Yesterday at the National Cemetery, I was impressed by the work it must take to keep the grass short around tens of thousands of grave markers. This morning, across the road from the school where I volunteer, I spotted these deer, grazing in the oldest cemetery in Minneapolis, the Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery. Some of those headstones mark the graves of Civil War soldiers.
Category: Minneapolis
Transformers, circuit breakers, switches, busbars, and insulators
Today I walked past this substation. It distributes power from a hydroelectric plant powered by the Mississippi at St. Anthony Falls. The plant was built in 1908 to power the streetcar system, and the same generators are still running today. It always intrigues me that the substation’s footprint is larger than the actual power plant.
Where we’ll spend our evening
Taken from the Stone Arch Bridge today, the Guthrie Theater’s architecture nods to the area’s industrial past. Its prominent “chimneys” are actually scrolling marquees. The building houses three theaters, and this evening we’ll be seeing the new play, Primary Trust, in the proscenium theater.
Discovering Fawkes Alley Cafe
Discovered Fawkes Alley Cafe, hiding at the end of an alley. I learned it’s located in a building that originally housed the Fawkes Auto Company car salesroom when it opened in 1911. The cafe is a nonprofit that supports the community by mentoring its employees and funding youth soccer for underrepresented communities. My Americano, served in a ceramic cup, was near-enough perfect.
Raindrops and runners and crisp social commentary
On my walk, I was distracted by the sound of raindrops on corrugated iron coming from the ruins of what was once the world’s largest flour mill. Behind me, a Halloween fun run was underway, following the Mississippi before crossing Stone Arch Bridge. Some runners were wearing fanciful costumes, and a bystander carried a handwritten sign: “You’re running better than the government.”
Velocity and the void
Waiting for the train to pass on my way to my Friday gig, I used a slow shutter to contrast the train’s dynamic streak against the huge, immobile mass of the stadium and the static, cloudless sky.
Relaxed and spontaneous at the Dakota
Tonight, two accomplished artists we’ve seen before at the Dakota: Dee Dee Bridgewater accompanied by Bill Charlap. Their performances were relaxed, low-key, and wonderfully spontaneous. They focused on The American Songbook with no set list, leaning heavily on scat and improvisation.
Reaching for the sky
The rain decided it was a day for a skyway walk. With almost 10 miles of these elevated pathways, I find it best not to plan a specific route. Instead, I set a target: today, the convention center. But the circuitous skyway system had other plans, offering me my city from many different angles.
No kings
Joined a huge crowd in downtown Minneapolis to assert government is for the people and must adhere to the law. (Over 100,000 attended the Minneapolis rally. Nationwide there were more than 2,700 rallies with over 7 million attendees.)
A modest home with a story
Cycled through South Minneapolis with a friend on a route loosely themed around racial justice, stopping here at the former home of Harry Davis, Sr. He was a civil rights advocate in a racially divided Minneapolis from the 1940s and throughout the turmoil of the 1960s, and in 1971 became the city’s first Black mayoral candidate. The city is applying to have this house added to the National Register of Historic Places.