Walked over to the Guthrie to see The Heart Sellers, a play that plays on the title of the 1965 Hart-Celler Act. This landmark legislation opened up immigration to non-Europeans and gave priority to immigrants with STEM skills. In the bittersweet play, set on Thanksgiving 1973, two immigrant women, one Filipino and the other Korean, yearn for a sense of belonging.
Category: Create
Chamber music at Orchestra Hall then art in the chamber at Brit’s Pub
After an afternoon of Nordic chamber music with members of the Minnesota Orchestra at Orchestra Hall, we crossed the road to Brit’s Pub which we haven’t entered in over five years. After Scotch eggs and beer, we were ready to head home, me via the loo. I was glad to see the loo artwork has survived and been augmented over the decades.
Campus Art Hunt
A friend and I embarked on a quest to check out public art on the University of Minnesota’s east bank campus. At the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, we peered through windows, eventually finding doors to a fancy lobby housing a sculpture called Humanaissance. Noticing us testing doors, a receptionist kindly buzzed us in. I suppose our age made us look harmless enough.
On My Foraging Walk…
My walk took me to three supermarkets: Seward Co-op, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s. Along the way, caught a glimpse of these unique buildings. On the left, built in 1965 for Northwestern National Life, the building is sheathed with beautifully matched-up marble. On the right, built in 1972 for the Federal Reserve, the building hangs from 24 cables connecting two concrete towers, much like a suspension bridge.
Where We Were at Sunset
Straddling today’s 4:32 pm sunset, in a former industrial building: Plantulary. A “word-list-dance-song-architecture made from observations, conversations, and relationships with each other and the plants that continue to teach us about what it means to be in relationship with the cycles of time, the processes of living and dying, and with this place that sustains us.”
Christmas at Dayton’s
On a downtown walk with a friend, we explored the repurposed Dayton’s department store, now a mixed-use building. The first floor hosted Christmas pop-up shops, while the basement showcased exhibits from the Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame. My baseball-loving friend got to reminisce and I enjoyed the backstories.
Life in a Climate-Controlled World
It was a brisk 12°F when I set out for my walk today. Eventually, I sought refuge in the Skyway system. Here, I’m making my way through the Northstar Center. Once an office tower, the building has been repurposed to include apartments. Given lower office occupancy rates post-pandemic, there’ll be more such conversions. Downtown Minneapolis has emerged as one of the fastest-growing residential neighborhoods in the Twin Cities.
Exploring Death and Mortality
It was a sellout crowd at Orchestra Hall this evening. Here, members of the orchestra are slowly taking their positions and tuning up. Later, the 80+ members of the Minnesota Chorale filed in to perform Mozart’s Requiem.
Downtown Discoveries
The new-to-us Hotel Ivy was an objective of a Downtown walk with a friend. The modern building incorporates a “mini-skyscraper,” originally an office tower for the Christian Science Church, built in 1930. Today, the old tower houses suites, including a two-story penthouse. Afterward, we recharged with coffee and croissants at a new-to-us coffee shop.
Neighborhood Gems
After school, I enjoyed a delicious, runny fried egg sandwich for lunch at Mill City Museum. In the winter, this lobby of the former 1890s flour mill hosts our local farmers market. Next door, hundreds of school kids poured out of the Guthrie Theater after a special performance of A Christmas Carol. I asked a teacher about it. “It was awesome, awesome!” she exclaimed, her arms raised in a celebratory gesture.