Saint Paul Skyways = Freedom
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Skyway at the corner of Sibley and Fifth, looking west. (Photo: Jeremy Noble/Flickr CC)
Running, Living, and Dying in St. Paul
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The Rossmore Building on Robert Street (Photo: Patricia Bour-Schilla)
I came to Minnesota back in the earliest of the 1990s when the floods washed out levees and flooded barns. It seemed as if it rained for two months; maybe it was just four weeks. I’d been on the road doing a vision quest, which means I didn’t know where I was going or where I would wind up. Continue Reading
My unforgettable lesson of the RNC
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Police in riot gear at the 2008 Republican National Convention in downtown Saint Paul (Photo: nigelparry.com)
Fire on Pig’s Eye Island
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Pig’s Eye Island owes its name to a nineteenth-century trader, Pig’s Eye Parrant, who sold liquor and guns along the Mississippi’s watery highway. The nearby settlers took his name for their growing town until they decided the more mundane sobriquet Saint Paul might lend more dignity to a territory that was soon to become a state. Continue Reading
Ta-coumba Aiken
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Part of one of Ta-coumba Aiken’s murals, at Jeremiah Project
Photo © Patricia Bour-Schilla
I first met Ta-coumba Aiken in the summer of 2000 at the Peanuts on Parade opening reception in Saint Paul. Continue Reading
The RED Towboats under the Old High Bridge
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Robert E. Draine worked his whole life on the river. As a licensed steam and diesel engineer, he rode the old Blaske boats up and down the Upper Mississippi until he got the urge to be his own boss. Continue Reading
My Nana is Rolling Over in her Grave
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Every time I used to drive down Cretin Avenue, just as I got to Selby, and depending on which direction I was heading, I’d point to the left or right and say, “My father grew up at the end of the street. Down there.” Whoever was with me would never look to the right or the left, but would answer, “I know. Continue Reading
New girl in town
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Each year, a small group of immigrants makes its way into Saint Paul from a foreign and misunderstood land. They may come for love, jobs, the promise of more house for the money. Willing to face great adversity, they pack their belongings and take a giant leap of faith across the mighty Mississippi.