Southwest Journal February 6-19 by The Southwest Journal

February 6–19, 2020 Vol. 31, No. 3 southwestjournal.com

INSIDE CALHOUN SQUARE

New owner may cut the mall in half A2

D E T I M I L L A N I U OTENT P

Plan would change high school paths By Nate Gotlieb

A plan to remake Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) could reshuffle high school attendance zones, changing where students from Uptown, Whittier and the neighborhoods around Lake of the Isles attend for grades 9-12. Four models presented to the School Board on Jan. 28 call for students from Uptown and Lake of the Isles to attend North High School instead of Southwest High School and students from Whittier to attend South instead of Southwest. A fifth model would leave the overall structure of the district largely unchanged, but district leaders have said it would force them to make “drastic changes,” including potentially closing schools, to maintain a balanced budget. Under all five models, students would still be able to enroll at schools around the city, according to a district spokeswoman, but their enrollment would be dependent on space being available in those buildings.

GOOD TIMES COMING

Whittier nonprofit has employed and housed mentally ill for 50 years Beleaguered Kingfield pizza joint to finally open A4

GRAND AVENUE

SEE SCHOOLS / PAGE A14

New design calls for traffic-calming measures A7

PESTICIDE SKIRMISH

“Someone with a broken life is OK. It’s fodder for working out something new,” said Bruce Ario, a Loring Park author employed with Whittier-based Tasks Unlimited. Photo by Michelle Bruch

By Michelle Bruch

Every night in Loring Park, Bruce Ario writes one page of his next book, capping a day supervising mailrooms at the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Living with schizoaffective disorder, he’s worked for more than 30 years through Tasks Unlimited, a Whittier nonprofit that employs and houses people with mental illness. But there was a time he couldn’t hold a job. “To me, the angel was my boss,” he said. “I think bosses thought I was insubordinate to them.” “Many of our folks don’t have problems getting jobs; it’s keeping them — and that’s where we come in,” said Ashley Trepp, director of mental health services at the nonprofit. SEE TASKS UNLIMITED / PAGE A15

Committee split on synthetic pesticide use A13

KID CURATOR

Superintendent Ed Graff speaks at a community forum at Justice Page Middle School. Photo by Nate Gotlieb

A space to belong Unused church basement being converted to a community services hub

By Andrew Hazzard

Local teen helps curate Mia exhibition B1

A PLAN FOR LYNDALE

Steve Brandt’s proposal for the dangerous street B6

A South Uptown church is being renovated to accommodate a new hub for social services and programming. The Aldrich Presbyterian Church will host the Center for Belonging, a new partnership of groups providing youth programming, job training, counseling, addiction treatment and food shelf services. Scheduled to open this spring, the project is being led by South Minneapolis nonprofit Ace in the City, which has worked on community-building projects in the city’s Powderhorn neighborhood and in Juarez, Mexico. “We are hoping that what’s better for our neighbors is partnering,” said Tim Anderson, executive director of Ace in the City. SEE ACE IN THE CITY / PAGE A11

Students at Risen Christ Catholic School participate in a before-school paper airplane throwing contest with Ace in the City, a nonprofit forming a new social services hub slated to open in South Uptown this spring. Photo by Andrew Hazzard

A2 February 6–19, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

Calhoun Square’s new owner considers open-air walkway By Andrew Hazzard / ahazzard@swjournal.com

To make the mall currently known as Calhoun Square fit better into the neighborhood, its new ownership is considering cutting the building in half. Smaller store spaces, local anchors and an open-air pedestrian walkway bisecting the current structure from Hennepin Avenue to the Girard Avenue parking garage are some of the early ideas from Northpond Partners, a Chicago-based firm that bought the mall in November. “Part of what we want to do is open this asset back up to the street and to the neighborhood,” said Jesse Baerkahn, president of Graffito SP, a retail development and urban design firm hired by Northpond. Northpond, which owns several properties in the Twin Cities, including The Icehouse in Whittier and The Broadway in Northeast, updated the South Uptown Neighborhood Association about its plans for the mall at a Jan. 21 meeting. Many of those plans will center on improving the pedestrian experience around Calhoun Square, according to Baerkahn. The plan to divide the building with a pedestrian thoroughfare lined with shops is one way to do that. But Baerkahn said the new ownership will also seek to make the rear of the building, along 31st Street, more accessible and try to create more entrance points for stores from the sidewalk. His firm has already noticed the frequent

in Northeast, anchored by Spyhouse Coffee and 612 Brew, as an example. Northpond has booked its first new retailer, longtime West Calhoun floral shop Indulge & Bloom, but is taking its time filling the many empty stores in the mall today. “The scary part is we have a lot of vacancies and a lot of square feet,” Baerkahn said. “The exciting part is we have a lot of vacancies and a lot of square feet.” The new owners are hoping to divide that square footage among more spaces too. The days of the 20,000-square-foot retailer are dwindling, in Northpond’s view, and smaller stores allow for a larger variety of retailers. “The barriers for entry are a lot lower when you have smaller spaces,” Baerkahn said. Many South Uptown residents suggested the new owners consider a food hall element, like at Keg and Case market in St. Paul, or add space for arts organizations. Many encouraged Northpond to attempt to bring back the former U.S. Postal Service substation, which they said brought a lot of daytime traffic to the mall. Much of the site’s future remains unclear. Baerkahn said Northpond is looking to develop the long-unused empty lot just north of the parking garage, but it currently has no solid plans. The name Calhoun Square might be a thing of the past, too, though the development group said it would try to solicit more community ideas before redubbing the space.

WHAT CALHOUN SQUARE COULD LOOK LIKE IN 2024

1 A new pedestrian thoroughfare could bisect the building and connect Hennepin Avenue to the parking garage.

2 More storefronts along Hennepin Avenue could be oriented out toward the street, improving the pedestrian experience.

3 The vacant lot at Lake & Girard could be developed. conflicts between cyclists, drivers and rideshare services on Hennepin Avenue and is looking to set up a designated drop-off point for Uber and Lyft. More bike parking at more locations surrounding the building is also in the plans.

Source: Graffito SP

Inside the mall, the new ownership group wants to move away from national brand anchor stores. “We really focus on best-in-class local tenants,” Northpond vice president Alistair Perry said, referencing The Broadway building

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southwestjournal.com / February 6–19, 2020 A3

By Andrew Hazzard / ahazzard@swjournal.com

UPTOWN

CBD shop controls product from ‘seed to shelf’

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FORGET FLAMES.

1 Life CBD founder Andrew Freeburg, right, and store manager Jim Cramond inside their new storefront at Lake & Irving in Uptown. Photo by Andrew Hazzard

A Minnesota hemp producer has opened a new CBD shop in Uptown. Eden Prairie-based 1 Life CBD began selling a wide range of its own cannabis-based products in a storefront at Lake & Irving on Feb.1. CBD, or cannabidiol, is a compound found in cannabis. Unlike the psychoactive ingredient THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, CBD does not give users a high. Proponents of CBD say it gives users relief from a wide range of ailments such as chronic pain, inflammation, arthritis, migraines and epileptic seizures. The product is sold in grocery stores, co-ops and a growing number of CBD specialized retailers in Southwest. But 1 Life CBD separates itself by being a vertically integrated company, according to founder Andrew Freeburg. The company was the first CBD enterprise in Minnesota and is part of the state hemp pilot program. With a hemp farm in Norwood Young America and a processing facility in Eden Prairie, 1 Life knows exactly what it is selling to consumers. “We’re in control of it from the seed to the shelf,” Freeburg said. 1 Life sells CBD in many forms: tinctures, lotions, salves, vaporizer cartridges, smokable cannabis buds and edible gummies. All their products are made using an organic base oil. The company specializes in full-spectrum CBD products, meaning the substance goes through less processing and contains all the cannabinoids that hemp offers, not just isolated CBD. Full-spectrum products give the users more effects. “That makes a huge difference for the customers,” Freeburg said.

During his time in the essential oil business, Freeburg learned about the potential benefits of CBD. He opened his first store in the Eden Prairie Center mall in June 2017, when the CBD industry was in its infancy and a legal grey area in Minnesota. Since then, 1 Life has added a kiosk in Ridgedale Mall and is planning another storefront in the Mall of America. But getting into the Uptown area was always a goal, Freeburg said. The store at 1610 W. Lake St. is large and has a kitchen in the back. 1 Life is hoping to take advantage of those features by hosting a cafe serving coffee and a few food options. There are tables for people to hang out and work, and the company plans to host educational events on CBD. “We want customers to have more of an experience than just buying the product,” manager Jim Cramond said. Freeburg is also hopeful the store will be the site of Minnesota’s first legal marijuana dispensary if it becomes legal. “We’re geared toward that as a company,” he said. The store is in a soft opening period currently and is planning a grand opening celebration in March. Freeburg said they are planning to do a $100,000 product giveaway during their first month. The store will be open seven days a week, with hours extending into the evening.

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MAC Cosmetics leaves Lake & Hennepin After many years in the Rainbow Building at Lake & Hennepin, MAC Cosmetics closed in January. A sign on the makeup store’s door said MAC closed on Jan. 18 and thanked customers for their business over the years. A company spokesperson told the Southwest Journal the company closed its Uptown store because of “the changing

retail landscape” and said the company is focusing on “bringing a more dynamic retail experience to our fans and focusing this investment in other key locations.” The brand has a store at the Mall of America. In December, City Pages noted the building is listed for lease by Cushman & Wakefield. MAC had been at the corner of Lake & Hennepin since 2003.

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A4 February 6–19, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

KINGFIELD

Good Times ahead After months of vandalism, frustration and setbacks, the good times are on the horizon for a Kingfield pizzeria. Good Times Pizza will open at 38th & Grand this month, according to owner Franz Gilbertson. It’s been a long and bumpy road. The property at 322 W. 38th St. was vandalized multiple times in 2019, a pattern that occurred at several properties owned by landlord Tyler Avestini. The broken windows stopped about six months ago, Gilbertson said. But that wasn’t the only issue for Good Times. Gilbertson had issues with a contractor he hired to update the building and had to part ways after it wasn’t fulfilling obligations. The process became an exercise in perseverance, he said. “We had to stop and consider, at least a couple times, ‘Do we stay with this?’” Gilbertson said. But he didn’t give up, and now he’s putting the finishing touches on the building and training in staff. A Minneapolis native, Gilbertson moved back to Minnesota after many years in Seattle. On the West Coast, he worked in kitchens, became a pastry chef and ran his own bakery for a decade. When he was growing up, his uncles ran a pizzeria in Dinkytown and he had fond memories of hanging out at their restaurant. At Good Times, Gilbertson will focus on 10-inch, tavern-style pizzas good for individual consumption or sharing. Many of the pies will have classic ingredient combinations, but he’s going to get a little funky with it, too, like with the pepperoni and pickle pizza. “It’s a departure for me, but it’s familiar because it’s centered around an oven,” Gilbertson said. Good Times will also be serving salads and Izzy’s ice cream for dessert. He plans on having local craft beer on tap, as well as some major domestic beers and some throwbacks like Old Style. A smallbut-high-quality wine list will be available as

After months of delays and hardships, owner Franz Gilbertson is preparing to open Good Times Pizza at 38th & Grand this month. Photo by Andrew Hazzard

well, including a sparkling wine on tap. Gilbertson wants Good Times to have an old-school vibe. There’s a jukebox from the 1980s and an antique Old Style beer lamp. A Pac-Man head-to-head arcade gaming table stocked with classic games sits in a corner. “The more dive bar clutter I can get in here the better,” he said. Gilbertson lives near his shop in Kingfield and said he loves the neighborhood and the 38th & Grand corner. He’s excited to finally open his own shop there. “I’m just looking forward to getting this thing in motion,” Gilbertson said. Good Times Pizza Where: 322 W. 38th St. Info: instagram.com/goodtimes_mpls

UPTOWN

Indulge & Bloom moving into Calhoun Square A local flower shop will be the first new vendor under a new ownership group at Calhoun Square. Indulge & Bloom, which left its longtime home in West Calhoun in November after what the store felt were bad faith offers from its landlord, will open a new location on the first floor of the Uptown mall between Sephora and H&M. After a rough couple of months without a

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Indulge & Bloom is opening its new shop in Calhoun Square the first week of February. Submitted photo

store during the busy holiday season, opening the new shop feels amazing, Indulge & Bloom founder Raed Kakish said. The store is set to open the week of Feb. 5, just in time for Valentine’s Day, traditionally its single highest-volume sales day of the year. The new 2,500-square-foot location has more functional space than the old Calhoun Commons store and will allow Indulge & Bloom to offer floral event and gardening classes. Kakish said he plans to put a small farmers market space along Hennepin Avenue when the weather improves. “We’ll be able to grow plants and flowers and really be able to open it up to people,” Kakish said. Kakish said new mall owner Northpond Partners is focusing on local vendors and experience-based shopping (see page A2). Indulge & Bloom plans to embrace that with classes and the farmers market feature. Kakish said many local customers had to go to other florists while Indulge & Bloom was without a Southwest location, but he hopes they will return and come to the new store. “We want everybody to know we are here for the community,” he said. Indulge & Bloom Where: 3001 Hennepin Ave. Info: indulgeandbloom.com

southwestjournal.com / February 6–19, 2020 A5

Park Board’s delays strain relationship with Loppet Foundation By Andrew Hazzard / ahazzard@swjournal.com

