Filed under: Texas
We arrived in Austin in the very early hours of Friday morning. It’s hot but we knew that going in. We are staying downtown, near the University. It’s pretty central but we spent much of our first day on Congress and South Congress Avenues. It’s a shopping, eating, street art sort of street. I’m going to start with our night activity – we went to see the bats under the Congress Avenue Bridge.
Apparently a million and a half bats emerge each night from under the bridge. It seems to happen about 30 minutes after sunset. They are hard to see because they are so fast and small. Mostly what I could see was displacement of the colors where they flew. But it was pretty cool. Adding to the excitement we viewed from under the bridge – risking bat droppings. (That always ups the ante!)
After that we had tacos and fancy cocktails (those over 21) at Lincha. Earlier in the day we walked up and down Congress. (Some of us may have Ubered half the way and some of us got 14 miles in for the day.) Aine ended up buying a bag. We saw lots of murals. It was a fun day.
Filed under: Chicago
Day two of visiting Katie – we put on our super sonic sneakers and checked out the Loop Mural Walk. There are three walks downtown that feature 21 murals. Some are done by famous folks and some seem pretty local. Available now through July 4 – although it feels like those murals are pretty permanent. Doing the walk – and maybe diverging from the map a few times – we walked about 4 miles. It’s a fun walk through the loop. The walk isn’t tough but the navigation can be tricky.
Some of the murals are very obvious; some are harder to find but that’s part of the fun. We learned that if we swore we followed the map, we knew we were right, that the answer was to look up. Some of the best and biggest were a few flights up.
Another challenge was the one diversion into the pedestrian mall but it was the first time we had been in the mall so that was fun. Also, we went through the Chicago Cultural Center to get there, where we happened upon the filming of The 4400, which is apparently a TV show. We were thrilled!
We did get to take a walk through the alley side. (Pro Tip: walk on the side away from the garbage cans for fewer rat sightings!) Also we met a kind Irish man on Lower Wacker Drive, who pointed out (again kindly) that maybe we’d made a wrong turn. We were flattered that he cared and he probably wasn’t wrong.
It was a beautiful day. We kept walking after the murals and got another 3 miles under our belts. We visited a few things we always love to see – like the Harold Washington Library. (Snotty aside: I took classes there when I did my MLIS.) The Bean!! Of course I had to stop by the Art Institute of Chicago Lions – because I love them. The River walk is another fave.
Filed under: Chicago
Dad and I went to Chicago in part to visit Katie. Yay! Today we took a walk on the tree side with a trip to the Morton Arboretum. It’s about 30 minutes from where Katie lives. The Arboretum is all about the trees and walking paths and making it easy for people of all abilities to access the trees. Turns out, they have 1700 acres of land. There are lots of paths – some more paved that others but obviously so.
We noted that a mom (or two) with a bunch of kids could manage to get a few miles of walking in with their various half-mile or one-mile loops, a progressive picnic lunch and visit to the kids gallery. Back in the day were pretty much experts on that. You could get a stroller (or wheelchair) through most of the paths. Or I bet you could have a very meditative day walking on the various paths if that was your jam.
Today we were there for the Human + Nature exhibit, five large (15- to 26-foot-tall) statues hidden around the grounds. To be fair, they are less “hidden” if you pick up a map. Sculptor Daniel Popper hails from Cape Town, South Africa and his works have been seen all over the world. The statues are welcoming with open hands and open heart. Climbing on the statutes is not encouraged but you can easily walk through and touch it. They are a delight to see from a distance hidden in the woods and just as delighted to interact with at close range.
Pro Tip: they have some COVID-inspired rules, such as you need to sign up in advance. And special thanks: for letting us get around those rules. I’m not suggesting you thwart the rules; they are easy rules. Just appreciation for people who make space for other people, who sometimes don’t plan.
Also special mention to our delicious meal last night at D&J Bistro in Lake Zurich. I had foie gras for dinner. Tough to beat that unless you also started with share appetizers of scallops, cheese and beef tartare.
