Filed under: Minneapolis
After the frigid Operation Metro Surge, May 1 hit differently this year thanks to ICE and ice. Traditionally, May Day has been a celebration of spring and international workers. This year, we leaned into that as we banded together to reclaim the Minnesota May Day spring – led by our community of international workers. Everyone brought their talents to the table.
What the outsider might not see is that people have been bringing their talents to the table since Fall 2025, when the Metro Surge started. Those talents kept our community safe and fed, with laundered clothes and a safe way to get to school and work. Those talents called out ICE agents, brought necessities to recently released detainees from the Whipple Building, planned large and small events. Those talents built a heightened sense of community around the Twin Cities. May Day was an opportunity to show our solidarity with some of our more joyful talents.
My May Day festivities started with a march on Lake Street hosted by MIRAC. The signs were creative. Native dancers led the event. Speakers were eloquent. Crowd was building the whole time we were there.
Happening at the same time was MayDay MayDay a fundraising concert hosted by MN Music Resistance featuring Mary Cutrufello, Surly Grrly, Cindy Lawson, Los Pinches Gueys and Venus de Mars and All The Pretty Horses. It was a nice blend of styles and genres. What was most fun to see was musicians who had never met stay for each other’s shows, jump up on stage and just in general make connections that solidify the community and lift up everyone’s music.
We snuck out between sets to catch the March as they got to the Lake Street Target, where the Minnesota Singing Resistance staged a puppet performance. Turns out Target closed (at 6pm on a Friday night) in anticipation of what the crowd was going to be. I love the courage of doing bold puppetry in a parking lot. They captured the almost obligatory adoration Minnesotans had for Target and their sense of community and how it morphed into cynicism as Target seemed to lean on performative GLBT sales and took a nosedive when Target was the first to tank their DEI programs.
Some of our events were unplanned like the super cute children’s dance in the park. People celebrating their heritage, community and family. Just what we all do when we are (or have) young kids. It gives us a sense of sense, which should give us the generosity to embrace other people who have celebrated their individual heritage, to appreciate their dance steps and delicacies and to learn and thrive together to build a stronger most-American community.
Another semi-planned event was the brass bands playing two doors down from the Hook. So much good music on one block and few genres that hit a resistance button louder than a brass band.
Our final nod to the times was enjoying a projected screenshot commentary on the failures of the current Administration. Whew – what a May Day!
Filed under: Minneapolis
Every year my friend Kevin reminds me that today (the day before the opening of Art in Bloom) is the perfect day to see the flowers at their freshest and least crowded. Every year, I’m thankful. The deal is local artists and florists sign up to create arrangements to suit specific works of art. The artists are meant to be done by 2pm the day before opening; the museum is open for regular hours until 5pm. It’s not too crowded. The parking is not crazy. It’s free.
There are many paid events happening during Art in Bloom, but you can always see the art for free. (According to the MIA newsletter, donations made during Art in Bloom support School Bus Transportation Grants.)
This year I went with my mom and dad. I won’t pretend my dad was as into it but it’s a favorite from me and my mom. We whip through pretty quickly making quick-response decision of what we like and what we don’t. No dissection of the art. (That would slow everybody up!) Just first impressions – yay, nay and why if you’re inspired. Just a couple of natural judges, doling out salient opinions to the marble statues.
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- Love the minimalism
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- Coffin art flowers – chef’s kiss!
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- Observe the two fists
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- Perfect replication
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- Bold, large and majestic
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- Why are the vases such different sizes? A statement on the girls?
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- the swirls of the see caught in the arrangement
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- recapturing of the main print
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- the colors are so engaging
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- repeated composition – nice
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- love the colors and bridge
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- perfect continuation from flower to art
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- another perfect continuation from flower to art
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- we’re thinking about this one
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- look at the building of the art from nature
I have started this post a dozen times. Minnesota is at the epicenter of a national emergency. I genuinely feel like what happens here will happen around the country. So we feel both isolated and the weight of the world on our shoulders. But we feel it as a community.
