Noteworthy

VOTE WE HAVE AN IDEA …

… LET’S STEP INTO 2023 with a spirit of gratitude and support for our Edina community and its local businesses that have served us all so well over the past year.

What’s the best way to say, “Thank you,” to your favorite dining spots, service spaces, shopping venues and more? Vote for your favorite local businesses and community venues in our annual Readers’ Poll— this year’s Best of Edina 2023.

Our contest is live throughout January at edinamag.com, where you can vote for your “best of the best” in a growing number of categories.

While some of your favorite categories return for another year, our editorial team has included a few more sections that further embrace our retail and business communities. Curious? Go online to vote!

Here’s what you need to know: Voting is live with three simple rules*: 1. One entry is allowed per person; each ballot needs to include an email address. 2. Ballots must be completed by 5 p.m. on January 31, 2023. 3. Voters need to vote in at least five categories to ensure their ballot is counted.

Once voting is complete, the top three finalists in each category will be announced online on March 1, 2023. Then, watch for our much-anticipated Best of Edina results in the July issue, where the winners and runners up will be revealed—along with Editor’s Picks and a host of other community highlights.

*Any rule not adhered to may result in entire surveys being discarded, and all results are subject to editorial discretion.

EXPLORE The Theraputic Benefits of Art

Left: Madeline, Concord Elementary; Top right: Ariana, Concord Elementary; Bottom right: Clark, Cornelia Elementary

Iridescent diamonds shimmer in shades of lavender, green and blue. Complex kaleidoscopic patterns burst in bright colors. Thick black lines divide deep, rich hues like a stained glass window. All this and more was showcased during the Healing Circles Digital Arts Project on October 7, with digital displays of student artwork projected onto nearby buildings during an Edina football game.

Students in Edina elementary and secondary art classes started the 2022–2023 school year with a special project, Healing Circles, an initiative of Edina’s Art and Culture Commission with the City of Edina and the Edina School District.

Recognizing the mental health challenges that students frequently experience, along with the therapeutic benefits of art, the community activity encouraged each student to make an individual radial design as a personal and positive expression of good mental health.

Leanne French-Amara, an art teacher at Normandale Elementary School, has featured radial designs in her curriculum for more than 25 years. “The concept of circles is so easy,” she says, noting that she hopes students will learn that this creative activity is always available to them. When they are stressed or just need a break, they can make a circle design—on a scrap of paper, with pens, colored pencils, markers. It’s a simple way to relax when life feels overwhelming.

“I liked it because it kind of calms you down,” a Normandale fourth grader says about making Healing Circles. And a kindergartner at Creek Valley Elementary School characterized her very first school art project with the enthusiastic exclamation, “It’s fun!”—an entirely appropriate description for an activity intended to enhance and promote good mental health.

While the digital display of students’ radial designs were available for one night, all the student designs are now available for viewing on artsonia.com.

Contributed by Laura Westlund, a tour guide at the Weisman Art Museum and an art hound for Minnesota Public Radio.

HEAL BIOLOGY OF THE LYMPHATIC SYSTEM

The lymphatic system is an underappreciated body system that does a lot of important work. It intersects with all of the other major organ systems in the body—so, we can’t talk about overall health and wellness without noting that lymph is everywhere.

The lymphatic, or lymphoid, system is the primary home of the immune system. Like the circulatory system, it consists of large networks of vessels that carry a fluid called lymph. Lymph is the transportation highway for immune cells. It also acts as a waste management system that removes inflammatory pathogens and cellular debris.

Unlike the circulatory system, however, the lymphatic system does not have a pump to circulate its fluid. This creates an opportunity for a phenomenon called “lymphatic stagnation,” which can cause a wide range of health problems.

Why is the lymphatic system so important? » It targets invading pathogens (bacteria, virus, etc.) and delivers the information to the immune system, so it can destroy the invaders. » Lymph carries away toxins and poisons that interfere with healthy metabolism and bodily function. » It reduces inflammation and aids the cleanup process by rebuilding cells at sites of damage, infection or injury.

Want to support lymphatic circulation on your journey to better health? Here are six simple ways: » Physical movement » Massage and bodywork » Increase heart rate » Deep breathing exercises » Hot bath » Sauna

Contributed by Timothy Borowski, M.S., a complemantary health care professional and the founder of Axon Movement, located at Statera Health in Edina. You can find him on Instagram @axon_movement.

FOR ard

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CITIZEN OF EDINA Kelly Streit

For the 12 years Kelly Streit has lived in Edina, she has focused her volunteer and advocacy work on human rights. Starting as a board member for Edina’s A Better Chance (ABC), Streit is now the co-administrator of Edina’s Anti-Racism Collective (ARC), an organization founded shortly after the death of George Floyd in 2020.

As an ABC board member, Streit helped bring high-achieving students of color to Edina from communities in America lacking adequate educational opportunities. From her 10 years with the program, Streit realized the disparity among U.S. school systems and their inequitable effect on Black communities. “I think that realization dovetailed into my more anti-racismfocused work,” she says.

Alongside Terrie Rose, M.D., who facilitated neighborhood conversations on racism after Floyd’s death, Streit participated in the first “Learning to Lead” Zoom sessions aimed at exploring the complexity of systematic racism. “We talked about things that, especially as white people, we don’t talk about,” Streit says.

In July, ARC led “Stand Against Hate,” an event at 50th and Wooddale launched in response to racist incidents that had recently impacted the community. More than 100 people participated. “It was such good community support, not only from the people that showed up, but from the people that were driving by,” Streit says. “[It was] very positive—people hugging and waving—and it felt really good to have a cleansing moment.”

Through ARC, Streit has also established partnerships with faith communities to share knowledge and expand ARC’s impact, getting people from different faith communities “to come together and affirm their commitment to anti-racism,” Streit says.

Summarizing her efforts, she says, “I don’t think I can ever not do this work anymore because, unfortunately, I don’t think it’s going to be finished in my lifetime.”

The Anti-Racism Collective is a Community Impact Partner of the Edina Community Foundation.

Contributed by Carmela Cadja for the Edina Community Foundation.

READ Gothic Suspense

The Kingdoms of Savannah by George Dawes Green is an extraordinary novel. His writing is gorgeous and his plotting will keep readers on the edge of their seats. The historical detail is heartbreakingly real.

It opens at Bo Peep’s bar, where an archeologist named Matilda “Stony” Stone and her homeless friend Luke have gone for a drink on a spring evening in Savannah. However, by the end of the night, Luke will be dead, and Stony will have disappeared.

It appears that Luke died in an abandoned building set afire by its owner, Archie Guzman. No one in Savannah likes Guzman, a wealthy landlord known for evicting tenants. Guzman hires Musgrove Investigations to find out who set the fire; he vehemently claims he did not. Morgana Musgrove, the owner of the detective agency, takes on the case. The Musgrove Family is old Savannah, and the money Guzman offers is considerable and needed by Morgana, whose style is high and costly.

Morgana calls on her son, Ransom, to help in the investigation. Since leaving jail, Ransom has been living in Savannah’s homeless encampments. Eventually, all of Morgana’s adult children will get called into the investigation, whether they want to or not. They are a family rich in stories, personalities and complications. This is a wonderful read for the new year.

Contributed by Maureen Millea Smith, a retired librarian and a Minnesota Book Award–winning novelist. You can find her books at maureenmilleasmith.com. PILATES | GYROTONIC METHOD® YOGA | TRX® | MAT FUSION

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