Nicholas David (Mrozinski)

Minnesota native son (Saint Paul! Eagan!) has made it to the final three on The Voice. Like the other two finalists, he has been gigging around, recording his own music, playing in bands.  They aren't amateurs.
 If you want to hear a genuine Minnesota accent, listen to his dad in this little bio clip. Pure.


 You can find his original music at his website,

He's pretty scruffy in his audition with "Stand By Me," but Cee Lo picks him for his team. Wise choice, Cee Lo, because he has become a fan favorite.

Jennifer Hudson ("Holy Buckets!") worked with him on this Bill Withers song, "Lean on Me" (one of my favorite songs ever).

He gave his own flavor to this up-tempo Barry White song.

 "The Power of Love" gets the soul treatment.

The other two finalists are good.  I don't much care for Cassadee, but the rocker dude Terry McDermott has a great voice, of the power tenor rocker type, and sings with conviction. He has covered songs by The Who, Journey, Boston, and even the Kansas classic, "Carry On, My Wayward Son." (aka "The Supernatural song") Does that mean that the Supernatural fandom will vote for him en masse?  If so, watch out.

Vote No: The moment they learned that their hard work had been successful

Waiting for the results on the MN constitutional marriage amendment,  the campaign workers for Minnesota United for All Families listen to a pep talk and are told by campaign director Richard Carlbom that they should probably go home. But first, a list of their accomplishments in the campaign to get out the vote and talk to people about the issues.  Suddenly, a phone call and the announcement that the AP has called it: the No vote won. Jubilation!

New earworm! Explore Minnesota

Joe Mauer is endearingly off-key.

my family is coming back to Minnesota today! *throws hat in the air*

Blizzard People! December 10, 2010

I'm so glad that Blas and Loren arrived home from Spain safely on Friday night before the blizzard arrived. There were safe at home the next day while it snowed and blew and busted the roof of the Metrodome. Many epic tales of digging out cars and shoveling were told the next day, as we woke up to a blue sky and frigid temperatures.

Snowpocalypse? Snomaggedon? SnOMG? This year's fun label/Twitter hashtag was #blizzardpeople, and lots of jokes were made about how our local weather celebrity, Paul Douglas, was vindicated in his projections of snowfall, after people mocked him for making us all worry about icy death (with reason) during our Thanksgiving travel.

But someone named galina put together this mashup of video footage with a great song about Minnesota blizzards.

Brother Ali made a blizzard rap last year. The New Standards do a version of "Snow Days" (originally recorded by Trip Shakespeare, bassist John Munson's group).

Mustard greens

In my CSA box from Featherstone Farms today, there were four kinds of tomatoes (little yellow ones shaped like pears, orange sweeties, a greenish-red heirloom, and several roma style cooking tomatoes), summer squash, bell peppers, basil, red onions, green beans, salad greens, cucumbers, and a bunch of mustard greens. I love my CSA deliveries! Opening the box is like opening a gift every week.
I often crave greens, any and all of them, especially bitter greens. I washed and ripped the leaves off the coarse stems, and cooked them down in the water left over from steaming the beans. I ate some with my salad, and put the rest in a container for later. There was almost a cup of broth left over, and I'm drinking it now. I like the flavor, and mustard greens have a huge amount of vitamins A and C, as well as other nutrients.
Nutrition has always fascinated me, and I just discovered asite called Nutrition Data, a good source of basic information presesented in the familiar USDA label format. An even better site is World's Healthiest Foods because it gives detailed explanations of the health benefits associated with the nutrients in specific foods. The entry on mustard greens explains why mustard greens might be particularly good for the lungs, the liver, and the joints, but not so great for people who have kidney or gall-bladder problems (because of the presence of oxalates). It reminds me of the kind of information that fascinated me when I started using Laurel's Kitchen to cook with, many years ago. The New Laurel's Kitchen is practically a textbook of nutrition as well as a cookbook.

Here is their list of the "worlds healthiest foods," (129) of them, according to these criteria: nutrient dense, whole foods, that are familiar, available, affordable and taste good.

