Madness in the land

Is there madness in this land? Are the micro plastics and PFAS passing through the blood-brain barrier and causing an increased level of lunacy? Could this explain the current level of brutality?

Oh how I wish I knew. I find the thought of taking a life so abhorrent, that I can’t comprehend the mental state of those who do. Though I do believe that we must have the right to protect and defend loved ones and ourselves from threat. But that threat would have to be extreme to take a life. Yet among us are those who set this threat level so low as to be non-existent. The successive events of this current madness have overwhelmed me to the extent that all I have are hope and wishes.

But wishes I have.

I wish that our courts would protect society from proven predators. I wish that we would believe to our very depths, that though I may not like what you say, I will always support your right to say it.

Bob Emery, Mendota Heights

 

Some news

Let’s ask Gov. Tim Walz if the grim news of conservative speaker Charlie Kirk’s assassination may be along the sort of “news” that might have been inevitable in the near future. When, at a fundraising rally near the end of Labor Day weekend, he gleefully mused at the rampant left wing’s (politicians and media) wild speculation that because Trump was uncharacteristically out of sight for three days he may be deathly ill, or better yet, dead. The childish yet ghoulish glee with which he fanned and wrung his jazz hands at the prospect was disgusting. He seemed genuinely entertained by the possibility. He then went on to say that if not, there certainly would “eventually be some news”, while grinning, rolling his eyes and wagging his clownish eyebrows … ”Just sayin’”!

Peter K. Cudworth, St. Paul

 

Some things we can change

Thursday morning brought some serious tears on three levels.

Beginning with two tragic reminders, losing Charlie Kirk and another anniversary of 9/11.

If that wasn’t painful enough, Gov. Walz is running again.

Nothing can change the murder of Charlie Kirk or the horror of 9/11, however we can change the occupant of the governor’s office.

Jon Swenson, Eagan

 

Adopt an urban street

County roads and major highways are often sponsored by local businesses, major area employers, and nonprofit organizations as their custodial caretakers. Yet, why has the same concept not been applied to our neighborhoods beginning in our major cities? Why cannot neighbors organize together to form local caretaking trusts to keep their neighborhoods free of garbage and debris?

The cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis can designate and award select areas to participants with street signage in every neighborhood or statistical area recognizing each individual volunteer or organization as local custodial stewards of their streets and urban communities. This models an example of social proactivity during times of great polarity.

For decades, people sharing the same streets never truly learn or know anything about their neighbors. Should this be considered normal?

The coming together of urban neighborhoods after the Annunciation mass shooting refocuses the need for shared humanity that is both cooperative and proactive.

Omar Alansari-Kreger, St. Paul

 

‘Nuts and bolts’ pragmatism

The other night, my neighbor in the Macalester Groveland neighborhood hosted a “get to know the candidate” event for State Rep. Kaohly Her, relative to her candidacy for St. Paul mayor. Like many St. Paul residents, I had not even been aware that there will be a mayoral election this fall until recently. I frankly went to this event without knowing much about Rep. Her, even though she is my state representative.

The event was attended by approximately 50 people and lasted a couple of hours. After mingling for about an hour, she spoke to the full group and fielded a broad range of questions for another hour. During the “mingling” portion, I was able to speak directly with her for about 20 minutes. I was extremely impressed with Rep. Her. Her life story, alone, is quite inspirational. I had three primary takeaway impressions:

First, she has exceptional people skills and communicates easily with people of different backgrounds; she loves to engage. Second, she combines idealism and empathy with a strong base of pragmatism. And third, she is simply an extremely capable and hardworking individual who I’m guessing is successful in whatever she sets her mind to.

She seems to be someone who can communicate and work effectively with people she may not agree with while holding true to her core values. I believe she offers a greater degree of “nuts and bolts” pragmatism than is often found in local DFL candidates.

Peter Langworthy, St. Paul

 

Three shells

Minnesota has a gun law that could protect school children if it were amended slightly.

The law limits waterfowl hunters to using guns loaded with only three cartridges. Three.

