Podcasts about University Avenue

Sitting on a frontage road perched above the interstate, hemmed by roads and nondescript government buildings near the Capitol, 12th and Robert streets in St. Paul isn't much to look at. But in 1903, this was the place to be if you loved baseball. There, the St. Paul Saints and the St. Paul Colored Gophers — two of the city's historic baseball teams — played at the Pillbox, sometimes called the “Downtown Ball Park,” a popular venue almost laughably small for baseball."It was a tiny ballpark,” said Stew Thornley, a local baseball historian who's seeking approval this year for a plaque to commemorate the Pillbox and its history in St. Paul."Even if you hit a ball over the fence, right down the line, it was worth only two bases,” he said. “There were another set of poles out to left and right center field. You had to get it more to center field and over the fence for it to be considered a home run."Home plate faced northwest, at what would be the site of the state Capitol, which was completed in 1905, two years after the Pillbox opened.While the Saints history is well-known, historians say the Colored Gophers were key to the history of Black baseball in Minnesota and across the country. They played a decade before the formation of the Negro Leagues."They are probably one of the greatest baseball teams, white or Black, in Minnesota history,” said Frank White, who wrote a book about Black baseball history in Minnesota. "And in terms of Black baseball, they are, for sure, the team.”  MPR News The history of black baseball in Minnesota Starting in 1907, the St. Paul Colored Gophers wrapped up a four-year run with a 380-89-2 record — winning more than 80 percent of their games — under legendary team owner Phil “Daddy” Reid, according to the Center for Negro League Baseball Research.Reid sought the fastest ball players he could find from around the country and paid them. The result was dominance, White said. The team beat the Saints in a 1907 unofficial state championship. In a series that was called the Black World Series by some, the Colored Gophers hosted Chicago's Leland Giants, one of the best Black baseball teams in the country, for a five-game series at the Pillbox, with Minnesota winning the series three games to two.Among the notable players on the Gophers were "Steel Arm” Johnny Taylor, William "Big Bill" Bill Gatewood and Bobby Marshall, who had played football for the Minnesota Gophers. Marshall happened to be one of the most famed Minnesota athletes at the time.Telling ‘the hidden history of Black baseball'After the 1910 season, Bobby Marshall bought the St. Paul Gophers. The team changed its name to the Twin Cities Gophers. The ballpark on Lexington Avenue near University Avenue became more popular and the Pillbox soon closed. It's such a distant memory that it has been forgotten by most.But not by Thornley. He has applied to put up a memorial plaque next to the Minnesota Department of Health laboratory where the park once stood."It's got greater significance than just to somebody like me who loves baseball, loves the old ballparks,” he said.“The chance to tell the story, the story of baseball, the story of the ballpark, but especially with the hidden history of Black baseball … many people here in Minnesota have been digging that history out and telling those stories. And this is one more way to do that,” Thornley said.He and others have worked to get plaques up at other baseball sites around the Twin Cities. But the application for the Pillbox site is more time-consuming than most. That's because it sits on the Capitol complex and has to go through the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board. On top of that, it is the first application received since the board created a new multistep application procedure.The new process was put into place after the Christopher Columbus statue outside the Capitol was torn down by protesters in June 2020. The new process was put into place to make sure there is ample opportunity for public input on things being added or removed to the Capitol grounds. The staff at the Capitol architectural board say the application process for the marker for the Pillbox could take six to eight months, or longer."It's definitely a more involved process,” said Tina Chimuzu, a planning fellow at the CAAPB. She says the board considers many factors in applications, including whether it has public support.“Documented public support for the artwork, and the artwork has to have lasting statewide significance for Minnesotans,” she said. “And then the artwork has to be respectful of the diversity of Minnesotans. And then, does viewing the artwork provide a rich experience to broaden the understanding of Minnesota-shared history, heritage and culture?"Erik Cedarleaf Dahl, executive secretary for the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board, said the team works to confirm and fact-check everything in the application. The goal is to learn as much as possible about it in their own research. "With limited space on the Capitol Mall, we want to make sure that what we're putting there is totally accurate, especially if you're going to go through this,” he said. “To ask taxpayers dollars to spend this time on this … we want to make sure that it is accurate and the process is effective."Public input on the application for the Pillbox field plaque is open until May 5.If all goes as planned, the plaque could be up this fall, although it still has several more fences to clear.

In this third Episode on Glasgow city, we have just come to the end of University Avenue, arriving at Byers Road, a favourite place for University Students to eat and drink. What is the scandal surrounding the Tennant Pub? And what does a Clockwork Orange have to do with Glasgow's underground railway system, the third oldest in the world. I'll be mentioning the conversion of 19th century Town Houses to hotels and find out where Kylie Minogue stays when she is visiting Glasgow. Down on the waterfront we will visit the Scottish Exhibition Centre to see an arena that looks like a spacecraft and the other one that looks like an Armadillo. Across the other side of the River Clyde, we will visit the science centre and I'll tell you about the Glasgow Tower that earned the Guinness World Record, for its ability to be rotated 360 degrees in the presence of wind. We will also be visiting a couple of the 20 art galleries and museums that adorn Glasgow which has some of the most eminent collection of arts and historical antiques in Europe. Oh, and don't forget the musical arts centres where our opera house sits opposite Scotland's centre for bagpipes. Could one say that the sounds are not dissimilar?  

On today's Midday Report with host Terry Haines:A group of protesters demonstrated against US Ukraine policy in Fairbanks on Monday. A new report paints a bleak picture of the impacts of frozen and cancelled federal funds in Alaska. And probationary federal workers based in Kotzebue joined thousands of other employees fired earlier this month by the Trump Administration.Photo: Protesters mark the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the corner of Geist Road and University Avenue on Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (Robyne/KUAC)

The original radio renegade returns to the bleak barren tarmac of University Avenue with his first episode of the new podcast, "Mischke.” Tommy starts out talking about his vision for what this new show will be, and confesses to a couple of bad ideas he had to reject along the way. Then we meet Marc Masters, author of “High Bias: The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape” as both he and Tommy reflect on a simple audio invention that completely revolutionized the experience of music, and changed the industry forever. Mischke closes out the show trying desperately to give back to those who work hard serving us each and everyday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The original radio renegade returns to the bleak barren tarmac of University Avenue with his first episode of the new podcast, "Mischke.” Tommy starts out talking about his vision for what this new show will be, and confesses to a couple of bad ideas he had to reject along the way. Then we meet Marc Masters, author of “High Bias: The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape” as both he and Tommy reflect on a simple audio invention that completely revolutionized the experience of music, and changed the industry forever. Mischke closes out the show trying desperately to give back to those who work hard serving us each and everyday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One of Charlottetown's best burgers is back — from the Peter Pan drive-in that stood on University Avenue for more than 40 years. The Blue Goose restaurant is adding the Peter Pan burger basket to the menu, and they're not the only ones reveling in the nostalgia. Mitch learns why a burger with its own identity is having a minute.