A series of delayed votes and a meeting canceled due to commissioner absences has stalled a new restaurant at The Trailhead and strained the relationship between the Minneapolis Park Board and the Loppet Foundation. A Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board meeting was called off Jan. 29 when too many commissioners were absent to meet quorum requirements. The meeting was a specially scheduled session to vote on a lease for a new restaurant at The Trailhead at Theodore Wirth Park after three prior votes on the resolution were tabled. “It’s really unfortunate that some commissioners deemed it not important enough to come tonight to talk about really important issues,” said Park Board President Jono Cowgill, adding he believed a quorum would be present when he called the meeting. Cowgill started leading the Park Board in January, and it was the first special meeting he had called. The vote on a lease for Mill Valley Kitchen to become the new restaurant at the Theodore Wirth Park recreation center run by the nonprofit Loppet Foundation has been delayed four times. The lease was initially tabled on Dec. 18 in committee. The resolution has been tabled twice since, and a fourth attempt to vote on the lease failed when five commissioners were absent for the Jan. 29 meeting: Brad Bourn, Meg Forney, Londel French, AK Hassan and Kale Severson. Park Board lease approvals require six votes. For the Loppet Foundation, the delays have become a source of frustration. “We don’t think this should be difficult,” executive director John Munger said. With the delays, the Loppet has had an empty cafe space in The Trailhead during its prime busy season, a move that makes it harder to meet financial obligations and results in visitors having no place to eat and mingle with others. “It was embarrassing to have no facility in there last weekend for the Loppet Festival,” Munger said. The Trailhead’s initial restaurant vendor, Cajun Twist, left in November for a new space in South Minneapolis. The Loppet first issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a new vendor in November. The first RFP got no response, but a second received two applications, Munger said. Mill Valley Kitchen, a restaurant at Excelsior & France, on the Minneapolis

border with St. Louis Park, was the unanimous selection by the Loppet Foundation. Throughout the delayed votes, some commissioners have voiced concerns that the RFP process didn’t go far enough in soliciting vendors of color from North Minneapolis. The discussion broadened into beliefs The Trailhead doesn’t serve Northside residents. “My biggest concern is The Trailhead isn’t designed for folks who live in North Minneapolis,” French said at the Jan. 22 meeting. “I don’t think it’s accessible. I don’t think the prices are accessible. I don’t think there’s enough people there who reflect the neighborhoods.” Commissioners have also discussed a letter that included allegations that The Trailhead was not a welcoming place for Cajun Twist, a black-owned business. Severson, who represents North Minneapolis and The Trailhead area, said he had a surgical operation in December that caused him to miss multiple meetings. He asked fellow commissioners to give him more time to look over the lease on Jan. 22. Severson said he wanted North residents to have equal opportunities at The Trailhead. Unprompted, he said his decision wasn’t being influenced by Bourn, French or Hassan, suggesting he was not in an alliance with the other three to deny the lease. “I am in no way former president Brad Bourn’s beating bag or his boy who’s going to do everything for him,” Severson said. “I make decisions in the best interests of North Minneapolis.” Bourn, who represents most of Southwest, said he was sick the day of the Jan. 29 special meeting and knows of no coordinated effort to deny the lease. He said the letter from Cajun Twist about The Trailhead gave him pause, but he feels Mill Valley would be a good fit in the building. A fifth attempt to pass the resolution, scheduled to take place Feb. 5 (shortly after press time for this publication), included an accompanying measure that will require all Loppet Foundation staff go through implicit bias and racial equity training. Cowgill said he feared the delays were damaging the MPRB’s relationship with the Loppet Foundation. “Every day that we push back this lease for some kind of investigation it sounds like we are disenfranchising this partner,” he said. “Our commitment to that partnership is unwavering, but also we are very frustrated with this,” Munger said.

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A series of delayed and canceled votes on a lease for a new restaurant at The Trailhead in Theodore Wirth Park has strained relations between the Minneapolis Park Board and The Loppet Foundation. File photo

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Project has 199 units for people over 55 By Nate Gotlieb / ngotlieb@swjournal.com

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Plans for two six-story Bryn Mawr apartment buildings for people 55 and older at the vacant CenturyLink site immediately north of Interstate 394 have received city approval. The Planning Commission on Jan. 27 unanimously approved plans for a 100-unit building and a 99-unit building at 2800 N. Wayzata Blvd. The 8.6-acre site has a vacant office building that’s visible from the highway. It’s immediately east of Theodore Wirth Park, south of Anwatin Middle School and west of a neighborhood composed mostly of singlefamily homes. The apartment buildings will be west of the office building. The project is a partnership between developers Steve Minn and Ned Abdul. Abdul purchased the site for $4.75 million in October 2017, and Minn said Abdul has plans to renovate the vacant office building. The 100-unit building will have rents ranging from $2.60 to $2.75 per square foot, Minn said. The 99-unit building will be income and rent restricted, though exact limits are still being determined. Both buildings will have a mix of one- and two-bedroom apartments. Currently, residents of the 100-unit building will have to be at least 62 and residents of the 99-unit building will have to be at least 55, Minn said. He said his team also may open the 100-unit building to people between 55 and 62. The two buildings will have a connected, one-level underground parking garage. The site will have 647 parking spaces and 130 long-term parking spaces for bikes,

according to plans submitted to the city. It will also have a shared vehicle managed by HourCar for apartment building residents and a 600-square-foot greenhouse with planting space, tool storage and watering systems. In addition, there will be walking paths that connect to Theodore Wirth Park. Plans also call for a stormwater pond located partially on the site and partially on the school property. Minn said he’s working with Minneapolis Public Schools on an agreement for the pond. The project will cost over $60 million, Minn said. The city has awarded the project a $2 million loan out of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and Minn said he’s also hoping to receive state, federal and Metropolitan Council funding for the project. The buildings will be the first new apartment buildings in the neighborhood for 10 years, according to documents Minn and Abdul submitted to the city. A third phase of the project would be to build a three-level assisted living facility on the east side of the property, though plans remain unformed. The groundbreaking date depends on if and when the project receives additional government funding, Minn said. He said a groundbreaking in October would be on the “optimistic side” and that spring 2021 would be a “more conservative” guess. He said the project will likely take 14 months to complete once started. The city’s Community Planning and Economic Development department recommended approval of the plans.

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A Southwest High School teacher has been named Educator of the Year by the statewide association of music teachers. Reid Wixson, who teaches three bands, Reid Wixson two orchestras, the pep band and the marching bands at Southwest, was given the honor earlier this month by the Minnesota Music Educators Association. “[His] nomination was really driven by his students and parents, along with his

colleagues,” association executive director Mary Schaefle said. “It was their way of acknowledging the impact he’s had on them.” Wixson graduated from St. Olaf College in 2003 and from the University of St. Thomas in 2010 with a master’s degree in music education. Prior to teaching in Minneapolis, he taught in Eden Prairie, Lakeville and Burnsville. Between 2010 and 2013, he and his wife, Rachel, who is the general music teacher at Kenny Elementary School, taught at the American School of Bombay in Mumbai. Wixson is a trained International Baccalaureate music educator. — Nate Gotlieb

southwestjournal.com / February 6–19, 2020 A7

City presents new Grand Avenue plans

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Updated design calls for traffic-calming measures By Nate Gotlieb / ngotlieb@swjournal.com

An upcoming reconstruction of Grand Avenue between Lake and 48th streets will incorporate a mix of old and new, keeping about half the currently available parking while adding safety measures like extended curb cuts, according to a new design. Minneapolis is planning to reconstruct the 2.2-mile stretch of road in 2021, a project that will include the installation of new pavement, new sidewalks and new gutters. The two-way road, which has parking on both sides and is lined by businesses, houses and multi-family buildings, was built in the 1950s and has pavement that’s in bad condition, project planner Dan Edgerton said. The city estimates that over 3,400 people live within a block of the road segment and that between 1,150 and 2,100 people drive it each day. Another 330 people walk its sidewalks, 80 bike it and 550 board buses on it daily, according to city estimates. A preliminary estimate projects the reconstruction will cost $15.9 million. The city plans to pay for it with state aid, bonds and assessments on property owners who live on the road. The new design incorporates a mixture of features the city included in three preliminary design concepts this past November. There would be boulevards at

CHANGES TO YOUR BLOCK The city has released a block-by-block rendering of proposed changes to Grand Avenue, a small segment of which can be seen here. The city’s plans for reconstruction call for a mixture of parking, boulevard space and safety features like extended curb cuts, midblock curves and pinch points.

least 6 feet in width running down both sides of the street. The city would use the street’s full 60-foot right-of-way on much of the road north of 39th Street, but farther south, between 39th and 48th streets, it would stick to the 54 feet of right-of-way currently used on much of the road. The design appears to have roughly half as much parking as currently exists on the street. Generally, both sides of the street would have at least some parking north of 40th Street, but parking would generally be limited to one side of the road south of 40th. Much of the parking near the 38th Street business district would be preserved on both sides. Extended curb cuts, or bump-outs, would be located at 18 of the road segment’s 19 intersections, according to the design. Midblock pinch points and curves, or chicanes, would narrow the road at points on 12 of the 18 blocks. The city hopes those features make pedestrian crossings easier and force drivers to slow down, Edgerton said. He added that the city will get extra boulevard space that could be used for plantings and other green infrastructure by narrowing the road at points. He also said the city is talking with Metro Transit about consolidating bus stops on the street and that less parking would make it easier for plows to clear snow. The plans do not call for a bike lane, as the city intends to eventually turn Pleasant Avenue, located a block to the east, into an on-street bike route, similar to Bryant Avenue. However, the city is exploring a one-lane, one-way, one-block bikeway on Grand Avenue going north from 31st Street to Lake Street. Bikers would be directed to that trail from the Pleasant Avenue bikeway. (The city would prefer bicyclists have a signalized intersection for crossing the high-traffic Lake Street. There is only a stop sign at Lake & Pleasant, whereas Lake & Grand has a stoplight).

Local reaction

To view the full block-by-block view of the proposed design, visit tinyurl.com/grand-plans.

At a Jan. 27 open house at Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, attendees appeared receptive to the plans. Dick Rueter, who lives on the 4200 block of Grand Avenue, which would have half as much parking, said he’d like to see a stoplight at 42nd & Grand. (Edgerton called traffic lights a “complicated bag.”) Greg Heaton-Hill, who lives on the 3600 block of Grand Avenue, said he thinks fewer people would make U-turns on his block because of a chicane proposed in front of his house. Matt Perry, president of the Southwest Business Association, which covers Grand Avenue south of 36th Street, said reducing parking would be a hardship for both businesses and residents. He also noted a 2017 city study of speeds along four blocks of the road segment. It found that most drivers on those four blocks were within 2 mph of the 30 mph speed limit. “I’m confused by what the objective is when the street seems to be working fairly well as it is today,” he said. Though the final design will likely end up looking something like the current iteration, the plans are not final, Edgerton said. He said the city plans on talking with businesses about parking and that the placement of specific design features could change. “There’s still some refinement to be made,” he said. Finalized designs are expected to be released by the spring. Construction will be in 2021.

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A8 February 6–19, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

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By Jim Walsh

Stayin’ alive

anuary may be the winter of our discontent in Minnesota, but on the middle of frozen Lake Harriet, Art Shanty Projects revelers are getting a reminder of spring — and an education. Located on Lake Harriet weekends through Feb. 9, the Pollinator Shanty is nestled between two like-minded environmental shacks: the Seedbank greenhouse and the Flora Sauna greenhouse. The sum effect of ducking in from the cold and into the humid air is not unlike a mini-climatechange conference, and it’s somehow fitting that some of the most urgent real talk about the environment and the future of the planet is taking place in the dead of winter. One of the warmest and coziest of all the art shanties, the Pollinator Shanty’s inside seeks to replicate Mexico’s Oyamel Fir Forest, with paintings of resting butterflies in the winter flanked by a display about the forest’s nature reserve, which has been attacked by illegal logging. “We’re trying to get people’s attention, and the bright colors on a frozen white lake when we all wish we were somewhere warmer is a really good way to do it,” said Suzanne Trapp, community outreach manager for the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, the Pollinator Shanty’s partner. “What we’re trying to let people know about is how imperiled our pollinators are, including the monarch butterfly population that travels from Canada and Minnesota down to Mexico. “That population has been in decline, and there’s a lot of things we can do to help mitigate that situation. The monarch shanty is a fun way to tell people the story about the monarch migration and some of the things we can do to make that migration easier, and that includes planting native plants in habitat. Most people know about the milkweed when they’re in their breeding cycle, but the adults also are nectar feeders and the more native plant habitat they encounter along their journey, the stronger they stay and the more likely they’ll make it there and future generations will make it back.” This year the monarch theme was expanded to include all pollinators, whose numbers are in decline, and the shanty gets people thinking about how humans impact the planet, the plants they put in their yards and homes, and how much fruits and vegetables rely on the whole of the ecosystem. “The birth of the migrating monarch shanty was two years ago, and it was a hit, with long lines the whole time,” said lead artist and organizer Terry McDaniel. “I’m a beekeeper and I’ve raised monarchs, and we just thought this was a good way to get information out about not using pesticides and insects and pollination. I painted a couple bees on it, and that’s how I came up with my costume: I’m Queen Bee.” “I walked into Minnesota Wildlife Refuge and I saw someone painting on [the shanty], and that’s how I got involved,” said volunteer Amy Zagar. “I’ve gone to the Art Shanties over the years and I’ve always wanted to get involved with it, and this year I stumbled into it. I think

Opening day Art Shanty Projects revelers lined up to take in the Pollinator Shanty on Lake Harriet on Jan. 19. Photo by Jim Walsh

any time of year it’s important to talk about how important pollinators are and what we can do as residents. Also, in winter we’re missing our warmer climates and beautiful flowers and summer in general, so it’s just a beautiful experience to remind us that summer’s coming.” Along with a dose of greenhouse warmth in the dead of winter, visitors to the Pollinator Shanty receive a postcard with pictures of Minnesota’s native pollinators and their favorite plants, which are also painted on the outside of the shanty. Throw in a twice-a-day flash mob (to the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive,” natch) and winged people riding little pollinator bikes, and you’ve got a fun and whimsical climate emergency commentary. “We made 42 wing costumes, and people love the flash mob and the dancing. It’s a very big community-building thing,” said McDaniel. “At the end of the flash mob, we all go to the middle and pollinate this yellow flower that we put on the snow, so everyone’s going in and out and pollinating the flower. It was so much fun to see people acting like insects and having fun. We all need insects, and insects are desperate for food.” “There’s a variety of insects you can pretend to be as you pedal along the frozen Lake Harriet,” Trapp said. This is one way to deal with the climate crisis. The news of the world can be overwhelming, but a visit to the Pollinator Shanty sheds light and reinforces the idea that one person, gardener, homeowner, or plant lover can contribute to bettering the world. “That is so accurate,” said Trapp. “It can be as simple as the patio pot. It doesn’t have to be acres and acres of habitat. As those butterflies and pollinators are going through their life cycle, they’ve just got to go from one flower to the next to the next to the next. So this idea that only big chunks of habitat matter is really no longer true. “Everybody can have a really big impact by just changing a little bit of the way they garden, being OK with their grass having more than just

the color green, encouraging some of the native plants in their lawns and allowing some of what we consider weeds to flower and provide nectar to some of our earliest pollinators. It’s really something we can all do.” Jim Walsh lives and grew up in South Minneapolis. He can be reached at jimwalsh086@gmail.com.

