Flex your filmmaker muscles during One Day in the Twin Cities Saturday

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Citizens across the Twin Cities are invited to pick up their camcorders and pull out their smartphones Saturday, April 26 as part of the cities-wide media creation event, One Day in the Twin Cities.One Day in the Twin Cities is a local project of One Day on Earth to “inform the future of our cities,” according to the event website. Eleven cities across the country, including the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, are taking part in the event.How do can you participate? By investigating one or more of the following 10 questions and capturing it on film:Why are you in your city?What do you love about your city?What is the best thing happening in your city today?What are your city’s biggest challenges?Who is your city not serving?What is the worst thing that could happen to your city?What are the solutions that your city needs to implement?How are people changing the future of your city?What do you hope for your city in the next 20 years?Ask your own question about your city.When your video is complete, upload it via Vimeo to the One Day in the Twin Cities website. The footage will used to create a TV Series and Geo-tagged archive featuring the stories. Those who plan to interview other people on film, need to get their subjects to sign releases. Continue Reading

Daily Planet offers free video class in preparation for One Day in the Twin Cities event

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Citizens across the Twin Cities will take to their camcorders and smartphones Saturday, April 26 as part of the cities-wide media creation event, One Day in the Twin Cities.One Day in the Twin Cities is a local project of One Day on Earth to “inform the future of our cities,” according to the event website. Eleven cities across the country, including the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, are taking part in the event, and the Twin Cities Daily Planet is hoping to help aspiring participants share their stories.The Twin Cities Daily Planet is hosting a free, two-hour class on the basics of camcorder and smartphone video making. The class will be lead by Eleonore Wesserle, a trainer and facilitator with Line Break Media.The class will be held from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 22 at The Common Table, 2001 Riverside Ave. in Minneapolis. Continue Reading

BOOKS | Lauren Kessler turns an anthropologist’s lens on her “Teenage Werewolf”

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The two most important, character-defining—and difficult—relationships we women will have in our lives are our relationship with our mothers and with our own children. However, once the teen years start drawing nearer, mother-child relationships become fragile and strained. This is especially true in the often turbulent (and estrogen-enriched) mother-daughter relationship. Author Lauren Kessler explores this connection—as a daughter and a mother—in her nonfiction book My Teenage Werewolf: A Mother, a Daughter, a Journey Through the Thicket of Adolescence. Kessler’s story is a play-by-play of her woes and mini-triumphs as the mother of Lizzie—a spunky and original 12-year-old who is on the cusp of teenhood. Continue Reading

AICDC receives grants for American Indian community development

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The American Indian Community Development Corp. (AICDC) was recently awarded nearly $7 million in grants from the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund of the United States Treasury and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  AICDC will use the funds to begin the process of establishing a CDFI and building a 47-unit apartment complex for American Indian, or Native American, community elders. A CDFI, according to the CDFI Fund website, is designed to spur economic growth in urban and rural low-income communities by providing more access to capital. AICDC received $108,322 from the CDFI Fund and was one of 45 organizations in 19 states to be awarded the funding, according to Indian Country Today newspaper. By creating a CDFI, AICDC hopes to be able to offer more financial options to help increase homeownership among American Indians in Minnesota. Continue Reading

ISAIAH receives grant to analyze health impacts of Central Corridor

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With the expansion of light-rail line into St. Paul’s Central Corridor nearing, community organization ISAIAH will be digging into the potential health effects the expansion could have on the people.ISAIAH was one of ten organizations – out of the more than 200 applicants – to receive grant money from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts to conduct a health impact assessment (HIA).ISAIAH’s HIA focus on the light-rail extension will be done with specific attention, Phil Steger said, to people of color and lower incomes, who are living to the north and south of University Ave. and in East St. Paul. Steger is the HIA project manager for ISAIAH, a St. Continue Reading

Looking at crime by the numbers in Minneapolis and St. Paul

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After coining the nickname “Murderapolis” in the 90s, Twin Cities news sources continue to heavily report on Minneapolis crime rates and criminal acts – especially in regard to homicides.As of June 6, according to a crime statistics report compiled by the City of Minneapolis, 21 homicides had occurred in Minneapolis, year to date. Three more shootings raised the number to in the past week have raised the total to 24.Seven of the year’s murders occurred in the first few weeks of January, prompting a vast amount of media coverage.  Headlines such as Another deadly night in Minneapolis and 5th Minneapolis murder in a week Friday night dominated local television and newspapers. This week, too, the quick succession of three shootings focused public attention on homicides in Minneapolis.Crime reports can be some of the most sensational items included in a news broadcast or publication, but isolated incidents don’t give a full picture. News media often rely on statistical information to provide context to a story, but how can you know what the statistics mean and when they are significant?This chart, from the MPD’s 2006 Homicide Report (the most recent available online), shows historical data for murders in Minneapolis. The FBI Uniform Crime Reports show 47 murders in 2007, 39 in 2008 and 19 in 2009.StatisticsThe cities of Minneapolis and St. Continue Reading

MN VOICES | Two lifetimes fighting racism

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“There is no such thing as races,” Dr. Herbert Perkins said.  “There is only one human race.” 

This ideal and the fight for social justice have become the life work of Dr. Perkins and Margery Otto. “[Combating racism] has been a lifelong passion,” Dr. Perkins said, speaking for both himself and Otto. And to their delight, they were honored for their work when The St. Paul Foundation named them co-recipients of the Facing Races Ambassadors Award. “Having that affirmation, having that social approval…knowing that others appreciate the work we are doing [is encouraging].” Continue Reading

Fiesta! Cinco de Mayo in Minneapolis and St. Paul

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The sound of maracas and mariachi music will fill the air in the coming weeks when community members take to the streets for Cinco de Mayo block parties in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Twin Cities organizations and businesses are once again are hosting celebrations this year, despite funding woes and operation issues. 

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Still dancing at El Nuevo Rodeo

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“It’s not just a bar; it’s not just a nightclub,” said Alex Rojas, general manager for El Nuevo Rodeo. “It is a community center, too.”

Right now, however, El Nuevo Rodeo is engaged in a battle to stay alive, as the city of Minneapolis tries to shut it down. After months of uncertainty, El Nuevo Rodeo won the first round in mid-March, as Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Raymond Krause, after hearing evidence from both sides, made a recommendation in favor of El Nuevo Rodeo.   

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