Kale Severson seeks Minneapolis Ward 5 post

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A homeowner, a mentor that young people look up to, someone who leads by example; that’s how Sy Huff and a host of other speakers described their candidate for Minneapolis Fifth Ward City Council, Kale Severson. He announced his candidacy on April 19 at Lowry Cafe, avoiding the precinct caucus and party convention scene.In fact, Mel Reeves, who describes himself as “an old school radical” said “we ought to do our own thing” and announced an organizing meeting for the following Thursday at Zion Baptist Church, site of many Save North High meetings.His supporters credit Severson for keeping North High School alive. Bates led an auction-style fundraising call which by the end of the evening had them lined up to make good on their financial commitments.Severson’s career includes working at the Minneapolis Park system, now working at North High, and coaching the Lady Polars basketball team.Severson said, “I’m an advocate, that’s what I’ll do.” His issues: “Broadway Avenue is the same if not worse” than when he grew up here. “Bring in good businesses to pay good wages to people in the neighborhood. Beautiful, for profit. Continue Reading

Brooklyn Park African and African-American communities convene 350 leaders for civic engagement

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“This is not a talk show,” said Abdullah Kiatamba, executive director of the African Immigrant Services, at the May 9 civic engagement forum. “It is not a conference for resolution. It’s about shifting people from being observers to active leaders.”Hundreds of Africans, African-Americans and other minority groups gathered May 9 at Brooklyn Park’s City Council Chambers for intense conversations on how to better increase civic engagement among the city’s minority communities.The three-hour event, which brought together more than 350 community leaders and concerned citizens, felt like a college classroom: There were presentations, small group discussions and questions about civic engagement — and participants stayed energized in receiving and sharing information throughout the forum.For many participants in the small groups, the message was the same: Whatever their differences may be, they will either stand or fall together. The majority of those in attendance were West Africans. Other groups included East Africans and African-Americans.Brooklyn Park is about 48 percent nonwhite, according to news reports. Continue Reading

Pre-K, ECFE, talent testing concerns aired at St. Paul school board listening session

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“We were fooled,” said one parent at the April 24 St. Paul school board listening session. She was speaking to school district representatives about the Pre-K program, which has 100 students on the waiting list. Officials expect 600 students will be on the list by the time school opens in the fall. SPPS’s Pre-K programs are actually designed to serve students who are bi-lingual, high poverty, and/or considered eligible for special education, according to Jackie Turner, executive director for the Office of Family Engagement and Community Partnerships. “It’s not designed for students who have other opportunities outside of the home,” said Turner.“The district has to get more marketing out there to communicate that [Pre-K programming] is not for the average Joe kid,” the parent said.St. Continue Reading

Sure signs of spring: Sea Salt, Tin Fish now open; Bread & Pickle opening soon

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CORRECTED 5/1/2013 — Yay! Snow is in the forecast for Wednesday, but who cares? Sea Salt and Tin Fish are now open for the season. Leasing the food concessions at the lakes is one of the smartest things the Minneapolis Park Board ever did.On Sunday, the line at Sea Salt, at Minnehaha Falls Park stretched out as far as the eye could see (well, almost), but the food was, as always, well worth the wait. Fresh from a trip to New Orleans a few weeks ago, I had been really hoping to recapture the experience with some seafood gumbo, but by the time we arrived it was sold out. Continue Reading

Media Skills Fellows open windows to their worlds

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Every Wednesday evening, almost a dozen people crowd into the Daily Planet office to share stories and supper as they learn new skills in the Media Skills Fellowship program. At the halfway point in the 10-week project, they reviewed lessons learned: overcoming fear of Facebook, learning to find Creative Commons-licensed photos, story-building, the difference between photography and photojournalism, “that Twitter stuff,” how to build a Facebook group for a church youth organization.The project, funded by a Bush Foundation grant, promises that participants will learn and share a variety of media skills, and will begin using those skills for better communication in, about, and on behalf of their diverse communities. They began in March, and will finish up in May.Vangeline Ortega hopes to use the fellowship as an opportunity to learn how to use social media and photography to increase awareness about kidney failure, organ transplantation, and donor education. She’s on dialysis, but remains active in the community, working with Hispanic youth through the Association of Non-Smokers, and with a youth group in her Soka Gakkai International Buddhist religious community. Read her story — “Brother, can you spare a kidney?” Continue Reading

Minnesota Reading Corps and Math Corps birth new generation of educators, help tutors obtain teaching licensure

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Sara Jochems didn’t know exactly what she wanted to do after she received her master’s in English and Literary Studies from the University of Minnesota Duluth, but she knew she most likely wanted to teach. The problem, she said, was that she didn’t know the age group in which she was interested teaching. So Jochems took a friend’s advice and joined Minnesota Reading Corps (MRC), a statewide Americorps program dedicated to bolstering reading fluency of students pre-kindergarten to 3rd grade.Jochems is now in her second year with the program, which, according to MRC’s website, now includes more than 750 tutors spread out within 500 different sites throughout the metro and greater Minnesota area — a significant growth from their 2003 launch at just four Head Start agencies.Full disclosure: Kristoffer Tigue is also a member of Minnesota Reading Corps. He has signed up for a second year, and plans on using the benefits to go back to school for journalism.For more information on how to apply, visit the MRC website here, or the MMC one here. Mary Deputie (pictured here) is serving her first year with Minnesota Math Corps (MMC), Americorps’ math equivalent of MRC, for the same reasons as Jochems. Deputie knew that she wanted to teach but was unsure with which age group. Now both tutors are working toward getting their teaching licenses, a common narrative seen in both programs, according to Anna Peters, Recruitment and Outreach Manager for MRC and MMC.”It is indeed common for people to join Reading Corps or Math Corps to get their feet wet in the field of education,” wrote Peters in an email to the Twin Cities Daily Planet, “either to ‘try on’ the school environment or find some direction in the field. Continue Reading

Tom Selleck’s Moustache’s “Heartbreak 101”: Expert production, amateur pop

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Tom Selleck’s Moustache’s Heartbreak 101 is fairly routine, generally dispensable pap, exactly the sort of sing-songy, cloying, terminally pleasant fodder that gives the term “pop music” a bad name. In short, this some pretty silly, saccharine stuff.Drummer Mike Hinton—who anchors everything, pushing a “ramped up in the mix” beat—is, in a word, uninventive, turning in a serviceable job of rudimentary playing that barely holds interest let alone excites. Darren Jackson shares keyboard credits with lead vocalist Mischa Suemnig, shares guitar credits with him, and does most of the songwriting with him. Other vocalists include Besty Ulmer, Hannah Miller, Neilson Hubbard, and Jonathan Earl.The album features incessantly happy, peppy melodies set to inane lyrics. “Lyndale,” for instance, is ludicrous. Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | Madeleine Peyroux enchants The Dakota Jazz Club

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The singer/vocal enchantress Madeleine Peyroux performed at The Dakota in Minneapolis on Tuesday, April 2 and will do so again on Wednesday, April 3 with two shows each evening. If you can afford the time and the tickets ($50-$65), invest, invest, invest. What you’ll come out with is a glimpse into song history, artistic tribute and interpretation that is stellar to the core. British singer/songwriter/actress Rebecca Pidgeon (with Tim Young) is the opener with a short song set including her Grammy nominated “Slingshot”.I learned of Ms. Peyroux’s work from a colleague back when her 2004 Careless Love album came out. Immediately I had to find every recording she’d ever done and proceeded to play tracks over and over again, as one tends to do with artists one can’t get enough of. Are you listening to air that’s been infused with loveliness? Continue Reading