Books

The pandemic changed every aspect of our lives, from work, to schooling, to family life. As widely reported, mothers were

Last in our series of “Where Are They Now?” vignettes about environmentalists in Minnesota

“Our success in coevolution — our success as a productive society — is only as good as the strength of these bonds with other individuals and species.”

In her poignant memoir “Watershed”, Ranea Lenor Hanson points out that Minnesota is an apex whose rivers flow north to Hudson Bay, east through the Great Lakes, and south to the Gulf of Mexico. I rather enjoy the concept of our state being central to three directions. For me, it is a reminder that wherever you are in our state, there are three places you can flow.

Book discussion guide: “Finding the Mother Tree,” by Suzanne Simard

How do we reimagine the work of reducing poverty, supporting mental health services, and dealing with trauma to minimize substance abuse and violence, in order to diminish the need for police to step in as an end to those consequences?

Black history is vast and we have only begun to scratch its surface.

Place is defined by the stories we tell, and each place has a story that must be told.

Punishment culture encourages the view that an individual deserves harm — that the individual person is a “bad” person. Punishment marks someone as not worthy of belonging.

In my fear, I was convinced that if I could amass a group of Black women, the sight of us would bring this dangerously behaving man to his senses.

If this new format elicits reactions, we will continue with this book in subsequent discussion guides, and apply this concept to other books in the future.

During the pandemic I began seeing even more potential in fragments, particularly as they reflect the innately feminist act of finding the whole in the part.