MayDay 1974-2019: Everyone”'s an artist, and creator of the future using ceremony and ritual for peace, justice and equality

Dan Newman and Laurie Witzkowski-Denise Mayotte

By DAN NEUMAN

Dear MayDay People,

Forty-four years ago a bunch of community activists and artists created a parade and a ceremony to welcome spring and the ending of a war. A few hundred people joyously marched from Phillip”'s to Powderhorn and rallied on the shore of the lake.

What was different about MayDay then and now are two deep understandings that motivated the first organizers. 

Our studies and actions had taught us that ceremony and ritual are essential elements in the imagining, creation and the experiencing of a different future of peace, justice and equality. And that everyone is an artist, and a creator of the future.

The future of MayDay has always been uncertain, with no assured funding. As it has grown the cost has also kept growing and every year has been an act of faith that, in the end, the community will provide. Today the cost has overwhelmed the organization and the community of MayDay is challenged to imagine, create and experience a new way of making MayDay happen.  

I am worried. There are so many aspects of the new future to figure out. But I am so hopeful!… Read the rest “MayDay 1974-2019: Everyone”'s an artist, and creator of the future using ceremony and ritual for peace, justice and equality”

Beloved principal leaves on high note

By Kinsley Wilcox-McBride

This article is reprinted courtesy of the South High student newspaper, the Southerner. 

Beloved Principal Ray Aponte made a huge announcement on March 19: with the end of the 2018-19 school year, he will officially end his time as principal of South High. 

Aponte has served as South”'s Principal for the past five years.

“I was really struggling with it all the way up until December or January”¦ But I am going to leave on my terms and not when somebody tells me to leave, so I am leaving on top. I feel like I have accomplished a lot here and in Minneapolis,” explained Aponte. “Now it”'s time for me to move on and maybe take my talents and go somewhere else where somebody else might need some help. I don”'t plan on retiring. I plan on taking some time off and reevaluating my position and my own personal track, but I suspect I will probably end up at a school some place.”

Aponte has worked in academic administration for 34 years, and for the Minneapolis Public School District for 25 of those years. This long history in the district has made him the longest-serving principal in Minneapolis Public School District history.… Read the rest “Beloved principal leaves on high note”