the alley Newspaper | News & Views of Phillips Since 1976

Path of the Lemming

Written by editor on 30 January 2021

Raise Your Voice

By PETER MOLENAAR

Gardeners in the Phillips Community are probably familiar with the vole. Like all rodents, voles are highly intelligent within their own realm. However, within the span of a day, one of them might take down every red beet sprout. “Oh”, they smile sheepishly, “I couldn”™t help it”, before scurrying back to the hole. Sadly, compassionate gardeners are compelled to purchase traps. I purchased mine from Welna Hardware.

Living low in the northern tundra is a species of vole called the lemming. Lemmings are famous for their periodic mass “suicides”.

Are there bigots in our neighborhood? Actually, I did meet one once. The poor white man was ranting about a display of Native regalia at the American Indian Center, and was disdainfully whining about similar expressions in Africa. Hey, I have a Sudanese immigrant friend who celebrates his traditional regalia in a series of smart phone photos. He is an engineer in the field of medical devices who, once invited to join a Native circle dance here, did so without missing a beat.

38th and Chicago”¦

On a hot day in the early aftermath, Native women danced in full regalia. Fists clenched in the air, they declared: BLACK LIVES MATTER! … Read the rest “Path of the Lemming”

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Written by editor on 30 January 2021

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Feeling Sick and Uncertain

Written by editor on 30 January 2021

Tales from a Covid-19 Case Investigator

By LINDSEY FENNER

More information on vaccines: https://mn.gov/covid19/vaccine/index.jsp

We recently had a COVID scare in our house. I wanted to share a little bit about that experience, because even though I have had hundreds of conversations about how to cope with COVID isolation, I still felt uncertain and unprepared. I needed help to figure out what to do.

I woke up on a Monday morning feeling sick: aches, chills, fatigue, headache, a low-grade fever, and a cough. None of these symptoms is specific to COVID. It might have been a severe cold or the flu, but to be safe, I had to assume it was COVID and act accordingly.

The first thing I had to think through was how to get tested. It was snowing that day and I wasn”™t feeling up to driving to a testing site. My partner doesn”™t drive, and I didn”™t want anyone else to risk exposure by giving me a ride. So I ordered a no-cost at-home test through the State of MN and Vault Health here: https:// learn.vaulthealth.com/state-of-minnesota/

I started to mentally go through some of the interview questions I had asked so many times doing my job: where I might have gotten COVID from?… Read the rest “Feeling Sick and Uncertain”