Commentary: Trails shaped our lives Betrayed trails harm livability Betrayal has shaped our lives We can shape it anew!

By Harvey Winje

Be-trail can be turned upside down! Help Wanted! Will you help?

Phillips Community has been betrayed in many ways over the years. This observation is as we begin to discuss the effect of traffic on liveability and how it may be calmed.

Should we blame others and risk waste of energy and a chance to unite our community or should we admit that we all need to take responsibility so we can move beyond finger pointing to solving the difficulties together? Will you help? Will you slow down? Will you take part in a discussion of what will work better?

During Black History Month we were reminded of the African concept of Ubuntu by a recent visit of Naomi Tutu. It is helpful in this regard. According to Michael Onyebuchi Eze, the core of ubuntu can best be summarized as follows: “A person is a person through other people strikes an affirmation of one”'s humanity through recognition of an ”˜other”' in his or her uniqueness and difference. It is a demand for a creative intersubjective formation in which the ”˜other”' becomes a mirror (but only a mirror) for my subjectivity. This idealism suggests to us that humanity is not embedded in my person solely as an individual; my humanity is co-substantively bestowed upon the other and me.… Read the rest “Commentary: Trails shaped our lives Betrayed trails harm livability Betrayal has shaped our lives We can shape it anew!”

St. Paul”'s Church Rejoices 50 Years after relocation to Phillips on Portland Avenue: Concerts and March to Celebrate Historic Congregation”'s Golden Jubilee of March to New Site in Minneapolis

By Roland Wells

Marching from their old building to their new site on March 22, 1964, St. Paul”'s Church committed themselves to the Phillips Neighborhood. Seven years before, St. Paul”'s Church had faced its biggest decision. They learned that the projected I-94 freeway was going to take their building. The congregation had been located at 18^th Street and 14^th Avenue South. A decision had to be made. Would they, like hundreds of congregations in Minneapolis”' core city, move to the suburbs, or would they stay in the city? Already they had members living in Bloomington, Richfield, St. Louis Park and Plymouth. Moving to the outskirts of the city might make sense. In a crucial meeting, one sentence was uttered that would determine the future of the congregation: “Where is a church more needed than here?”Â 

From their decision in 1957, they began to look for a location nearby. At that time, the majestic former First Presbyterian lay derelict. The denomination had closed the amazing granite church about 1950. Pigeons were flying through its broken-out stained glass windows. Wiring and heating were desperately outdated. St. Paul”'s congregation saw tremendous possibility, so they bought it for $75,000. They added a quarter of a million more, plus thousands of hours of volunteer labor, ending up with a very useful, modern building.… Read the rest “St. Paul”'s Church Rejoices 50 Years after relocation to Phillips on Portland Avenue: Concerts and March to Celebrate Historic Congregation”'s Golden Jubilee of March to New Site in Minneapolis”