In Saint Paul, our sisters and brothers invest sweat and tears in freedoms, artistic and otherwise. Sometimes we offer a welcome hat, and other times we try our best to offer refuge against the protestations of neighbors who have forgotten how and why their great grandparents came here.
Almost a month late, a thin version of the winter blanket has come to the landscape. Shifting landscapes meet changing climates that days later gave me the opportunity to be outside in a strange December balm.
Counting the brave faces walking the globe this week makes both the season and the daily walk seem pale. While the wanna-be rulers ask us to peer into their kaleidoscope of logic, the most important things we see and hear are coming from the crystal clear honesty of artists confronting the issues of the day head-on.
Oh, hear November, we have missed you, and now you are here. Not that we really missed you, but Thanksgiving is coming and we can’t have it without you.
As the real world continues to creep closer than nostalgic comfort, one might engage in the tendency to hide. We can pretend that the lines drawn on our geographies will keep us safe and sane, but our hearts have always been more porous than walls and fences. We can hide, or we can engage and shake the truths out of the confusion. Art helps.
This is that hard part of autumn for me, when all the baseball is done and the rain has knocked the leaves off the trees, still with their warm-colored hues, but helpless on the ground, maybe to be raked or swept up or maybe to wait for the snow blanket where they will sleep until it is time for baseball again.
Saint Paul Almanac is celebrating its newest publishing initiative, Impressions. Impressions provides yet another outlet for Saint Paul to tell its story in its own authentic voice where writers’ work will be posted on broadsides in the trains and buses of our city.
Each week, I share some great things to do in this great town. We have some great ways to connect with our neighbors and friends and what it means to be in Saint Paul. They are suggestions. It is great if you can do some of them, but sometimes life is just too busy. But there is one thing I really urge you to do if you live in Saint Paul on Tuesday. VOTE!
Last Friday the rain slowly crept its way into our autumn. Even though the street sweepers have made their rounds, out my front window the sign telling us not to park there is stuck in a ground littered with even more leaves than when it was first staked. Rain is knocking leaves from the trees faster than the turning calendar. That means it is time to get out and see the town before the season turns.
How many more Saint Paul authors will win literary prizes this year? Two weeks ago, we were talking about Julie Schumacher winning the Thurber Prize for American humor. Last week, Macalester College professor Marlon James won the Man Booker Prize.
There is no rest for the wonderful. The fall has been busy and maybe you think you need a break, but when you realize that Saint Paul is not sleepy enough, you might be willing to miss some rest yourself. The ball of culture keeps rolling this week with a ton of happenings in Saint Paul.
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