MN VOICES | Poet Diane Glancy speaks for the voiceless

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Poet and novelist Diane Glancy says her work gives a voice to those who cannot speak for themselves: Sacajawea, the Cherokee who walked the Trail of Tears in 1831, the Ghost Dancers who held out hope that a messiah would help them get back what they had lost. Her role as a writer, she said, is “to portray the human experience.” 
The human voices in Glancy’s poems, essays, novels, plays and now films are usually Native American or people like herself, those who come from a mixed European and Indian ancestry. The Macalester College professor retired last year, after 18 years teaching writing and Native American literature. She recently moved to Kansas City, her hometown, to be near her daughter and grandchildren. Born in 1941, Glancy’s father was Cherokee; her mother was of English/German descent. Continue Reading

Admission Possible success in St. Paul, Minneapolis sparks plan to go national

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Four years after graduating from St. Paul’s Central High School, Mai Youa Moua is back.   The Macalester College graduate returned to Central last fall to work with Admission Possible, a St. Paul-based program that helps low-income juniors and seniors prepare for college. It’s the same program that helped her gain admission to Macalester. Moua’s school success story isn’t unique. Continue Reading

Here comes the sun—along with Twin Cities celebrations of winter solstice

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The first day of winter and the longest night of the year arrive Monday, the winter solstice, the time when the earth’s axial tilt is farthest from the sun. For those of you who’ve already been hit with seasonal affective disorder, the silver lining that comes with that long dark night is that our days will begin to get a just a little longer come December 22. Here in Minnesota, that’s worth celebrating, and a number of groups around Minneapolis and Saint Paul will be doing just that at public rituals to mark the winter solstice and celebrate the northern hemisphere’s slow angling back toward the sun. Here’s a list of some gatherings you can join over the next few days to celebrate our gradual-but guaranteed-increasing sunshine: The Tree and the Well Winter Solstice Celebration 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 19 Powderhorn Phillips Cultural Wellness Center, 1527 E. Lake St., Minneapolis Cost: $5 to $10 is requested, but no one will be turned away. Continue Reading

Deb Henton: Final candidate for SPPS superintendent met by student demonstration

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A week of interviewing three finalists for the Saint Paul Public Schools superintendent’s job came to a lively end Thursday night as about 30 high school students stood outside the district headquarters holding signs and yelling out that they did not want the school board to hire North Branch superintendent Deborah Henton. It was Henton’s turn to meet with the press, the public and the Board of Education Thursday. The protest was organized by Cheng Mee, a senior at Harding High School, where Henton served as principal from 2001 to 2005. Mee said many of the Hmong parents did not like Henton because of some things that happened while they had children at the school. “Henton was not supportive of minorities,” Mee said. Continue Reading

Six superintendent semi-finalists named in St. Paul

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Six semi-finalists for the superintendent’s job were presented to the St. Paul Public Schools Board of Education Wednesday night and five are Minnesotans. Commitment to the city and school system were high on the wish list for a new superintendent, so it’s no surprise that three of the semi-finalists work for or have worked for the district. The board will interview the six candidates on Friday and Saturday and announce up to three finalists Saturday afternoon. The interviews will be open to the public. Continue Reading

Sisters of St. Joseph catch those who fall through widening cracks in health care system

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The free medical clinics that Dr. Ellen Raeker volunteers at three or four times a month were never meant to be permanent, she says. When St. Mary’s Health Clinics began operating in church basements and schools in the Twin Cities metro area in 1992, Bill Clinton was campaigning for president and focusing on a universal health care plan. “[St. Mary’s] was thought to fill the gap until that got off the ground,” Raeker says. Continue Reading

News from the State Fair

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Michelle Leonard has spent the last six years vacationing at the Minnesota Newspaper Museum at the Minnesota State Fair. The staff writer and photographer for the Farmington Independent planned to spend nine out of the 12 days of this year’s fair teaching visitors about the role newspapers have played in Minnesota’s history. That’s after she gets back from taking photos for her employer of Rosemount High School’s marching band in the 2 p.m. parade. (“I figure I’m here . . Continue Reading

When nature calls: Finding relief at the Minnesota State Fair

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Tucked behind the Chevy pickups and Isuzu semi trailers off of Cooper Street at the Minnesota State Fair there’s a place where you can find relief from the crowds and the clamor. It’s a red clapboard building with the word “Restroom” painted across it: men’s on one side and women’s on the other. Just one block from the every-day-at-2 p.m. parade route, the packed Fine Arts building and the bustling Eco Experience, and only a stone’s throw from the Family Fair in Baldwin Park, you don’t have to wait to use the bathroom. There’s no line. There’s toilet paper in every stall. Continue Reading