An example of a school lunch at St. Paul Public Schools. Photo courtesy SPPS Facebook.

July 31, 2025 West End Healthline 5 min read Columns, United Family Physicians Clinic, West End Healthline

Fueling Young Minds: Why High-Protein School Lunches Matter

By Natasha Vo, MD As the summer is starting to come to an end and school is about to begin,

July 30, 2025 Tim Rumsey 2 min read Columns, Mr. Positive, Notebook Recollections

The Big Yellow Dumpster

I just returned from outside Carl “Mr. Positive’s” St. Clair home. He is six months gone from the West 7th speck on the old earth ball.

His house is empty. There is a huge boxcar-size dumpster alongside his curb. Bright, canary yellow. Industrial. 10 feet deep, clean, shiney. You would need sunglasses to hold any gaze upon it.

July 30, 2025 Korinne Dennis 2 min read Columns

Tips for Safely Walking Your Dog This Summer

One thing I enjoy about the West 7th neighborhood is its walkability, especially with having two dogs. The summer season,

Book cover of The Professor and the Madman

July 30, 2025 Beatrice Cosgrove 3 min read Bea's Books, Columns

The Murderer Who Wrote the Dictionary

What does a murderer and the editor of the Oxford English Dictionary have in common? Well, everything, according to Simon Winchester.

July 30, 2025 Zach Murphy 2 min read Columns, Film Review

Film Review: The Gamble of “Sinners” Pays Off

The word “Awesome” is thrown around a lot when it comes to films, but Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” resoundingly earns the

July 30, 2025 West 7th Library 0 min read Columns, St Paul Public Library, West 7th Library

Celebrate the Last of Summer at Your Library

Savor the final stretch of summer with fun, flavor and festivity at St. Paul Public Library’s Summer Celebration! We’re celebrating

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