Filed under: St Paul
The Minnesota Supreme Court recently ruled that Minnesota law doesn’t consider a rape victim “mentally incapacitated” if they consumed alcohol or drugs voluntarily. Instead, the mentally incapacitated standard applies only if a person was given drugs or alcohol without their consent. It doesn’t take much to imagine the repercussions; victims of unwanted sexual attention or rape will be held responsible. Perpetrators of abuse will not.
This is unfathomable. Given that 90 percent of adult rape victims are female and transgender college students are at higher risk of rape than non-trans students – this is an issue of Women and transgender/nonbinary rights. There are bipartisan bills moving through the House (HF707) and Senate (SF1683) that would change the mental incapacity standard to include cases where victims voluntarily consume alcohol and were subsequently sexually assaulted. We need our legislators to know that we will not stand for this!
Today I attended a Women’s Rights protest organized by two amazing young women, Madisyn Priestley and Kenna Groschen. Hundreds of young people showed up and told their stories of sexual violence, abuse and harassment. The stories were heartbreaking but the love and support was palpable. I applaud the brave women who shared their stories and their poetry.
One line that struck me, “I only control my body until its inconvenient to some man.” We need to change that. Women can no longer be asked to adhere to certain standards (don’t drink, don’t wear yoga pants in the grade school, don’t wear too much make up…) because men are not asked to adhere to standards like – don’t rape.
So I ask you to Contact your legislators. Tell them to pass HF707/SF1683.
Below is Madisyn Priestley’s introduction to the day.
One super frustration that is symptomatic of the problem. During what was a solemn event – suddenly a young guy in the back starts shouting about Jesus. His friend had a fistful of pamphlets. Both young, nicely dressed black men – interrupting women who were telling horrific stories of abuse and harassment. The organizers told everyone to ignore him. Some didn’t. One woman hit him in the face. Fast forward and she was arrested, which splintered the crowd. With some listening to women and some shouting “let her go” at the cops. Ugh.
The frustration is that given the situation, it is likely that she has firsthand experience as a sexual abuse and again based on the stories we heard, he maybe not have been held accountable. Clearly she shouldn’t have hit the guy but she will likely be held accountable. It is systemically what is wrong with our system.
Filed under: Minnesota
March 15, the Ides of March, I went with a group of Minnesota Women’s Marchers headed up Park Rapids to join Honor the Earth and Giniw for a gathering of grandmothers (and others) to protect the water from Enbridge’s Line 3. It’s a three hour drive from St Paul. It was an opportunity for us to build community and make plans for future Women’s March Minnesota events. It was an opportunity to soak up the beauty of Minnesota, which none of us have done much during the pandemic.
The advance details were a little clandestine because it’s not always safe to protest Line 3 in the area. People have been arrested. Enbridge security is everywhere and on high alert. Enbridge is trying to build the pipeline before they are stopped. Building the pipeline has brought protesters and builders to the area. The builders have formed man camps. Honor the Earth has statics on the increase in crime, especially crimes against women in and around man camps in North Dakota. We were there to protect the water and the women – especially the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women.
You know stuff is going down when you invoke the grandmothers! (In truth, all genders and all ages present but a real focus on the grandmothers and a celebration of being a grandmother!)
We got to the meeting place, created a caravan and moved to a beautiful area on the shores of the Crow River. We were greeted by a pack of wild turkeys crossing the road but we were not detained or hassled. However 20 minutes later, one of the cars in Jane Fonda’s group was stopped leaving from the same spot. They were well supplied with lawyers and were not detained long but they were hassled and stalled.