Almost one year after an officer-involved shooting on University Avenue that left a 44-year-old suspect dead, Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm announced Wednesday that the use of deadly force was justified. No charges would be filed against any of the officers involved, Alm added. In a news conference Wednesday, Alm went into detail over the timeline of events.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Toby Espinosa, the VP of DoorDash ads, reflects on the tremendous growth of the delivery platform, saying the key to this is local businesses. Episode TranscriptPlease note, this transcript  may contain minor inconsistencies compared to the episode audio. Damian: [00:00:00] I'm Damian Fowler.Ilyse: And I'm Ilyse LiffreingDamian: And welcome to this edition of The Current Podcast.Ilyse: This week, we're delighted to talk with Toby Espinoza, the VP of DoorDash Ads.Damian: And Toby is responsible for connecting brands, local and national, to the more than 37 million customers who place orders on DoorDash marketplaces each month.Ilyse: At this point, DoorDash is a household name, no pun intended. It has more than 7 million couriers delivering orders for DoorDash from around 550, 000 merchants.Damian: Hard to believe that the company was founded just over 10 years ago in 2013. And Toby joined the company in 2015. So he's seen DoorDash go from strength to strength.Naturally, we start by asking him about how the company has changed over the last decade.Ilyse: So Toby, DoorDash celebrated its 10th anniversary last year. And I, I remember when you guys launched, I would just say, because I was like a hungry college student at the time.And it was like, perfect timing to get [00:01:00] anything delivered to my dormToby: And where were you?Ilyse: In San Francisco.Toby: Francisco? No way. Oh, awesome.Ilyse: was like, yeah, it was like I was in the right place at the right time for sure. Yes. And, so how would you say has the company evolved from a food delivery platform to the platform it is today?Toby: When I joined the company, we were in 4, 5 metros.And we were completely focused on one product in four or five markets. And back in 2015 when I joined the food delivery market, as you remember, seamless reigned supreme in New York. Grubhub was in Chicago and everywhere else food delivery was pizza: Domino's, Papa John's, Pizza Hut. And a few local restaurants that were able to afford having couriers. The market, everybody thought, was saturated. We entered, the company had a thesis that the market itself, given the advent of mobile technology, we believed that [00:03:00] if you took this device, this mobile device, where now a dasher had a mobile phone, a consumer had a mobile phone, and actually restaurants had access to this mobile superhighway, that if we connected all of them, there would be a larger opportunity for growth.Growth being the key word there, because as much as DoorDash has changed over the last 10 years, we have gone from a one product, one market business to a multiple product, multiple geography business, with 37 million monthly active users, over 15 million monthly active subscribers to our platform.If you go back to our founding story, Tony, Stanley and Andy, when they started DoorDash, walked down University Avenue in Palo Alto and they went from store to store asking every local business, how can I help you grow? That was the founding question. It wasn't can I build a logistics network, it wasn't, can I build an ad business? It was, “Hey, how can I help you grow?” And the opportunity they found was let's do a restaurant oriented delivery network for everybody across suburban markets. And that's what took off.Ilyse: How would you say that growth has like translated on the ads marketplace side of things? Toby: Yeah.The hard part about building something at the scale that DoorDash [00:05:00] operates is the consumer side. Building a consumer promise and then making that promise better and better and better every day, getting faster and cheaper, that is actually the harder part to find.Product market fit from a consumer perspective. Once we have that, and once we have that, we want to continue to compound that over and over and over againAbout four, four years ago, five years ago, our merchants and so stores within our ecosystem raised their hand and started to ask us, “Hey, do you have any tools to help me grow even faster?” That's how the ad business started. It was a it's very fundamental. It's a core to who we are. It's a growth business. We have customers who want to grow [00:06:00] faster. And what we then tried to figure out was how can we help serve this promise for these customers while also helping our marketplace continue to grow?So the best way to do that is to align incentives, uh, show us the incentive, and we'll show you the outcome that we're driving towards.Our AD team is incentivized both by driving incremental return from a spend perspective for advertisers, as well as driving incremental volume for our consumer marketplace, which is very different than most advertising platforms. Most advertising houses, you have product and tech on one side driving growth, and you have ads trying to monetize it on the other side. We wanted to bring those together to make sure we were able to continue to grow on both sides and serve our customers best. Damian: And cut to date to this rise of, spectacular rise of retail media, which of course is one of the hottest topics right now in our space. DoorDash of course has built its own retail media network in recent years. Could you talk a little bit about how you took some of those concepts you just talked about and built the network?Toby: Yeah, absolutely. So we, again we wanted to be completely aligned with the customer. So the first customer that we started to think about was the SMB owner operator restaurant that we all know, that's in our town.In San Francisco, it's Suvla. In New York, it's Electric Burrito. These places that, these brands [00:08:00] that we are absolutely in love with. What we quickly realize is that person, that customer, there's two fundamental things that are very difficult.The first is that they have to be an expert at 15 different things So, if we own a local restaurant, a local retailer, We have to be great at real estate. We have to be great at marketing. We have to be great at financials. We have to be great at accounting. We have to be great at customer service. We have to be great at creating a great product, which is food, right?And so when we look at this core customer, they're supposed to be an expert at 15 different things Our job is to go after one of those. And make sure that they don't have to think about that growth as [00:09:00] much as they used to by putting a little bit of the burden of that growth on our shoulders. What that means in practice when we launched the business for for SMB customers, we focused on building an economic model that worked for them. Last week, in San Francisco, I went and picked up a salad. at, at one of my favorite, favorite places. And there was a restaurant right next door that had just opened a month in. A month in, and nobody in his restaurant.Completely empty. Maybe three or four people in a, in, that could otherwise have a capacity of 50. And I went online and I looked. He was running advertising across a bunch of different channels that we all know. Snap, Google, Meta, etc.This person was in the red month day one of the month.It's one of the hardest things in this country. These small businesses that start [00:10:00] negative every single month. And on top of that, they also had to layer in more spend on Google and meta to try to get out of that hole.We took the premise of we want to be your growth assistant and we took the premise of it's really, really hard. for you to basically grow your business without having to also add more money into this negative cash cycle.And we said, let's build a product where you do not have to pay us unless you get an order.So unless we send you money, you do not have to pay us. And those two things together have helped us build one of the fastest growing retail media networks, particularly focused on a customer that was completely underserved. Damian: Could you talk about, a little bit more about how you [00:11:00] kind of expanded those relationships with both the national brands, tying that into the local, the business works at a local level fundamentally.Toby: So in the restaurant space. The vast, vast majority of restaurants on Main Street are local. Even if you are a McDonald's franchisee, so you have one of the largest brands, you're a, you're a small business owner.Really, the, the Starbucks, the Chipotles of the world that are corporately owned restaurants at scale are actually the smallest. They're the 10%, not the 90 percent in the U. S. And so our ad product designed on a CPA based level where we can be the growth assistant for all these owner operators is really for the 90.It's built for the majority. Um, that being said, we also just launched, uh, last week the our new product, which is our ad manager and our [00:12:00] ad manager for the enterprise restaurant segment is designed actually to help both the C. M. O. Of McDonald's and the owner operator franchisee within the system. And the way that we've done that is we've actually built the first of its kind way of buying or thinking about purchasing acrossA national media buyer, an agency at the national level, a district media buyer, most of these franchisees actually also have districts, or DMAs, where they have their own pools of funds that can be allocated for growth, and then also at the local level. Incremental to that, not only is if you're a franchisee and you own a couple McDonald's and a couple, uh, you know, a couple Subways and a couple other brands. Now you can also manage your business across brands. It's really the first of a kind product in its space, designed entirely to kind of work between local and national brand.We also, of course, support local. started to invest in larger CPGs. And there, you know, we really look at some of the other large retail media networks in the [00:13:00] space. You know, today I was reading the the amazing work that you all did with a woman who leads Kroger's retail media business and built it from scratch.We find a lot of inspiration from those folks learning, understanding how we can add an incremental service to folks that are already spending a lot of money at other retail media networks. And, um, and I think we found Uh, some very cool opportunities for us there, Ilyse: Very cool. You were saying how it's about 90 percent SMBs and 10 percent um, big business. Um, how does that play out within the DoorDash platform?Toby: yeah.yeah. So so it's really and when I meant that it's kind of think about where the dollars are coming from. So You might think of DoorDash Volume as large businesses. You know, a lot of people are ordering McDonald's. But the reality is the, the spender, the buyer of media could be a local franchisee.So the brand is national, but the spend is still local. That's kind of what I was saying there. On [00:14:00] the, as you know, also on the CPG side, uh, large brands like Pepsi and Coca Cola and P& G, those are large, national, entrenched franchises. Brands. Those are timeless, timeless brands that have been around for a very long time.And so the question there is, how do we build products that are timely to help the timeless? And that's been a very interesting journey for us over the last two and a half years. It's a, it's a new space for us again, as I said. Um, but it's going swimmingly well. And, and today we have the opportunity to sit on stage with, with Pernod Ricard, which is, of course, one of the storied alcohol manufacturers.Ilyse: Um, can you talk a little bit about the Partnerships and how you actually go about working with like those brands and retailers that are using your platform so much Toby: We, like I said, were founded as a growth helper. So built in our DNA is working with others to help them grow.We obviously have a [00:15:00] very large consumer marketplace that is that has helped those businesses grow. And so some of us think of in the same You know, uh, letters of other large consumer marketplaces like an Amazon, uh, like a Walmart e com.But we are fundamentally built in our DNA a partner oriented culture. What