Trump and his lackeys have Minnesota in their sights. Already, ICE agents are shooting US citizens. Vulnerable members of our community are (understandably) afraid to leave their homes. The push from the federal agents is relentless. It started with raids on businesses such as Bro-Tec. It happened slowly enough that even I was able to observe because it was a 10-minute drive from my home. We’ve morphed into numerous daily, often violent, stop-and-grabs of a wide range of people – many of them citizens. Two US citizens have been killed by agents, Renee Good (on Jan 7) and Alex Pretti today (Jan 24). Videos from the events clearly indicate that the victims were not endangering agents. There are also many videos of extremely violent agents in action.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead
Despite the obvious and lethal risks, a growing group of thoughtful, committed citizens have risen up to meet the needs of the community. With training, we have a Rapid Response network, we are ready to leave our homes and/or we drive/walk around neighborhoods to blow whistles when we see ICE, record and legally observe what is happening. We have people who patrol at local schools or places or worship, stealthily deliver food, pampers and other supplies. We have people who financially support mutual aid. We have people who protest.
We outnumber the agents. We saw that two weekend ago, when the Proud Boys showed up for what was lauded to be a “big march” and ended up being about a dozen led by one loser who was met with a huge crowd. The intruders ended up getting cornered by the Minneapolis Courthouse, and subjected to silly string and water balloons, albeit in subzero temperatures and were escorted to safety by Minnesotans. We saw that again last weekend, when in even colder weather (-12) , 50,000 people came out to march downtown Minneapolis to get ICE out of Minnesota.
We are in a hard place. We win many rounds, but we lose community members to murder, detention and violence. The war is to keep Marshal Law out of Minnesota. That is a fine line and I’m thankful for my friends who push the envelope and thankful for my friends who reign it in. We see community members show up with all of their talents. No job too big or too small so long as it goes to protect our people, our state and our democracy.
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” – Emma Lazarus (and inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty)
We are the tired, poor huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
Filed under: Minneapolis
Grandma, Kate and I took a multigenerational trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts today to see the Botticelli and Renaissance Florence exhibit and more. It was fascinating to see how Sandro Botticelli reached back to classical Greek and Roman statues for inspiration he adapted to a humanistic approach more characteristic of his era in the last 1400s. It’s as if Botticelli breathed a color gust of life into the statues.
I was able to capture a picture of a statue in the foreground with Botticelli’s Pallas and the Centaur in the background. You can see the similarities in the silhouette of the statue and centaur. There’s a slouch that identical. The maiden in the painting is clearly in charge; always a plus in my mind.
There’s a balance of reverence and playfulness in the art. Sometimes that comes out in the action (he Banquet of Queen Vashti) and sometimes that comes out in the personalities and expressions in the faces of the models (Adoration of the Child with Angels). The personalities take a real turn when we look at Adoration of the Magi, which features Botticelli himself on the far right.
A boon to knowing people at the Mia, my friend Kevin was there and clued me into the fact that there was a painting where Mary steps on an angel. It took a minute for me to find – but definitely worth it. I’m not entirely sure what the meaning is. Maybe it’s a baby-like cherub archangel – maybe she’s just overwrought with too much of a good thing. But I’ll be spending time in the next few days wondering. Sign of good art.
Period Rooms
On the way out we couldn’t resist a quick stop in a few of the period rooms. My personal favorite is the Grand Salon, a 7-minute immersive piece where you can watch and hear the room go from day to night in the room.
Van Gogh’s Fingerprint
Kate knew about the discovery of Vincent Van Gogh’s fingerprint accidentally left on Mia’s Olive Trees. You can see where it must be below. It’s near the top right edge of the sun. Unfortunately the frame around the picture shades that area but that won’t stop us from pretending to see it.
Filed under: Minneapolis
Kate is working at the Supernatural America exhibit at the Mia. So, for my mom’s birthday we went to visit Kate and then out to lunch with Lily. It was a really, nice 3-generation day. The exhibit was interesting, disturbing and sometimes beautiful. But as my mom said on the way out – there wasn’t much I’d want to hang on my wall at home. To be fair, who is inviting haunted art into the home?