Why can’t we amend this existing state law to apply to all guns everywhere in the state? Second Amendment backers have already accepted this restriction for hunters in the field;  how can they possibly object to its application to hunters on playgrounds?

Go for it.

Joe Delmont, Mendota Heights

 

Wait and see

Now that there will be no Chinese market for the soybeans raised here, will the farmers admit they voted for the wrong man? When our waters deteriorate for lack of EPA oversight, will Minnesotans who enjoy fishing, swimming and all water activities realize they put the wrong man in charge? And, after national military are sent to Chicago, Maryland, New Orleans and perhaps Minneapolis, will our law enforcement and military folks finally speak up? Guess we will have to wait and see.

Jerry Carroll, Roseville

 

A surging budget

Undeniably, St. Paul is navigating financial headwinds — slow growth, the downtown downturn, and the post-pandemic malaise  negatively affecting other struggling cities nationwide. What seems to be overlooked, though, is that since 2018 St. Paul’s budget has surged from $563 million to the $887 million Mayor Carter is proposing for 2026.

John Vaughn, Stillwater

 

A business owner who believes in second chances

Earlier this summer, I had the pleasure of spending a morning working alongside Mike Hilborn and some of his amazing employees. Mike is the owner of Roof to Deck Services and a strong mayoral candidate for St. Paul. As part of his service to the community, Mike brings a crew once a month and voluntarily picks up trash and power-washes areas of downtown. I met Mike at 6:30 in the morning in the parking lot of Catholic Charities. I hesitated to get out of my car as the parking lot and surrounding grounds were filled with bodies on benches, on patches of grass or wrapped in sleeping bags. I wasn’t sure if they were dead or alive. Once I met Mike, I was comfortable knowing his mission. He mingled with the homeless and delivered a positive and uplifting greeting to folks coming in to work. Mike’s platform includes creating a solution to the homeless problem as well as addressing the growing crime and the out-of-control taxes. As a business owner who believes in second chances (Mike’s employees are prior convicts), he has the experience, knowledge and compassion to be the leader of
our Capitol City.

Jodi Laliberte, White Bear Lake

 

‘Happen not at all’

In the Pioneer Press Sept. 4 issue, “Vance Visit“,  JD Vance was quick to say, “I have never had a day that will stay with me like this day did.” He added later, “I would just say, take the concerns of these parents seriously. I think all of us, Democrat, Republican and Independent, want these school shootings to happen less frequently. Hopefully there’s some steps that we can take to make that happen.”

1. I’m not sure this administration is taking the concerns of these and all parents seriously.

2. Let’s change “less frequently” to “happen not at all.”

3. Let’s change “hopefully” to “yes we can.”

Jane W. Murphy, St. Paul

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Bipartisan bill would have been better

The Senate bipartisan immigration and security bill, The Border Act of 2024, would have limited the number of immigrant encounters each day, raised the standards for those seeking asylum, created a faster claims procedure of 90 days, limited parole for migrants, expanded detention capacity, provided for the hiring of additional Border Patrol agents, asylum officers and immigration judges, plus added money to increase the wall building. It also increased the number of immigration visas or green cards, protected Afghan evacuees and protected documented dreamers.

This bipartisan plan may not have been perfect, but it would have been an agreement between the two parties’ positions. But, “only I can fix it” President Trump has exacerbated this critical issue. We have soldiers on the streets, ICE officers appearing in our communities arriving in unmarked cars, masked, displaying little or no identification. Unaccompanied child immigrants are swept up, detained and processed for deportation, due process has largely been ignored. Farm workers, day workers and students have been wrestled from the streets and workplaces. The promise to deport the worst of the worst MS-13 gang members has resulted in few such apprehensions, but instead there’s been widespread dark-of-night seizing of law-abiding immigrants. We are watching the mess unfold that Donald Trump has created.

People want border control, the deportation of criminals and due process. People do not want children or people who have lived here for decades deported despite being productive and acting honorably. Trump’s deportation policy is wrong, hateful and, not surprisingly, unpopular.

Pete Boelter, North Branch

One of the fall season’s most anticipated thrillers, a novel about a man who might be Bob Dylan’s son, and food meets the Beat writers. Eclectic topics for a fall Sunday.

