Mar 11, 2026
One of the pleasures of living in downtown Saint Paul is the opportunity to live an everyday life with architecture. The neighborhood forms masses of shapes against the sky, and there are wonderful interior shapes with atriums of different heights and colors. The...
Feb 12, 2026
I was raised in a time and place, and in a family, that followed strict protocol about home-handling of the American flag. Fly it on Memorial Day, on Flag Day, on the 4th of July, Labor Day. Never let it touch the ground. Never fly it in the rain. Take it in at...
Jan 26, 2026
The temperature dropped to 5 below zero by 7 pm last Saturday night, January 24. Less than twelve hours had passed since the shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by federal agents on a busy street in Minneapolis; it had been a terrible day following terrible weeks. ...
Dec 1, 2025
In July, I wrote a piece called “Stop the Train! Was that a Rocket Ship?!”, in which I speculated fruitlessly about the origin of a mysterious object, with a galactic if forlorn air, spotted in a Wisconsin field from a speeding Amtrak train. What was that thing? You,...
Oct 16, 2025
Today’s joy, of the street music variety. An older woman rhythmically walking a pitbull down a park path this morning, a little strut to it, the dog pulling on the leash, her headphones over stocking cap (for it is October now), singing loudly with an accompanying...