Quick insider note: Kate said one of her coworkers saw a ghostly hand reach out from one of the pictures – life imitating art, I guess.
The real beauty of the art is the story behind it. Some were created during a séance or while the “artist” was in a trance. We talked about how many of these artists would be written off as having mental health issues – or being witches or feminists or worse. Sort of made me like the art more. Other art tried to speak to or represent the supernatural. Here are some I found most interesting.
The Precipitated Portrait of Lizzie, Mary and Christina Daugherty with Dr Daugherty is one example. The work was created by sisters Mary and Elizabeth Bangs. They performed a ritual intending to conger the image of Mrs. Daugherty (deceased) with the Dr. who sat for the portrait. The image appeared on the paper like droplets. In the end the added the deceased twins as well.
John McCrady’s Swing Low Sweet Chariot depicts the moment of death when the forces of good and evil come to grasp the soul of the deceased. I love the imagery. I sort of love the idea that there is no connection in the art about the quality of the soul – but that’s it’s merely a fight of good and evil. I love that good takes an army and evil just one devil.
I learned about the idea of spirit photography, where the photographer tries to capture images of ghosts and other spiritual entities. Apparently, it’s used on ghost hunting but the examples they had were from the Civil War. People were photographed with the hope that a recently departed loved one would appear in the picture. It’s hard to think that the pictures are real but they are fascinating and I don’t entirely doubt it.
Interior Scroll by Carolee Schneemann are still images of a performance piece of the artist reading from a scroll she pulled from her vagina. I’m a feminist, but that might not be a little extreme for me but I appreciate that the pendulum swings and art like this pushes boundaries that need to be pushed. In the same realm, are the tiny goddesses found in the 1970s. Blood was included in the materials used to form the goddesses.
Maybe my favorite is Tony Oursler’s Dust from the Thought of Form series. It’s cloud that morphs into body parts. Kinda creepy, kinda cool. (We also loved his work MMPI in Milwaukee.)
Here are more pictures of things that drew us in…
Filed under: Minneapolis
It’s always one of the coldest days of the year, the annual Minneapolis Homeless Memorial March 2021. It’s a memorial service for lost friends, families and folks we didn’t know who lived in the world of homelessness – maybe as asocial worker or advocate, maybe as someone who had or was experiencing homelessness in 2021. Marchers carry a placard with the name, age and city of a deceased person. It’s a solemn, yet community building event – especially at a time when so much of life is Zoomed.
This year I knew two, Ethna McKiernan and Stephanie Battle. I know Ethna has a poet with an Irish lilt; she also worked with people experiencing homelessness. Stephanie I knew in high school; she was in my sister’s class. She was a homeless advocate. My friend Monica Nilsson knew many more, as she works in the community. But we were sad to remember two women who has died in her very close community. Overdose. I think that has been too easy, or maybe life has been too hard for all of us in the last two years.
You can find the full list of names of people who have passed away online. It include young and old, all colors and genders. The saddest to be are the “baby” placards. The march was followed by an online service.
Filed under: Minneapolis
Today Monica Nilsson, Danny (her bro) and I did the Downtown Run Around with Mile in My Shoes. Except we went to the woods for our race. This is an annual fundraiser for Mile in My Shoes, an organization that brings folks who have experienced homeless and people exiting incarceration into a running community around the Twin Cities. (They take donations and running members!)
Normally, the race is held downtown Minneapolis but due to COVID, it went virtual. There were more than 500 runners this year; 150 were from outside Minnesota. And by outside I mean outside; there were folks from Uganda, Canada, the UK and several other places I can’t remember.
We figured this was a little chance to share our nature church (as Monica calls it) with the other runners and to our friends at home. We all did a 10K. One of us ran it; the other two wogged (walked/jogged). It was steaming hot but beautiful. Our only disappointment is that we didn’t see any dear, which is not unusual during the lush, hot summer. Next time we do come across the herd – we may try livestreaming again!
