Sheila Regan: Artist of stage and page

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Sheila Regan strode through T’s Place sporting a short skirt, tall boots and look of determination. It was the Daily Planet’s fourth birthday party last April, and Regan was heading outside for a smoke. Surrounded by silver-haired print media veterans, the 32-year-old writer made a fierce first impression. 
Now who, I wondered, is this? I soon connected Regan with her byline, which often appears in the Planet as well publications such as The Circle and City Pages. It wasn’t until last week, though, that we finally chatted face-to-face. Continue Reading

The Fair will be back next year, but what about newspapers?

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I practically had to wrestle John Hubin for his email address, which he finally released with a great deal of hand-wringing, reluctance and curmudgeonly grimacing. “I don’t like to sit any longer at the computer than I have to,” lamented Hubin, editor of the News*Mirror in Hector, which has a population of close to 1,200. Hubin, below, served as one of the honorary editors of the Minnesota Newspaper Museum, an annual Minnesota State Fair attraction that pays homage to the fading glory of print media. As part of the volunteer position, he greeted visitors, answered their questions, and groused about the Internet’s ill effects on our intellect. I went prepared to be romanced by the looks and sound of a working Linotype machine — and on this matter, the exhibit certainly delivered: But I was surprised by Hubin’s antipathy toward online news sources and his disdain for the Internet in general. Continue Reading

More residents ready to ride, thanks to BikeTown

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It’s been 25 years since St. Paul’s Damita Hawkins started her sit-down desk job with the state. “I was a lot thinner,” the 47-year-old mother of two confessed Tuesday outside of Target Field. “I could hide behind a tree then.” As Hawkins spoke she leaned against her brand new Jamis commuter bike, which she plans to use to get back into shape and set a good example for her children.  Hawkins was one of 30 local residents who received free bikes as part of Bicycling magazine’s BikeTown USA program. Continue Reading

An omnivore’s Minnesota State Fair dilemma

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Born at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 26, Princess Kay Katie burst into the Minnesota State Fair’s Miracle of Birth Center amid a torrent of stunned onlookers, proud fanfare and bodily fluids. By the following Saturday, the 2010 State Fair’s esteemed First Calf had acquired a private stall, chipper attendant and personalized signage.Her week of fame, and the surrounding plethora of birth and baby animals throughout the center, mark a small and somewhat bittersweet annual comeback for farm animals like her, below. The event forces diners to put down their meatballs on a stick and look look face-to-face with their food sources, who generally go about their business of becoming our suppers in a deferential, non-threatening and largely unseen way.”That’s why people love this place,” said veterinarian and sheep farmer Holly Neaton from Watertown, Minn. “They just don’t grow up on farms anymore.” Continue Reading

Finding freedom on two wheels: Community Partners Bike Library empowers low-income adults

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Before Bobby Hicks got his bike, he took the bus to his favorite fishing spots. He loved hauling home a bucket full of future dinners, but as for his fellow passengers — not so much. “I get on the bus and all the windows fly open,” Hicks, 52, said Wednesday. “So I’m glad I got this bike.”  Hicks is one of close to 100 people who have been lent bikes through the Sibley Bike Depot’s Community Partners Bike Library program in St. Paul. Continue Reading

Native American traditions return to heal diabetes

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ASHLAND and ODANAH, Wis.– While a good many elders on the Bad River Indian Reservation have diabetes, Bob Wilmer is not one of them. 

Part 3 of 3 articles. “My bad cholesterol is low, my good cholesterol is high. My doctor keeps asking me my diet, so he can recommend it,” said Wilmer, the Bad River Band’s game warden. “I keep telling him, ‘I eat everything that’s supposed to be bad for you.’ I eat fat – I eat butter, eggs, whatever – and I’ve never had a problem.” Continue Reading

Keeping good hearts at Bad River

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The room hums with the sound of mechanical kidneys beeping, whirring and buzzing. Archie Shinaway is hooked up to one of the dozen hemodialysis stations at FMC Dialysis Clinic in Ashland, Wis. He is among many regulars at the clinic from the nearby Bad River Indian Reservation, home to 1,500 members of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, along Lake Superior. 

Part 2 of 3 articles. Like others sitting back in the vibrating, heated easy chair for the draining four-hour dialysis treatment, Shinaway’s kidney failure is a consequence of type 2 diabetes. Shinaway’s only hope of ending this debilitating process is a successful kidney transplant. Continue Reading

Slow death at Bad River: Diabetes in Indian Country

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ASHLAND and ODANAH, Wis. – Helen “Frannie” Shinaway carefully spritzes hair gel into her tidy black mullet. She’d already squeezed on her jeans, tucked in a salmon pink T-shirt and put on a gold necklace and earrings specially reserved for this event: Thursday night darts. But tonight she’ll be going alone. 

Part 1 of 3 articles. It’s been more than a decade since Shinaway and her husband Archie started playing in the bar darts league, a local tradition bringing together people around Ashland, Wis. Continue Reading