(Courtesy of Atlantic Crime)

“The Whisper Place”: by Mindy Mejia (Atlantic Crime, $27)

Even when she’d thought about her husband lying facedown in a trough of dirt and dead leaves, it was fractured pieces of memory. Hands bleeding on a shovel handle. Sweat dripping from her forehead to the corpse. A frantic hug, pulling her daughter close as they both trembled with shock and exhaustion. Darkness and short, heaving breaths. — From “The Whisper Place”

Mindy Mejia (Courtesy of the author)

Meet two of the most intriguing new crime thriller partners — former police officer Max Summerlin and psychic Jonah Kendrick — business partners in a startup private detective agency specializing in finding people, some of whom don’t want to be found.

That’s the case when Charlie Ashlock hires the partners to find his missing girlfriend. The problem is he doesn’t know her name or anything about her. Not much to go on, but Max and Jonah take on the case in the third of Meija’s Iowa Mysteries series (after “To Catch a Storm” and “A World of Hurt”). Mejia is known for her twisty plots, and this is the twistiest. Every time you think you’ve got it figured out, she throws something new into the plot.

The story’s told in the voices of Max, Jonah and an on-the-run woman who calls herself Darcy and finds a new home at a bakery, where the woman who owns it becomes her best friend. As Max and Jonah follow the few leads they have, there are cracks in their relationship that need mending. Max is too quick to make decisions without consulting his partner and Jonah feels Max treats him as though he needs protection. While Max follows specifics in their cases, Jonah dreams about people they are seeking and where they are being held prisoner.

Max and Jonah find Victoria Campbell, mother of the missing woman. From there, the story is too exciting to reveal, except to say that someone presumed dead makes a menacing appearance.

Mejia has a degree from the University of Minnesota and an MFA in creative writing from Hamline University.

She will be a guest reader at Minnesota Mystery Night at 7 p.m. Monday at Lucky’s 13 Pub, 1352 Sibley Memorial Highway, Mendota, in conversation with Cary J. Griffith, who writes nonfiction and the Sam Rivers mystery series (“Rattlesnake Bluff”).  $13. Reservations at mnmysterynight.com. Mejia will launch her book at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Wooden Hill Brewing Company, 7421 Bush Lake Road, Edina, in conversation with Joshua Moehling, presented by Once Upon a Crime mystery bookstore. She reads at 5 p.m. Oct. 4 at Barnes & Noble, 828 W. County Road 42, Burnsville.

(Courtesy of Penguin Random House)

“The Boy from the North Country”: by Sam Sussman (Penguin Press, $29)

In my reflection I saw my mother’s features and Dylan’s merging into mine. She seemed to have known him. Strangers who weren’t aware of this insisted I looked like him. My mother wouldn’t talk about him. This couldn’t be happenstance. I could feel Dylan within me. We understood one another even if we had never met. His songs had given me a way to feel and live. He was the father I was meant to have. — from “Boy from the North Country”

There are two boys from northern places in this widely praised debut novel. One is Bob Dylan, who grew up in the north country of Hibbing, Minn. The other is protagonist Evan Klausner, from upstate New York’s Hudson Valley. They come together in this autobiographical story of 26-year-old Klausner’s return to the home of his beautiful mother, June, who is dying of cancer. June raised her son virtually alone, and their tender relationship is at the heart of the story. Klausner has a striking resemblance to musician Dylan, and he always wondered about his paternity, something his mother refused to talk about.

The novel was inspired by the author’s own uncertain paternity, which he wrote about in “The Silent Type: On (possibly) being Bob Dylan’s Son,” published in the May 2021 issue of Harper’s Magazine and available online.

In the novel, June and Evan eat healthful foods from the garden, enjoy the outdoors, discuss art and reminisce as Evan does all he can to care for his mother. June slowly unravels her secrets, including her yearlong relationship with Dylan in mid-1970s New York, when he was working on the album “Blood on the Tracks.”