The quick answer is that it takes 11 hours and some great friends to walk a birthday marathon! Below are some of the details in a FAQ format:
Why?
I always feel like if you have a summer birthday, you should make the most of it. With social distancing, that meant getting creative. This was a way to see different people while keeping pretty social distant and outdoors.
Who do you want to thank?
Katie Lynch, Monica Nilsson and I walked a marathon on my birthday (June 26)!! I want to thank them so much for humoring my crazy idea. I want to thank my family (special nod to Chef Billy) for help with lunch and dinner! I want to thank Liz Draper with crew (Sarah York and AJ Srubas) and Little Man for playing at a couple of the stops. And I want to thank the friends who joined us along the way!
What’s the best part?
Having no responsibilities except putting one foot in front of the other – for 26 miles. Katie lists it as one of the top 5 days – ever!
Did you plan a route?
Yes. I used a tool called Plan A Route. (You can see the plan online.) It was pretty easy. I only planned for 25 miles because I knew we’d make up the difference running across the street to get water or running back three blocks to get a picture with the Mary Tyler Moore statue. Here are the highlights I planned:
- 9:30am – start at my house
- 10:45 – Minnehaha Falls
- 11:30 – Dunn Bros at Lake Street
- 1:30 – Sculpture Garden lunch
- 3:00 – Stone Arch Bridge
- 5:30 – The Monument
- 6:30 – Turf Club
- 8:15 – Midway Express Car Wash Cookout
Did you stick to your route?
No. I had a very urban wilderness plan where we stuck heavily to the River Road. (That’s Mississippi River for the non-local readers.) Then about 11am I freaked out that we were going to be late for lunch and then meeting Liz. So we took the most direct route from the River to the Sculpture Garden, which turned out to be Franklin Avenue.
Franklin Ave is pretty gritty. Monica, who has dedicated her life to the homelessness community, has worked in that area a lot. We walked past the homeless encampment of two years ago, The Wall of Forgotten Natives. Katie had two favorite moments – one was Monica giving us the history of the area for the miles we walked. Ask Katie about the history of Peace House, you’ll be impressed. Monica is a good storyteller! And every third person yelled hello to Monica by name.
Did you really go 26.2 mile?
Even with the detour, we walked into the car wash at 26.11 and then walked the extra four minutes until we got to 26.2! That was our marathon miracle. Monica, who is amazing at math, hit the wall before we did. So Katie and I had to trust our math – substellar plan. But it worked out perfectly!
What was the hardest mile?
I’m going 20-26 on that one. Monica hit the wall at 20. In part because she is the only one of us who has run a marathon – so she knew what was ahead. Also she got blisters. (Tip: can’t say enough about Glide for your feet. Not one blister here!) Katie and I hit the wall about mile 24.
Who joined you?
I was amazed that people joined us along the way. It made the walking so much easier. My dad started with us. He left at one end of the Ford Bridge and we met Mary Lindgren Carter on the other with her friend Tanya. Mary has been a friend since high school and we try to walk sometimes – although she’s an early bird and I’m a nigh owl. Mary and Tanya turned around at Lake Street and we met Denise Cumming who told us a very funny story about taking an online ornithology class at the U of M and unknowingly shouting the F word while unmuted. She dropped off as we got to her block and that left three of us until the Sculpture Garden, where my mom and dad, Kevin Somdahl-Sands and kid and Alyssia met us. We had a quick lunch, nice chat and a chance to sit down and a few pictures. Then the core three headed to downtown.
Kevin met us again downtown near the Mary Tyler Moore statue. We headed to the Stone Arch Bridge where Liz Draper and crew were playing for us. That was Katie’s other highlight. It had been so hot walking across the bridge then to get to the shade and awesome music was such a treat. And Ellie Sherwood met us. (Ellie did the amazing picture of me and Monica last year.) Then traced out steps over the bridge, walked by the place of a former homeless encampment that I thought was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen. Then I think we walked our longest stretch alone until Su Reanny met us on Summit Ave. (Summit Ave for non-locals is polar opposite to Franklin.) Su is a Women’s March buddy – we saw her the next day too doing extraordinary work marshalling a protest at the Governor’s Mansion. Kevin met us again near the Turf Club.