that means is first we get to partner with great local brands, mid market brands, national brands, add in the manufacturers, but that also means we get to do fun things like Add in Max, or add in Chase, or add in other folks where there are a lot of people, if given the opportunity, want to help local businesses grow.Our job is to help figure out a way to make that happen. Ilyse: would you say that is captured users I guess and they'reToby: It's a, no, it's a great question. The underlying thing is, how do we do it in a way that continues to compound our consumer promise, which is faster, better, cheaper. And, and, you know, we'll be the first to say there are some partnerships [00:16:00] where it doesn't necessarily help that much.And then there's other partnerships where it has been critical. Think about our Chase partnership and, and the depth in which we've built that partnership over time, where everybody that has a, you know, a Chase credit card has the opportunity to participate in one of the largest subscription, local subscription programs, uh, in the world.And so, some work quite well, others are challenging, and we're a first principled company that, that tries to get better every single day.Damian: Just to on that point are you very strategic about looking for new partnerships you know, that's an interesting one chase and of course there are many others but how do you think about it and go about building those different partnerships.Toby: Yeah it's a collaboration Internally within DoorDash, we have, uh, general managers that run different business units, just as myself. We have functional leaders like our incredible, uh, CMO Kofi, who has built one of the world's largest brands in a span of years, not decades, which is incredibly, incredibly amazing, and he is a celebrity. If you ever want to feel like a [00:17:00] celebrity, just walk with Kofi in Cannes for about 15 to 20 minutes and it'll be the coolest thing you'll ever experience.Um, next year, exactly, exactly. Um, but It's a collaboration across different functions, and then it's a collaboration with a partner. You know, one of the most interesting partnerships that we've launched in the last two years, from my vantage point, is we are a close partner with Amazon in Canada. Now, a lot of folks, when you think of DoorDash and Amazon would say, competitors, that, that doesn't work.Right. But we work really, really hard to try to figure out anywhere, if possible, with the largest businesses and brands that we look up to, is there a place that we can collaborate and again, help local businesses grow. That's the fundamental premise behind the whole thing Ilyse: very cool now what about when it comes to like an ad perspective. How are you working with these brands and partnering with them?Toby: Yeah, we are, I think in the ad ecosystem, you know, it's, it's, it's, there's a simple recipe that we're trying to follow. One is access. So can I [00:18:00] provide access for people to purchase? We, very early on, our first investment was in a self serve ad manager, so that local businesses could purchase our products, both promotions and our ad products, live themselves, without needing to talk to somebody.So that was first. So one is access. That's the news also from last week, where now we provide access to the largest restaurant brands, DMAs, and franchisees across the country. first of a kind product. Again, I know I keep saying that, but I'm very, very proud of it because not many people, not many technologists build for franchisees in this country.And they are one of the largest, um, one of the largest, most hardworking groups of individuals that that again, we look up to. Um, so one is access Two is providing the tools to get the best return possible. So that is, can I do better targeting? Can I? Are there new access points that I can, that I can get to?Along those lines, we've invested a lot in in better targeting again for those enterprise restaurants. [00:19:00] So today you can target new users, you can target lapsed users, you can do that if you're a brand, a small brand like a single owner operator, you can do it if you're a national restaurant, and you can also do it if you're one of the largest brands in the country.So one is better targeting tools and incrementality. And then the final is, is impressions. So, You know, DoorDash, again, we are humbly one of the favorite and largest marketplaces in the country. But we very well know there are other people that are hungry on a daily basis who are not eyes on DoorDash.And so, can we provide the ability for people, uh, for brands to reach those people using our data? And that was one of the announcements we made last week was as well.Ilyse: so one of the things I feel like DoorDash is almost known for in the advertising marketing space is it aligns itself to big occasions throughout the year.Ilyse: I know we saw [00:20:00] DoorDash for the Super Bowl, Mother's Day. Can you talk about how you plan for such occasions? And maybe what's your favorite one to work at on and be like presentToby: maybe what's Yeah We have learned over time that these occasions. Because we learned from our core customers, both the consumer and merchants that these occasions are important to them.So if you think of, if you think of Super Bowl, imagine you are a local owner operator of a wing restaurant in Tulsa. Super Bowl is your Super Bowl, right? It is the biggest day of the year where you sell out your entire inventory at the staff up, you have to build for it. We wanted to follow our customers into that moment.Mother's Day, huge moment.Both for folks where it's a special day to remember somebody or for folks that are trying to be a mother for the first time, right? So you have this both, both signs, [00:21:00] an incredible opportunity to reach consumersfrom an advertising perspective. Again, going back to partnerships, they're tricky.You have an advertiser who's excited to also follow you into that occasion. And what we try to do with these three way partnerships, we've done them with Wendy's, we've done them with Roku, we've done them with many others, trying to find three way alignment of incentives to, to again, drive local growth for our customers.Damian: I think one of the best gifts I ever got, was when my son was born somebody bought us a DoorDash gift card which was so helpful to have food delivered you know when you're at home with this tiny little baby.Ilyse: Showing up at those occasions, but also, you know, just ongoing brand campaigns. How does that proximity, why is it important for brand building? How does this, like, enable you to extend into new categories?Toby: Yeah, have you? Um, Our Super Bowl commercial is a great example of this. This past year, uh, the words were a door to more DoorDash went from again being a single vertical single product company to a multi vertical multi product company in a very, very, very fast time frame. Now, consumers are incredible.They learn very quickly. Habits are harder to change and harder to adapt and move over [00:23:00] time. And so we are in the earliest innings of our consumers really understanding that now you could actually get a pair of sneakers delivered to you on DoorDash when you need a new pair, like I did this weekend in order to go for a run.And in that moment, being able to kind of jump on these large consumer moments help from our vantage point.Our 37 million monthly active users start to understand that really DoorDash is here as an assistant in your life across all of these categories and verticals whenever you need us. We aren't just Thai food, now we're also the ability to get something, uh, to get something when you're feeling sick.And, um, and we're very, very proud to do that and very humbled to do that for our customers. Damian: Yeah. that's uh, expanding the whole concept of, of of DoorDash. Um, speaking of expanding the concept, you know, you've also cultivated good partnerships with streaming partners, and you [00:24:00] mentioned Max a little bit earlier. Why is it that streaming and delivery seem to kind of work in synchrony? Toby: it's again, I think it goes back to the moment. There's a very happy moment in my household when we finish work. And we have some, we get a little, a door, a little ring on our door, and there's a package outside, and it's filled with two burritos. And we get to turn on Max and watch industry. There's a sliver of moment in time where we're just feeling absolute happiness and joy.Now, that is a moment that a lot of consumers around the country and around the world feel. We're trying to give everybody a little bit of time back. Again, this concept of putting the weight of other things on our shoulders as a company to help people, to help local economies grow, to help [00:25:00] save consumers time, to help Dashers make a little bit of extra money.That is what we are trying to do at Dash. And so, aligning ourselves in this moment of peace. This moment of just absolute happiness with a streaming service, which all of us experience,is a very nice moment to be right next to, uh, to be right next to these brands from a consumer perspective. And so they've been, they've been very, they've been great partnerships so far.We're very excited, uh, about, about thinking about finding more of those opportunities as time goes Damian: about door dashes as a way to get time back, you know, but of course it does doesIlyse: There's too many things to worry about outside of that. Damian: we're going to ask the inevitable question about AI and how, you know, obviously door dash must be integrated with AI technology. But how do you think about it as we look ahead?Toby: We, as a company were very [00:26:00] data driven company. We have been from our founding. Again, we are riding on the backs of one of the largest technological revolutions of our time, the Internet and then the Internet plus mobile. And so to say that we want to be and continue to be students about how this next revolution will change, both from.from our merchants, consumers and dashers lives. We are in the very earliest innings and we're trying to learn as fast as possible. Um, I think what's very exciting if you kind of take a step back and you again put on the mindset of the shoes of we are trying to be an assistant for all of our customers across a bunch of different ways.Dasher Make, uh, from a financial services perspective, helping them make more money, helping them find more opportunities to make money, consumers saving time, and merchants making more. If you kind of put yourselves in all those shoes, and we're trying to be an assistant, AI as a technology will only help accelerate our mission of doing that and then unlocking growth for local.I think we're going to [00:27:00] see one of the largest increases in, in growth that we desperately, desperately need for those. Places that are our favorite coffee shop, Thai food place, uh, and, and, um, you know, and place to go pick up your, your, your meds when you're a little sick. And so it's, it's a pretty cool future.We're very excited for it.Damian: in his 50 seatToby: I, we are absolutely, we, to be, to be clear, we DoorDash. He's now using our ad product. So if we can send them any incremental customers, it'll help them. It'll help them grow his business. Damian: There's one more question, I guess. And it's a sort of like a forward looking question. And it's are there any innovations that you're thinking about into 2025 that can help with this growth mindset that you've been talking about? Toby: we, We've done an okay job. We've done a great job of the access point, which is opening up an ad manager, [00:28:00] opening up a self serve sponsored listing, allowing CPG brands to access our consumers. We've done it. We've done a great job at that. We've done an okay job at the second two, which is.once you open up a lot of this inventory and help find ways to grow, it gets complex.I think we've added incremental complexity so far to our customers' lives for most of our customers, our advertisers, and so our team is extremely excited, looking forward to continue to take more of the complexity out of our customer's lives as we layer in more complexity. On the product and engineering platform that we've built internally, and that is a very hard problem to solve, but I have one of the best teams to help us go solve that, and we're very excited to take it on.

