Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/category/books/page/21/)
There’s an old Lao saying that “Language tells you about someone’s country, manners tell you about someone’s family.” I think the stories we tell ourselves says a lot about who we have been and where we might go. Continue Reading
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.? The quote belongs to our beleaguered postal employees, of course. It also applies to independent researchers with a deadline – people like me. Continue Reading
Kimberly Nightingale is a woman who is following her passion and living her dream. The key to her success: Commitment. “Ask if you are committed to your community, are you committed to caring for and listening to your community,” she advises on the topic of starting a datebook/ story collection. Kimberly Nightingale is the editor of the Saint Paul Almanac whose mission is to create opportunities for understanding, learning, and building relationships through sharing people’s stories. She values each person’s contribution to what the Almanac terms “a literary campfire,” whether they are an emerging or a professional writer.The Saint Paul Almanac as a literary organization is in its seventh year. Continue Reading
Fourth in a ten-part series. Previously, part 3: The House of Hanson and the price of convenience.Kristen Eide-Tollefson, who owns the Book House, is not happy to go. “I have spent the last three years investing heavily in preparing the store to be run by a new generation because I want the store to stay here, so the university has access to the kinds of books the Book House provides and the services the Book House provides,” Eide-Tollefson said.She said her used bookstore recycles ideas as well as books. “So this is a pretty big shock to my hopes and dreams and to me and to my staff, who are very committed booksellers,” Eide-Tollefson said. She said she has discussed relocation with the developers. “It’s not easy to relocate a store as large as mine. Continue Reading
Why ACCESS DENIED? Or, you and net-neutrality.Free Speech ZoneThe Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. This is an open forum for articles that otherwise might not find a place for publication, including news articles, opinion columns, announcements and even a few press releases. The opinions expressed in the Free Speech Zone and Neighborhood Notes, as well as the opinions of bloggers, are their own and not necessarily the opinion of the TC Daily Planet.Review: “The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires”; by Tim Wu; published by Knopf Doubleday; © 2010; available paperback and e-book.”The Master Switch” is a necessary read to understand your legal rights to net-neutrality. You will see your legal rights are part of the common law concept of the common carrier. While many support the concept of open access to the internet, their reasons sound more like statements of entitlement than a reasoned legal position. Wu’s book is a good history of the cartels, monopolies, and trusts that have attempted to limit public access to information or as we call it today net-neutrality. Tim Wu’s book is about the movement of information over common carries. In today’s world, we know those common carriers as satellite, Wi-Fi, DSL and the companies associated with them like Comcast, AT&T, and Century Link. If you want to enter into the debate of free unfettered access to the internet Wu helps one to understand the history and players that have attempted to constrain and control your access. For this reader I came to appreciate the importance of the concept of the common carrier. “The Master Switch” describes the concept of common carrier as part of common law. In common law a common carrier is a ferry that carries people and cargo across a body of water. That cargo can be as precise as the bits and bytes of today’s internet information. As the owner of a ferry, especially if you are the only one in service, you could charge whatever price you want to carry a cargo of information. Charge prices so high only the rich can afford the ferry. Common law stands in opposition to that practice. It says if a price is so high that it abridges access, you are wrong and liable to a suit for that illegal action.Wu goes on to explain how in 1934 the Federal Communications Commission, aka FCC, was created to help control the flow of information first over radio waves and then the telecommunications industry. Throughout the FCC’s life and its predecessor, the Federal Radio Commission, lobbyists and moneyed interests have attempted to influence decisions of the Commissions for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many. Today that attempt at control is of the broadband access to the internet. Wu’s history communications starts with Western Union in the nineteenth century and moves onto the early twentieth century’s AT&T. Wu fleshes out historic players like AT&T ‘s Theodore Vail and RCA’s David Sarnoff. His history also includes the moguls of the movie industry. The book maybe a bit too extensive though in its history of movie cartels and monopolies that have attempted to control access to the transmission of ideas in the production and distribution of movies. “The Master Switch” includes a good conceptual description of Google. Google exists in a highbred world between information and the common carriers. Google is an aggregator of information of internet sites and conveys that aggregation, collection of, websites to Google users. Google neither owns the information nor controls the flow of the information over the common carriers. Google is the shuttle on the common carrier, the shuttle of information to the person who makes an information enquiry. Despite how hard they try, the oligarchies that attempt to control the shuttle of information they carry they are but common carriers.As the shuttle, Google has blindsided the common carriers. The common carriers have mistaken their cargo, which is information, for their ferry. To control the bandwidth of information for a select few is to deny common access. It is obvious why net-neutrality is supported by the likes of Google, Amazon.com, and Microsoft. Technologies change. At one time Western Union thought it controlled all information and was blindsided by Alexander Gram Bell’s telephone and the same is now about to happen to the likes of ATT&T and Comcast because Google, Amazon and Microsoft are but information gathers and use the common ferry to move their cargo. Continue Reading
Review: A Minnesota Kid: In Search of Heroes and Ghosts by David ButwinI have just had the pleasure of reading A Minnesota Kid: In Search of Heroes and Ghosts, and I want to recommend it to anyone who shares my own interest in every element of the title and subtitle. That is, if you know Minnesota, particularly if you’ve known the state (and its capitol city) for more than just a few decades you’ll find a rich archive of local lore and sport: football at Central high school (which means the great Bob Blakley) in the mid ‘50s, the old St. Paul Saints of the American Association when they were a small step away from the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Lakers before they followed the Dodgers to LA, and the Gophers in the glory days of national championships and a pair of trips to Pasadena in the early ‘60s. Add to that the complexity of race relations in and out of sport, unsolved murders and, of course, the weather.Free Speech ZoneThe Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. This is an open forum for articles that otherwise might not find a place for publication, including news articles, opinion columns, announcements and even a few press releases. Continue Reading
Typically, when I spend the night at the house of local artist Rudy Fig I expect that there will be a lot of art making, snacking, and cuddling with her 17-month-old son Vincent. And while these things still happened, this time I went with a slight ulterior motive.“I have something to show you,” I tell her.“What is it?” she replies apprehensively.“Don’t worry, it isn’t dirty,” I laugh as I pull an unassuming book out of my bag. I give it to her and ask her to look through the artwork and the writing and tell me what she thinks. Because Rudy Fig is known well for fantasy artwork that is so sweet and tart that could rot the teeth right out of your head I figured it would be fascinating to see her perspective on a book of fairy tales that many have never heard of before. Many people don’t know that African-American fairy tales exist to begin with.Her Stories is a book of fairy tales, myths, and historical accounts with black women as the predominant cast of stories that have been retold by Virginia Hamilton. Continue Reading
In Minnesota and throughout the nation the name Archie Givens – Senior or Junior — is synonymous with the rich legacy of African American literature. Continue Reading
“I think that publishing is taking a long time to catch up to the technology that’s available,” says Jamie Millard, executive director of the Minneapolis publisher—and publication—Paper Darts. “There’s going to be a new role for publishers. We’re going to see self-publishing increase, but readers are still going to want some sort of curation.”Self-publishing is indeed on the rise, in Minnesota and beyond. I recently spoke with local authors, publishers, and retailers about this trend; I’ve already published the authors’ perspectives, and now it’s publishers’ turn to talk.For Mark Levine, CEO of Hillcrest Media Group, the future is already here. “There are definitely more and more people who want to be our customers,” he says of Hillcrest’s self-publishing service. Continue Reading
I was born and raised in St. Paul, and I still live here. I’m now 25 years old. I’m an activist, an artist, an organizer, and an educator. I work in different media, including hip-hop and spoken word; I organize and participate in different events around the Twin Cities. Continue Reading