Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/author/mindy-rhiger/page/2/)
I spent Election Day afternoon handing out kids’ ballots and I Voted stickers to the kids at my polling place. It was pretty quiet, but the kids who did cast ballots in the Kids Voting Minneapolis mock election seemed so proud to be voting just like their parents that I couldn’t help but be glad I was there. Continue Reading
“Books are the easiest way to get the conversation rolling in a low-stress environment.” –Lindsey Hoskins, sex educator Continue Reading
You could still see the messages written three different languages chalked on the sidewalk in front of my daughter’s school earlier this week from the October 10th Kindness in Chalk event. The words were faded then, but they still have me hope. Continue Reading
It had been a few years since I had been to the Twin Cities Book Festival. Once it moved to St. Paul, I let the distance (and my non-driving status) keep me home. This year, I’m back behind the wheel of a car, so I thought I’d check out what I’d been missing. Continue Reading
I am well aware that if I had been born in a different time or place my life would not be what it is. I might point to my eyeglasses and reference my very poor unassisted vision as one way my life would have been quite different if I’d been born a few hundred years ago. But I think that my prosthetic arm is the more obvious tie to the modern era that I rely on regularly. Continue Reading
When your mom is a Book Mom (as my daughter refers to me), you don’t just visit the neighborhood candy shop, you read a book first. Continue Reading
What makes a house a home? (Or an apartment a home, in this case, I suppose.) My daughter is nearing the end of her first year of Unitarian-Universalist religious education, and that has been the focus of the program for her age group: Creating a home. Continue Reading
There was a time when I had a whole roomful of books. Shelves lined every wall, and they were packed with books. I looked at my bookshelves, and I saw success. It was what I thought I always wanted. What book lover wouldn’t? Continue Reading
This past Saturday I stood in front of a very small group to read an essay that is probably the most personal thing I’ve written outside of the pages of my journal in years. That group will decide whether I will be offered an opportunity to read my essay in front of a much larger audience as part of the 2014 Listen to Your Mother show. I won’t hear until the end of the week whether my audition was successful. In all honesty, I’m not sure which outcome I’m rooting for. Continue Reading
We’ve taken a step toward a more traditional holiday this year. Our DIY Christmas tree has taken several different forms over the last few years–some of which barely resembled a tree at all–but the same idea was behind them all. We wanted to use what we had to celebrate. We wanted a holiday that focused on creative reuse rather than consumerism. This year we were given a hand-me-down artificial tree, and we have a small collection of ornaments that have been gifted to us, so our tree is pretty traditional. Continue Reading