Category: In This Together

Feeling at home at the Minneapolis American Indian Center

After my gig at Franklin Library deducing words from context, I stopped by Gatherings Cafe at the beautifully remodeled Minneapolis American Indian Center. While primarily serving the local urban Native community, I felt very welcome as I ordered a bison melt with a side salad. The delicious food is organic and made on the premises from scratch, including the bread.

Using AI to generate worksheets for vocabulary deduction

I’m constantly discovering new applications for AI. Tomorrow, I plan to guide an adult learner through exercises focused on deducing the meaning of challenging words from their context in both single sentences and three-sentence paragraphs. Creating two worksheets—one with 30 sentences and another with 30 paragraphs, ensuring the same difficult words appeared in both—took about two minutes.

Debutantes and the civil rights movement

Walked past the Guthrie, where we’re seeing The Nacirema Society tonight. It’s a comedy set in 1964 Montgomery, Alabama, in the home of a wealthy Black family focused on an upcoming debutante ball. A comedy set during the Freedom Struggle should be interesting. My only experience of Montgomery was on business in 1977, where I witnessed blatant racism and de facto segregation.

Not your grandmother’s park

Cycled through the newest park in Minneapolis, Graco Park. This building, The River Hub, is net-zero with rooftop solar panels and geothermal heating and cooling. It houses high-tech equipment for a variety of activities including media arts and makers. I wanted to poke around, but it’s not open on Mondays. The area in front is for storm water runoff.

It’s our community

Today I was back in the classroom and found a card waiting, signed by my students. It’s a two-way street; I get so much out of it. Meanwhile, Dwight was at the University greenhouse today and has recently added a gig at Hennepin County Medical Center assembling kits (needles, condoms, etc.) for people with substance use disorder. I’ve also just added a gig: tutoring an adult learner in reading comprehension.

A pedestrian/cyclist freeway

We modified our usual Sunday morning walk along both sides of the Mississippi because three out of four bridges are currently being repaired or replaced. Here, a new pedestrian/cyclist trail is being built above the entrance to a dock then through a tunnel under Plymouth Avenue (just beyond the crane). The tunnel will lead to a recently opened park, Graco Park. The Minneapolis park system is a big reason we live where we live.

An artist making Japan great again

After a late night arrival home I took it easy today by finishing a biography of the Japanese artist Foujita. In the 1930s he embraced the influence of the fascist regime and later became Japan’s top official war artist during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War. Postwar there was an almost immediate backlash from fellow artists and the public against his propagandist work.

Walking the Grand Ring at Expo 2025 in Osaka

Walked the paths atop the beautiful 2-kilometer structure encircling Osaka’s Expo 2025. Up close, the amazing workmanship features traditional joints reminiscent of temple construction. The laminated wooden beams are meticulously finished and appear suitable for interior work. Its theme, “unity in diversity,” is something most would surely support.

Kobe: art, architecture, and a look at history

Visited the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art in Kobe, designed by Tadao Ando. I always feel at peace in Ando’s buildings. Walked around galleries featuring Ando’s building models and timeline. Took a look at a large Paul Klee retrospective, his Bauhaus pieces particularly resonated with me. His work was condemned as degenerate in 1930’s Germany and was confiscated from museums. In the USA we’re on the thin end of that wedge.