Although critics’ reviews of the novel focus on Evan and June (Kirkus calls it “the most beautiful and moving mother-son story in recent memory”), Sussman’s imagining of June’s early life is compelling as he writes of her acting career and how she met a silent and moody Dylan at a painting class. Dylan, who is married, eventually ends up at her apartment at odd times during their affair.

Sussman is a graduate of Swarthmore College and the University of Oxford. He’s taught writing seminars in India, Chile and England. He lives in the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan and his native Hudson Valley.

“Dharma Butcher”: by JD Fratzke (Liquid North Publishing, $24)

Jack’s voice was a warm hand on my shoulder and a strong affection — the older brother he was to me then looking into my eyes to simply remind me that nothing ever matters or has ever really meant anything. I would let go and whirl in the dharma tornado, let it take me for a ride. — from “Dharma Butcher”

JD Fratzke (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

JD Fratzke’s new book is an eclectic collection that is part poetry, part autobiography, part recipes, part homage to the Beat poets. “Dharma” is for Jack Kerouac and the other Beats; “Butcher” is the author’s private life.

Fratzke has been prominent on the hospitality scene for more than 30 years as a high-profile chef, a consultant and a writer whose thoughts on food and challenges of cooking have been published in the Pioneer Press. His 2024 debut, “River Language,” was about his love of the wilderness, but his new book is wider-ranging. His aim was to write about the Beats in a way that would bridge generations.

Running through the book is Fratzke’s commitment to Buddhist practice: “I sit lotus/at the edge of a sylvan pond/In a lush grove of poplars/And I take refuge in/The Buddha/And/The Dharma/And/The Sangria.” He shares thoughts about the relationship between humans and animals they eat as he cuts up a duck. And he tells of moving to Minneapolis at age 19 when he was looking for “… a lifemaking, watching and listening to loud rock and roll. Minneapolis laid the opportunity to do so at my feet. I worked in record stores and nightclubs. I was asked to join a band as their singer and lyricist.”

The final quarter of this paperback is about how deeply the Beats affected Fratzke as a young writer. He gives us a “book report” comparing Kerouac’s books “On the Road” and “The Dharma Bums” and recalls his emotions seeing an exhibit at Walker Art Center that included a 1959 clip of TV host Steve Allen welcoming Kerouac reading from “On the Road.”

It ends with haiku and Zen poems: “I slurp my buckwheat noodles/And watch the new snow/A bird pauses to warm itself/On the neighbor’s chimney.”

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‘Talk to Me Nice’: How (and why) to speak to others in a way that builds trust

Susan Monarez’s 28-day tenure as the nation’s top public-health official was doomed from the start. Her boss, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., wanted her to do two things: champion his dubious anti-vaccine agenda and uphold “gold-standard science” at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Recognizing the conflict, Monarez chose the latter and was fired last month.

Monarez’s departure from the CDC highlights a dilemma that any successor will face: Under Kennedy, no serious scientist can hold the job. The risk this vacuum of expertise could pose to Americans’ health and safety is significant.

Kennedy has been a vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist for decades. Public frustration with pandemic-era mask and vaccine mandates helped catapult him to popularity and may have led to his appointment as health secretary. Although the White House gave Kennedy permission to “go wild” on health, lawmakers were given assurances that he wouldn’t do much to change vaccine policy.

So much for that. Since assuming his post, Kennedy has taken steps to restrict availability of the COVID-19 shot, which he once falsely called “the deadliest vaccine ever made.” He also purged the panel of experts that offers recommendations about vaccine use, cut critical vaccine research, and plans to publish a report “within a month” that aims to identify the heretofore elusive causes of autism, which he strongly suggests is caused by vaccines. (There’s no evidence to support this.)

In a hearing this month, Kennedy defended these measures as a “once-in-a-generation” effort to remake the CDC and restore “gold-standard science.” They’re nothing of the sort. Rather, the secretary appears intent on clearing room for more pliable subordinates, including his handpicked vaccine panel. Monarez says Kennedy asked her to preapprove this group’s recommendations, which are due later this month. When she refused, she was given the choice to resign or lose her job. Kennedy refutes this account.

It’s unclear whether Monarez was terminated legally. An acting director nonetheless already has been named: a close Kennedy aide and former biotech investor who has been known to peddle vaccine misinformation.