Pawlenty the lame duck

Governor Pawlenty, "Governor of Brigadoon"--a portrait by Michael Tortorello, posted on The Uptake, courtesy of Noah Kunin. It's a fascinating portrait of the governor who has just announced he will not run for a third term. What are his further political ambitions, given that he was supposed to be John McCain's running mate until he was unceremoniously bumped by Palin? I have always regarded him as a smiling villain, an ogre with a smile, in thrall to the Grover Norquist "no new taxes" line. He's governed to the hard right, without flinching. He's led us to a deficit of Bush proportions. He says that being a "lame duck" will allow him to be more agressive with the unallotment process of defunding social services and education. We're in a heap of trouble.

Another day, another year

Yesterday, we were fortunate enough to spend the afternoon with friends in the country in Northfield. We missed all the members of our family scattered around the world: in Crookston MN, in San Francisco, in Zaragoza, in Maryland. We thought of all of you with much love!I can't upload pictures yet because I left the camera case with the cable and won't get it back for a few days, but in place of the photos of spring on the farm, here is a picture of Guille in his PJs, in the spirit of spring!

After a fabulous meal prepared by the awesome Carrie and Atina, some of us took a walk around the farm, through the woods, along the ravine, noticing the tiny sprouts of green, the violets poking among through last year's dead leaves. First blooming flowers I've seen anywhere! The two geese did their job of protecting the chickens, and Carrie pointed out where one had laid an egg by the blackberry bushes. We didn't see any wild turkeys on our walk, the way we had a few years ago, but earlier in the day Guinness the dog spooked three dear who were passing near the house and they scrambled around the field with their white fluffy tails high; I think he was as surprised as the deer. Later, he came up with a deer's leg that had been gnawed on, probably by coyotes, with the hoof still attached. He carried it around proudly, and buried it in a "secret spot."
We were walking with folks who know the land and the neighbors equally well, and I'm always fascinated to hear what they notice, the stories they can tell about the branches of the neighbor's family (the short ones and the tall ones) who lived where before, what is likely to grow in one kind of soil, what plans there are for continuing to restore a meadow with native plants or to keep the neighbor's fertilizer from running off into the watershed. There was a peeping frog at a small pond that scrambled off when I tried to get closer. I'm such a city girl, I still exclaim with delight every time I can even recognize a bird: look, it's a woodpecker! a crow!

I was wearing my city boots, but the temperatures for walking were perfect: warm in the sun with a jacket, no wind, no bugs, clear views through the trees whose branches are still bare. In just a few weeks, when the trees and bushes leaf out, the views will change entirely. The next few weeks will give us the unfolding of crocus, forsythia, tulip, daffodil, peonies and lilacs. This morning when we left, the cardinal was at his post on the tree in front of the house.

Here is a wonderful time-lapse photo montage I watched yesterday to honor the spirit of the day, created by entropious88 (John Martineau) with the music of Brian Eno, one of my favorites. Thank you for sharing your creative work, John!

Dog park by the Mississippi

I accompanied Diane and her lovely dog Maddy to a dog park between Hiawatha Ave and the Mississippi. The stairs leading down to the park were icy-snowy, so I held onto the railing with both hands going down. The sun was out, casting crisp shadows on the snow, and we ended up following a path down to shore of the river, where you couldn't quite tell where the bank left off and the frozen river began.
There were scores of dogs of all kinds, from Russian wolf-hounds to pugs, beagles, boxers and golden retrievers, an Australian shepherd that tried to herd all of us, a hound that treed a squirrel; there were spaniels, terriers, and german shepherds, mixed breeds of all shapes and sizes. Some dragged sticks, some chased balls, others chased each other or displayed their ever-shifting rank in the swirling pack. All were friendly and filled with joy, as were we, to be out and about. Maddy ran until she could barely respond to another dog's invitation to play, and the assorted people of all ages accompanying their dogs chatted and laughed and made sure the toddler didn't fall into the hole where there was some open water, in a little creeklet running from the slope to the river. It was not windy and the temperature was just right to be out without hat or mittens, snug in a parka and boots, but not hunkered down in the chill. I only got a few shots on my cell phone camera, but here is my favorite.
While we were hanging out with the dogs, other folks were frolicking with the Art Sleds!

How cold is it? Ask Bird Chick!

