HEADLINES
A walking tour of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s St. Paul
by Barb and Bill Caudle, TC Daily Planet
With strolling weather—and the 2008 Minnesota Book Awards—nearly upon us, the Twin Cities Daily Planet is pleased to present this informative walking tour highlighting St. Paul locations that figured in the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of our greatest authors.
Poll: Minnesotans suspicious of NCLB
by John Fitzgerald, Minnesota 2020
No Child Left Behind continues to draw suspicion. A new Minnesota 2020 poll shows 55 percent of Minnesotans say NCLB forces schools to emphasize standardized tests instead of the needs of students.
Opt out of No Child Left Behind
by Thomas Hammell, Session Weekly
The House Finance Committee included in its larger omnibus bill a plan that would have the state say no to the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Stepping down: Rejuvenation for Neva
by Patty Ostberg, Session Weekly
Rep. Neva Walker (DFL-Mpls) made history in 2001 by becoming the first black woman to serve in the Minnesota House.
INSIDE THE DAILY PLANET
Views and Reviews
Theater note: Into a Jungle, down a Rabbit Hole
by Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet
Word in the Jungle Theater box office has it that the theater’s name came to founder Bain Boehlke in a vision while he was on vacation in Puerto Vallarta. Appropriately, the company’s Lyndale Avenue performance space has a dream-like, floating aspect that makes it perfect for plays—such as David Lindsay-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole—that feature intense emotion and interpersonal disconnection.
Interview: Family man J.D. Steele goes it alone
by Dwight Hobbes, TC Daily Planet
J.D. Steele, of the renowned singing family the Steeles, has taken just about forever to record his own album. Not that he’s been sitting around like some bump on a log—he just hasn’t let his own light shine out from under the bushel basket.
Theater note: 40 years of friendship in (more or less) 29 songs
by Anne Nicolai, TC Daily Planet
Four guys start singing together on a street corner, take turns landing in jail, make it big on the radio with a trio of hits, drink too much, spend too much money, ruin their marriages and finally break up the band. No way are they still friends, right? As Tommy DeVito would say, “If that’s what you think, you’re not from Jersey.”
Celebrating Cambodian New Year April 5
by Vuth Chhunn and Mary-Ann Em, Asian American Press
“Okay, guys, let’s do it just one more time. The ending was a bit messy,” Sarim Pin urged the other dancers. As the lively, instrumental music began to play, 10 dancers took their places to start again. Since December, these dancers have been practicing almost every weekend to perform for their New Year celebration. They are members of a small student organization at the University of Minnesota called the Cambodian Student Association of Minnesota (CSAM).
NEW IN VOICES
Achieving (which?) goals by “putting ideology aside”
by Jeff Nygaard, Nygaard Notes
On February 27th a very lengthy article appeared on the front page of the New York Times with the headline, “Hints at Change, but Cuba Remains Wary.” The first two paragraphs came complete with a bit of mythology that is very widely-held in the United States. So widely-held, in fact, that I doubt most people reading it even noticed it.
NEW IN BLOGS
Unbranded
by Katherine Curtis, Cabbages and Kings
From a young age, my parents exemplified how to maintain a cheap and practical lifestyle. We snuck food into the theater rather than buying the over-priced candy at the concession stands, dad only allowed us to buy new shoes when we had decent coupons, and no matter how much us kids whined, mom refused to buy us the brand-name clothes: it either had to be on sale, thrift store, or hand-me-downs from siblings and cousins.
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