CORRECTIONS A story on page A1 of the Jan. 23 issue, “Neighborhood funding preserved racial disparities,” gave the wrong day that the University of Minnesota’s racial equity analysis was scheduled to be presented to the City Council. The presentation occurred Feb. 3. The article also misstated the amount of unused Neighborhood Revitalization Program dollars. There are about $35 million remaining citywide. The article “Organics recycling increases among Southwest businesses” on page A10 of the Jan. 23 issue incorrectly stated the time period in which Common Roots Cafe diverted over 45,000 pounds of organic material. It was in one calendar year. Steve Brandt’s column “Theodore Wirth House rent should rise with market” on page A13 of the Jan. 23 issue erroneously described a stipulation in the Park Board superintendent’s lease about public house tours. The lease allows public tours of the home’s main floor for a total of 47.5 hours per month. In practice, tours currently come through the house about 20 hours per month. It should also be noted that two of the Park Board’s 14 superintendents have been acting supers.

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southwestjournal.com / February 6–19, 2020 A9

Voices

The superintendent’s house As one of Park Board Superintendent Al Bangoura’s several hundred thousand landlords (see Steve Brandt’s article “Theodore Wirth House rent should rise with market” in the Jan. 23 issue), I am delighted that Bangoura lives in our house, the Theodore Wirth Superintendent’s House in Lyndale Farmstead Park. I believe Bangoura and his family should be allowed to live in the whole house rather than be restricted to the kitchen and second-floor bedrooms. Can you imagine paying market price to live in a house where you aren’t allowed to control the first floor of the house, including your living and dining rooms? Imagine the lack of privacy — or the likelihood of intrusion — because there isn’t even a door to close between the first floor where people come in for tours and the second floor where you live! The Bangoura family can’t even place their own furniture or pictures or books or children’s artwork on the first floor, other than in the kitchen. It’s shameful that the Park Board charges Bangoura rent at all. Why not truly honor the memory of Theodore Wirth and allow the superintendent to live in it as his home — as Wirth did for 25 years as superintendent and another 10 years after he retired? Did anyone try to restrict his use of the house? No, even though to get the city to release the money to build the house in 1910, the Park Board had to conduct the charade that it would be used as an administration building as well as Wirth’s home. It never

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was. He had an office in the basement, but he worked mostly out of Park Board offices in City Hall. Wirth was too shrewd a political animal to have closeted himself away in a basement office in a park far from the halls of power. Six superintendents lived in the house, the whole house — rent free — from 1910 to the mid-1990s, when David Fisher moved out to live in his own suburban home. Because Wirth lived in the house so long after he retired, his successor, Christian Bossen, never lived there. Fisher’s successors, Mary Merrill Anderson and Jon Gurban, already lived in the city when they were hired and remained in their own homes. The Park Board rented out the otherwise empty, dilapidating house as office space for a time and also used it for staff offices. Part of the house was used by the Minneapolis Parks Foundation when Jayne Miller was hired as superintendent in 2010. The idea of living in the historic house appealed to her and I am grateful that she restored the house to its original intent, even though she had to pay for living space that earlier superintendents did not while also sharing the heart of the house with public events. If the Minneapolis Parks Legacy Society wants to establish a Theodore Wirth Museum, I would suggest the little-used great room at The Chalet in Theodore Wirth Park, where they have erected a bronze statue of Wirth. I think we should let Al Bangoura (whom I’ve never met) raise his family in peace in the house that was built as a home

for Minneapolis park superintendents. A final quibble with Brandt’s article: Theodore Wirth did not “shape Minneapolis parks more than any other person.” Either Charles Loring or Horace William Shaler Cleveland deserves that honor without a second thought. Wirth, with a handful of others, would be in a second tier of important contributors. David C. Smith Linden Hills Smith is the author of “City of Parks: The Story of Minneapolis Parks” and blogs on Minneapolis parks at minneapolisparkhistory.com.

A home for his family

I was disappointed to read Steve Brandt’s Jan. 23 story about the Wirth house lease. He claims Park Board Superintendent Al Bangoura has uninterrupted use of the whole house for all but 20 hours per month but fails to acknowledge the main level and basement of the Wirth House are set up by the Minneapolis Parks Legacy Society as a museum to Theodore Wirth on a 24/7 basis, even when tours are not being held. Because of this, Superintendent Bangoura and his family spend the majority of their time on the second floor where the bedrooms are located. The Bangoura family does not have any of their own personal furniture, family photos or family items in the living room, dining room or main-floor living areas. His family’s personal items are

limited to the second floor and kitchen. I respect how difficult that makes it for Al and his family to truly make the house their home. I’ve heard how Wirth’s children were inspired by living in that house (all of it) and went on to design parks and gardens. I want Al’s son to have the same opportunity. When we first hired Superintendent Bangoura, I received a lot of calls, texts and emails from members of the African American community telling me how much it means to them to have the first black male superintendent of the park system live there with his family. It’s significant that he’s the first superintendent of color living in that house, and I want us to teach our kids about our parks beyond Theodore Wirth. I’ve appreciated the work of the Minneapolis Parks Legacy Society, but I think the Wirth history can happen at the Wirth Chalet or another space. There are also many superintendents who have contributed greatly to this park system since Wirth retired in 1935, and I want their legacy shared too. I’d prefer that Superintendent Bangoura give tours of the home when he wants and share the full history of our parks. LaTrisha Vetaw Vice president, Minneapolis Park Board

2/5/20 1:31 PM

A10 February 6–19, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

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1 injured in Eat Street shooting A person was shot with a handgun near Eat Street the evening of Jan. 18. The shooting occurred around 7:22 p.m. and the victim was taken to the hospital. A staff member of Pimento Jamaican Kitchen said the shooting happened in the alley behind the restaurant. The incident is under investigation by the Minneapolis Police Department.

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No suspect is in custody. Police declined to disclose whether the victim is in stable condition or to give details about the circumstances of the shooting or whether the shooter knew the victim. “If we believe there is a threat to the community,” police spokesperson John Elder said, “we let people know.”

Police see robbery pattern Parts of Southwest Minneapolis have seen a pattern of robberies this year, and a citywide spike in auto thefts isn’t helping. “A steady supply of readily available, running cars is providing easy transportation around town for groups intent on victimizing others for their cellphones, laptops, wallets and bags,” 5th Precinct Inspector Amelia Huffman said. Police have seen a wave of stickups across the city in which teenage boys and young men, sometimes brandishing handguns, stop people on the street or in parked cars and attempt to rob them. In one Jan. 17 incident, a man was punched in the back of the head outside the Lake & Pillsbury Walgreens and then watched as his assailant drove away from the store’s parking lot with his stolen iPhone. Huffman said there have been incidents fitting this pattern in the Whittier, Lowry Hill, Lowry Hill East, East Isles and Cedar-IslesDean neighborhoods. There were a total of 18 robberies in those neighborhoods during the month of January, compared with a five-year

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average of 10. (Across Southwest Minneapolis, there were 24 robberies in January, compared with a five-year average of 17.) The Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) reported “staggering numbers” of auto thefts in the first three weeks of the year: a total of 262 thefts citywide — a 90% rise over 2019. That includes 40 vehicles stolen in Southwest Minneapolis, almost twice as many as were stolen in that time period the previous year. MPD spokesperson John Elder said about three-quarters of these thefts have been preventable — caused by food delivery drivers leaving their vehicles idling, people leaving their cars warming unattended or people accidentally leaving their key fobs in their cars. Huffman said that while the spike in car thefts has not directly caused the rise in Southwest robberies, the “availability of stolen cars makes traveling around the city easier and increases the anonymity of the suspects.” On Jan. 18, two robberies at gunpoint occurred 20 minutes apart in the Uptown area. Around 7:40 p.m., someone attempted to rob a woman in the parking lot of the Lunds and Byerlys. Twenty minutes later, a woman was robbed of her driver’s license, credit cards and $120 in cash from her car at 27th & Hennepin. It’s unclear whether the incidents were related.

Patrols and cameras

Huffman said 5th Precinct police officers are doing extra patrols of the five neighborhoods with a pattern of robberies in both marked and unmarked squad cars, and some officers have been assigned overtime hours in the evenings “to provide dedicated patrols that won’t be diverted by routine 911 calls.” Police have been able to identify several juvenile suspects involved in the stickups and some arrests have already been made. “I expect more will follow,” Huffman said. In recent weeks, local businesses have supplied video surveillance footage helpful to investigators, Huffman said, and she encouraged property owners to invest in “good-quality security cameras with exterior coverage.” The Uptown Lunds has notified a local neighborhood group that it’s upgrading the cameras in its parking lot. The East Isles Residents Association voted in early December to allocate $40,000 to place at least six 360-degree security cameras at intersections along Hennepin Avenue stretching from 22nd Street down to either Lagoon Avenue or Lake Street. The Uptown Association has pitched in an additional $1,000. “The hope is that by apprehending some of the culprits, word will spread that this is a bad place to do crime,” said Mike Erlandson, vice president of the East Isles neighborhood group. “Many of the culprits are repeat offenders.” The cameras will be installed by the spring or late summer and then turned over to the MPD, which will monitor the 24-hour live feed. The cameras cost about $7,000 each, and additional funding could allow for more surveillance cameras at intersections farther north and south along Hennepin.

southwestjournal.com / February 6–19, 2020 A11

The Aldrich Presbyterian Church in South Uptown is now a ministry cooperative between its original congregation and City of Lakes Covenant Church, known as Resurrection MPLS. Its building is being renovated to accommodate the Center for Belonging, a new hub of social services and nonprofit groups. Photo by Andrew Hazzard

FROM ACE IN THE CITY / PAGE A1

The Center for Belonging will host Ace in the City, Emerge Mothers Academy, The Food Market food shelf, the South Uptown Neighborhood Association and Wayside Recovery. “The real goal of the project is to create a community hub,” said Ruth Richardson, CEO of Wayside Recovery, an addiction treatment organization participating in the Center for Belonging.

Working together

Anderson started Ace in the City in 2008 as “Ace Hoops” after the death of a good friend nicknamed Ace. Inspired by his Christian faith and desire to help kids, the former teacher started by hosting gatherings at Powderhorn Park where youth could play basketball and eat free pizza. Anderson played and coached basketball at Bethel University and through the sport began to understand more about the lives of the children Ace was serving. In 2012, the program came to a crossroads. It could either continue as a recreation program or expand into a community-focused organization. Anderson decided to expand Ace in the City’s work. After an early focus on youth development work in Minneapolis Public Schools and through the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, the nonprofit’s scope has grown to meet the needs of its clients in recent years. Today, the nonprofit hosts before-school programming five days a week at Risen Christ Catholic School in Powderhorn. The program allows parents to drop off students early and get to work on time, and also provides tutoring and playtime for kids. Ace in the City offers special elective classes like robotics, and kids get to read, play board games and burn off steam trying new sports like team handball in the gym. “We try to do a little bit of everything for kids who learn differently,” program coordinator Bekah Simpson said. Other projects have grown organically from the work at the school. Ace in the City serves many children who are first-generation Latino immigrants and staff saw the need to add a literacy program. When the organization realized landlords were exploiting the families it serves, the group began working with the Minneapolis Renters Coalition to advocate for renter rights. Food insecurity is an issue for many of Ace’s families, so it began to partner with food shelves. The organization started to see increased results by working with other groups, Anderson said, and the nonprofit decided to find more partners instead of expanding its own services. Staff were drawn to the “Center for Belonging” model, in which many nonprofit organizations are housed under one roof to more effectively serve the community. “It makes a lot more sense to find the people who are already doing this well,” Anderson said. Emerge Mothers Academy, a Bryn Mawrbased nonprofit serving about 100 single mothers in the Twin Cities each year, works to help women become financially independent. The group offers a range of services, from parenting classes to therapy to job training and micro-loan grants. Some clients receive job training for a few months; others

work with Emerge’s social workers and counselors for multiple years. Executive director Becca Erickson said she’s known Anderson for many years and was interested in joining the Center for Belonging to make it easier for clients to access services instead of referring them to another group across town. “There’s so much power in collaboration,” she said. Wayside Recovery serves about 700 women and 400 children each year throughout the Twin Cities. The 65-year-old organization has a 41-bed inpatient residential treatment center in St. Louis Park, where it also operates a program that houses families for upwards of five years as they recover from addiction and reintegrate into society. Additionally, Wayside runs a family treatment center in Powderhorn where women can attend with their children. That’s where the organization first connected with Ace in The City. At the Center for Belonging, Wayside will provide mental health services for adults and children, CEO Ruth Richardson said. The offerings will include counseling, diagnostic assessments and addiction treatment assessments. Richardson believes the center will enable all the groups to accomplish more. “As long as we continue to do our work in silos, we will continue to come up short,” she said.

