Morgan Halaska

These days, it's hard to imagine a sporting event as a "casual leisure activity," what with all the pain, angst, and drama that the competition breeds. The new exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts explores just how—through television, video, and digital technology—sports became the spectacle of mass participation it is today. And believe it or not, sports is more than just eating pork rinds, drinking beer, and burping on the couch; the works of art on display at the MIA "communicate a broader social, political and cultural significance."MORE »

University of Minnesota's own Brenda Child's newest work Holding Our World Together: Ojibwe Women and the Survival of Community is the latest addition to the Penguin Library of American Indian History. Her book is described as "a powerful tribute to the many courageous women who sustained Native communities through the darkest challenges of the last three centuries." A member of the Red Lake Ojibwe Nation and associate professor at the U of M with a specialty in American Indian history, Child has a strong grasp of the topic, to say the least. Tonight's discussion at the U of M's bookstore will be thought provoking indeed.MORE »

Somali novelist Nuruddin Farah's new play A Stone Thrown at the Guilty found its inspiration in two uprisings that happened under British rule—one in 1920 and the other in 1939-40. The storyline, however, "veers sharply from the usual narratives of heroic resistance." The free public-staged reading will be held at the Stoll Thrust Theatre at the Rarig Center for the performing arts.MORE »

Answer: The mandatory to-do before competing in historical trivia pertaining to artists and cultural icons recognized in the second month of the year. Black History Month meets the sport of trivia in Black Art Jeopardy! at the Hosmer Public Library. The categories are a potpourri of Black Poets, African American Novels, Black Playwrights, Black Muralists, Black Women Visual Artists, and Black Photographers. The registration deadline is Wednesday, Feb. 15 and the event is Thursday, Feb. 23. Now that you have the topics, it's time to hit the Google searches.MORE »