On this Episode of The Alex Pierson Podcast, our host Alex Pierson takes on the major stories of the day, in her own unique way. In this episode, Alex speaks with: Kevin Davis - The Mayor of Brantford to talk about thirteen Ontario City Mayors who penned an open letter requesting that Premier Doug Ford use the Notwithstanding clause to clear homeless encampments. Sam Cooper - Investigative Journalist, Founder of The Bureau & Author of Wilful Blindness: How A Network of Narcos, Tycoons and CCP Agents Infiltrated The West on the RCMP announcing the dismantling of the largest drug "superlab" in Canadian history David Shellnutt - Personal injury lawyer and biking advocate about the province announcing it will be pushing through legislation to see bike lanes on Bloor, Yonge and University Avenue ripped up...and possibly at the expense of the city. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you're driving through City Heights, construction along University Avenue could slow you down. The San Diego City Council will consider banning the use of equipment that amplifies the sound on pedicabs. NBC 7's Brooke Martell has a look at the forecast. Here's NBC 7's Jackie Crea with the top headlines.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The people living in tents on University Avenue near Dalhousie have to move before November 1. We talk to Halifax's director of housing and homelessness about what went into this decision, and the city's plan is for the unhoused community as the weather turns colder. 

It's not a college football coaching search if Urban Meyer's name doesn't appear atop a fan base's wish list. 'Hire Urb! Back up the Brinks truck. Make him say no!' Great plan, but what's idea No. 2 when Urb's Audi doesn't come roaring down University Avenue? Better yet, what's idea No. 3 if Lane Kiffin says no? Where would Florida football turn then when the time comes to replace Billy Napier? (Don't say Nick Saban. Not happening.) On today's episode, host Blake Toppmeyer serves up nine potential candidates whom the Gators might consider when they inevitably cut the check to move on from Napier. Co-host John Adams rejects most of Toppmeyer's ideas before offering a rebuttal candidate that might be the most intriguing option of all. Plus, Week 4 picks against the spread!

