Microblog

As we often do on a Thursday evening, we compared notes about our day over bar food and beer at Maxwell’s. As usual, Dwight had been tending to the plants at the university greenhouse. My day was somewhat less remarkable since school is out. ​So, here are some of the flowering plants he spotted as he went about his duties in different climates today.

Tonight: Come from Away at the Guthrie, about the airline passengers stranded in Gander, Newfoundland, on 9/11. I was struck by how much of the Guthrie’s online study guide explains the actual events of 9/11, but then I realized that over 40% of Americans were either not yet born or were too young to remember it. I’m expecting good theater focused on the acting, with strong doses of empathy and community, and minimal conflict.

Took the light rail to Fort Snelling Station to meet a friend for a bike ride along the Minnesota River. While waiting, I waved to these good people who had been risking arrest monitoring ICE activity at the Whipple Federal Building (seen on the left). Activity here is way down from last winter, when brown people, including U.S. citizens, were swept off the streets and detained under cruel conditions.

Out walking with friends, the contents of a board game lay scattered across our path. A brief effort to spin a story about the spill sparked a discussion on the proliferation of Little Free Libraries, which are often packed with books no one wants. This led to a nod of appreciation for digital library books.

Cycled up one side of the Mississippi and down the other. Here below the Lowry Avenue Bridge, two people are fishing, with downtown Minneapolis straight ahead at a bend in the river.

On my cycle ride today, I spotted this photo session. Known as the Guardians of the Flame, law enforcement members and Special Olympics athletes will carry the Flame of Hope into the USA Games Opening Ceremony at the U this evening. There are currently 4,000 athletes from all 50 states in town

We subscribe to the bi-monthly Cook’s Illustrated from America’s Test Kitchen because we like its analytical approach to cooking. Recently, Dwight has vowed to try one new recipe per month from the magazine, something I strongly encourage. Already, his banana bread and biscotti are the best; today, it was the turn of focaccia, hopefully a new Friday tradition.

My cycle route included Fort Snelling. In the 1830s, Dred Scott (yes, that Dred Scott) lived here, enslaved by an army surgeon. The infamous 1857 Supreme Court ruling declared that Black people, whether free or enslaved, were not United States citizens, and that the federal government lacked the authority to restrict or abolish slavery. In 2026, we continue to resist the undermining of human rights by today’s Supreme Court, which is once again dividing our nation.

It’s raining on-and-off all day, so I’m staying close to home. My morning consisted of three loads of laundry intertwined with an exercycle downstairs in the workout room, Open Book for an Americano and a donut, and Trader Joe’s for dinner provisions: just a few reasons we love living in ZIP 55415, the fastest-growing urban core in the country. ​(The infographic is AI-generated. Maxwell’s in an 1894 building, is our usual Thursday night dinner destination.)

​Attended a panel discussion on AI in cancer research and care. It’s not the kind of event that would normally catch my eye, but when I received an email from the U about it, I decided to go. My oncologist, a professor at the U who researches recurrent and advanced prostate cancer and uses AI in his work, was one of the featured speakers. Hearing him speak reassured me that his real intelligence and good humor won’t be replaced by a machine anytime soon.

My friend and I cycled to the Twin Cities Model Railroad Museum, a place filled with several large model railroad layouts and interactive buttons to push. While we were there, one volunteer, an older guy like most of the folks helping out, told us that he actually has more fun at the museum than the visitors do. The photo shows a mid-century view creatively based on my Minneapolis Mill District neighborhood, including the Stone Arch Bridge.

We have six paid news subscriptions, all digital. Today I decided to check the ownership of each news outlet to understand which could be most susceptible to political interference. None is owned by a conglomerate or individual with strong ties to a political party. Click through for a table showing ownership of each news source.

Tore out a tangle of irrigation tubes installed by a former landscaping contractor in two of our building’s planters because half the drippers weren’t dripping. I replaced them with a system based on pressure-compensated manifolds (bottom right) that deliver a reliable 2.0 gallons per hour to every single emitter, regardless of water pressure. Thirty years ago, a fresh-grad landscaper introduced us to this technology, which back then was mainly used in farming.

My learner texted me to cancel the usual Friday tutoring session because she’d lost her voice. Suddenly, I had a free morning, so I decided to cycle somewhere I hadn’t been before. Spotting this overpass across a huge BNSF rail yard in Fridley on a map, I had to go and investigate. The grain elevators are part of a massive General Mills plant.

On my walk, Fragments Reimagined, a call to end gun violence in our communities, at MCAD (Minneapolis College of Art and Design). For me, these paintings hit the mark because they focus on our common humanity. Many of the pieces focused on guns and violence which I suspect many perpetrators would find exciting and may promote more guns. Until we all agree on our common humanity, I believe gun violence will not be contained.

I’m grateful for modern science, and for a comforting bowl of tonkotsu udon a couple blocks from the hospital. My oncologist had just recommended a newly developed test that sequences the evolving DNA of the tumor and white blood cells to point toward new, targeted treatments, including immunotherapy. In old movies, it’s a little doctor in Vienna proclaiming, “You shall play the violin again.” In real life, it’s just science.