LLI

Finding a space

When Pastor David Berge was growing up, the Aldrich Presbyterian Church was a busy place. The 108-year-old congregation at the corner of 35th & Aldrich has a storied history in the South Uptown neighborhood. But in 2014, the church was on the brink of closing when a longtime pastor retired. At that time, Berge had just returned home to Minneapolis and was launching a new congregation, the City of Lakes Covenant Church. His new church needed space, and his childhood church needed some revitalizing, so the two merged and formed a cooperative ministry known as Resurrection MPLS. One thing the church has to offer is space, Berge said. The basement, once home to robust weekday programming, is largely unused today. Three years ago, Resurrection began hosting the South Uptown Neighborhood Association offices. The church wants to use its space in a manner that reflects its mission statement: “Do things for the glory of God and the good of the city.” Hosting the Center for Belonging accomplishes both, Berge said. “This is exactly what we want to be about — finding partners doing great things within our neighborhood,” Berge said. Resurrection Minneapolis is in the process of updating its building to make it ADA accessible, a process that includes adding a new elevator. Ace in the City will be paying for general repairs and a remodel of the basement. Between the two projects, more than $1 million is being invested in the building. In exchange for funding the renovation, the organization gets a locked-in 15-year lease at an affordable rate. “Our churches, in my opinion, have the biggest unused space asset in the country,” Anderson said. “We’re hoping it’s a win for everybody.”

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A12 February 6–19, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

By Nate Gotlieb / ngotlieb@swjournal.com

State awards grant to Bryn Mawr runoff project A local watershed management agency has been awarded $400,000 to build a pair of stormwater ponds in Bryn Mawr Park, a cityowned park just northeast of Interstate 394. The Bassett Creek Watershed Management Commission’s grant from the Minnesota Board of Water & Soil Resources was announced Jan. 22. The commission wants to build the ponds in coordination with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, which has plans for a $3.5 million renovation of Bryn Mawr Park’s playground and athletic fields. The ponds will collect stormwater from the nearby neighbor-

WHAT YOU CAN DO There are plenty of steps you can take to reduce the pollution that ends up in lakes and rivers. They include: • Using fertilizers sparingly and sweeping up driveways, sidewalks and gutters • Vegetating bare spots in your yard • Planting natural vegetation and practicing natural lawn care • Disposing of pet waste and litter in a timely matter The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has more tips at tinyurl.com/ runofftips.

hood and a nearby storm sewer and will filter out pollutants such as phosphorus and algae. The treated water will run into Bassett Creek just north of the site. “There’s currently stormwater running off from 45 acres of residential area with no treatment at all,” watershed management commission administrator Laura Jester said. “Where an opportunity comes along where we can capture some of that runoff, that’s what we like to do.” Bassett Creek runs from Medicine Lake into Minneapolis, where it goes through an underground tunnel downtown and into the Mississippi River. The 13-mile creek collects stormwater from a 39-square-mile area that includes parts of nine cities in Hennepin County. According to the Metropolitan Council, the creek has high levels of chloride and carries an average of 2.8 million pounds of sediment into the Mississippi River each year. The Bryn Mawr stormwater ponds will reduce phosphorus runoff into Bassett Creek by 30 pounds a year and runoff of suspended solids, such as dirt and algae, by 10,469 pounds annually, according to the watershed management commission. Jester said that would be a “good amount” of pollutant removal for an urban redevelopment project. The storm ponds will be built in the northwest corner of the park, where the land is lowest in elevation. One pond will collect stormwater that runs off from the neighborhood west of the park, and the other will collect stormwater from a storm sewer along Morgan Avenue.

The Bassett Creek Watershed Management Commission will build two new stormwater ponds in the northwest corner of Bryn Mawr Park in the coming years. Photo by Nate Gotlieb

The commission is also hoping that the Minnesota Department of Transportation dredges the storm pond immediately south of Interstate 394 and Penn Avenue. That pond, which drains into the Morgan Avenue storm sewer, may not be working to its “fullest potential” because of sediment accumulation, according to the commission. The storm ponds will cost around $900,000. About $500,000 will come from a tax levied on residents of the nine cities in the Bassett Creek Watershed.

Construction will start around the same time the Park Board begins its project. Design project manager Tyler Pederson said that should be either sometime in 2021 or early in 2022. The watershed management commission’s grant was one of 52 the Board of Water & Soil Resources announced in January. Clean Water Coordinator Marcey Westrick said reducing phosphorus runoff in the metro area by 30 pounds annually would be significant.

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southwestjournal.com / February 6–19, 2020 A13

By Andrew Hazzard / ahazzard@swjournal.com

Activists push for pesticide-free parks Fewer pesticides are used in Minneapolis parks than ever before, but a growing group of advocates are pushing to eliminate syntheticbased treatments entirely. While the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board used almost 80 gallons of liquid pesticides outside of golf courses in 2011, usage has dropped considerably in recent years, down to about 13 gallons in 2019, according to horticulture supervisor Kaitlin Ryan. Today more than 100 park properties are pesticide free and glyphosate, the active ingredient in Round Up, is banned. But the activist group Bee Safe Minneapolis wants the MPRB to take faster and bolder steps. The group has drafted a resolution that sets a firm timeline for the MPRB to cease using synthetic pesticides in the park system in favor of organic products. The resolution would cease synthetic pesticide use in wetlands, gardens and athletic fields by Aug. 1 and in natural areas and golf courses by April 2021. In 2018 the Park Board formed a Pesticide Advisory Committee (PAC) to recommend best practices. Russ Henry, a co-chair of the committee, has been encouraging commissioners to embrace the Bee Safe timeline. He was among the dozens of Bee Safe advocates who wore yellow bandannas and swarmed the Park Board meeting on Jan. 8 to support the group’s resolution. The MPRB still uses pesticides in several areas where children play, Henry said, referencing uses in premier athletic fields, golf courses and natural areas. Chesney Engquist, a newly appointed PAC member and Henry’s partner, told commissioners that people ask her if it’s safe to bring their kids to the parks. “The Minneapolis Park Board, by introducing toxic chemicals into the environment, has knowingly violated human rights to clean water, clean air and healthy soil,” Engquist said. But many feel there are appropriate uses of pesticides, particularly to fight off invasive species and restore native plants and came to express those views at a Park Board meeting a couple weeks later, on Jan. 22. Jim Proctor, a longtime gardener at the Eloise

The Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden is a naturalized area where the Park Board uses pesticides to combat invasive species like buckthorn. An advocacy group is trying to push the the board to an organicsonly system. File photos

Butler Wildflower Garden in Theodore Wirth Park, told commissioners herbicide treatments made it possible to take out large buckthorn plants and restore the area with native species that are helpful for birds and pollinators. “If we make the mistake of assigning catastrophic toxicity to the minimal, temporary uses of herbicide in habitat work like this, we will lose the ability to restore enough land to make a difference in the extinction crisis,” Proctor said. Pesticide Advisory Committee co-chair Mike Lynch, a botanist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, said the PAC is sharply divided on synthetic pesticide use. Some want to eliminate usage entirely while others want to continue using pesticides on golf courses and to remove invasive species. Lynch believes some people are conflating the impact of pesticides used in large-scale agriculture to the way the treatments are used in gardening or natural areas to combat invasive species. “Right now there’s a lot of fearmongering on Facebook about pesticide use,” Lynch said. Several Park Board commissioners and Superintendent Al Bangoura have said they believe

there is a lot of misinformation being spread. The MPRB improperly used the Garlon herbicide in Minnehaha Falls Regional Park in 2019, which resulted in a loss of trust from PAC members and anti-pesticide activists, Lynch said. In October, claims were leveled by a former Park Board employee that pesticides had been dumped into a pond near the Roberts Bird Sanctuary in 2017, causing a frog to mutate. That incident is being investigated by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. When the MPRB does use pesticides, staff members try to time applications to avoid park users, they mark and fence off the area and they strategically select products, Ryan said. To pick the least harmful product, MPRB staff use the Environmental Impact Quotient formula. The formula accounts for the list of risks for using all known pesticides and gives users a scientific way to measure which technique will have the biggest environmental impact, Ryan said. The biggest reduction in pesticide use in the past decade has been in cosmetic treatments. A cultural shift toward pollinator gardens and away from manicured lawns has led the MPRB

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to stop using pesticides in neighborhood parks. “This public support has helped us change our policies,” Ryan said. In December, the PAC asked commissioners to support a public engagement campaign to get feedback on if or how park users want pesticides used in the parks. Right now, the PAC doesn’t know if users want to have totally pesticide-free parks, Lynch said. The PAC has also organized an organics treatment pilot program for Neiman Athletic Fields and Fort Snelling Golf Course, set to begin this spring. The group wants to take three years to see how the courses respond to treatments in multiple seasons, Ryan said. She believes the pilot is a good step. But organic pesticides are still pesticides and can still cause harm to applicators or people who come in contact with them, Ryan said. Many organic products need to be applied multiple times. “I think it’s a pretty divisive issue on our board,” said Commissioner Brad Bourn (District 6), adding that he is unsure if there is enough support to institute organics-only policies.

A14 February 6–19, 2020 / southwestjournal.com FROM SCHOOLS / PAGE A1

In December, the district first outlined a tentative set of plans to remap elementary and middle school busing zones, reduce the number of magnet schools and cluster remaining ones in the city’s geographic center. The latest models hew closely to those plans, though Jefferson Community School in Lowry Hill East would now become a middle school Spanish-immersion magnet. In December, the district modeled Jefferson, now a K-8 neighborhood school, as a middle school science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) magnet. The district’s proposed changes are part of a project MPS leaders are calling the “Comprehensive District Design,” or the CDD. They have said the aim of the project is to increase racial and economic integration and provide all students, particularly those of color — who comprise about two-thirds of all district pupils — with a well-rounded education. District leaders also hope to create long-term financial stability, as they continue grappling with chronic budget gaps, including a projected $19 million gap for the 2020-21 school year. There are stark differences in graduation rates, disciplinary actions and standardized test scores between the district’s white students and students of color. Fourth-year Superintendent Ed Graff said it’s likely MPS students of color are not getting the “education, support, experiences and opportunities they need to be successful.”

PROGRAMMING AND GRADE CONFIGURATIONS District efforts to provide a well-rounded education to all students while decreasing the number of racially isolated schools and permanently cutting costs have resulted in a tentative plan that would bring dramatic changes to schools in Southwest Minneapolis. Here’s a snapshot of the outlined changes:

ANTHONY

Currently: Community middle school with the International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme.

Community and board feedback

Throughout January, attention on the plan in Southwest Minneapolis continued to focus on its impact at K-8 schools. Families at the K-5 Windom Spanish Dual Immersion, which would become a neighborhood school, questioned why the district would move a popular and successful magnet program. Parents of students at Clara Barton, a K-8 magnet with an “Open” educational philosophy, asked why the

LAKE HARRIET UPPER

JEFFERSON

Proposed: Community elementary school (grades 3-5)

No proposed changes.

Currently: Community elementary and middle school (grades 4-8)

Currently: Community elementary and middle school (grades pre-K-8) with a dual-language program for native Spanish speakers.

Proposed: Community middle school

ANWATIN*

Currently: Community middle school with the IB Middle Years Programme and a citywide Spanish-immersion program for both native and non-native Spanish speakers.

Proposed: Magnet middle school (grades 6-8) with a citywide Spanish-immersion program for native and non-native Spanish speakers.

Proposed: Community middle school

No proposed changes.

WINDOM

LAKE HARRIET LOWER

Currently: Community elementary school (grades K-3)

Proposed: Community elementary school (grades K-5).

Proposed: Community elementary school (grades K-2)

BRYN MAWR*

No proposed changes. HIGH SCHOOLS Neighborhood High School Citywide Program

Proposed: CommunitySpecialty elementary school

KENWOOD

Currently: Magnet elementary and middle school (grades K-8) with an Open program.

LEGEND

Currently: Magnet elementary High School school with the IB Primary Years Programme. Attendance Area

No proposed changes.

BARTON

SOUTHWEST

WHITTIER

KENNY

Proposed: Community elementary school

No proposed changes.

Currently: Magnet elementary school with a Montessori program.

LYNDALE

WASHBURN

JUSTICE PAGE

ARMATAGE

PRE-K-8 SCHOOLS

Currently: Magnet elementary Community school with a Spanish-immersion program for MPS Academy Magnet native andCenter non-native Spanish speakers. & Career Proposed: CommunitySpecialty elementary school Pre-K-8 Attendance Area

*Not pictured on map below.

No proposed changes.

Changes to Southwest

The new high school attendance zones are based on modeled elementary and middle school busing zones presented to the School Board in December. The busing zones were drawn with the goals of maintaining neighborhood schools, reducing costs and decreasing the number of buildings with high levels of racial and socioeconomic segregation. Specifically, district leaders aimed to reduce the number of schools in which over 80% of the students receive free or reduced-price lunch and the number of schools with populations above 86% students of color or white. The model has students who attend Kenwood Elementary School matriculating to Anwatin Middle School in Bryn Mawr, instead of Anthony Middle School in Kenny. Anwatin is the pathway middle school to North. Similarly, students who live in the Whittier neighborhood would attend Andersen Community School in Phillips for grades 6-8, instead of either Anthony or Jefferson Community School, before attending South. Schools in Linden Hills and south of Lake Harriet would continue to have similar busing zones, though their programming may change. Those students would continue to attend either Washburn or Southwest for high school. The models would likely make minimal impact on the demographic makeup of Washburn, which would continue to receive students from Justice Page Middle School next door. Justice Page would have a busing zone similar to the one it has now, which includes the neighborhoods east of Lake Harriet. Over 85% of Washburn students come from that zone. But Southwest, which would have its attendance zone reduced by about half its geographic size, could see significant changes, though the district has not yet presented any enrollment projections and district leaders have said they expect the boundaries to change. “We know we have more work to do,” chief operations officer Karen DeVet said.

BURROUGHS

MPS Academy & Career Center

ELEMENTARY ATTENDANCE ZONES The map shows the Southwest elementary schools that students not attending magnet schools would attend under the district’s tentative plan.

