News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Thursday December 25th 2025
Is 60”'s Co-op Vision Blurred?
“”¦Empty ya pockets son, they got you thinkin”' that
What ya need is what they sellin”'
Make you think that buyin”' is rebellin”'”¦”*
by Frank Erickson
Let”'s be clear about one thing; the true working poor, the unemployed poor, and poor people do not shop at our local co-op food stores!
Seward Co-op is on steroids. Just slow down! I remember shopping at Seward Co-op in 1992, when it was in the little store front that is now Welna Hardware II on East Franklin Avenue and 21st Street. It was a cute little store. Now Seward Co-op is expanding again on 38th Street next to 35W. They have hired professional smooth talkers to sell their expansion plan to the public. Is this what the original “hole-in-the-wall” food co-op starers from the 60”'s and 70”s envisioned?”“co-ops that look like Lund”'s spreading out over the landscape?
There is a lot of talk about equality and very little talk about reality. Seward Co-op can go on and on about their mission to bring healthy food to inner city people, but the reality is that poor people cannot afford to shop at Seward Co-op or the Wedge Co-op because they are too expensive. In South Minneapolis the poor shop at Cub Foods and [Aldis] on Lake Street or Franklin.… Read the rest “Is 60”'s Co-op Vision Blurred?”
Bird Call
Bird Call
by Harry Ford
Calling out to the universe
The bird calls out toward itself
Hello
Are you present
Can you here me offering you peace
Calling to the very consciousness of what it means
to know the call of your own kind
Hello, are you seeing how present I am to you
I hear you
At this very moment, I hear you
Are you caring for yourself
The bird calls out toward its self
Hello, are you present in your becoming
We are present with each other
I am offering peace;
Will you come to me
I want to be aware of you
How can I find you
The bird”'s call is deep in its being
It is the call of life
Hear me
Come and be here with me
Calling to its self
The very consciousness of what it means
to know the call of your kind
Be here with me
This the bird calling
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Keep citizen journalism alive!
Through Different Eyes
By Peter Molenaar
In this part of the world, we are fortunate to have The Circle, a paper which elevates Native Americans while stifling racism and chauvinism in general. It was not so long ago that I communicated with Ricey Wild to commend her column “It Ain”'t Easy Being Indian.” Her words, so often packed with meaning, are a reflection of personal experience. Do see the June issue for the context of the following quotation.
“I understand now how we the oppressed were with evil intent told to oppress other non-whites so we kept fighting against each other rather than organizing to make null and void our common adversary ”“ White people. I sincerely apologize to people whom I have never met whose culture I degraded. I truly did not know but when I did learn I stopped that behavior and became interested and respectful of others”' human experiences and history”¦ When I say or write White people I mean the culture of greed and hate they cultivate.”
I will disagree here with Ricey”'s reference to “White people” as the “cultivators” of greed and hate. My thinking flows from history more so than from personal experience.
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