In the meantime, community was building at the site by the River. There was a prayer given and tobacco shared and returned to the River. Water protector Sharon Day gave a blessing and reminded us that Line 3 was a distraction what we really needed to be doing was looking to the water near where all of us live. We need to give thanks, spend time near that water with an intention that is meaningful to us and think about what the Earth needs. Later Winona LaDuke made a similar point recognizing that the pandemic is a sign that the Earth is fighting the infection of disruption. She spoke about the pandemic as portal to change. It is a time a reckoning – a time for more choices. Jane Fonda built upon Winona’s comments by saying that Winona often said as a community we had a choice of carbohydrates or hydrocarbons and we chose wrong; now it a time to make the right choice. And went on to talk about the dangers of letting a foreign oil company bring the most danger tar sands oil through our country at a time when scientists are telling us we are going through the most existential climate crisis. We have 10 years to cut fossil fuel in half – we must do it for our future. Line 3 is a step in the wrong direction. This is a global crisis that we can stop now.
There was humor – in the ongoing commentary by the giant dancing bear. There were warm drinks and some food. There were red dresses everywhere represented the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women, which always breaks my heart. The double vulnerability of being a young woman in an economically distressed area, being Native and knowing that the rules do not protect you. (National Institute of Justice reports that 84 percent of Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime.) Tara Zhaabowekwe Houska spoke about the man camps, trying to solicit underage women and creating an unsafe environment for women in the community. We could feel an ounce of that malaise when we drove away to men in shiny pickups at most corners of the country highways.
So much happening in what feels like plain sight that we are choosing to ignore – but we ignore at our own peril. We are trading the priceless future of our rivers, our lands, our women for nickels that will be overspent and worthless much sooner than we recognize.
So what can we do?
- Tell President Biden to #StopLine3 As the ice on the rivers thaw, it’s more important than ever that we contact President Biden and tell him how vital it is that he Stop Line 3 and protect our lands, air and water. President Biden can stop construction immediately.
- Sign the petition asking President Biden to #StopLine3
- Donate to Honor the Earth (tax deductible) or to the frontlines.
- Join a protest of rally – follow #StopLine3 or Honor the Earth for updates
- Monitor the construction with Watch the Line MN
Filed under: Chicago
Finding social distance fun on our one-day vacation in Chicago, Auntie Katie, Aine and I checked out the 16th Street Murals. The original plan was to walk the railroad embankment that’s covered with murals but it has snowed a lot in Chicago over the last week, there sidewalk wasn’t shoveled, Chicago traffic stop (or slows) for no dopey tourist and we realized the awesome warm weather mixed with a foot of snow would make for soggy toes. So we upped the safety in terms of traffic and COVID and did a driving tour.
The murals extend from Halsted to Western on West 16th Street in Chicago. It started as a grass roots project but morphed into something more official through the Art In Public Places Initiative. The art rans the gamut from pleasant to political, to cartoonish, to striking. There’s art that reflect current culture (The Simpson’s). There’s art that features the faces, especially of people of color (sometimes in the art that color is blue!), with an intensity that looks right through the viewer. There are animals that are majestic (eagles) and gruesome (the rat). There’s religious art. There’s modern, abstract art. There are a few, not a lot, but a few murals with statements; those statements are at least as often in Spanish as English.
I want to include most of the art that we captured, but I also want to highlight some of my favorites:
More art:
Filed under: Chicago
Celebrating half the family getting their vaccines, some of the family traveled to Chicago to visit some of the rest of the family. So there’s been a lot of food, stories and laughs and a little art. Auntie Katie, Aine and I were lucky to get tickets to the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit in Chicago, a show we thought was sold out. We got so lucky!
The immersive experience spans four large, connected rooms. The idea is to sit and watch and listen. There are little socially distanced circles painted on the floor about six feet apart. This is a little COVID silver lining. It means nearly everyone sits down. The tallest guy in the room isn’t in front of you and no one is encroaching in your space. It makes it feel like a VIP experience.
The rooms are like castle walls with high ceilings, hints of columns and arches with a few large mirrors in the rooms. The videos of his work in motion are shown in all rooms on all walls on the floors. The videos are accompanied by loud music ranging from classic to recognizable to ambient to melodic drone. The experience is about 30 minutes, but it’s looped and you can hang out as long as you want. (There might be a time limit; we didn’t get to it.)