PROPOSED

CURRENT

Bde Maka Ska

KEY Neighborhood High School

Community School

Citywide Program

Magnet School Source: Minneapolis Public Schools

district would want to restructure their integrated school and pressed for research showing the benefits of a 6-8 configuration. Other parents said they’re skeptical the plan would create meaningful integration, asked how it would improve academic achievement and questioned how the district would transition potentially thousands of students into new schools in coming years. Many also said they wished the district had

started these conversations earlier. “It seems like it’s all kind of being thrown at us in the 11th hour,” Barton parent Chris Jones said. At Kenwood, parents disavowed a sign placed on the school gates that said the pathway to North would “destroy our community.” “Everyone in the Kenwood community has expressed disgust about that sign and [said] that it’s so far from OK,” said ECCO resident Mere-

dith Fox, who has a kindergartner at the school and said the new pathway could be an “exciting opportunity” for Kenwood and the city. District leaders touted the potential benefits of the plan and answered parent questions at a series of community forums in late January and early February. They said the models would allow more students to participate in magnet schools, SEE SCHOOLS / PAGE A15

southwestjournal.com / February 6–19, 2020 A15 FROM TASKS UNLIMITED / PAGE A1

Even though Tasks Unlimited is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, staff say the organization at 2419 Nicollet Ave. still feels like a local secret. They’ve never done a big marketing push and referrals often come through word-of-mouth. But its reach is evident through janitorial contracts at local buildings and more than 20 metro-area “lodges” where clients live together, including one in Kingfield and one in Windom. That reach is poised to grow. At a time when Wilder Research reports that 60% of homeless adults in Minnesota have serious mental illnesses, Tasks is stepping up homeless outreach through the new Northeast Outreach & Opportunity Center based at Elim Church. And it’s partnering on the Envision Community Project to design an affordable community of “tiny homes” in Minneapolis. Most clients live with schizophrenia, major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder, often working with Tasks Unlimited for many years. In 2018, the average length of employment was just over 10 years. The nonprofit was founded in 1970 by Dorothy Berger. Working as a social worker at Anoka State Hospital (formerly the state asylum for the insane), Berger filled in for a sick co-worker in 1968 to take a meeting with Dr. George W. Fairweather’s team. Fairweather, who worked with veterans in California, was traveling the country touting his research. He found that people with serious mental illness are less likely to be hospitalized when they live and work together as a group, rather than individually, according to the Coalition for Community Living. “Many people, even social workers, still say these patients can’t work, they’re too sick,” Berger said in 2010, as quoted in a University of Minnesota publication. “Be open. Not only be open to your opportunities but be open to the capacities of others and to the potential people have, even when it looks like they aren’t going to ever reach it.” Berger died on Jan. 15 at the age of 95.

How it works

John Trepp, the nonprofit’s former executive director, said the lodge model has a few key differences from a traditional group home. No staff live onsite. There is no time pressure to graduate and move on. And everybody works. The homes are designed to feel like a family. “These are private residential homes. We are the landlord. But the people who live there, they run the show,” Ashley Trepp (John’s daughter-in-law) said. A typical living arrangement is a duplex with three people living in each unit, each paying $350 in rent. Residents pool money for groceries and share household chores like cooking and lawn care. The Fairweather model expanded to roughly 90 lodges in 16 states, but there was never a massive national adoption of the model. The most prevalent models are more staffintensive, John Trepp said, and tend to support

FROM SCHOOLS / PAGE A14

because of their central locations and that they would be able to reinvest several million dollars used to transport kids to magnet schools in educational programming. Eric Moore, the district’s research and equity chief, said there is “significant benefit” for kids who attend schools in integrated environments. He cited a paper from The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank, that said students in integrated schools are more likely to have higher test scores, develop better thinking and problem-solving skills and enroll in college. Moore also said the district is limited in its ability to both create integrated schools and keep kids in their neighborhood schools, as it wants to do, because the city is so segregated by race.

“You can run these tapes in your mind forever about how tragic your life is, until you just stop it, stop the tape and start talking positive,” said Bruce Ario, who was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and stresses the importance of education in his life. “I think my contribution to humanity is as good as anybody’s.” Photo by Michelle Bruch

a goal of graduating out of a group home and living independently. “We have this American mentality that everybody is supposed to live by themselves,” he said. When Tasks was founded in 1970, the city didn’t have many rules about group homes, he said. But by the time he joined the staff in 1978, he had 30 days to respond to a court order to close or relocate all five Minneapolis lodges, some of which were deemed too close together in North Minneapolis. And in the early ’80s, state licensing officials challenged the facilities as understaffed. The nonprofit survived, and current funding comes from medical insurance billing; grants from the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Hennepin County and Dakota County; client rents and client program fees; building employment contracts; and grants from foundations and individual donors. Tasks Unlimited’s training center has an active license from DHS with no restrictions, although the facility received corrective orders this year related to adequate documentation and client assessments. “Most folks come to us because they want to work,” Ashley Trepp said. Tasks Unlimited Building Services serves as an employer with contracts for janitorial and mailroom services. Pay is partially subsidized by the nonprofit and starts at minimum wage, plus health benefits, with opportunities for pay increases and full-time employment. If someone doesn’t show up for work, staff will figure out why and try to fix the problem, whether it be cash for transportation, an increase in symptoms or depression that

makes it hard to get out of bed. Psychiatric consultations are available on a weekly basis, meaning clients are seen much more quickly than typical wait times of up to three months.

The nine-member School Board has appeared split between those against the plan and those supportive of the district’s aims but seeking changes or more detailed information before making a final decision. Three School Board members said they have serious doubts or are against the models. Board member KerryJo Felder, who represents North Minneapolis, said she wants a Spanish immersion program in her district. Currently and under the model, the closest one would be in Northeast. She also said she is against moving the engineering and robotics program out of Patrick Henry High School. The district has proposed shifting all of its high school career and technical education programming to two “tech centers.” One would be at North and the other at Roosevelt High School. Bob Walser, who represents the part of

Southwest Minneapolis around Lake of the Isles and near Downtown, said he thinks it’s counterproductive to reduce the number of immersion school seats, a claim district leaders disputed. He said the CDD process has damaged trust between the community and MPS. Ira Jourdain, who represents the remainder of Southwest Minneapolis, said there is no guarantee district leaders will get community buy-in for the plan. Meanwhile, several board members said they had concerns but were eager to learn more about the models without dismissing the plan altogether. At-large board member Josh Pauly said he’s interested in learning more about how the models support students, while Siad Ali, who represents Cedar-Riverside, Longfellow and surrounding communities, said the focus of any plan should be entirely on raising the achievement level of students of color.

Bruce Ario’s story

Bruce Ario grew up taking Washburn High School classes taught by his father, the legendary teacher Frank Ario. Shortly after graduating from college in 1978, he was racing a friend downtown at 55 miles per hour when he skidded and crashed into a traffic signal, hitting his head on the windshield. Driving drunk, he fled the scene and didn’t see a doctor. “People kept telling me, ‘That’s exactly when you started having problems,’” he said. Within a week, he said, an angel appeared to him at Minnehaha Falls. He believed Bob Dylan and others on television were singing about him personally. While tending bar and attending law school, he was struggling to concentrate and trying to integrate the angel he saw into everyday life. He became homeless for a six-month period in the mid-’80s, using his student ID to sleep in the auditorium and shower at the law school. After surrendering his key to school officials, he felt panicked. At a low point in 1984, he took off his clothes during the noon rush in the skyway, thinking that others might follow suit and create a modern-day Garden of Eden. He was arrested, declared incompetent by a judge and sent to a halfway house. Because he was struggling to hold a job, one social worker recommended that he try working at Tasks Unlimited. Ario initially resisted. “Blue collar sounds like a step backward,” he said at the time. “[The social worker said],

‘Yeah, but it might be your only hope.’” So Ario joined the training center and went on to work as a janitor at General Mills and live in a lodge with other clients. After years feeling he had to suppress his illness and get well, he discovered he didn’t have to explain himself to his roommates. “They just carried on,” he said. “They had an illness, but they could do what they were required to do to get through the day, normal daily tasks. They took care of themselves.” A dilemma with work always bothered him: “God is your boss, and some bosses want your heart and soul,” Ario said. But if he became insolent, his boss at Tasks cut him some slack. “Other bosses would have said, ‘You’re done,’” he said. Now a supervisor, Ario earns $20 per hour plus benefits and keeps his own apartment. “A lot of people still think mental illness is this deep dark secret,” he said. “Everybody deals with these things, we just have more of it; it’s just an overwhelming amount. And at some point you cross the border and they call you mentally ill. … Someone with a broken life is OK; it’s fodder for working out something new.” The author of several novels, Ario signed books at the Calhoun Village Barnes & Noble last summer to promote his 2019 title, “Everybody is a Star.” “You can run these tapes in your mind forever about how tragic your life is, until you just stop it. Stop the tape and start talking positive,” he said. “I think my contribution to humanity is as good as anybody’s.” His forthcoming book is about the potential to rebound from any tragedy or mental illness. “That recovery is possible,” he said.

At-large board member Kimberly Caprini, who has been involved with schools across North Minneapolis, has been vocal in defending the district’s goals. She said she’s tired of MPS failing to make meaningful change because of protests from one group of parents.

Next steps

The district has been presenting the models to families and schools across the city over the past few weeks and plans to continue doing so. Much about the CDD has yet to be determined. The district has said it will develop policies for students whose schools have new boundaries after a vote in April. It also plans to work with the teachers union on any staff changes. No changes would occur until at least the 2021-22 school year.

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Southwest Journal February 6–19, 2020

Kayne Davis, 13, wrote six explanatory wall labels for the “Just Kids” photography exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Above, he points to Dawoud Bey’s 1990 picture, “A Young Man After a Tent Revival.” “This man’s face tells me he’s not having a good day,” Kayne wrote. “Maybe he feels he should be treated with more respect.” Photo by Zac Farber

Kid

curator Jefferson eighth-grader Kayne Davis helps shape Mia photography show

By Zac Farber

hirteen-year-old Kayne Davis lives in Whittier, just a couple blocks from the Minneapolis Institute of Art, but until October he’d never set foot inside the building. Now, a photography exhibition he helped to curate is on display at the museum. Kayne, an eighth-grader at Jefferson Community School, was one of 11 student guest curators chosen to help Mia staff present a show exploring photographic images of children throughout the 20th century. The students weighed in on the brightly colored, multi-room design of the gallery, insisting a big neutral space would be “intimidating and boring,” and they wrote 75 explanatory wall labels interpreting the show’s nearly 200 objects. In analyzing a photograph, Kayne tries not to think “about the background or foreground or size,” he said. “I just think what is it about the picture — what’s the person doing that makes me feel some type of way?” SEE JUST KIDS / PAGE B8

B2 February 6–19, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

Lowry Hill teacher turns schools’ ‘minor dramas’ into novel Kathleen West taught at The Blake School and in suburban public schools

By Nate Gotlieb / ngotlieb@swjournal.com

Teaching has been at the heart of Lowry Hill resident Kathleen West’s life for 20 years. Parenting has taken a large focus in recent years, too, as she and her husband have raised their two sons. It therefore seems fitting that her first novel, “Minor Dramas and Other Catastrophes,” focuses on the experiences of a teacher and a parent who become the subjects of a social media maelstrom. The book was published Feb. 4 and has gone on sale nationwide. West, who has taught in the Bloomington and Edina school districts and at The Blake School, is scheduled to promote the book in about half a dozen U.S. cities. “Minor Dramas” tells the story of a fictional stay-athome parent named Julia Abbott and a fictional teacher named Isobel Johnson. Abbott has two kids attending Liston Heights High School in the affluent (fictional) suburb of Liston Heights. Johnson is a well-liked English teacher there.

Johnson is threatened with an anonymous voicemail accusing her of anti-Americanism and a “liberal agenda” and is eventually investigated by her principal. Meanwhile, Abbott injures a student after sneaking into the school to see which part her son received in the school play, an action that’s caught on video and uploaded to social media. A secret parent Facebook page stirs up gossip about both characters and adds to the drama. West said neither the parent nor the teacher character is based on any specific person from her teaching career. Nor is the school, though West said Liston Heights High would most resemble Edina High School, among the schools at which she has worked.

Empathy from teaching

West, 41, grew up in Mendota Heights, where she knew as early as middle school that she wanted to be an English teacher. Reading had always been a passion, but writing had never been something she pursued seriously, aside from academic papers and a blog she began in the mid-2000s. That changed in 2015, when she made a New Year’s resolution to work on her writing. She first wrote what she described as a “generational family saga,” but it didn’t come to fruition, so

Kathleen West tapped into her experiences teaching at Twin Cities schools in writing her debut novel, “Minor Dramas and Other Catastrophes,” which came out Feb 4. Submitted photo

she began another story at the end of the year. The first scene she wrote was about a parent who pushes through a crowd of students to see the part her son got in a school play. West’s son

was participating in a school play at the time. West largely wrote “Minor Dramas” in 2016 and 2017, working on the book from 4:45 a.m. to 6:15 a.m. almost every day before teaching. She began looking for an agent in 2018 and signed with Joanna MacKenzie of the Denverbased Nelson Literary Agency that spring. The book was purchased by Berkley, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House, that October. The book has received positive acclaim on Instagram and book-review websites. MacKenzie said there has been “lots of film and TV interest” in “Minor Dramas,” though there is “nothing announceable.” She said West’s teaching and parenting experience is evident in her writing. “I don’t think anyone in [the book] is ridiculed or made fun of or ‘caricature-ized,’” she said. “Everyone feels like a whole human, and their motivations are relatable. I think it just showed the empathy she probably had, and the caring and compassion, when she was a teacher.” West, who recently stepped away from teaching to focus on writing, has a contract for a second book, which is now being edited. Visit kathleenwestbooks.com to learn more about “Minor Dramas.”

