News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Monday December 15th 2025
Sámi Day at Ingebretsen”'s
By Rosalie Sundin
One of the original indigenous cultures of the Arctic are the Sámi people (formerly referred to as Laplanders.)  Their original “Sapmi” homeland extended westward from the Kola peninsula of Russia, across Finland, to the Atlantic coast of Norway, and from edge of the polar seas southward through central Norway and Sweden.  Over the centuries, as Scandinavian settlers and hunters moved further and further north, the Sámi people lost much of their southern lands. Today Sapmi extends across northern Norway, Finland, northernmost Sweden and the Russian Kola peninsula.
Every year Ingebretsen”'s “Sámi Day” celebration is co-hosted by Twin Cities members of the “Sámi Siida of North America,” an association of descendants of Sámi immigrants from throughout the U.S. and Canada. We welcome everyone to join us, for an opportunity to learn about and share in our Sámi culture, traditions and arts — and perhaps to dispel some of the myths and misconceptions many have about the Sámi people.
Kurt Seaberg, a nationally recognized Sámi-American artist (and expert on Sami culture and history) will start the day, followed by Tim Frandy from the U of W-Madison”'s Scandinavian Studies department, who will share his translations of “noaidi” (shaman) folk tales.… Read the rest “Sámi Day at Ingebretsen”'s”
The Sessions
by Howard McQuitter II
The Sessions (2012)
Cast: John Hawke (Mark O’ Brien), Helen Hunt (Cheryl Cohen Greene), William H. Macy (Father Brendan), Moon Bloodgood (Vera), Annika Marks (Amanda), Blake Lindsley (Laura White), Adam Arkin (Josh), Robin Weigert (Susan). (R) Running time: 98 minutes. Director: Ben Levin.Â
Twenty-years ago I worked for a lady in an iron lung in St. Paul for three years. In part, that’s one reason I wanted to see “The Sessions”, the other major reason John Hawke (from Alexander, Minnesota) who is from my home state. I had taken notice of him in “Winter’s Bone”(2009) playing the weary uncle of Jennifer Lawrence.
Mark (John Hawke), a man in his thirties, is in an iron lung, fires a middle-age attendant he doesn’t much care for. He fires her for a pretty attendant. Mark has no movement from the neck down because he had polio in boyhood. That disease doesn’t prevent him from attaining a degree in journalism from the University of California-Berkeley. Mark O’Brien played splendiferously by John Hawke. The real mark O’ Brien appears in the 1996 Oscar winning documentary short, “Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O’Brien by Jessica Yu.
Back to the movie, Mark has one strange request: having sex since he claims to be a virgin.… Read the rest “The Sessions”
Basilica and Savita
by Peter Molenaar
Readers of this column might know that the realm of philosophy is divided into two camps, i.e. idealism and materialism. Idealists believe the universe was preconceived and then created, whereas materialists believe the universe has always existed and that consciousness is the product of material evolution.
So now”¦
The exhibit of Ludmila Pawlowska”'s “Icons in Transformation” has completed its show at the Basilica of Saint Mary. Set in the awesome nave with its stunning statuary niches, the production was probably the most exquisite artistic exposition of philosophical tension ever.
Enter the nave”¦
There were numerous larger-than-life panels suspended in space with eyes peering from beneath dirt and debris. Likewise, the majority of wall hangings cast eyes, often highly abstracted. The tension between ”˜intelligent design”' and ”˜natural selection”' was evident to this observer.
In her third mode, there were pedestalled plaques set at forty-five degrees. The unfolding motif reflected artifacts from the site of crucifixion. One example: blood red was splattered upon flesh tone to which was affixed what appeared to be a broken T-Rex tooth”¦ yes, a magnified splinter from the crown of thorns!
But what?
Just days ago, Savita Halaspanavor was made to suffer a horrible death because doctors in Ireland refused to perform a life-saving abortion.… Read the rest “Basilica and Savita”
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