COMMUNITY VOICES | Gripping collection transcends domestic life: Event features volume that is “gift to women’s history”

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Miriam Barber Judd was a prolific letter writer. She could pour out her feelings and experiences much more easily on paper than propriety allowed her to in daily life. The result is an amazing collection of letters (she left almost 2,000) and private writings that give a real-time, first-person account of the life behind a public servant. The Pioneer Press calls it “a gift to women’s history.”Now her daughter, Mary Lou Judd Carpenter, has put these together in a volume called Miriam’s Words: The Personal Price of a Public Life. This selection gives a chronological, well-written, insightful account of the life of the spouse of a public servant, Dr. Walter Judd, who was a medical missionary to China in the 1920s and 1930s, a 20-year Congressman and a delegate to the United Nations. Continue Reading

10 reasons artists need patrons, or get on over to Kickstarter

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You know how some artists in the old days used to have patrons? Think Michaelangelo, or other painters, sculptors or even scientists, who had the d’Medici family, popes, or kings and queens who supported their work and fed them so that they could get on with it.I’m thinking that is what is needed now for some folks. Sure, there are grants and prizes that award money for artistic merit. But I’m thinking something more personal than that – someone who knows the artists, really believes in them, and will not make them fill out reams of paperwork in competition with other artists to garner continued support. Not that I think grants and prizes are bad – it’s just a tough system, and most people who are successful at it have had to learn how to use it.I’m not just talking about painters and sculptors, either. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | Book arts community comes together for launch, reading

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Cave Paper and The American Craft Council will sponsor a poetry reading by Stuart Kestenbaum when he visits the Twin Cities in October. A reading and book signing will take place on Saturday, October 5 from 7:00 to 8:00 pm, at the American Craft Council Library, located at 1224 Marshall Ave in Minneapolis. An author’s reception will begin at 6:30 pm. The event is free and open to the public.The event will celebrate the release of Kestenbaum’s latest book, A Deep Blue Amen, which was published by Amanda Degener, co-proprietor of Cave Paper. It is letterpress-printed calligraphy scribed by Jan Owen on indigo-dyed handmade flax paper made by Degener. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | Apprentice concert result of year-long practice

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 Irish traditional musician Paddy O’Brien will present the results of a year-long apprenticeship program on Friday, October 4 at Celtic Junction in Saint Paul. The concert takes place at 7:30 pm.The event will celebrate his work with Center for Irish Music apprentices, who will play in the evening’s first set. The second musical set will feature O’Rourke’s Feast, which is an ensemble that O’Brien has played in since 2008. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children and seniors, and are available by calling 651-698-2258 or visiting his website. The evening will also celebrate the digital release of the landmark Tune Collection, Volumes I and II, which features the first recordings of many in the vast repertoire of tunes that O’Brien is famous for. For the first time, the instructive songs he recorded are available for download, either singly or by volume. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | Letters of wife of MN Congressman Walter Judd to be published as book

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Miriam Barber Judd was a prolific letter writer. She could pour out her feelings and experiences much more easily on paper than propriety allowed her to in daily life. The result is an amazing collection of letters (she left almost 2,000) and private writings that give a real-time, first-person account of the life behind a public servant.Now her daughter, Mary Lou Judd Carpenter, has put these together in a volume called Miriam’s Words: The Personal Price of a Public Life. These selections give a chronological, well-written, insightful account of the life of the spouse of a public servant, Dr. Walter Judd, who was a medical missionary to China in the 1920s and 1930s, a 20-year Congressman and a delegate to the United Nations. Miriam kept the home fires burning, and was an undaunted masterful manager of the many worlds she inhabited.What is seldom heard is the price of such service. Continue Reading

BOOKS | No cigar, but lots of books: Self-published authors carpe diem at the Twin Cities Book Festival

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The Rain Taxi Review of Books is holding its tenth annual Twin Cities Book Festival at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College on Saturday, October 16 10 a.m. to 5 pm. The day promises to be a feast for book lovers, with literary discussions, author talks, signings, and a book sale. Many authors who are self-published will be exhibiting or attending. A lot of people wonder how they continue to do this. Is it a lonely endeavor? Do they love to expose themselves to throngs of strangers?

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