Right at 8pm, we landed at the Car Wash. (My dad and brother own the car wash. Billy often has a start and end of summer car wash cookouts and was kind enough to do the same for my birthday.) And we had Chris Perricelli (Little Man) play a few songs. Chris did a car wash video and interview with me and Heather Baker earlier this year. So I’m trying to think of the new people who joined us – Kevin and his family, my family, including Aine, Heather, Kathi Eilers, Jake and Julie Mortenson. Then as a special treat Daniela Smith met us at the Dubliner after the cookout!
How was the weather?
Amazing!!! We (Katie, Monica, my dad and I) left my house in the drizzling rain. We were worried but hopeful. We decided against umbrellas, which was a good call. Frankly we had near perfect weather all day. A few misty showers in the morning and cloudy all afternoon. Not too hot for too long.
How do you get musicians to play at your marathon or party or picnic or whatever?
You call, ask and pay. Without trying, I’ve been saving money during the COVID shutdown because the “no live music rule” saves me going out the 6 nights a week I used to average. I was super happy to invest a little into musicians. Maybe small outdoor shows are a way to help musicians pay bills, keep in tune and for us to have fun again! And maybe that’s an idea worth spreading.
Did you train?
Yes and no. We didn’t do anything special. (Heck, Katie decided to join us on Thursday!) But all three of us are pretty avid walkers. I probably walk the most with 8-15 miles a day. (Depending how many Zoom calls I can do on the move.) But the other two are runners; I am mostly not a runner.
Would you do it again?
Abso-stinking-lutely!
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- 9:30 – leaving my house
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- CHeck out Grandma Treacy’s house
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- MInnehaha Falls
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- Joined by Mary & Tanya
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- Joined by Denise and Lake St
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- Franklin Ave
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- Franklin Ave
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- Franklin Ave
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- Franlin Ave – Mpls American Indian Center
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- VIew of Mpls over 35W
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- Katie and Monica save the world from some terrible jokes on the cock/chicken pcitures!
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- Sculpture Garden
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- Lunch with mom, dad, Alyssia, Kevin and his crew (Brenna & Rowan!)
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- Spoon & Cherry
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- First Ave – George FLoyd star
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- Mary Tyler Moore statue
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- Crossing Stone Arch Bridge
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- Liz Draper, Sarah York & AJ Srubas – awesome music!
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- Leaving Stone Arch with Ellie
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- The chair nearly killed us!
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- Save the POst Office – send a letter!
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- The Weisman Art Gallery
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- Favorite mirrored rocks!
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- mile 20!!!
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- Crossing back into St Paul
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- Su cheers us on the last stretch
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- Turf Club
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- CHris playing – Heather, Kathi, Julie, Jake, Billy join us (with others already mentioned)
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- Treacy kids at a bar – wha?
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- Daniela meets us!
We’re going to walk a marathon. We have the route planned. You’re welcome to join in for all or part of the walk. Or we have some stopping points picked out. Or meet us at the end for the car wash cook out!
We’re roughly thinking 3 miles an hour. We’ll keep track of our progress on the day you can access our route – or aim for one of our landmark stops below.
9:30am – start at my house
10:45 – Minnehaha Falls (photo op)
11:30 – Dunn Bros at Lake Street (water/bathroom)
1:30 – Sculpture Garden lunch
3:00 – Stone Arch Bridge
5:30 – The Monument (Summit & River Road)
6:30 – Turf Club (photo op/drink?)
8:15 – Midway Express Car Wash Cookout
10:30 – Dubliner (we might get a Lyft there!)