The awesome Bird Chick (Sharon Stiteler, author of Disapproving Rabbits and City Birds,Country Birds) did a few science experiments to illustrate to our non-MN buddies what happens when it is -21F outside.
Here's science experiement #1: spraying hot water that freezes before it hits the ground:

Experiment #2: freeze a banana rock hard, use it as a hammer!

She tagged these posts "ass cold."

The Omnivore Hundred

By way of food bloggers Becks and Posh, here is a fun foodie meme. I think of it as a warm-up before attending the State Fair, although if this were fair food, it would be fried and on a stick.

As usual, I will rely on the blog My Pronto Pup for fair news and gorgeous photos of the Fair.

Here’s what you do

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison (lots of hunting in MN)
2. Nettle tea (must correct this oversight!)
3. Huevos rancheros (best ever at Bette's Diner in Berkeley)
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile (in Nola)
6. Black pudding (also morcilla in Spain)
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper (only cooked)
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float (I hate root beer)
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (cigars are disgusting)
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (chapulines in Oaxaca)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel (unagi, mmmmm)
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa (harissa, yes, but not rose harissa)
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake (tastes like chicken!)

Gotta love that Minnesota weather!

Today was "saturated with awesomeness" according to Miss R., and I agree!

We slept in, watched cartoons, were lazy with the kitty. Then we took a walk to look for a last item for the school camping trip coming up this week. The weather was gorgeous: sunny, not too hot, dandelion puffs blowing in the wind, the scent of lilacs on the breeze. We stopped at the Letterbox Creative Store for Cupcake Saturday. We bought one of each of the four kinds of cupcakes made by the fabulous Sheela Namakkal, whose catering business is called Miel y Leche. Today she was serving a lemon-blueberry, strawberry shortcake, "hostess" (like a ho-ho), and a yellow cake with dark chocolate frosting. We saved them for later, and went on to Twin Cities Green, a newish store on Hennepin, where I thought we could find a water bottle. Not only did we find a Sigg bottle, but one with a Japanese design! Yes!
We walked back to have lunch at Lucia's Bakery: fruit salad, a biscuit, a corn muffin, with yummy Darbo preserves. I love the corn muffins at Lucia's, especially with their chili, but today we wanted to get to the matinee at the Uptown Theater on time to see The Fall. We sat in the balcony, right in the first row. I love being able to still go to a theater with a balcony. It had some eye-popping cinematography, amazing locations, lovely acting. We give it two thumbs up.

On the way home, I bought a copy of Persepolis (I and II), because we had seen it last week at the Riverview, another great cinema.
We were at home, noodling around, when suddenly we heard the tornado siren. Since there was still sun shining through the window, we didn't race to the basement, but checked out the TV report; possible tornado forming in a storm to the north, with "golf ball sized hail." With the disaster in Hugo fresh in our minds, we got the cat carrier ready in case we had to go downstairs, but when the storm arrived, our hail was only dime sized. After closing all the storm windows, I crossed my fingers that we wouldn't have the huge hail we'd seen on TV, but no windows were broken. We saw a huge rainbow when the rain ended. In just a few minutes time, it rained hard enough to send a little flood down the street gutters. Gotta love that Minnesota weather, and thank goodness this weekend we just had the thunder and hail, and no tornado.

I'm trying to soak up all the time I have with my girl because she'll be away all week at this camping trip, the last hurrah of her middle school year.

Twin Cities Daily Planet/KFAI benefit "Party for a Media Revolution"

I'm going to a party! I just got two tickets for the "Party for a Media Revolution", co-hosted by KFAI Community Radio and the Twin Cities Daily Planet, on June 5th at Trocadero's. It's a benefit, and a kick-off party for the National Conference for Media Reform, June 6-8. By making a $200 donation to the Twin Cities Daily planet, I got to support an organization I love, get two tickets to the party AND register for the Conference, a $195 registration fee ($95 for students/low income). I was hesitating, due to the cost, but knowing that my money goes directly to the Twin Cities Daily Planet made it worthwhile for me.