Our guests are Priscilla and Floyd LeBleu, Lafayette residents and owners of the world's largest collection of artwork by the renowned Edna Hibel. Priscilla and Floyd are looking for a permanent home to publicly display their beloved Hibel collection, hopefully in Lafayette LA. Edna Hibel, an American artist, was revered for her paintings of people expressing emotion or contemplation, which were painted on ceramic, canvas, or etched on Bavarian limestone. She created over 6000 works during her lifetime, including 600 different lithographs. Born as a native of Massachusetts in 1917, she had a fulfilling career promoting peace through her exhibitions and artwork all around the world. Using her artistry, Hibel was able to raise money for charity across the globe. She passed away in her home at the age of 97 in December 2014, right before her 98th birthday. Her work was inspired by Mary Cassatt and Pierre-Auguste Renoir and sought by royalty, collected by museums, commissioned by the United Nations and National Archives, and awarded the Medal of Honor and Citation by Pope John Paul II. The World Cultural Council presented the 2001 Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts to Edna Hibel, who is often referred to as the USA's most versatile artist, as well as its best colorist. The Award acknowledges those who endeavour to create different expressions of art and whose work constitutes a significant contribution to the artistic legacy of the world. Priscilla and Floyd became close friends with Ms. Hibel, after Priscilla won a trip to the Edna Hibel Museum of Art in Florida in 1992. She was accompanied by Floyd, who went along just expecting to hang out on the beach. While Floyd had never been a person that was bent to studying art, he immediately became enamored with Ms. Hibel and her captivating art, especially "Russian Mother and Two Children," an oil painting Ms. Hibel had painted in 1990. Floyd bought the piece, his first of some 500 Hibels, and was hooked thereafter. Floyd says, "It was almost like a religious experience when you met her. She captured me....the artist herself and her art. She captured people's dignity." The LeBleu family befriended Ms. Hibel and would visit her in Florida and she would travel to Lafayette to see them. Hibel enjoyed Lafayette and attended a benefit for the Acadiana Center for the Arts, and Floyd recalled her saying, "There is just a feeling of comraderie in Lafayette. I think this is my favorite place." While traveling on a Hibel Society cruise with Priscilla, Floyd asked Ms. Hibel why she never painted men. She replied, women wear pretty hats and dresses that give them a lot of color and flair and make them more interesting subjects." As a joke, Floyd dressed up in a straw hat and toga as he headed to a demonstration Hibel was giving. She laughed and told Floyd he would be the subject of her demonstration that day and she turned him into an Arabian prince in a painting aptly called, "Floyd in a Turban." The LeBleus became owners of a great deal of her works which had previously been displayed at the Hibel Museum of Art on the campus of Florida Atlantic University in Jupiter, Florida. " Floyd and Priscilla LeBleu own the Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville and have 127 pieces of Edna Hibel art displayed throughout for visitors to enjoy. They call it their "Hibel addiction" when describing their huge collection Lafayette is now home to the world's largest collection of Edna Hibel's artwork, some of which is on exhibit at Lafayette Consolidated Government's Building at 705 W. University Avenue for the remainder of 2024. Pictured above are Priscilla and Floyd LeBleu, in current times, and the original pose that Edna Hibel utilized to depict the LeBleu family in her own special way. Priscilla and Floyd are reaching out to our community, public officials, and art lovers in the quest to find a permanent home for Hibel's works so...

Saturday is the fourth anniversary of the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. The civil unrest that followed his death in 2020 left its mark on the Twin Cities, with fire and other damage along parts of University Avenue, West Broadway and Lake Street. The damage, which the state priced at $500 million, was an added challenge for business owners who were already muddling through the strangeness of a new global pandemic.Each day this week on Minnesota Now, we're looking at a different impact of Floyd's murder on Minnesotans. We're zooming in on Lake Street with Allison Sharkey, executive director of Lake Street Council and Alicia Belton, one of three long-term owners who are working to bring the Coliseum Building back to life after it burned in 2020. She's also the architect on the project and owns the firm Urban Design Perspectives.

Carencro Mayor Charlotte Stemmans Clavier joins Discover Lafayette to share her journey in business and politics. A life long resident of Carencro, Charlotte grew up in a political family. Both of her grandfathers served as police jurors for Lafayette Parish. Back in the day when political business was handled a bit more informally, and before open meeting laws, one of her granddads, Eddie Stemmans, would include her in political outings. Charlotte remembers "being the little girl sitting on an ice chest, that would go get them a beer. After watching it a little bit, I realized I wanted to do this! I've seen all sides of politics, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I always enjoyed it and knew I would run for public office." Pictured from left: Carencro Police Chief David Anderson, Mayor Charlotte Stemmans Clavier, along with City Council members Alfred Sinegal, Jordan Arceneaux, Danielle Caprito, Antoine Babineaux, Jr., and Taylor James. Charlotte graduated from Carencro High and three years later from Tulane University.  While in college, she worked as an intern for Jim Gelpi, the founder of The Alliance for Good Government. She loved the experience and it shaped her attitude in serving others at the highest level of integrity and fiscal responsibility. Studying at Tulane also shaped her and Charlotte recalled the challenging studies offered by the university with a demanding expectation that students master educational materials. With her experience of working in the family business, Stemmans, Inc. - The Horse Supply Specialists, Charlotte was used to hard work and says, "I went to work at 11, ran my first store at 12, so my idea of college was different." Today, Charlotte is President of Stemmans, located on Gloria Switch Road, and responsible for the day to day operations of this iconic, family-owned store, originally opened in 1968 as a tack shop by her parents, Don and Janet Stemmans. She has worked in the business for 35 years. Growing up in the horse industry has shaped Charlotte's life; she gives back to the industry by currently serving as Vice President of Louisiana Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association, which represents all racehorse owners and riders in the state. While Charlotte hasn't ridden a horse in years, she is the proud owner of racehorses and at our interview was looking forward to Evangeline Downs opening night on April 5, 2024. Charlotte served as mayor pro tempore of Carencro from 1999 until 2003, during the tenure of former Mayor Tommy Angelle. She was elected mayor in November 2022. "I love, love, love what I do. It's the perfect job for me. I have a great group of people that work with me. Carencro is a community on the grow. We're a blessed town. Many people are moving in, moving north, due to high insurance rates. There are 1400 homes in active development in the City of Carencro." With its rapid growth, there are many infrastructure needs to be addressed such as sewer plants, replacing old gas and water lines. Charlotte is also advocating for a new light to be installed by DOTD at the busy intersection of Ira and University Avenue. "I am proud to announce that we are beginning the next phase of replacing our old water lines and moving one step closer to Carencro's occasional brown water issues becoming a thing of the past. Thank you to our fantastic Water and Sewer Department and Fenstermaker and Associates for moving our city forward with top-tier water infrastructure." - Mayor Charlotte ClavierPosted by City of Carencro Government on Tuesday, April 2, 2024 News of the $8.9 million Louisiana Avenue extension from Butcher Switch Road to Gloria Switch Road, is exciting news for Carencro. Not only will this open up opportunities for development, but it will greatly assist commuter traffic. The project is expected to take a year or so to complete. The City of Carencro offers lots of fun activities for residents and visitors alike.