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southwestjournal.com / February 6–19, 2020 B3

! y a w a Fire demar By Carla Wal

ow to eat like a Minnesotan? The answer’s been hiding in plain sight. Head — ideally with out-of-town guests in tow — to the downtown Hotel Radisson’s FireLake. Its “hundred-mile” rule for sourcing food keeps it micro-local, and purveyors are gratefully saluted on the menu. The kitchen’s new chef makes inventive use of their provender from start to finish (although, like a true native, he knows bragging would be so un-Minnesotan). Glance, if you will, at the for-sharing app list ($9-$17): cheese curds (Eichten’s), walleye (Red Lake Nation), local charcuterie, housemade pickles. Autumn flatbread laden with sweet potatoes, roasted pears and apples, spinach, goat cheese, pumpkin seeds. Get the idea? We began our dinner with those walleye fritters — five petite morsels of the mild white fish, subtly jazzed with scallions in a light, almost ethereal batter and attended by a creamy tartar sauce goosed with hints (true Minnesotans prefer hints to full-frontal attacks) of roasted jalapenos. Trust me: These are the champs of their genre. The app list continues with a smartened version of wild rice soup and an equally innovative tomato soup/grilled cheese combo. Instead, we devoured the Gathered Greens salad, composed of newborn micro-leaflets outfitted in blueberries, walnuts, squares of roasted squash and suavesharp crumbles of blue cheese, all sprinkled with a light apple vinaigrette: Talk about Minnesota on a salad plate. Now comes the hardest part of the evening — choosing entrees. Walleye stars, to be sure, sided with wild rice, winter veggies and a tarragon remoulade. So does Wild Acres’ duck, joined by kale braised in the bird’s own rich fat, accompanied by mashed sweet potatoes and a cherry redeye gravy. Another highlight: sausages and pierogis straight from Kramarczuk’s (most entrees $17-$32). I held out for Lena’s meatballs — a tasty meld of pork, beef and duck mounded over mashed potatoes and a river of porcini gravy, plated aside just what you’d expect from Lena: sweet red cabbage, a sweeter mound of lingonberry sauce and — from her canning jar, I’m sure — a couple of pickles. It tastes just like it reads, which is straight-up and pretty darn good. My friend opted for the applewood-smoked pork chop (like ordering a slice of pork prime rib) straight off the kitchen’s rotisserie, accompanied by a wintry medley of roasted beets, baby carrots, husky hunks of sweet potatoes and — ahem — a bacon sauce. The generous cut proved sweet indeed but a bit overcooked and dense. The menu also sports a trio of burgers ($17-$19), served with chips, fries or (how’s this?) kohlrabi slaw. And I’m spending this morning cursing myself that I forgot to order the miraculous popovers I’ve enjoyed there before. Don’t make the same mistake. Not that we’d have then found room for even a glance at the dessert quartet ($9): chocolate mousse, cheesecake, dessert cheeses or, our choice, maple bread pudding. Served in a lineup of manageable squares, it’s infused with Knob Creek Bourbon and accompanied by lingonberry coulis (unnecessary but OK) and candied walnuts. Our server (thanks, Kevin) was super professional: friendly but not your new BFF, with advice only when asked (which we then wisely followed), appearing when needed but never hovering. Clone him. Well, don’t bother: I’ve had the same good service from everyone I‘ve had the good fortune to encounter here on previous visits.

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B4 February 6–19, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

By Linda Koutsky

A staircase good enough for the pope

magine wearing so many heavy clothes and thick robes that you needed a horse and wagon to haul yourself upstairs to your apartment. That’s what Pope Julius II endured in his early 1500s Vatican attire. Those horses and wagons took up a lot of space on the staircase, and then they had to turn around and go back down. The congestion got to be too much. So the Pope hired architect Donato Bramante to fix the problem. The architecturally famous Bramante staircase is the first known double helix staircase in the world. Two stairwells were intertwined — one was used to go up, and the other to go down. Like DNA spirals, only 450 years earlier. Leonardo da Vinci designed a similar one about the same time at Chambord Castle in central France. Fast forward to Minneapolis in the late 1880s. George Munsing and two business partners moved here from Rochester, New York, and founded the Northwest Knitting Company. They combined silk with wool fibers to create “itchless” underwear. By 1919, when Munsing invented the one-piece “union suit,” the company’s name was changed to Munsingwear. The knitting wear giant’s factory was built on the corner of Glenwood & Lyndale. Between the years of 1905 and 1915, four more buildings were added to the growing company’s headquarters.

A double helix Bramante staircase in the International Market Square building is considered one of the first of its kind in the nation. Photo courtesy of Peter Crouser Photography

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At its height, more than 2,000 employees worked in the factory. The buildings housed knitting machines, cutting rooms and tons of sewing machines, and the workers had their own library, social clubs and educational opportunities that included English language classes for new immigrants. To accommodate the masses going in and out of the factory for their shifts, a double helix stairway was built in the 1910 building. One side was for employees starting their shifts, the other for those exiting. The two stairways commingled up eight stories. The Minneapolis staircase is considered one of the first of its kind in the nation. After Munsingwear’s factory closed in 1981, it was remodeled and reopened as International Market Square four years later. As a designer showplace, IMS is filled with offices and home furnishing showrooms that sell “to the trade.” Visitors are

allowed to browse, but purchases must be made through registered designers. The atrium, and a restaurant run by D’Amico, are open to the general public. And yes, the historic staircase remains. You can see it today. Just enter through the building’s lobby off the Glenwood Avenue parking lot. There’s no need to check in at the front desk; visitors are welcome. Then walk across the glass-covered atrium to the staircase on the far side. Go up and imagine what it was like for the crowds of workers making their way to the stations to make revolutionary undergarments that kept the country warm for a hundred years. Follow why_stay_home on Instagram for more adventures.

LUNCH TIP Before International Market Square’s buildings were connected and covered with a glass roof to create the Atrium, trains pulled into the space and were filled with Munsingwear products that were sold throughout the country. Today you can enjoy freshly made sandwiches, salads and weekly specials at Market Square Bistro by D’Amico. Open 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday.

International Market Square 275 Market St., Minneapolis

The penguin logo and Munsingwear brand are still active today and owned by Perry Ellis. This display was seen recently at Southdale’s Macy’s.

Pierced decorative rails enlivened the commute for Munsingwear’s scurrying employees. Photos by Linda Koutsky

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B6 February 6–19, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

Dateline Minneapolis

By Steve Brandt

What to do about deadly Lyndale Avenue

t’s hard to argue with better pedestrian safety on Lyndale Avenue South after the most recent death of a pedestrian in October. The needless death of anyone is a tragedy. But the debate over just how to make the avenue safer between Lake Street and Franklin Avenue forces tough choices among competing interests. Local activists have made clear their ambition of taming traffic on the street. Some would simply improve lighting and add marked crosswalks at uncontrolled intersections. Others would restrict turns at stoplight-controlled intersections while the walk signal is displayed for the crosswalks that turning traffic would cross. Some go further to propose converting Lyndale from four lanes to three in this 10-block stretch, converting the center lane to a continuous left-turn lane. Their voices were particularly insistent at a community forum held by Hennepin County Commissioner Marion Greene in early December. I’ve been mulling for weeks how to reconcile those voices with those largely absent from the session — those who depend on Lyndale for mobility as motorists. We bring our own experiences to reconciling such conflicts. I occasionally walk this stretch of Lyndale. But I never bike on it, despite biking across entire states on narrow highway shoulders. I usually substitute the safer parallel bikeway on Bryant Avenue, two blocks to the west. Yet those two-wheeled trips often end at destinations on Lyndale, such as my credit union or the Jungle Theater. I walk my bike for the last block to comply with the ordinance against cycling on commercial-area sidewalks. I drive Lyndale as well. Unlike many readers, I’ve had the experience of hitting a pedestrian (not on Lyndale) while driving. Fortunately, her injuries were not life-threatening. I’ve also been hit by cars while biking at least three times in Minneapolis. I’ve had even more near-misses while running. So I’m sensitive to the harm a motorist can do, even well below the speed limit. Still, I regard the city’s Vision Zero goal of no vehicle deaths as both laudable and chimeric, much like ending homelessness.

A driver makes a now-illegal left turn from Lyndale Avenue onto West 27th Street. Hennepin County recently made left turns illegal from Lyndale onto 25th and 27th streets and installed new bollard bumpouts and delineators in an attempt to improve safety. Photo by Andrew Hazzard

My feeling is that pedestrians have a far better case for safety improvements on Lyndale than cyclists. The needs of those on foot can much more easily be addressed than those on bikes; improvements can be made that don’t appreciably slow motorized commutes. Hennepin County is planning a painfully modest first step with new restrictions against left turns at 25th and 27th streets and changes to shorten the crossings at 27th. Those changes shouldn’t rely on the flimsy plastic tubes the county has installed but should be reinforced with solid curbing that really protects. But let’s go further. The suggestions for better lighting, especially at the dim 25th Street, seem apt. Stripe unmarked crosswalks. Restrict turns across the pedestrian lanes at 22nd, 24th, 26th and 28th streets while people crossing those intersections have a walk signal. For the medium term, install bump-out curbing at intersections without a semaphore to shorten the crossing of Lyndale. That also prevents cars from parking so close to an intersec-

tion that they block a motorist’s view of pedestrians. Add pedestrian-activated flashing lights at such intersections to alert motorists to an imminent crossing. Some of these changes are more expensive, in part because realigning the curb requires relocating storm sewer drains. But these shouldn’t wait for the next reconstruction of Lyndale, likely at least six years away. Our Streets, a pedestrian and cycling advocacy organization that I support, has proposed that Lyndale be converted from four lanes to three. That means one through lane in each direction, with a shared left-turn lane between them. That configuration has worked in several sections south of West 31st Street, where traffic volumes are much lower, and in several other locations in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The problem with this approach on northern Lyndale is that Federal Highway Administration bulletins caution that they don’t work as well when traffic volumes rise above 20,000 vehicles daily. Portions of this section of

Lyndale exceed that, with an average of 24,000 vehicles daily recorded at 22nd in the most recent count. Construction on Interstate 35W may have swelled that number even more. At this higher volume, a three-lane configuration likely will foster more cut-through traffic, the feds found. And a four-to-three shift will noticeably slow drivers. A trial on St. Paul’s Maryland Avenue, which has noticeably lower traffic volumes than Lyndale, found speeds dropped by as much as six miles per hour at peak periods but trips took up to one-third longer at some locations. That can encourage short-cutting through neighborhoods by drivers. So far Our Streets is silent on what to do with the extra space it would create by narrowing lanes to 10 feet and eliminating one through lane in each direction. The narrow lanes are intended to send a visual clue to drivers to slow their speeds. But if the freed space were converted hypothetically to bike lanes, that reverses the signal to drivers unless the lanes are defined by curbing. No curbing means any extra space likely would attract the same double-parking by cargo trucks that already makes driving Lyndale a lane-shifting challenge. However, the friction from those trucks and also from buses does slow speeds. And adding curbs to define bike lanes inhibits parking. One possibility is to put bike lanes between parked cars and the curb but the tradeoff is that makes bikes less visible at intersections to turning cars, and dollies carrying deliveries would need to cross cyclists’ paths. Some approach the debate over allocating space on Lyndale with the attitude that cars are a cancer on society. Certainly, foot and bike transport are environmentally preferable until less-polluting methods of motorized propulsion are in widespread use. But there’s also an ableist bias inherent in that view, and for now we depend on oil-propelled vehicles to deliver food and goods to restaurants, groceries and other merchants. Hennepin County owes us more and sooner than the meager measures it has approved so far. But they need to be well-thought-out improvements that improve safety without unduly impinging mobility.

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southwestjournal.com / February 6–19, 2020 B7

Sharing seniors’ untold stories The Waters on 50th celebrates publication of writing club’s third book By Becca Most

A small crowd gathered around the fireplace of The Waters on 50th on Jan. 25 for the launch party of a book published by the Fulton senior home’s writers club. With a copy of the tall paperback in hand, the writers took turns sharing their contributions. “I’m sorry if I miss some words,” said Jeanne Dyste, 94, with a chuckle. “I lost my glasses; my son found these in his car.” Entitled “Distinctly I Remember: More Stories We Love to Tell,” the book features a collection of memoirs, short stories and thoughts written by eight residents in the home’s Writers Group, two of whom died before the book could be printed. Themes range from notions of home to living with loss to celebrating love. The book is available for purchase at The Waters on 50th. All of the writers were between the ages of 80 and 95, and much of their writing is influenced by the experience of growing up in the wake of the Great Depression and World War II. Kathleen Novak, the anthology’s editor, said she compiles all of the work the writers complete in the class and selects some of the best from everyone. Many of the stories come to her in all forms, including handwritten, printed and typewritten. Arminta Miller, 80, wrote in the book about a time shortly after World War II ended when she went inside to drink a glass of water after playing jump rope and saw a man peeking through her front window to look at her mother in the other room. “I whispered quietly, ‘Mother, someone is looking at you,’” Miller read at the launch party. “When she glanced up to see what I was talking about, she threw her arms into the air and screamed.” It was Miller’s oldest brother, whom she had not seen in three and a half years while he served as a medical corpsman in Germany. “I hardly remembered his face, but our family had never been more happy,” she wrote. The writing group began in 2016 when Novak, a poet and novelist, heard that some residents of The Waters wanted a more intensive writing class in the facility. While visiting her father who lived there, she started a workshop where a handful of

Through publishing you keep these stories going. Even if that book is sitting on a shelf 50 years from now, people will pick it up and read those experiences. — Kathleen Novak

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Kathleen Novak, editor of the anthology “Distinctly I Remember,” a book of writing from residents of The Waters on 50th senior home in Fulton, helps Gerry Sell with a microphone during the book’s launch party on Jan. 25. Photos by Becca Most

Jeanne Dyste, 94, is one of eight Waters on 50th residents whose memoirs, short stories and other writing were included in the book.

June Kelly reads from one of her stories. Her daughter, Kate, said her mother can’t wait to talk to her and her siblings about the writing class.

