My Dad has always been a bit of a loner. He was adopted into a small family with one non-biological sibling. They were not close. His brother and adopted parents died decades ago. So he became an orphan, again. When I was a teenager, we lost my brother to leukemia. We were very close. It […]
Minnesota
The Great Reset
Sometimes a course correction is needed. I’ve gotten better at identifying these situations more quickly and coming up with solutions. Recently, I wrote about this on my old school blog. Call it the Great Resignation or Reshuffle or what have you. But I needed a career reset. This week I started a new job. I […]
Letting the Days Go By
In the past, I’ve written about how challenging Minnesotan winters can be. And that was without the added obstacle of a pandemic, when it was still safe to gather indoors with friends and family. Now that we’re into our third pandemic winter, I know I took past indoor winter hangouts for granted. Or just anti-social […]
Famously Gloomy
Salt and Light Last weekend we attended the annual Winter Kite Festival on Lake Harriet. The weather has been remarkably mild, which makes the winter more bearable. But it’s been awfully overcast. And the mild temps might not hold so I’m adding to my previous list of activities to get us through until Spring: Each […]
Polar Night
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul The shortest day of the year is behind us now, in the Northern Hemisphere. As are the holidays and the distractions they bring. Now what’s a Minnesotan to do? Sadly it looks like the Art Shanty Projects are taking this winter off. But the St. Paul Winter Carnival […]
Might As Well Jump
Go ahead, jump. Making the commitment to get married is no small thing. But many friends have made the leap this year. It’s already been a fun summer of wedding celebrations, with more to come. One lovely couple eloped over the winter (smack dab in the middle of the polar arctic vortex) and saved the […]
Drone Fest
Doctors Without Borders My friend Luke Heiken organized a benefit show for Doctors Without Borders (donations are still being accepted here). But it wasn’t your usual sort of benefit show. It was a 28-hour long drone fest. And it happened last month at The Cedar Cultural Center. I managed to be present for about half […]
Forward March
Follow the Leader It has been an exceptionally hot and generally dry summer, filled with activities. I’m pausing on this rare rainy day to look back at a subset of these outdoor activities. Marching band parades. One was a dry run along the West Bank, from the Mixed Blood Theatre to The Nomad World Pub. […]
Assemblage
Heliotrope Nine at The Lab Theater I’m still in happy blissed-out mode after three days of Heliotrope – an annual experimental music festival. This year marked its 9th installment. The week before a “Players Without Instruments” interview was posted with me, where I tried to namedrop Heliotrope as much as possible as it really is […]
poisson d’avril
9th Annual Fools Day Variety Show Spring sprang and suddenly it’s April. Which means today is APRIL FOOLS DAY. A day I generally try to ignore (ever since my son learned about whoopee cushions) but this year we were invited to a backyard variety show. Billed as “a time for feeling foolish, and acting on […]