THE MEDICAL RECORD: ONTARIO AND OTTAWA SIGN HEALTHCARE AGREEMENT Libby Znaimer is joined by Dr. Malcolm Moore, Medical Oncologist with the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Dr. Fahad Razak, Canada Research Chair in Healthcare Data and Analytics at the University of Toronto and Dr. Jamie Spiegelman, Internal medicine and critical care physician at Humber River Hospital In the news: An anti-Israel protest took place in front of Mount Sinai Hospital on Monday night in yet another development making Toronto's Jewish community feel safe. Meanwhile, the Ford government has signed the $3.1 billion healthcare agreement with the federal government. How will the money be spent? Our doctors weigh in. REACTION TO THE ANTI-ISRAEL PROTEST AT MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL Libby Znaimer is joined by Richard Robertson, Director of Research and Advocacy at B'nai Brith Canada. It's a protest that never should have happened. Both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford condemned the pro-Palestinian mob that formed in front of Mount Sinai Hospital on Toronto's Hospital row on University Avenue on Monday night. Why did they have to protest at that specific hospital? Is this yet another attempt to intimidate Toronto's Jewish community? Since the event, Toronto Police have been increasing their presence in the area, but is this too little too late? Our Jewish advocacy organizations react. AG KAREN HOGAN REPORTS ON IMMENSE COST OF ARRIVECAN APP (PRE-TAPED) Libby Znaimer is joined by federal Auditor General Karen Hogan to discuss her damning report on the ArriveCAN app. The bottom line: Canadian taxpayers paid too darn much for it: an estimated cost of nearly $60 million! Listen live, weekdays from noon to 1, on Zoomer Radio!

Third-generation restauranteur Madonna Broussard, proprietor of Laura's II Café, is our guest. Located at 1904 W. University Avenue, Laura's II is named after Madonna's grandmother, Laura Williams Broussard, who originally started a restaurant in her home kitchen on Voorhies Street in 1968. Laura's II offers the comforting soul foods Madonna was taught to cook by her mother, Dorothy Mae Broussard, who was in turn taught by her mother-in-law, Laura. When people ask what is her secret behind her delicious food, she says "The secret is all about time and consistency. It is a science: start cooking, cook for hours, and taste, taste, taste." The staples of stuffed turkey wings, fried catfish, fried pork chops, fried chicken, red beans and rice, smothered okra, and much more....all with a heavy emphasis of rice and gravy, are beloved by Madonna's longtime customers as well as newcomers who flock to experience the rich soul consistently food offered day in and day out, from 10:30 a.m to 2:30 p.m. every day except Mondays. Lauras' II opened on January 8, 2000, and just celebrated 24 years in business. The delicious food Madonna and her team offer have become known both in the U. S. and internationally due to the incredible exposure she gained through the late Anthony Bourdain and superblogger Mark Weins. People travel in from all over just to taste Laura II's food. Locals also happily wait in line to enjoy the comforting Creole food cooked only like Lauras' II can. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=BEbKyZSpBQk Madonna reminisced about the beautiful Sunday dinners she grew up on, at her grandmother Laura's home: "My grandmother's Sunday dinners were exceptional, like Thanksgiving every Sunday. We had beef tongue, rice dressing, beets, rice and gravy, every great staple you can think of." Madonna's grandmother was the leader of this successful restaurant business concept and the menu she originally developed in 1968 is still found at Laura's II. Madonna's mother, Dorothy, was the one who instilled in Madonna the need for kindness and love for their clientele. "It's about respect for your customers. We want you to feel comfortable and come back." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC2Wz-uaDf0 Madonna says she spends "99.9%" of her time at work at the cash register. Greeting people and welcoming them into the restaurant is most important. "We want to know people's names and have them want to come back." She credits Sid Williams for introducing her to Anthony Bourdain in 2018, who showed up with ten minutes notice one Sunday morning to film a segment for his CNN show "Parts Unknown." Bourdain's team was in the area to film a Courir de Mardi Gras Chicken Run, but rain prevented them from participating. They were looking for an alternative venue to shoot on the day that was both Mardi Gras and Valentine's Day. Sid had them call Madonna and she "got ten minutes heads up. He was subtle, very subtle. To have him come, as such a Foodie, was a great experience. I met him at the door. He looked around and saw people together in the dining room and asked if it "was always like this with all these people together. He said keep it like this.' That meant a lot to me as he gave such affirmation, particularly about our culture." People still clamor to sit at the table where Bourdain feasted on the ever-popular stuffed turkey wing dinner. Madonna Broussard and Lauras' II have survived 24 years in business, learning along the way how to keep the books, meet business needs, and go with the flow. The challenges presented by the COVID shutdown led Madonna to stay open, set up a tent, and learned how to be "car hops." She described being outside in the rain and all the elements, with a note pad and pen, taking orders, while a "day care" inside consisted of kid and grandkids running around. "We curbsided a lot food!" When asked if Lauras's would ever expand outside of the Lafayette market...

Tomorrow is the winter solstice, or the shortest day of the year. In a season when we get fewer than nine hours of light each day, you may be looking for indoor projects to curl up with. Sisters Youa and Wone Vang are the artists behind the embroidery business Third Daughter, Restless Daughter. Their work is a mix of darkly funny cross-stitches and big floral decorations that have gone up in exhibits and restaurants. The pair is currently bringing together hundreds of cross-stitched squares into what they are calling the World's Largest Paj Ntaub. Paj ntaub means “flower cloth” and it's a traditional Hmong artform. Youa and Wone Vang joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about their project, which is a fundraiser for the Hmong Museum's new space on University Avenue in St. Paul.Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.   We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.