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residents met twice a month for an hour and practiced with various writing prompts she brought forward. Their first book, “Cardboard in Our Shoes” was published that year and was so popular Novak had to get it reprinted two more times. About 250 copies have been sold. “Through publishing you keep these stories going,” Novak said at the January reading. “Even if that book is sitting on a shelf 50 years from now, people will pick it up and read those experiences. And if they’re on a laptop or in a banker’s box, it’s not the same as being in a book, you know?” For most of the writers, the club has provided a common space to share stories and reminisce about experiences they all remember. Despite some of the writers growing up in different cities around the country, including Brooklyn, Stillwater and Milwaukee, all recall the impact of the polio virus, the loss of loved ones overseas in World War II and the act of putting cardboard inside their shoes to make them last longer when money was tight. “Most of the people haven’t done very much writing, and then they just find themselves, and there’s this sense of purpose,” Novak said. “You get to that point in your life where everything is just kind of whizzing by you, and then all of a sudden you’re writing these stories [and] other people want to listen to them.” Kate Kelly said her mother, June, often can’t wait to talk to her and her siblings about the writing classes. The fact that she is a published author makes her even more excited to share her work with her neighbors and grandchildren. “It’s fascinating what Kathleen comes up with for prompts; it’s like an unfinished sentence that just begs you to think about something,” Kate Kelly said. “I think it really has a ripple effect, through the book and the conversation [it initiates].” Novak believes that the writing group brings people together, despite age or illness. Janet Shapiro, a writer who passed away last May, still came to every meeting, even while facing the later stages of Alzheimer’s. Despite not being able to write anymore, she would listen to what others said in the group and, once probed by her husband, tell her own stories to him to write down. “I would read them out loud to the group for her — she’d sit next to me — and everyone could connect with her,” Novak said. “It was just beautiful.” Maggie Shryer read for her husband, Davis Shryer, who also died before the book was published. She said at the reading, “I think one of the qualities of the group [is] that you get listened to. And that is so important. It’s more important the older you get.”

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B8 February 6–19, 2020 / southwestjournal.com FROM JUST KIDS / PAGE B1

He starts by focusing on color, form and detail. Describing an anonymous snapshot of a girl sitting on Santa’s lap, he notes that “it’s a color photo but the color is off ” and describes “Santa’s slouching hat and his big belt, which is thicker than the girl’s arm.” Next, he seeks to inhabit the headspace of the photo’s subject. “I believe she feels free, happy, joyful — despite everything,” he writes of a Palestinian refugee named Samira, who is portrayed by photographer Rania Matar smiling on a beach, fully clothed, as waves break around her. “She’s having a great day and she believes she can do anything.” Finally, he looks to find commonalities with his own life experience. “One thing I related to,” he comments on the portrait of Samira, “is that some days I feel exactly like this: I can do anything, I believe in myself. ... And some days I feel like I can’t, and she probably thinks that, too.” Mia curator Casey Riley, a former high school teacher who conceived and directed the “Just Kids” show, said Kayne’s Samira label was among her favorites in the exhibition. “Kayne was remarkably connected to all of the photographs he chose on a pretty personal level,” she said. “He really pushed himself to say something that I think was emotionally resonant in each case.” Those who know Kayne describe him as thoughtful, enthusiastic and remarkably self-aware. “He has a lot of strength of character,” said Carlyn Shanley, his advisory teacher at Jefferson. “He takes a lot of pride in his work and appreciates acknowledgement from other people but doesn’t need it.”

Rania Matar

Lebanese-American, born 1964

Samira, Beirut, Lebanon, 2018

Archival pigment print on Baryta paper

One thing I notice in this picture is that she’s on a beach and she has traditional clothes on, which she probably wears outside. She’s standing in the [water], smiling with her eyes closed. I believe she feels free, happy, joyful—despite everything. She’s having a great day and she believes she can do anything—she can find a good job, she can have kids, or help her kids. One thing I related to this picture is that some days I feel exactly like this: I can do anything, I believe in myself, I believe I can do whatever it takes to help people. And some days I feel like I can’t, and she probably thinks that, too. —Kayne Davis

I just think what is it about the picture — what’s the person doing that makes me feel some type of way? — Kayne Davis

Marion Post Wolcott American, 1910–1990

Jitterbugging in Juke Joint, Clarksdale, Mississippi, 1939 Gelatin silver print

Everyone is wearing fancy clothes—hats, shoes, jackets and pants. The woman is wearing high-top boots. Since everyone is dancing, I assume they are at a party. There’s a DJ and he’s dancing too. They’re listening to music like Michael Jackson, or maybe Snoop Dog. The floor is rough and dull, so maybe they’re in a barn. It’s hard to tell. There are pictures on the wall so maybe it’s a bar—a place where you could go and hear music and dance. And there’s no white people in the photo—I know this was taken at a time when the White Man had all the power, so this is probably a place where they could go and be themselves. I wonder if the photographer was white? Would they act like this in front of the White Man? —Kayne Davis

After the “Just Kids” show opened at Mia, Kayne said he realized he has a knack for writing about art. “I have a lot on my mind,” he said. “I think a lot, I spectate a lot and I analyze a lot. I just process all that and put it all down.”

The experts

Casey Riley is a Lynnhurst resident who moved to the Twin Cities in August 2018 to head Mia’s Department of Photography and New Media. She said her idea for the “Just Kids” exhibition was sparked by looking at Lewis Hine’s photographs of child laborers from the early 1900s. In previous shows she curated, Riley had worked hard “to think inclusively about who the experts are.” For an exhibition on the work of the lesbian documentary photographer Meadow Muska, she asked Muska to provide extensive notes on every image used in the show and worked collaboratively with the artist on interpretation. Before opening to the public, she ran each label she planned to use by an external LGBTQIA+ group. As Riley began to conceptualize a show portraying children, she realized she would need to ensure “their expertise was respected.” “Because I was looking at images of child labor, which are incredibly powerful and complicated, I wondered what kids would think about them,” she said. Riley chose the works shown in the exhibition herself, but she and her Mia colleagues decided to take a risk and let a group of kids without any formal curatorial training choose how to interpret and present the works. “When I pitched this show, some people said, ‘You’re going to have to make sure there’s a digital element to it where they can Snapchat or whatever,’” she said. “I was like, ‘We don’t know what the kids will want; let’s see.’” On a Saturday in early October, 11 teenagers from four local middle and high schools woke up early and arrived at the museum at 9 a.m., not knowing quite what to expect. Over the course of three intensive fourhour sessions, they were given a crash course in the behind-the-scenes work of a museum. They learned about paint budgets, sound baffles and how to handle photographs with nitrile gloves. They walked around the galleries and took mental notes on effective hanging strategies. They met with an artist, an exhibition designer, a collection manager and many other members of Mia’s staff. “I can’t believe how many people work in a museum,” one student said. “I had no idea!” Riley gave the kids a two-sided worksheet with questions like “What’s one thing you wondered about in this picture?” that

were intended to help them slow down, look closely and think critically. “The kids took the assignment seriously and challenged themselves to write things that exposed vulnerability,” Riley said. “They pushed themselves to empathize or connect compassionately with the subjects in the photographs they chose.” Riley was struck by the students’ appreciation of the photographs as physical objects. “What I found in this experiment is that artifacts matter,” she said. “They were clear they didn’t want this to be an Instagramcentered show. They loved that these were objects with histories and material markings and a real person’s imprimatur.” The students, she said, had a number of group conversations discussing whether “you are always you” in a photo or whether the person pictured is just a persona, a character inhabited, the exploration of an identity. At one point, Riley asked the students what they wished adults understood about how kids use photography. “I really wish people understood we are a nostalgic generation,” responded Aliyya Marie Mahmoud, a freshman at Roosevelt High School. Riley remembers thinking, “What does that even mean? You’re 14. How can you be nostalgic for, like, 10 minutes ago?” But she prompted: “Say more.” “When I take a picture of myself,” Aliyya said, “I’m imagining what I’m going to think about it in the future and how I’m going to remember what it was like to be myself at this age.” The statement stuck in Riley’s mind. “They’re so attuned to this very profound philosophical connection to digital media and image making,” she said. “They’re born theoreticians.”

Making connections

Kayne studied art at Jefferson in sixth and seventh grade but these days he prefers to “go solo.” He sketches in pencil before tracing his lines in pen. He loves drawing Godzilla, anime characters and timeless mythical

They were clear they didn’t want this to be an Instagram-centered show. They loved that these were objects with histories and material markings and a real person’s imprimatur. — Casey Riley, Mia curator

southwestjournal.com / February 6–19, 2020 B9

creatures. Among his artistic influences are Dr. Seuss and his close friend Anthony, whom he describes as an excellent doodler. “Dragons for me are easy, people are normal, regular animals are harder,” Kayne said. After completing work on the “Just Kids” exhibition, Kayne presented to his English Language Arts class about the experience. For the Mia show, he’d analyzed a photo by Marion Post Wolcott, “Jitterbugging in Juke Joint, Clarksdale, Mississippi, 1939” — observing that the photo was “taken at a time when the White Man had all the

‘JUST KIDS’ PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT Composed of nearly 200 objects partially curated by middle and high school students, this exhibition includes images of children and teens by both celebrated and emerging photographers, as well as photographic books and series created for and by young people. When: Through June 14 Where: Minneapolis Institute of Art, 2400 3rd Ave. S. Cost: Free

power” and speculating that the juke joint was somewhere the dancers “could go and be themselves.” In class, he talked about this picture, wondering how the photographer’s race had affected the revelers’ behavior. Shanley noted how Kayne’s critical racial analysis tied into a unit she’d taught about the civil rights movement, in which her class read courtroom proceedings from the trial of Emmett Till’s murderers and drew parallels between protests under slavery, the protests of the 1960s and the Black Lives Matter protests today. “He is very eager to make connections between what we’re learning and his own personal life,” Shanley said. “He wants to know what other people are thinking about the things he’s thinking about.” At an opening celebration for the Mia exhibition, Kayne was joined in the galleries by his mother, grandmother, grandfather, great-grandmother and his three younger sisters. “Grandma, this is another thing by Kayne,” said one of his sisters as she ran around the gallery pointing out her brother’s contributions. Kayne stood proudly with his arms crossed and his head cocked as artists and curators stopped by to offer their congratulations. If his dream job of becoming a video game designer doesn’t pan out, he said, “I might come here and try to be a photographer or curator.”

Info: artsmia.org

Thomas F. Arndt American, born 1944

Child, Mondale Rally, Waukegan, Illinois, 1984 Gelatin silver print

She looks like she’s wearing gloves, a jacket and a hat under her hood. It’s winter there. She’s going out there not caring what happens to her—she wants better schools. She wants to feel safe at school so she can get good grades and go to college and get a job. She looks like she’s 6 or 5, in kindergarten or first grade. She’s with her parents— maybe that’s them in the background. I want other schools to be stronger and more protective of their students. Check if people have guns or knives; if so, take them and give them to authorities, so the child who has the weapon will be safe and the school will be, too. —Kayne Davis

NEIGHBORHOOD SKETCHBOOK

B10 February 6–19, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

Community Calendar. By Ed Dykhuizen

TONI MORRISON — AN APPRECIATION Join English professor emeritus Toni McNaron for a discussion and appreciation of the vital American author, editor and Nobel Prize winner.

When: 2 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12 Where: Walker Library, 2880 Hennepin Ave. Cost: Free Info: hclib.org

HIBERNATION CELEBRATION Explore LynLake with open patios, ice bars, fire pits, outdoor games and all-day food and drink specials.

When: Saturday, Feb. 8 Where: 20+ participating restaurants Cost: Varies Info: lyn-lake.org

WINDOM READS This kick-off for a month of encouraging youth and adults to read will have authors reading to youth, face painting, a creation station and other family activities.

When: 9:30-11:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 8 Where: Windom South Park, 5821 Wentworth Ave. Cost: Free Info: minneapolisparks.org

MAKE A VALENTINE Create colorful cards for friends, family and folks in the community. Materials provided.

When: 10 a.m.-noon Saturday, Feb. 8 Where: Washburn Library, 5244 Lyndale Ave. S. Cost: Free Info: hclib.org

ROCK KENWOOD! A DJ will perform while families make guitars; get their hair, nails and makeup done for rock star photo shoots; decorate picture frames; sit for caricatures and more. Dress like a rock star and enter the costume contest or air guitar contest for prizes.

When: 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8 Where: Kenwood Park, 2101 W. Franklin Ave. Cost: Free Info: minneapolisparks.org

SWEETHEART VALENTINE’S DANCE This opportunity for families and young kids to celebrate Valentine’s Day features a DJ, food, crafts, games and family fun.

When: 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8 Where: Lynnhurst Recreation Center, 1345 W. Minnehaha Parkway Cost: Free Info: minneapolisparks.org

WRITING THROUGH GRIEF WITH ROXANNE SADOVSKY

CARRELLEE ALBUM RELEASE SHOW WITH THOMAS KIVI

Roxanne Sadovsky teaches Intuitive Writing and The Healing Memoir at the Loft Literary Center; her private healing practice, Writing with Rox, offers ongoing integrative workshops, healing groups, private sessions and more.

Carrellee’s debut LP chronicles a decade of songwriting and touring and draws inspiration from the likes of Emmylou Harris, Etta James, Neil Young, Angel Olsen and Iron & Wine. Thomas Kivi opens.

When: 11:30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 10 Where: ModernWell, 2909 S. Wayzata Blvd. Cost: Free Info: modernwell.co

SUSAN B. ANTHONY’S 200TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION Over the course of the day, members of the public will participate in “The Cabinet Meeting,” a reader’s theater based on the premise that Susan B. Anthony is elected president. Stay for a Susan B. Anthony exhibit and a piece of cake.

When: 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15 Where: Hennepin History Museum, 2303 3rd Ave. S. Cost: $8 public, $5 seniors/students, free for members Info: hennepinhistory.org

When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15 Where: The Warming House, 4001 Bryant Ave. S. Cost: $5-$10 Info: thewarminghouse.net

PUTTING GOVERNMENT IN ITS PLACE: THE CASE FOR A NEW DEAL 3.0

David Riemer’s book explains the major flaws of the New Deal and spells out the changes needed to revive its promise. Riemer will discuss his book with special guests Barbara Crosby and John Bryson of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs.