The action puts you in the middle of the works of art but really it feels more like you’re in the mind of Van Gogh.
The experience starts with giant bugs running across the wall. It reminded me immediately of AJ Isaacson-Zvidzwa, a young classical musician with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia who debuts a new composition (Angels Sang to Me) on March 5 (2021) at the Cedar Cultural Center (online). We had the opportunity to talk with her about a week ago. She told us that her mental health issues emerged when she was 12 years old and began to see insects that weren’t there.
I would love to see this show with AJ. I would love to have AJ score the show herself. The insights she gave me about her upcoming show, which are inspired by her experience with schizophrenia, helped me immerse myself into how the art and music on the experience helps us experience Van Gogh’s mental illness. From the bugs to the blurring of walls. The darkness and drone giving over to the yellow sunflowers. The multiple self portraits. The fleeting images of people in their daily life leading up to the bursts of colors, clouds and flowers and eventually into the swirling starry, starry night. It is entertaining and thought provoking.
Filed under: St Paul
It snowed up a storm yesterday. It looks like Christmas. I’ve been posting holiday music videos, so it sounds like Christmas. But Christmas is definitely different this year. It’s 2020. The world has shut down due to COVID, which means Lily and Kate will not be coming home for Christmas. It’s heartbreaking but I know they’re safe in Winnipeg, I know they’re together and there are 100 ways we can connect through broadband.
Aine and I decided we’d do something different with the tree. OK, I decided and Aine went along with the idea. I found a picture of what I wanted – a ghost tree! It did make for a fun night watching sitcoms and working on the tree last night. So that alone was worth it.
I started the project two days ago and I track the progress in video because I knew it was going to be a masterpiece. Masterpiece may be an overreach but I have to say I’m pretty happy with how it turned out – especially since I decided that the several variations of instructions I found online, were not for me. One big priority was that I didn’t want anything so heavy it might take down part of the ceiling.
Here’s a little step by step:
- I got the Christmas balls and string from Target.
- I had a fun birthday call with a friend while I worked on the first step. I drew a spiral on cardboard and plotted where to poke holes to hang the balls.
- I went shopping for washers and dowels because I thought they would help. The washers did.
- Aine and I worked together to measure string and tie up the balls. Each strong being a little longer than the next to create the tree effect.
- We hung the balls. This became very tangled because one of us was tired. (And perhaps less dedicated.)
- One of us untangled the balls. But that inspired the rest of the team.
- We decided that if we hung the tree from the arch in the room that we wouldn’t need a super tall person.
- We tried many tricks to find a way to keep the carboard level (since had been a box). Eventually we decided to thread the hangers through the cardboard.
- We found picture hangers to hang on the crown molding, which was a stroke of serious luck
Filed under: Minnesota
You know what qualifies has high excitement during a pandemic? A day trip to Duluth to hand out awesome posters to get out the vote!!
So we got the team back together. My dad drove and I worked as we went from St Paul to Duluth and back. It’s the type of trip we might do a dozen times a year outside of a pandemic.
We handed over more than 200 Love Vote Rise posters to some awesome locals who will now take on the tough job of sharing them around town. I think we’ve nearly hooked a connection to get a few of them over to the Iron Range too. And if that doesn’t work, my friend Mary Magnuson transported a bunch of posters from St Paul to Grand Rapids yesterday; we’ll make that work.
It’s the power of the people. The whole Love Vote Rise is a demonstration of the power of the people. It’s an all-volunteer social justice art installation of posters and light shows (think bat signals calling you to use your super power to VOTE!). It’s headed up by artist Leon Wang. (Learn more.)
If you want posters or have a great location for a light show – please let me know!!
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- 10am – leaving St Paul!
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- Made it to Duluth
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- Barely see the Duluth Lighthouse
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- Made a local friend who will share the posters!!
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- Dala says vote in Cloquet
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- Nagaajiwanaang (Fond du Lac Reservation)
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- The Voyager in Barnum
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- The Voyager in Barnum
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- Moose Lake Correctional Facility
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!
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