Being a small business owner has its good and bad days. In late December 2023, we got some tough news. Independent Delivery Service (IDS), a staple in the Twin Cities for 40 years, was shutting down …

WHY ARE WE BEING BRAINWASHED ABOUT MEDICARE ADVANTAGE? I was so happy to read Donald Hammen’s Medicare column in the December issue, because the private health insurance industry saturates …

Welcome to the start of year three for Stories and Journeys. Welcome to the start of year eight of my retirement journey including Medicare plus supplement. Another reader has told me their take on …

My counselor recently asked if I thought I was lonely. I'd been doing virtual visits with him for the past year, maybe once a month, for depression. It had never occurred to me to think of myself as …

Dec. 7 has come and gone. Medicare Open Enrollment has ended for 2023. Yet it feels like the engagement with me and Medicare has just begun again. So, if you have read this far you have taken the …

You may have noticed a series of recent articles and podcasts about the emotional and physical health risks of loneliness. Everyone is writing about it, among them Hillary Clinton, David Brooks, …

MORE ON MEDICARE DURING  OPEN ENROLLMENT This is more about what I am thinking, learning experiencing in my life as an elder. In the interest of full disclosure, as I write I am wearing my …

Power is generated: electric power, community power, people power. This past August, a delegation of fifteen Minnesotans visited the island of Puerto Rico to learn from communities on the frontlines …

How about a shoveling contest? Last winter may have been the worst winter for ice that I’d seen in all my 63 years. I often found it challenging to walk on the sidewalks, even when …

This fall, Bloomington, Minneapolis, Minnetonka, St. Louis Park, and St. Paul all used ranked choice voting for their municipal elections and were among 21 cities in seven states using ranked choice …

A recent Gallup study showed that America’s confidence in the national mass media has reached a near record low. While that’s disturbing, it’s not unexpected.  The digital age …

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey declared Sept.14, 2023, "Abbott Northwestern Hospital Day," as hospital management broke ground on a new building that same day.    What the public doesn't …

  As we approach Election Day, I am often asked what I think about the candidates running to fill this open seat given the insight I have into the role and dynamics at city hall. I am happy …

  The Minneapolis city council election is upon us, with early in-person and mail-in voting already begun. The following is an analysis of the campaign finance reports of the three …

Outgoing council member’s thoughts on candidates  As we approach Election Day, I am often asked what I think about the candidates running to fill this open seat given the insight I …

The City of Minneapolis is perpetuating a humanitarian crisis against our neighbors who cannot afford housing. We are all witnesses to the tragedy. Instead of enacting common sense programs to …

HERE'S MY MEDICARE STORY. WHAT'S YOURS? This is a time during fall to make changes in one's Medicare plan. I am making my way through my seventh year of retirement and enrolled in Medicare. In …

“Four years ago, I realized we needed a model for an urban CSA,” says Craig Neal, founder and chief gardener of the Neighborhood Sponsored Garden (NSG) located in a backyard on Beard Ave. …

When I google the definition of “white,” the Oxford English Dictionary tells me that one meaning is “belonging to or denoting a human group having light-colored skin (chiefly used …

Celebrating the Resurfacing of 46th Ave. I still get ecstatic along with neighbors I know. I'm looking outside at a resurfaced 46th Ave. between 38th St. and 46th Street. Thanks to Minneapolis Public …