21-Year-Old Male Shot at Drive-ThroughAkron police and EMS were dispatched to the scene at about 11:15 p.m. Tuesday. They found the victim, an employee at the store, with an apparent gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at 11:38 p.m.The shooting occurred after a man approached the drive-thru window on foot seeking to buy black and mild cigars, Akron police Capt. Michael Miller said.He handed the clerk some cash that was in poor condition, possibly with soil or blood, Miller said. A dispute quickly broke out over the condition of the money. The suspect then pulled out a long-barreled rifle. That's when the clerk returned the cigar to the suspect and asked him to leave with it.Before fleeing on foot, the suspect fired at least two shots through the window at the group of employees inside the drive-thru, striking the 21-year-old at least once. Shattered glass may have injured others standing nearby, Miller said.See the Akron Shootings app to see other murders in our cityhttps://www.mapcustomizer.com/map/Akron-KillingsUpdating Towpath TrailThe National Park Service plans to close a large section of the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail to visitors.A 1.5-mile section of the popular trail just north of the Station Road Bridge Trailhead in Brecksville will close on weekdays beginning Dec. 18 through May 3.Park officials say the closure is needed while crews continue to work on stabilizing the river bank inside of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.The trail will be open to visitors on weekends.This is part of a two-phase project with work shifting to south of Station Road at a later date.The construction is part of a $14 million effort to stabilize the trail and tracks for the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad along the Cuyahoga River.Businesses Open During Street ClosureBusinesses in the area affected by the road closure are open & still accessible, including the Peanut Shoppe of Akron (Hours until Dec. 24th: Monday - Friday 10 am - 5 pm, Saturday 10 am - 4 pm, & Sunday 1 pm - 4 pm.), ChillandIndulge (see the 2nd picture for some of their holiday offerings), Crave, Unknwn, and others.Don't forget: The Peanut Shoppe has seasonal round tins & boxes for gift-giving, & will also take your order by phone & ship it to anywhere in the U.S. of A. 330-376-7020)Okay, now the road closure information The affected area is S. Main St., between Church St. and University Ave.WHEN:This stretch of road will be closed on Monday, December 11 through Friday, December 22WHY:The closure is for Emergency Sewer Repair.On Monday, December 11, Kenmore Construction Co. and the City of Akron plan to close S. Main St. to all traffic between Church St. and University Avenue as they begin emergency sewer repair work.STILL OPEN:Businesses in the road closure area will still be open and accessible. Park on Church St., University, or in the Summit County or State St. parking decks.DETOURS:Southbound traffic will be detoured using E. Bowery St., S. High St., and University Ave.Northbound traffic will be detoured using University Ave., S. Broadway, and E. Bowery St.This work is expected to be completed by Friday, December 22.See the attached image for a map of the detours. For all downtown traffic advisories, visit https://bit.ly/TrafficAdvisoriesDowntownAkronChristmas Bells Stolen From ChurchChristmas chimes won't be playing at...

This week… Doug Heim the legend himself joins us and we had to do something special! We recorded the episode live on location at The GB UFO Museum Gift Shop and Records. Doug is launching his own podcast on December 1st, TJ and the ANT (link below). In Doug's podcast he introduces a new generation of his 1970's TV show, TJ & the ANT. Doug relives the good ol days of 1970's local television. Doug created the first all night television channel, and was a major influence on TV in general. During his all night show he played movies, he played games with the audience, he ran a live on screen animated “puppet,” built the sets, wrote the scripts and so so much more! Doug revists all of this in his podcast. He'll play the videos of himself TJ and the ANT, on air in the 70's and he'll give behind the scenes info on everything he shows! From the commercials to movies and TV shows Doug AKA TJ and the ANT revisits it all! During our episode Doug introduces his podcast and we dive into what TJ and the ANT was by looking at his first commercial. We discuss TJ's mystery pictures, Barney the animated “puppet,” and the audience comes on the show to ask Doug questions! We end the show with a promo video of Doug's podcast and a few more questions. But before we talk about Doug and his podcast, Doug helps us kick off the show with our Beer of the Week! A special thanks to the GB UFO Museum Gift Shop and Records! They were incredibly accommodating and have by far the most unique store in all of Green Bay. If you need a vinyl, a one of a kind gift or both this holiday season you have to check them out. Thank you GB UFO! - 2248 University Avenue, Green Bay WI.  Please Welcome, Doug Heim!: 5:05 - 7:00 BOW: 7:10 - 38:36 TJ and The ANT 39:10 First Clip: 45:15 The ANT's First Commercial: 57:40 Mystery Picture: 1:07:09 Barney's Club House POW!: 1:15:40 How Does Barney Work?: 1:19:13 Audience Q&A: 1:32:40 - (2:50:45) Mystery Picture Reveal: 2:12:50 - 2:13:40 TJ & The ANT Preview: 2:51:15 - 2:57:36 More Q&A: 2:57:52 - END YouTube link for the TJ and the ANT's promo video: ⁠TJ and the ANT Episode 0⁠  BOW: Pabst Brewing Company, Old Milwaukee Big shout out to our friend, Dekker Pellonari! He created the intro and outro music for us. Check him out on IG: @dekker.pellonari, and find his music on Spotify by searching Dekker Pellonari. If you're listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, rate and review the show, it helps us out a lot! Check us out on YouTube and subscribe to our channel! ⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRVYu7zopmxja1RsmVpOucQ/featur⁠ We're live on Twitch, check out our page! ⁠https://www.twitch.tv/holdusaccountable⁠ Find us on Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/hua_pod?s=11&t=DqKX0s9j1XzF2xFF3dBlDA⁠ If you want to let us know what you think of the show, or have an idea for the show, you can DM us on Facebook or Instagram @HoldUsAccountable

Here's the 14850 Happenings events calendar for the weekend of November 3rd! It's First Friday Gallery Night all over Downtown Ithaca and beyond, with opening events at lots of galleries and shops. If you're into music, it's also Bandcamp Friday, when Bandcamp waives their share of your purchase and musicians get more from each sale. Tonight the Cat Video Fest is back at Cornell Cinema, with a portion of the proceeds going to the SPCA of Tompkins County. Pocket Bandits are playing Music in the Shire, a free show from 6-8pm at Hopshire Farm and Brewery. Donna the Buffalo with guest Vicious Fishes at the Smith Opera House in Geneva tonight at 8. And at the Range, Stale Candy featuring Papa Muse and Lit Fuse and the Action starting at 9:30. A Baroque flute recital Saturday afternoon at the First Church of Christ Scientist at the foot of University Avenue. Ryan Peterson Trio is at Aurora Brewing from 5-8pm. A Celebration of Steve Brown with the Cornell Jazz Ensemble directed by Paul Merrill and a host of special guests Saturday evening at Bailey Hall. Material Objects + Strange Heavy + Narrow Arrow & DJ Dijon are at Angry Mom Records Saturday night. Blackjack Brothers are at Jake's Saloon in Horseheads. Showtime is at the Ithaca Ale House, and Thousands of One are at the Range. Girl Scout Engineering Day is at Cornell's Weill Hall all day Sunday, with morning and afternoon sessions. Music for You and Me, a monthly class for parents, caregivers, and young people of all ages at the First Unitarian Church at noon. And Moon Hooch plays with Cloudchord at Deep Dive on Sunday night. Looking ahead to next week, don't miss Tail Light Rebellion at the Seabring Inn on Wednesday night, and Galactic Wednesday is at Deep Dive. Lots more details and lots more 14850 Happenings at 14850.com. Subscribe to the Ithaca Minute in iTunes or Google Play, RadioPublic, TuneIn, Stitcher, or via RSS feed, follow 14850.com on Facebook and Twitter, or subscribe to the 14850 Magazine Daily newsletter.