I am a big fan of the Twin Cities New Media Alliance and its newswire site the Twin Cities Daily Planet. Their slogan is "Local News for Global Citizens" and they fulfill this mission by providing a mix of content from over 40 local media partners, citizen journalists, and a wonderful professional staff. They are making exceptional use of the potential of "Web 2.0" interactive capacity to foster participatory citizen journalism:

The Twin Cities Daily Planet is conceived as an experiment in participatory journalism, built on a partnership between professional journalists and individual citizens. Collectively, the residents of the Twin Cities have far more expertise and insight than can be found in any one newsroom. The premise of the TC Daily Planet is that new technologies are making it possible for these citizens to become more active and powerful participants in the news production process. One goal of the Daily Planet is to harness that community intelligence and enable individuals to share information and work together for the common good.

The roster of folks participating in this national conference is amazing. I'm especially excited by the large presence of young people among them.

May Day pics, part 2

May Day pics, part 1

It's the 34th year of the May Day festival!

Volunteers hand out the program.

You can view and the parade and be part of it at the same time.

MAY DAY festival 2008!

In the Heart of the Beast Puppet Theater will be our hosts for the MayDay parade and festival. The first one was in 1975 and each year there is a theme for the parade and the ceremony, followed by the festival in Powderhorn Park I missed last year's festival, but this year we will be there! The forecast is for dry and mild weather, not too hot.
These pictures are from 2006. One of my favorite moments is when the Sun comes across the lake to meet the May Tree.
The Star Tribune posted this great video about all the preparations of building the costumes, floats, and puppets for the parade, an effort that involves the community.

Riverstories web site is up.

This new web page is the home of a collaborative effort called Riverstories, connecting along the Mississippi from Minnesota, through St. Louis and on to New Orleans.

The bridge, again.

When I got back from San Francisco, I went by the grocery store on the way home from the airport to stock up for the busy week ahead. I'm glad I did, because I also immediately came down with a cold. I picked up a copy of Minnesota Monthly, our public radio magazine, because they've hired my favorite food writer, the one whose reviews I really trust.

But the article that had me up to late last night was by Beth Hawkins, a local journalist whose work I've liked over the years. She wrote this story about the I-35 bridge collapse, telling some of the many stories of those 110 minutes between the collapse and the moment when the last living victim was rescued. The stories are amazing.
I have refused to look at the bridge since that day, even though I drive past the site on the way home. At first it was out of sorrow for those who were still in the water, before they could find all the bodies. Then it was because I didn't need to see it to feel it. Now it is habit. I know they are building the new bridge, but I don't want to look. I'm so angry at how the governor has been choking off money for transit, how there has been no accountability.

Veto override on MN Transit bill-sign of change?

I get lots of email from organizations I support, and I often hit the delete button pretty fast. But this message from Transit for Livable Communities really got my attention: the MN Legislature managed to override Gov. Pawlenty's veto, after years of being stymied by his hardline "no new taxes, no matter what" policy. As the Star Tribune article said, "None of Pawlenty's 36 previous vetoes had been overturned, including two before on transportation proposals."

Even after the darn bridge fell into the river, even though gas prices have gone through the roof, he refused to back a very modest gas tax increase for transit needs. But finally the House democrats were able to round up enough Republican support for a well-conceived transit plan. The Senate had a veto-proof vote, but we were still one vote shy in the House. The public pressure in response to Pawlenty's veto was huge. I think that this support for the DFL agenda is not just due to the very hard work of local grassroots organizations and politicians, although that is surely the case; it is also an effect of this election year's mobilization of energy. At the state level as well as the national level, a lot of people really want change.
Here's the message

Thanks to your faxes, calls, and emails, the Minnesota state legislature just voted to override Governor Pawlenty’s veto of the transportation bill !


This bill secures a dedicated source of funding for a transit system that will help Minnesotans reach their destinations safely and conveniently.


"This is a historic step forward for transit in Minnesota," says Lea Schuster, Executive Director of Transit for Livable Communities. "Our legislators needed to take decisive action, and they ultimately did what was best for Minnesota."

The transportation bill includes a 1/4 cent region-wide sales tax dedicated solely toward transit. This will generate approximately $117 million per year for transit needs across Minnesota. Ultimately, transit needs an estimated $235 million per year to fully leverage federal matching funds that currently go to other states, but this bill is a good step forward, notes Schuster.

