News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Tuesday December 23rd 2025
New Book Casts Loving SPotlight on the “Sistas”
By DWIGHT HOBBES
This article first appeared in the February 4, 2021 Minnesota Spokesman Recorder
Strive Publishing empowers youth through the enlightening tool of literacy, most recently with “Celebrating the Sistas,” an anthology/workbook showcasing Twin Cities role models for girls.
While these are 10 women, it”™s worth noting, young males would do well to heed the examples. The subject said Strive founder Mary Taris, is “women of color making a difference in the fields of education, politics, business, health, and social services. This biography series is building a written legacy for the children while celebrating the strength, determination, care, success, power, and beauty of each sista.
“Every child should have the opportunity to learn about the outstanding contributions of these sistas,” Taris said.
The concept originated with Taris and entrepreneur Kevin Johnson, founder of the Twin Cities Steppers Association. “After attending the 2018 Celebrating the Sistas Annual Awards Dinner,” she recalled, “I kept thinking about all the amazing women who were honored. As an educator, I wanted to find a way to share the inspirational biographies of all the Black women who are working hard for the community.
“So, I asked Kevin Johnson, the founder of Celebrating the Sistas, if he would be interested in partnering on a children”™s book series.… Read the rest “New Book Casts Loving SPotlight on the “Sistas””
A Golden Age, or Fool’s Gold?
Peace House Community: A Place to Belong
By MARTI MALTBY
I try to find positive things to talk about in this space, but I also want to make sure the voices of the homeless and others who come to Peace House Community are heard. Those two goals sometimes conflict, as homelessness and hopelessness often go together, especially in Minnesota in February.
The optimist in me sees how much resilience and creativity people have shown in the face of the covid pandemic. I admire and appreciate how these folks have found ways to carry on and even to thrive in adversity. I find hope in people”™s refusal to give up, and I am reminded of Saint Augustine”™s comment, “This awful catastrophe is not the end but the beginning. History does not end so. It is the way its chapters open.” (I have no idea which particular catastrophe Augustine had in mind, but neither it nor any of the catastrophes since have ended history.)
But when I read Augustine”™s words, I want to ask him, “The beginning of what? What is going to be written in the chapters we are opening?” Over the centuries many people have made wonderful comments about the golden age that is just over the horizon, and about the inevitable paradise that will result from human progress.… Read the rest “A Golden Age, or Fool’s Gold?”
Down But Not Out: The Future of Uncle Hugo’s
By CARZ NELSON
Don Blyly might reopen the Uncles.
During the George Floyd uprising, twin retailers Uncle Hugo”™s Science Fiction and Uncle Edgar”™s Mystery Bookstores were burned to the ground. The loss of these neighborhood institutions was deeply felt. Hugo”™s is the oldest science fiction bookstore in the country; its importance to the science fiction community can”™t be overstated. The two stores, known collectively as the Uncles, routinely attracted customers from all over the Upper Midwest.
Blyly started Uncle Hugo”™s in 1974; the original location was at Fourth and Franklin Avenues. The companion store, Edgar”™s, opened in 1980. The bookstores relocated to 2864 Chicago Avenue in 1984; they were fixtures in the Phillips neighborhood for 36 years.
Deciding whether to reopen the stores won”™t be easy. At 70 years young, many assumed owner Don Blyly would retire from retail business after the fire. Such assumptions are premature, however. It takes a lot of drive to start over from nothing, but Blyly seems to be equal to whatever tasks he sets himself.
Uncle Hugo”™s Science Fiction and Uncle Edgar”™s
Mystery Bookstores 2864 Chicago Ave. after the
Fire (photo by Uncle Hugo’s Bookstore)
He admits that he has a knack for bouncing back from adversity, “I’ve noticed that I seem to have more resilience than most other people and I’ve wondered why.… Read the rest “Down But Not Out: The Future of Uncle Hugo’s”
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