Author: Tim Johnson

Tim Johnson 3 min read , , ,

At Home on Raspberry Island

It is a fair bet that Albert Einstein would have loved the colorful, fanciful, imaginative Mexican folk art exhibit presently installed on Raspberry Island. Hike down the Wabasha bridge steps or exit off of Wabasha onto Fillmore St. and you will find yourself in the presence of “Alebrijes: Keepers of the Island”. Surrounded by the Mississippi River on both sides, overlooking downtown St. Paul, Raspberry Island is the perfect venue for these four to sixteen foot vividly colorful creatures, whose heads and bodies are a fusion of a diverse and imaginative world.

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Tim Johnson 3 min read ,

Paying Attention

The moral of the story was pay attention. At least, that was what my dad suggested as the take away lesson. It was hard to argue with that conclusion. I was at a home town basketball game. I had a front row seat, a great spot to watch the game. The ball slamming me in the face caught me totally off guard. My broken glasses lay on the ground. All eyes turned toward me to see if I was OK. I was caught between shock, embarrassment and the sharp stinging on my face. As my dad later that night rightly observed, when you are sitting in the front row, it might be a good idea to pay attention to the game rather than chatting it up with your friends. You never know when an errant pass might be coming your way. 

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Tim Johnson 3 min read ,

The Necessity of Empathy

My grandson’s shoe was missing. He is just 13 months in age and has been enjoying the value of upright mobility for the past month or so, making footwear important. On a warm sunny afternoon, the playground we visited was full of other children with either their parents or grandparents. The adults, like the children, engaged in the type of friendly conversation of people meeting for the first time.

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Tim Johnson 3 min read , ,

Influencers for a Kinder World

It is fair to say that Carl Benston, AKA, Mr. Positive, never thought of himself as an influencer, at least not by the standards of those who are able to use their influence as a source of income through social media. How could you possibly expect a person living with savant syndrome disability to be an influencer? Like others who live in or frequent the West 7th Community, I often saw Carl on his creatively outfitted bike. I never had the opportunity to meet Mr. Positive in person, but thanks to the wonderful memorial in the January Community Reporter and the writings of Tim Rumsey, I almost feel like I did. I certainly have known folks like Carl, people who somehow manage the art of being, without pretense or gilded effort to showcase themselves for profit or otherwise. 

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Tim Johnson 3 min read ,

Grace, Beauty and Courage

On a sub-zero day, something more than anger is needed to get one to leave the warm comfort of home and join hundreds of protesters standing together by the steps of the State Capitol. Billed as a National Protest, with gatherings in all 50 states, this President’s Day event was both a rejection of the perceived authoritarianism of recent Presidential executive orders and an embrace of constitutional democracy. In his book, “Dare We Speak of Hope?,” Allan Boesak, South African theologian and a leader of the anti-apartheid movement, offers a quote from St. Augustine who said, “Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the same.”

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Tim Johnson 3 min read

I See You

It is a small gesture, but when you are trying to cross four lanes of traffic at the corner of West 7th and Goodrich, the gesture and the recognition matters. Each Tuesday I navigate that stretch of road in order to join long time colleagues and friends for breakfast at the Day By Day Café. Sometimes, too often, I feel virtually invisible as cars speed by seemingly unaware or uninterested in a pedestrian hoping to safely make it to the other side. But, invariably there is a person who sees me, slows down and motions for me to cross. Since it is four lanes, I never take one person’s stopping as sufficient, but what often seems to be the case is that if one person stops it triggers other people doing the same thing. It is good to be seen.

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