Posts Tagged ‘university of minnesota’
Cemeteries: The Modern Day Urban Park
TALES FROM PIONEERS AND SOLDIERS MEMORIAL CEMETERY 187th IN A SERIES By OLGA ACUNA Photo by Megan Voorhees What began as a class project addressing environmental injustice in the East Phillips neighborhood steadily flourished into an Arbor Day celebration at the notable Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery on the intersection of Cedar Ave and Lake St. On Saturday May 1st, over 60 volunteers from the surrounding community gathered at the cemetery to aid in the planting of over 50 trees throughout the 27 acres of green space. On one of the warmest days of the Spring season, this resilient intergenerational group of volunteers worked through the heat together to nurture the Earth by planting trees with help from arborists from the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation. Volunteers later gathered around for an ethereal blessing of the tree performance which included two deer puppets, bells, and poetry all done by the Semilla Center for Healing and the Arts. The event [...]
Potter”'s Field Tales no less rich and fascinating! Generosity doesn”'t tell it all!
By Sue Hunter Weir There are 350 people buried in the cemetery”'s Potters Field whose remains were used as research subjects in anatomy courses at the University of Minnesota during the years 1914-1916. They were, to the say the least, a colorful lot: homeless men, prison inmates, men who were both the instigators and victims of crime. If they had one characteristic that they share was their social isolation; when they died, their bodies went unclaimed by friends or family. Other traits that many, though not all of them, shared, were alcoholism, mental illness and the effects of poverty. In the early part of the last century, state law required the county coroner to turn over the remains of anyone whose body went unclaimed to medical schools. Because so many people believed that their bodies and souls were to be reunited on Judgment Day, the idea of dissection was, for the majority of people, unthinkable. As a result, there was a shortage of cadavers which [...]
With Necessity as the Mother of Invention, Brothers “Rack-Up” Success
by Megan Sheridan It all started at the University of Minnesota”'s Campus Security. As Rolf Scholtz and his brother Derk used to patrol the Twin Cities CamÂpus, they would notice how unappealing and dysfunctional the bike racks were ”“ as far as they could tell, the market for aesthetically appealing, U-lock compatible bike racks was wide open. After spending some time out of college in an ecoÂnomic development position, Rolf, along with his artistically inclined brother started Dero Bike Racks, now at 2657 32nd Ave S. And since 1995, they have been producing racks that are shipped all across the country as well as other parts of the world. The foundation of Dero”'s work is based on functionality and artistic appeal: all Dero racks are U-lock compatible, so users are assured that their bikes are safe; and all Dero racks are aesthetically attractive, so architects and planners can integrate them as visible aspects of their designs. Dero Bike Racks is [...]
