Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/author/todd-wardrope/)
Two years ago, founders of St. Paul’s East Side Freedom Library founders Beth Cleary and Peter Rachleff opened the doors to an institution that is changing what a library can be and can do for community. Continue Reading
Labor unions, like the Minnesota Nurses Association, have made significant gains in power and benefits over the years despite many companies’ restrictive policies against organizing. Continue Reading
Giant Steps is a conference like no other. Organizer Susan Campion and hip hop artist Brother Ali talk about how this event can bring people together to talk about the challenges they face as entreprenurs and artists. Check out the video to see why you should attend. Continue Reading
Watch the video created by Todd Wardrop with help from Allison Herrera and Kayla Steinberg
The second annual Taco Tour on Lake Street brought more than 2,000 hungry bicyclists, walkers and bus riders eager to sample the culinary delights of nine participating restaurants. Even though the event was meant to showcase Lake Street’s diversity, restaurants and taco trucks along the tour are open and patronized year-round by customers who appreciate their authentic food, low prices, and Latino culture. Continue Reading
Swiss artist H.R. Giger has always had an air of performance about him. The man who created the titular Alien produced images so terrifying, beautiful and inexplicable that it was easy to imagine he might be otherworldly himself. Or at least tapped into something supernatural. For a time there were rumours that he was a genuine devil-worshipper, the scary kind, not the sexy California variety. In time that image faded and was replaced by the man who would sue Hollywood and win, eventually. Continue Reading
Z.M. Thomas, a Minnesota-based comic book writer and publisher, claims to be a victim of First Amendment violations by the Transportation Safety Agency at Philadelphia International Airport. Upon returning from his round trip Delta Airlines flight to Wizard World ComicCon in Philadelphia, he discovered severe damage to most of his copies of his title “Bible 2”. Additional non-religious titles in his baggage were left undamaged. Among the titles that were left undamaged was his latest book “Sioux Falls”. This book is a retelling of his families’ experiences during the Sioux Uprising of 1862. Continue Reading
One of the great pleasures of foreign cinema is that you can see films that would never find financing or the means of production within the states. Certainly, there are plenty of rogue indies and inspired risk-takers in domestic cinema, but the budget/imagination ratio is usually tilted heavily one way or the other. By imagination I mean the ability to envision a movie in a way few others would, not the ability to imagine a movie that everybody expects to see. The One-Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window & Disappeared is a Swedish movie that is in limited theatrical release in the United States. The film, directed by Felix Herngren, was the third highest grossing Swedish film of all-time. Continue Reading
Airport workers joined a national day of protest asking companies that operate our of the Minneapolis/ Saint Paul International Airport to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Organizers say that families cannot survive on less than that. Continue Reading
Comic Books from the Margins on Vimeo. Presented by Gazillion Strong, Big Brain Comics, Moon Palace Books, Boneshaker Books, Ancestry Books, and Ramsey County Libraries, these series of workshops is aimed at teens and pre-teens. each bookstore and library will select comic books and graphic novels in which the central character(s) are from marginalized communities, such as the POC (people of color), LGBTQ, adoptee, foster care, and disabled communities. The books will be presented to preteens, teens, and their families by knowledgeable authors, activists, performers, and comic book connoisseurs.Comic Books from the Margins series gives an opportunity to people to tell their stories, and pick out books that are reflective of their culture.”We want different kinds of narratives,” said Ancestry Books owner Chaun Webster. “That don’t reduce us to these small, tokenistic stereotypes.”Future Comic Books from the Margins will be held at Boneshaker Books, the Minnesota History Center and Big Brain Comics. Check out Gazillion Strong’s website for more informationhttp://www.wearegazillionstrong.org/comics-from-the-margins/ Continue Reading
In November of 2014 Kim Flynn made a trip to Austin, Texas to watch the Forever Film Fest. Forever Fest grew out of “Girlie Night” at the Drafthouse Cinema. This was an entire film series dedicated to “chick flicks.” Amira and Sam stuck with Kim after the screening and she was disappointed to see it wasn’t screening in Minneapolis. With a few exceptions the film is playing exclusively at Drafthouse Cinemas. She believe in the film so much that she decided to bring the film here herself.Amira and Sam is screening to a sold-out crowd on January 29th at Marcus Rosemount Cinema. Continue Reading