News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Saturday December 20th 2025
CHROMAKOPIA Is A Gorgeous, Wowing Album That Encapsulates the Time We Live In
By ARABELLA FRACISCO
Arabella Fracisco’s original review first appeared in the November 2024 issue of The Southerner, a student-written and student-produced newspaper at South High School in Minneapolis. The Southerner can be found online at www.shsoutherner.net.
Editor’s Note: Last month the alley featured the first five tracks of Arabella’s thoughtful and inviting review of CHROMAKOPIA. This month we are treating readers to a peek of tracks 6 – 10.
I Killed You, the sixth track on the album, focuses on the complex relationship that Black people have with their hair. Society often frowns upon natural styles, leading many to “kill” their hair by cutting or straightening it. “But I guess the coils and kinks became an issue, therefore bitch I killed you with Jerrie’s and Mimis, I burnt you, I cut you, I filled you up with chemies.” The song captures the struggle between self identity and societal expectations, which can often erase the things that make us who we are.
In Judge Judy, the seventh track on the album, after meeting a girl named Judy at a cafe, Okonma talks about his relationship with Judy and his understanding and acceptance of who she is.… Read the rest “CHROMAKOPIA Is A Gorgeous, Wowing Album That Encapsulates the Time We Live In”
Dakota Canoe Carved from One Tree at MAIC on Franklin Ave.
On March 10 at the Minneapolis American Indian Center a 19th century style Dakota dugout canoe was stretched into its final form using water boiled with with fire-baked rocks. The single piece vessel was carved from a 7000 pound cottonwood tree removed by City Workers in St. Paul. So far, more than 250 Native community members have participated in the collective canoe building project, which began in February and is being organized by Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi and the Great Lakes Lifeways Institute.
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CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF COMMUNITY NEWS IN PHILLIPS!
The year 1975 marks the conception of the alley newspaper. Volume 1, No. 1 went into production in the fall of 1975 with photography, writing, typing, and cutting and pasting, finally landing on Phillips’ doorsteps in January 1976. For a half century this humble neighborhood paper has been serving the community: focusing on serious issues, highlighting community members, announcing events, promoting local businesses, and so much more.
Fifty years is mighty impressive for a paper largely run by volunteers and a miniscule paid staff, written by our neighbors and serving a community burdened with an array of inequities and challenges. The current miniscule paid staff and volunteers are rightfully very proud, as should be our readers (some of whom have read every single issue!), for what good is a newspaper without its readers??!! We also cannot forget our advertisers, who have played an important role in the longevity of the alley. It is a bittersweet trip down memory lane to look at the small business advertisers from decades ago now long gone. But a few do remain (Special shout out to Welna Hardware – since Vol.1 No. 2!)
Over the next year the alley will treat you to highlights from the past 50 years and share other plans to celebrate this Golden Year.… Read the rest “CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF COMMUNITY NEWS IN PHILLIPS!”
Keep citizen journalism alive!
