'s vitally important that all children in Minneapolis learn the valuable life-saving and outdoor-access skill of swimming.
Remembering kids in water.
When I close my eyes and remember, it”'s wonderful to watch children learn to swim and see them grow in self-confidence as they conquer their fears and learn to safely navigate the water! Picture this! Kids between the ages of five and seven simply love water!… Read the rest “APRIL POOLS!”
Keep citizen journalism alive!
