June 26, 2025 Tim Johnson 3 min read Building Community, Columns

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.

Dacotah Village,1849–55. Watercolor by Seth Eastman. “The building supplies for these elm-bark lodges came from the Minnesota River Valley. The porches allowed for a bit of shade and a handy spot to dry animal skins.” Credit: Courtesy Minneapolis Institute of Arts

June 26, 2025 Joe Landsberger 3 min read Columns, Origin Stories

Origin Story, Part the Third: Native Lands

For eight thousand years the Dakota navigated the waterways of our state in their dugout canoes. This network of streams

June 26, 2025 Tim Rumsey 2 min read Columns, Notebook Recollections

Happy as a Clam

West seventh All-Star cab driver, William “Texan” Dubois is a happy man. Ever-wise, calm, alert and ready. Knows who he is and what he is doing.

Tex is happy… I’m pretty sure.

I asked Tex once if he was and he said, “You bet” and then he laughed hard. “I’m 64 years old, still standing, working. My elimination functions are under control. No debts. Nothing to run from.”

OK, good.

June 26, 2025 West End Healthline 3 min read Columns, United Family Physicians Residency, West End Healthline

Thoughts and Prayers Continue to Not Be Enough

By Jonathan Dickman, MD, PhD Back in 2022 I wrote in this column how “thoughts and prayers” were not going

Jacket cover of “On a Farther Shore: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson” by William Souder

June 26, 2025 Beatrice Cosgrove 2 min read Bea's Books, Columns

The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson, Part 2

And so we continue our journey with Rachel Carson. Welcome back to my two part review of “On a Farther Shore: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson” by William Souder. The second part of the book opens as Carson navigates the publication and success of her new book “The Edge of the Sea” while examining the ups and downs of her personal life, including her romance with Dorothy Freeman, the death of her sister, Marjorie and multiple health complications.

June 26, 2025 Zach Murphy 2 min read Columns, Film Review

“Paddington” is a Bright Spot, Expands True Meaning of Family

Film Review Everyone’s favorite fuzzy, bucket hat-wearing, marmalade-loving bear is back with “Paddington in Peru.” Whether you’ve seen the first

May 30, 2025 Tim Johnson 3 min read Building Community, Columns

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.

A “delusion” of three eras of the West End: An imaginary view telescoping three eras of the West End. Top right, St Anthony Falls retreating up the Mississippi River; top left, the retreating River Warren falls that carved St Paul’s bluff; top center, Fort Snelling at Bdote, at the confluence of both rivers. Lower left, Dakota Natives viewing the past and future. Stuart Loughridge’s watercolor interpretation is based on the Henry Lewis chromolithograph.”

May 30, 2025 Joe Landsberger 3 min read Columns, Origin Stories

Origin Story, Part the Second: Deluge

Dakota historians (Westerman/White, 2012): “The relationship of a people to the lands where they live is crucial for understanding their

May 28, 2025 Beatrice Cosgrove 3 min read Bea's Books, Columns

The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson (Part One)

The opening line of “Under the Sea Wind” underwhelmed me. I wasn’t sure I could make it any further, the next page or so was a jumble of 1940s nature writing I had never previously cared to read. I put it down, staring at the small cover plastered with a giant sticker reading “Interlibrary Loan.” I sat and wondered why I had decided to do this in the first place. The great outdoors was never something that called to me. I like civilization (a lot), but somehow, the seemingly fictional Rachel Carson reeled me in, and I found myself devoted to William Souder’s “On a Farther Shore: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson.”