sdate

sdate

I'm a teacher in the Minneapolis Public Schools. I also do freelance video production and make documentary films. I've lived in Tangletown for 17 years and I love it. It's just one of many great neighborhoods we have here in the Twin Cities. I love to travel and I love to come home. I was born in Minneapolis and am a life-long resident of the Twin Cities.

On Boston and a couple of old shirts

By sdate (Trying to Pay Attention) | April 23, 2013

A week ago today, without even thinking, I put on an old grey sweatshirt I’ve had since 1996 but have probably not worn for several years. It wasn’t until after hearing about the horror in Boston last Monday that I thought about the shirt I’d worn the night before. It was an inexpensive sweatshirt with the word “BOSTON” printed on it that I’d bought it as a souvenir of my trip to run the Boston Marathon 17 years ago. I got a chill when I realized I hadn’t even remembered that it was marathon weekend until I heard about the bombings the next afternoon. Continue Reading

Great bike rides of the Twin Cities that begin and end at my house #2: The Grand Rounds

By sdate (Trying to Pay Attention) | August 23, 2011

I used to think “The Grand Rounds” was a rather pretentious name added in modern times to the more than 125-year old string of parkways that wind through the city of Minneapolis. Continue Reading

Severed roots: Visiting a past I never had

By sdate (Trying to Pay Attention) | August 16, 2011

I made my first visit to the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota this summer.

It was about time, since I’m an enrolled member there.

Pizza Night at A to Z Farm: Wisconsin’s worst-kept secret

By sdate (Trying to Pay Attention) | July 29, 2011

Hungry for pizza? How does this sound — hop in the car, drive 80 miles, wait in line for 20 minutes to order your $24 – $27 pizza, wait two and a half more hours outdoors for your number to be called. Then sit on the ground (a few feet from some cows and goats) and eat it.

Not interested? Too bad for you, because you’re missing a great dining experience.

Who needs Sturgis?

By sdate (Trying to Pay Attention) | July 26, 2011

On our way to eat lunch at The Anchor Fish & Chips in Northeast Minneapolis today (it’s great, by the way), we stumbled on a neighborhood motorcycle show called the Bearded Lady Motorcycle Freak Show on 13th Ave. NE just east of University Ave. Continue Reading

A lazy, hazy, back of my neck getting dirty and gritty kind of week

By sdate (Trying to Pay Attention) | July 22, 2011

I got a note the other day from my friend Casey in San Diego and he mentioned something that I always point out with people who don’t live in Minnesota — that we have a more extreme range of temperatures here that just about any populated area in the world. Continue Reading

A nice afternoon on the Wisconsin side of Lake Pepin

By sdate (Trying to Pay Attention) | July 16, 2011

We took a little drive yesterday down the Wisconsin side of Lake Pepin, which begins just over the bridge from Red Wing, Minnesota, about an hour southeast of the Twin Cities. Continue Reading

Off my butt, on my bike, and out in the country

By sdate (Trying to Pay Attention) | June 23, 2011

One of my long-time goals has been to get around the state of Minnesota more and see smaller towns and rural areas. I haven’t done very well with that that until recently.

National Farmers’ Bank in Owatonna: We finally met.

By sdate (Trying to Pay Attention) | June 14, 2011

I had an appointment to do a video shoot for MinnPost last week in Owatonna, Minnesota, about an hour’s drive south of Minneapolis. My daughter Emily drove over from Rochester to have lunch with me and help me with the video. Continue Reading

Target Field makes me happy.

By sdate (Trying to Pay Attention) | May 31, 2011

Last year the upper midwest emerged from a 3-decade funk of watching baseball indoors in the world’s worst stadium. Yes, the Twins won two World Series at the Metrodome and created great excitement and community spirit in 1987 and 1991. But that was because of the teams, not the venue.

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