Transit funding in the transportation bill will go toward the following:

* Construction of eight new dedicated transitways (i.e. light rail, commuter rail, and bus rapid transit)
* Doubling bus ridership by 2020
* Creating better transit facilities and new park & ride capacity
* Providing revenue to local governments for bicycle and pedestrian projects
* Expanding transit in Greater Minnesota

This could not have happened without your efforts! Thank you for making this a reality!

Best,

Transit for Livable Communities

Woot!

Wow! a quarter of a million people showed up at caucuses last night in Minnesota. The prediction in the MN Daily was "Seventy thousand Minnesotans are expected to turn out for the DFL caucuses and 50,000 for the Republican caucuses." But in fact, it was more like around 200,000 DFLers and about 60,000 Republicans, according to MPR. Let's look at that number again: estimate 70,00o, actual turnout, over 200,000. This is in a state with a population about about four and a half million overall. The estimate is that 1 in 10 eligible voters came out, stood in lines, and cast a vote. One can be distrustful of politics as usual, but this is not business as usual! For the blow-by-blow national analysis of the whole shebang, Al Giordano at The Field (publisher of Narco News bulletin from Latin America) is both entertaining and accurate in his analysis.

As I was driving home from work yesterday, on my way to my precinct caucus, I could hear folks calling in to the public radio station about the lines, traffic, people leaving their cars by the side of the road to walk the rest of the way so their votes would be counted. The turnout of students on campus was HUGE. Both Clinton and Obama made visits to the Twin Cities over the weekend, and the viral ads had their effect, but the big story everywhere today is how people in every single county, not just the metro area, and of many different backgrounds spoke about being inspired to show up and vote by Obama's candidacy. In fact, David Brauer tells a great story about one of the Obama after parties, with some gentle mockery, but recognition that the "hopemongers" are not sitting at home:

So here's the lasting image from Barack Obama's Minnesota victory party: you stumble into Trocadero's, a downtown Minneapolis nightspot nearly as snazzy as the Illinois senator, and you notice very few people on what is usually a dance floor. The delirious masses, as it turns out, are all crammed on stage, backs turned, gazing up reverently at the big screen, swaying and singing to will.i.am's viral "Yes We Can" video.

In my precinct, the vote was 4 to 1 Obama, but then my precinct has the highest percentage of registered Democrats in the state, and tends to run very progressive candidates (Rep. Keith Ellison, state Rep. Hornstein, State Sen Scott Dibble). One important effect of greater voter turnout for the presidential race is that it spills over to the other candidates. We have an important Senate race going on. If DFL turnout at a CAUCUS (not even a primary) is almost 4 times higher than expected, in a state that usually has high turnout, then this will definitely have an effect on who the party endorses in more than one race. In fact, the undecided super-delegates, elected officials who have not yet endorsed anybody, are starting to say things like Tim Walz:

First-term congressman Tim Walz today endorsed Barack Obama's presidential bid.
In a release, Walz later said "Last night at the Democratic caucuses, the voters of southern Minnesota overwhelmingly supported Senator Barack Obama and his hopeful vision for positive change. As a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention, I will honor their decision and support Senator Obama."

Whether Obama wins the nomination or not, we are done with the DNC catering to white men's supposed centrist views as the strategy for electoral success. Done.

I love Minnesota!

It is sunny and zero degrees Fahrenheit this morning. Time to break out the BIG coat the one that is like wearing a sleeping bag, and the big ugly knee high Sorrel boots i bought when I first moved here and didn't have a car. And the special mittens. I'm so glad I got the oil changed, the car checked out and washed yesterday. It will warm up to the toasty twenties in a few days, but the high today will probably be ten degrees.

I know this means a big storm somewhere else, and folks are having a hard time, but that purple bulge of cold air coming down from the North Pole is over our part of the weather map for a few days, so Minnesotans will all be smiling and there will be some "you think THIS is cold. Why I remember..." weather talk. Hey, they're doing it on the radio right now! The coldest time of the year is usually in January.

After about five years of relatively mild winters, now we are having some real cold before the holidays. Why, I remember that time I was taking the bus (no car) and got on the wrong bus and had to walk about a half a mile back to campus and it was -11. I wept bitter tears and they froze.