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19 Where: Magers & Quinn Booksellers, 3038 Hennepin Ave. Cost: Free Info: magersandquinn.com

FILMS BY MAN RAY, MUSIC BY SQÜRL Director Jim Jarmusch and composer Carter Logan, aka avant-garde post-rock duo SQÜRL, perform semi-improvisational scores live to four surrealist silent films by artist Man Ray.

When: 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7 Where: Walker Art Center, 725 Vineland Place Cost: $25; $20 for Walker members, students and seniors Info: walkerart.org/cinema

southwestjournal.com / February 6–19, 2020 B11

Get Out Guide. By Sheila Regan

V A L E N T D A Y

I N E ’ S

Looking for something special to do with your sweetie? Check out these great date events, even if you are planning on a romantic evening with yourself!

UNLOVED CREATURES Rogue Buddha is a cozy gallery that’s great for dates, and its annual “Unloved Creatures” exhibition offers a wonderfully macabre take on Valentine’s Day, with artists that set their work in dark, fantastical worlds. The show features returning artists Eli Libson, Alex Kuno, Heather Renaux and John Sauer, plus new artists Angel Hawari, DC Ice, Kao Lee Thao and Jessie McNally.

When: 7-11 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14 Where: Rogue Buddha Gallery, 357 13th Ave. NE Cost: Free Info: roguebuddha.com Heather Renaux

DC Ice

John Sauer

CONTROLLED BURN

PUPPET CABARET DAY

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 13-15 Where: Phoenix Theater, 2605 Hennepin Ave. Cost: $5-$25 Info: tinyurl.com/controlled-burn

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 14 Where: In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, 1500 E. Lake St. Cost: $12 Info: hobt.org

VALENTINE’S DAY ROMEO & JULIET

AFTER HOURS: JASPER JOHNS

It doesn’t get anymore romantic than Shakespeare’s famous story about star-crossed lovers. Put on by the Classical Actors Ensemble and based on the company’s 2018 summer production, this touring version pops up for a special Valentine’s Day happening.

Get a sneak peek of the Jasper Johns retrospective exhibition at the Walker. The museum’s super hip After Hours event features live music by Nooky Jones, sets by DJ Shannon Blowtorch and artsy activities. There will also be food and cocktails.

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14 Where: Glanton Theater at Calvary Church, 2608 Blaisdell Ave. Cost: $18-$42 Info: classicalactorsensemble.org/productions

When: 8:30 p.m.-midnight Saturday, Feb. 15 Where: Walker Art Center, 725 Vineland Place Cost: $20 Info: walkerart.org

Get a dose of powerful, experimental, queer performance with Controlled Burn, presented by 20% Theatre Company. Curated by Taja Will, Marcela Michelle and Ondine, this event features a new lineup each night and will give you plenty to talk about afterwards.

Things might get a little wild and silly at In the Heart of the Beast’s Valentine’s Day Cabaret. With puppets galore, music by Lady Xok and projections by Madi Ballis, this will be a lively and fun event. Popcorn and waffles will be available.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACROSS 1 Govt.-backed investment 6 Travelocity recommendations 10 Comprehends 14 Commandment verb involving parents 15 Niño’s “nothing” 16 Difficult exam 17 Kagan of the Supreme Court 18 Fruit grown in bogs 20 *Billy Crystal comedy featuring a cattle drive 22 __, amas, amat ... 23 Gnaw (at) 24 Grocery walkway 28 Offshore oil drillers 30 *Exact look-alike 34 Stiff-upper-lip type 36 Under, in French 37 Graffiti signature 38 *Daily filming schedule on the set 42 Musical gift 45 Roman robe 46 Hustle genre 50 *One in la-la land 54 Croat or Serb 55 Mexican mister 56 Correct 58 “__ had it!” 59 Somewhat liberal, or where you might find the first words in the answers to starred clues 64 Soap opera genre 67 1960s jacket style 68 Cooking spot 69 Large-scale 70 Warning signs 71 Like fake fruit 72 See socially 73 From Lillehammer, say

HOT NOTES ON A COLD NIGHT CABARET: SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8!

DOWN

19 Slow-cooked, as short ribs

47 Move like a mamba

21 Young chap

48 Carlsbad __ National Park

2 Like poker games for high rollers

25 Bilko’s rank: Abbr.

49 Do to death

26 Grazing area

3 Small takeout order

27 Joule fraction

51 Revolutionary territory

4 Tiger mascot with a red scarf

29 [not my error]

1 “My Best Friend’s Girl” rock band

5 Clear data from 6 Provoke 7 Dealer’s foil, briefly 8 Southern neighbor of Sask. 9 Reasonable 10 Enters 11 “To say they __ I dare not be so bold”: Shakespeare

31 Family name in Mideast politics

53 Nervous twitch

32 Homer’s “I’m an idiot!”

57 Noble gas

33 Feel remorse over

61 Spanish appetizer

35 Provided food for

62 Leave out

39 Tone-__: “Wild Thing” rapper

63 Verne captain

40 NYC airport near Citi Field 41 “__ the season ... ”

12 North Carolina __ Heels

42 Scout leader?

13 Cunning

44 Sought a political seat

Crossword Puzzle SWJ 020620 4.indd 1

52 Wear away, as a coin surface

43 Monkey relative

60 Dancer Astaire

64 Work on a lawn 65 “Training Day” actress Mendes

Join us Saturday, February 8th at 6:30PM at St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church in Uptown Minneapolis! Hot Notes on a Cold Night Cabaret celebrates the high-quality Theatre, Dance, Choral, Orchestra, Guitar and Band programs at Minneapolis’s largest public high school. It costs over $100,000 to fund the Performing Arts at Southwest. Minneapolis Public Schools pays approximately $2,500 of that. Hot Notes is where we close that gap. 100% of your tax-deductible donation goes directly to providing Performing Arts education to over 1,000 Southwest students. No child is turned away, regardless of experience, ability, challenge or need. Register and Buy Tickets: 32auctions.com/HotNotes

66 “Superman” villain Luthor Crossword answers on page B12

1/28/20 10:04 AM

Southwest High SWJ 012320 4.indd 1

1/27/20 5:53 PM

B12 February 6–19, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

Mill City Cooks

Recipes and food news from the Mill City Farmers Market

By Jenny Heck

How your local beekeeper can keep you healthy 2. Pollen

There are small amounts of pollen in raw honey, but for a concentrated boost of the delicate granules, consider buying raw pollen. In addition to turning it into honey, bees save small amounts of pollen for a protein source throughout the hive. Beekeepers extract small amounts of this excess pollen because it is a great source of protein and vitamins for humans too. Many people also consume local bee pollen to combat seasonal allergies. Pollen has a mild flavor and can be added to tea or sprinkled on top of smoothies or cereals.

3. Beeswax lip balm, bars and candles

Ames Farm’s single-source honey is collected from individual flowers during their blooming, such as alfalfa honey, dandelion honey and buckwheat honey. Each have their own unique color and flavor. Submitted photo

mes Farm honey products are in grocery stores, co-ops and gifts shops throughout Minneapolis and the metro, but did you know you can meet the owner and head beekeeper Brian Frederickson at the Mill City Farmers Market? Frederickson has over 25 years of experience at his apiary in Delano, Minnesota, and the Ames Farm table at the markets is full of items that promote year-round wellness. Honey and its byproducts have many healthful properties and have been used for generations in cooking and medicine. Learn how you can incorporate nature’s sweet gift with local honey products.

1. Raw, single-source honey

The primary product of the bees and the beekeepers, raw honey has lots of antioxidants and has anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and antiviral properties. Ames Farm sells high-quality

Minnesota wildflower honey that’s collected throughout the year. Frederickson also takes it a step further by selling single-source honey, collected from individual flowers during their blooming, such as alfalfa honey, dandelion

HONEY RICOTTA PANCAKES Recipe courtesy of Ames Farm • Makes four large pancakes Ingredients 1 cup ricotta cheese 3 eggs, slightly beaten 3 tablespoons melted butter

Uptown Wellness Center 2920 Bryant Ave S Suite 107

Serve pancakes with more honey, fresh fruit or even chopped lavender!

For those who would prefer to keep honey in the comb, Ames Farm also offers fresh honeycomb at the market. Frederickson and his team steam clean the racks from the beehive and cut the comb off the frame for you to enjoy. Honeycomb has the same health benefits as raw honey, plus its chewy texture and indulgent taste make it a perfect natural satisfaction for your sweet tooth. For a special breakfast, slice fresh honeycomb thinly to top your toast and jam or try adding honeycomb to a cheese and fruit plate. For more information about Ames Farm and the Mill City Farmers Market indoor winter markets, visit millcityfarmersmarket.org.

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honey and buckwheat honey. Each have their own unique color and flavor. Enjoy raw honey in a soothing tea, by the spoonful or as a substitute for processed sugar in baking or cooking (like in the recipe below).

After extracting honey from the comb, the resulting byproduct is beeswax. The intricate comb structures created by the bees are cleaned and melted into wax. Frederickson and his team make the wax into his three-ingredient lip balm (beeswax, organic coconut oil and olive oil) and also have beeswax bars for making your own balms and salves. Beeswax has natural hydrating and soothing properties for itchy and dry winter skin. And let’s not forget hygge — cozy evenings with beeswax candles are a true comfort, supporting better mental health.

2/4/20 2:57 PM

southwestjournal.com / February 6–19, 2020 B13

By Sarah Woutat

The magic of a Deep Winter Greenhouse

armers across the region are finding ways to extend the growing season in order to provide locally grown foods for more of the year. High tunnels are a common way of doing this. A high tunnel is like a greenhouse, but unheated, and you plant into the ground instead of growing in pots on tables. The heat from the sun warms the air and soil during the day, but temperatures inside can dip to near-outside temperatures at night. Andrew and Margo Hanson-Pierre from Clover Bee Farm in Schafer, Minnesota, are trying to get more control over these temperature swings by building a Deep Winter Greenhouse (DWG), also called a passive solar greenhouse. These work by creating a heat sink, something that will store the heat from the sun during the day and release that heat at night so growing temperatures can remain more stable. The floor of Clover Bee’s DWG is made of 4-foot-deep river rock, but people also use large barrels of water as mass for a heat sink. The rock (or water) stores the heat from the day’s sun using circulation fans set up with a thermostat. At night, the fans move the warm air up from the rock, and during the day, they move cool air. While harnessing the sun is not a new technology, there aren’t many DWGs in Minnesota. In 2009 two farmers in Milan, Minnesota, published “The Northlands Winter Greenhouse Manual,” complete with plans, growing schedules and pest and disease management techniques. Since then, the U of M Extension has published plans and resources for DWGs. The Hanson-Pierres used these plans to build their DWG. They’ve opted to build the DWG as a lean-to on the south side of their barn. This allows them to utilize the existing structure and put to use space on their farm that couldn’t be used for anything else. Three sides of the DWG are made of plywood and are heavily insulated, and the south-facing wall is made of polycarbonate sheeting and sits at a 60-degree angle, in order to maximize sunlight. The Hanson-Pierres also have a high tunnel, which they use primarily for tomatoes in the summer to protect from “late blight,” a fungal disease that spreads quickly through spores in the soil and can take out a tomato crop in a matter of days. They also have a caterpillar tunnel (a lower, less permanent

Andrew and Margo HansonPierre with their Deep Winter Greenhouse. Submitted photo

NEIGHBORHOOD ROOTS INDOOR WINTER MARKET Join us inside for farm products, ready-to-eat foods, music, jams, pickles, crafts and more at Bachman’s on Lyndale. When: 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8 and March 14 Where: Bachman’s Garden Center, 6010 Lyndale Ave. Info: neighborhoodrootsmn.org

high-tunnel-like structure), which they use to get heat-loving crops, like peppers and eggplant, into the ground earlier than they could without that extra protection. After farming for six years, they started investigating Deep Winter Greenhouses because they wanted to learn “a whole new set of skills.” “[We’re] trying to think about how to make our business more sustainable for our lifestyle

as we get older,” Margo Hanson-Pierre said. They’re looking for ways to spread out the labor over the course of the year, and the plan is for the DWG to provide winter income through an off-season CSA, allowing them to decrease their summer vegetable production and maybe go camping someday, or enjoy summer. “With climate change, it’s more important to have [produce] when people in

Minnesota can’t get it,” Hanson-Pierre said. Deep Winter Greenhouses are expensive structures to build. So far, the DWG has cost the Hanson-Pierres $16,000, and they still need to purchase insulation and pay back a $7,000 crowd-sourced loan. Because of the cost of the structure, it is imperative that Clover Bee is able to generate enough income from the DWG to pay back their lenders and continue to make the investment worth the 180-plus hours they’ve put into planning and building it. Their plan is to mostly grow greens through the winter growing seasons. The greens will grow in hanging gutters in potting soil. When each crop is done, the HansonPierres will compost the used potting mix in order to avoid fungal disease. They hope to have it up and running by March. Look for their winter greens at next winter’s Neighborhood Roots indoor markets.

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6/1/18 TO PLACE AN AD CALL 612.825.9205

Hanson Building SWJ 061418 2cx2.indd 1

SWJ 020620 Classifieds.indd 3

1:05 PM

2/3/20 7:41 PM

612.888.8207

MCQBROS.COM

CALL MCQUILLAN: WE’LL TURN UP THE HEAT! Although Minneapolis’ older homes tend to need more specialized care, you can keep your treasured classic warm and safe with exceptional heating service from McQuillan Bros.

SUPER SAVINGS FOR VINTAGE HOME OWNERS!

$49

Preseason Inspection

TRIP CHARGE WAIVED*

$75 OFF

Any Service Call

$29

Water Quality Test

on Service Call

*Coupons not valid with any other offers or discounts.

FREE SECOND OPINION ESTIMATE MATCH 612.888.8207 McQuillan Bros SWJ 012320 FP.indd 1

1/15/20 10:55 AM