News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Sunday December 21st 2025
A Great Run: Interview with Jack Reuler
Arts, No Chaser
By DWIGHT HOBBES
Mixed Blood Theatre ushered in authentic multicultural fare 45 years ago and remains at the fore. Owing to the vision of neophyte upstart, founding artistic director Jack Reuler who recently resigned, leaving Twin Cities considerably stronger than he found it. Reuler spoke about his career and the historic venue established “In the spirit of Dr. King”™s dream”.
Did you have any idea what you were doing when you started Mixed Blood?
In 1976, at 22, I wanted to espouse a particular world view and didn”™t know anything about theatre. I had a job with a social service agency, the Center for Community Action, to [identify] community needs. Shortly before, Ernie Hudson was at Theatre In The Round Players in The Great White Hope. One of the few opportunities for actors of color. It was the bi-centennial, America celebrating its ideals, but not living those ideals. So, Mixed Blood Theatre began as a summer project, [to] rid America of all its isms. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Blind enthusiasm of youth. I hoped to attend veterinary school in the fall, but we did six shows, three of which were world premieres, and it went well.… Read the rest “A Great Run: Interview with Jack Reuler”
Red Lake and NACC Set to Open New Health Care Center
Mino Bimaadiziwin Wellness Clinic offers a much-needed entry-point to healthcare
By TINA MONJE
Lake Nation apartment building.
In September of 2020, Red Lake Nation and their affordable housing nonprofit partner, CommonBond Communities, began taking applications for their new Native-centered apartment building, Mino Bimaadiziwin. Today, most of the units are occupied, and they hope to have the building full by late August.
In partnership with Native American Community Clinic (NACC), Red Lake Nation is also gearing up to open the Mino Bimaadiziwin Wellness Center, an onsite health clinic.
Dr. Laurelle Myhra, PhD, LMFT, is an enrolled member of Red Lake Nation, and the new clinic”™s director. According to Myhra, this project, arguably the first of its kind in the nation, has been made possible by the innovative Indigenous leaders who are seated at the planning table. The culmination of “a lot of indigenous people carrying indigenous knowledge and ancestry,” she says, has resulted in this new, one-of-a-kind avenue, through which residents may access housing and healthcare.
This project comes after years of increasing houselessness within the community, and years of community organizing and development among Minnesota tribal leaders, Indigenous outreach workers, and community members at large.
Construction began in the fall of 2019, and moved rapidly through the winter, on a site familiar to the population for whom this development is built to serve.… Read the rest “Red Lake and NACC Set to Open New Health Care Center”
You Can Gamble, Your Kids Can Have Fun
METRO TRANSIT
By John Charles Wilson
Are you any of the following: A transit dependent parent who wishes to be able to take his/her kids to Valleyfair? A teenager who”™d like to go to Valleyfair by his/herself without being driven there by a parent? An adult who”™d like to check out the races at Canterbury Park without a car? Or an adult who”™d like to go to Mystic Lake without a car and without being beholden to the casino bus schedule? If so, the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority (MVTA) has a solution for you! Route 410, also known as the “4FUN” bus, is a new weekend express bus from the Mall of America to Valleyfair, Canterbury Park, and Mystic Lake. Buses leave the Mall of America every hour from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and again from 6:23 to 10:23 PM (though skipping the Valleyfair stop in the evenings). Return buses from Mystic Lake run 9:44 AM to 5:44 PM and again from 7:01 to 11:01 PM (though the last one to pick up at Valleyfair is the 8:01 PM bus which leaves Valleyfair at 8:20). Of course, from the Phillips neighborhood, you will need to take either the Metro Transit 5 or the Blue Line to reach Mall of America to transfer to the 4FUN bus.… Read the rest “You Can Gamble, Your Kids Can Have Fun”
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