Please let us know if you plan to meet up with us so we can keep an eye out and plan accordingly!! And if you have a stop between stops to suggest – please do!
ener”>plotaroute.com
Last night I slept for the first time in days. Yesterday I toured places in St Paul to see the damage from rioters. I have much of the travels in video below. The girls in Canada wanted to see what home was starting to look like. So I’ll just give some highlights.
I was halfway to Midway (by foot) when I got a call from Alyssia – she was nearly to the Turf Club so we met here there; a bar with great music and better staff, a place where I’ve spent a night or two and where Alyssia works. The Turf Club looks OK – smelled like smoke, doors broken, certainly work to be done but mural outside intact, the posters inside still hanging. We checked on the Ax-Man down the road and learned from Eric, who works there and lives nearby, that he had been watching shenanigans in the for 9 hours the night before.
I saw buildings that were destroyed. The Sports Dome is gone. The Pawn Shop burned so hot the paint on the garage across the alley was melted. There were 8 fire trucks surrounding Big Top Liquor the whole time I was there. Liquor stores, vape store, convenience stores, anyplace with electronics or tennis shoes were gone – looted and burned. Some places like Furniture Mart were full of broken windows and broken glass but otherwise, not bad. Bars seemed OK – Midway Saloon (formerly Big V’s) and Black Hart’s (formerly the Townhouse) had clearly been broken into but others OK. The Auto Zone totaled. (For some reason Auto Zones and Targets seem to take the brunt.)
And I saw the helpers. Dozens of volunteers sweeping, shoveling, handing out masks, water, other necessities and niceties. Fireman putting out the remaining fires. Shop owners doing what they can and wondering out loud why they had been hit or why they had not.
I ran into Kevin we walked around. Just as I was feeling weird about walking around taking pictures we saw one my favorite Midway Murals (still intact.) next to a burned out gas station and I remembered it was less than a month ago I was out taking pictures of the murals. It’s what I do except usually a celebration of my town.
We also drove down Grand Avenue, a little closer to home. I had heard about some grab and go looting the night before. We saw lots of shops boarded and boarding up. The convenience stores had been hit and one half a mile from my house was totally burned out.
Then we ventured to Lake Street in Minneapolis, near the Third Precinct. On that same corner is a place (The Hook and Ladder) where I have danced for hours. Just down the road is a place where Aine participates in an amazing STEM program (Midtown YCWA). But now it looks like the city I see on Unicorn Riot – not the city I know.
We walked around. We saw the homeless encampment where they kicked everyone out. Imagine being homeless and having to move because of riots! The buildings are burned out. Again, volunteers were cleaning. The State Patrol and the National Guard are keeping civilians out. One skinny, young white dude is taunting a tired officer while a personal of colors watches. He’s explaining racism to a cop and a person of color. There’s got to be a term that combines mansplaining and white privilege with the need to be seen and heard.
Usually I’m a fan of graffiti – what I saw was mostly sad. There was a Marxist quote, “When our turn comes, we shall not make excuses for the terror.” It strikes me more even than the “This is Hell.”
Today was a new day after a very dark night. The terrorists are winning. A press conference with Governor Walz and the Mayors of St Paul and Minneapolis it was clear that the protestors and rioters outnumber the police (and National Guard). There is worry that rioters on both sides have come from all over the US. They are extreme and care little about our community. The level of misinformation, persuasion and bias is overwhelming. We have an 8pm curfew and the Governor asked people to stay home so that they can fight the rioters without worrying about bystanders.
It feels like the Twin Cities are being sacrificed in a war of anarchists, fascists, white supremacists. Each faction seems to feel their view is worth the destruction of our community. It’s frightening as I sit in St Paul alone listening to the helicopters and wait for the sirens. And I can’t think too hard or abstract freight will turn into internalized fear. Instead I will remember today our community came out to remember George Floyd and ask our leaders to demand more from our police. As Mayor Carter said we can hate what happened to George Floyd and want our community to be safe. Those are not conflicting views.
We saw so many helpers leading traffic, handing out masks and food, holding signs, chanting, showing support and registering people to vote.
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