Monarez’s departure itself isn’t a crisis. More troubling is the exodus of top-level experts behind her — to say nothing of the hundreds of staff who’ve already been let go. A carousel of amateurish acting directors would only make things worse.

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The prospect of a CDC hollowed of expertise should alarm lawmakers. When an outbreak hits, seasoned leaders are needed to work across agencies, coordinate with state and local health officials, field calls from governors and foreign ministries of health, and communicate with the public. Staffing the agency with inexperienced loyalists will waste time and resources, increase the chances of costly mistakes, and put American lives at risk.

Almost a dozen Democratic senators have demanded Kennedy’s resignation, while influential Republicans including Bill Cassidy and Lisa Murkowski have called for oversight of Monarez’s firing. An investigation is likely in order. Although lawmakers pressed Kennedy to explain his actions in last week’s hearing, they failed to set a deadline for filling Monarez’s role with a qualified replacement. It isn’t too late: Concerns that the secretary might keep the job open — granting himself more authority in the interim — are mounting.

The countless public-health threats that the CDC regularly contains are invisible to most Americans. Lawmakers ought to know better.

— The Bloomberg Opinion Editorial Board

BOOZY BOOK FAIR: Second annual event features local authors, games and brews, presented by Valley Bookseller and Literature Lover’s Night Out. Free. 2 p.m. Sept. 21, River Siren Brewing Co., 225 Main St., Stillwater.

KARLEIGH FRISBIE BROGAN: Discusses “Holding: A Memoir About Mothers, Drugs, and Other Comforts” in conversation with Kathryn Savage. 7 p.m. Wednesday, Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls.

ANIKA FAJARDO: Presents “The Many Mothers of Dolores Moore.” 7 p.m. Tuesday, Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls.

JAMES KAKALIOS: Launches “The Physics of Superheroes Goes Hollywood.” 7 p.m. Thursday, Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls.

ONE BOOK/ONE MINNESOTA: Statewide book club presents free virtual conversation with Sheila O’Connor, author of “Evidence of V,” the program’s fall 2025 title. 7 p.m. Wednesday. To register: thefriends.org/onebook. (There is access to a free e-book until Sept. 28.)

READINGS BY WRITERS: With guest host Danny Klecko and readers Dralandra Larkins, Scott Vetsch and Jim Moore. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, University Club, 420 Summit Ave., St. Paul.

KELSEY TIMMERMAN: Discusses “Regenerating Earth: Farmers Working with Nature to Feed Our Future,” the result of his five years documenting regenerative farming practices around the world. 6:30 p.m. Friday, Patagonia, 1648 Grand Ave, St. Paul.

Diane Wilson (Courtesy photo)

WRITERS FOR DEMOCRATIC ACTION: Poets and writers read from works speaking about political, social and cultural occurrences in this country: Diane Wilson (WDA spokesperson), Margaret Hasse, Kathryn Kysar, Michael Kleber-Diggs and Donna Isaac. This free program is part of the Cracked Walnut Poetry Festival. 7 pm. Thursday, East Side Freedom Library, 1195 Greenbrier St., St. Paul.

What else is going on

Courtney Gerber (Courtesy of the Minnesota Center for Book Arts)

The Minnesota Center for Book Arts has named Courtney Gerber as executive director, replacing Elysa Voshell, who has relocated to Los Angeles. According to the organization’s announcement, Gerber brings more than 20 years of nonprofit arts leadership experience and a passion for book arts to her new role. She has held senior leadership roles at some of the Twin Cities’ most respected cultural organizations, including the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, Minnesota Museum of American Art and Walker Art Center. She has academic training in medieval manuscripts and contemporary art history, as well as personal practice in poetry and visual journaling. She takes the reins Oct. 14. (MCBA is in the Open Book building, 1011 Washington Ave. S., Mpls.)

The George Latimer St. Paul public library is among more than 15 libraries across the state participating in The Great North Star Read Together from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, when book lovers are invited to drop into their local libraries to read quietly for a few minutes or for the entire two hours to show support for libraries.

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