"My Number 1 priority was not leasing my building. I didn't want my power in business to be held in someone else's hands. This was also the recommendation of the Louisiana Small Business Administration to me as I looked at securing my future: 'You need to own the building!' So I tell others: Own the building. When you do that, you stay to work a little bit longer. You pick up the slack where needed. For me....this investment is my whole retirement on the line." Our guest is Denise Champagne-McClure, owner of The Coffeeweed Cottage in Lafayette, which opened on May 18, 2023. While Denise never earned a college degree, her business acumen can be put up against any individual who has earned an MBA. She works hard, she's humble, she's an incredible business entrepreneur, and has an eye for creating a successful business model. Coffeeweed Cottage's name is derived from the term for chicory, the name of a coffee substitute from the roasted root of the chicory plant. Denise loves the taste of chicory coffee and wanted something unique and different associated with her shop. And trust us....the coffee is delicious! Denise's store is at 410 Poydras Street, at the corner of W. Simcoe and Poydras Street in North Lafayette, not far from University Avenue near the Four Corners. She purchased the 3000 square foot property in 2022, the site of the oldest mechanic shop in Lafayette owned by a multi-general family business whose roots trace back to Cecilia where Denise grew up. Before finalizing her site selection, she drove around all areas of Lafayette Parish and knew that this oldest neighborhood in Lafayette, in the original  Vordenbauman Addition, in the area close to the Fightingville and LaPlace neighborhoods, was the exact right spot. With the help of the Louisiana Small Business Development Center and Lafayette Economic Development Authority, Denise was given guidance on how to open the business of her dreams. She brought a rich and varied business background that made her a good candidate for opening up this unique endeavor: she was trained in horticulture and had worked for Coburn's for 15 years in bath/kitchen fixture sales, having moved up the ranks from the bottom up. Note: Denise shared her gratitude to Coburn's for the experience they afforded her, as well as to the people at LEDA, especially Mark Mouton and Lauren Titus who helped her navigate the process of developing a three-year business plan and qualifying for a loan. Denise was inspired to reach her full potential when attending an Unleashed event by Dirk Beveridge. She realized that she could do anything she put her mind to when she heard his message about creating transformation through creating a culture of innovation and growth.  For more information on Dirk please visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/dirkbeveridge/ As with any entrepreneur, Denise has had to put all of her savings on the line, as well as mortgage her house to make this endeavor a reality. When you think about shopping options in Lafayette, as well as any other town, this is why it is important to think about shopping locally. Local vendors not only offer unique products, they give back to their community through donations to charities and in-kind contributions, and also sacrifice personally to ensure that employees who live in Lafayette are paid. Coffeeweed Cottage offers a unique array of services. One of the most unique services is their Grow Bar, where you can schedule a 'plant bar' for events as diverse as a bachelorette party, a team building event for work, a family get together, or birthday celebration. A $50 deposit for your event will go toward the cost of the event, where you and your friends can pick a favorite plant, a cute pot, and learn how to care for it. If your plant doesn't make it, you have a 30-day guarantee to swap it out for another plant or have Denise and her team nurse it back it health!

Our guest is Caroline Trahan, founder and owner/operator of VibraFit. Caroline is a Corrective Exercise Specialist specializing in senior and women's fitness. She brings a melded version of fitness, movement, and vibration platforms to our community. Caroline has been a personal trainer with the National Academy of Sports Medicine and is a certified yoga instructor. Her dedication to vibrational fitness is a testament to its benefits for improving lymphatic drainage, reducing inflammation, improving muscle tone and bone density, and strength training. VibraFit is located at 301 W. University Avenue in Lafayette. Caroline's team of professionals offer diverse and unique services which include the Energy Enhancement System, EB-Pro Ion Footbath/Detox, Oxy-Hydrogen Therapy, Molecular Enhancer/Tesla Cellular Energy, Infrared Body Wrap/Detox, and Endermology Facial/Firming Session. You'll have to check it out for yourself to experience the Zen environment and peaceful setting it offers its clientele. Caroline brings a lifelong commitment to fitness and in helping others reach their fullest potential in health and wellness. To find out more about VibraFit, visit https://www.vibrafitlafayette.com/.

Also in the podcast: Matt Cole live from the Guilty by Association Truck Show in Joplin Missouri in the area around 4 State Trucks there: https://www.overdriveonline.com/custom-rigs/article/15634903/guilty-by-association-truck-show-starts-strong-in-joplin Cole reports from Day 1 at GBATS -- How many owner-operators were at the show? What's the mood in what's certainly been a challenging year for so many small-business truckers? Cole spoke as owner-operators were getting parked up at 4 State Trucks and the surrounding area in Joplin, Missouri, for a bit of an update on how things were looking on-site at one of the absolutely biggest gatherings of the trucking community the nation over. Cole also directed traffic with Game Creek Video entertainment-biz hauler Tommy Marshall out along University Avenue at the Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa. Marshall is lead driver every fall for a crew of seven rigs and operators that make up quite a unique trucking niche. If you've been to OverdriveOnline.com this past week you'll likely know that Marshall is the lead man for the mobile-television production of ESPN's College Gameday broadcast, which airs every Saturday throughout the Fall ahead of the day's football games, live from a different university site each week: https://www.overdriveonline.com/business/article/15634571/a-unique-beast-behind-the-scenes-on-mobile-tv-production-trucking Drop into some of Cole's detailed reporting around the operation, with Marshall in the production studio truck for Game Creek Video and several operators from a few different companies dedicated to the production. That includes West River Light and Sound, and longtime trucker Gerry Glass. It's Glass's initial contact that led to the opportunity Cole got to spend with Tommy Marshall and the rest of the crew in Tuscaloosa two weeks back. Glass got in touch with Overdrive Radio host Todd Dills on Labor Day Monday, as the crew was prepping to head to Tuscaloosa to stage on the campus for Alabama v. Texas. Would we be interested in seeing what they do firsthand? Gerry Glass asked. Overdrive is headquartered in Tuscaloosa, of course, but Dills live in Nashville, Tennessee. However; Cole was the perfect man for the job, a U. of A. Crimson Tide fan, no less. He was on-hand for their initial unloading two days later, on Wednesday, and parts of the set-up the following days, too, with Tommy Marshall as a guide. Marshall and crew do a great deal more than just drive in such a production, of course -- in fact, driving might be the least time-consuming part of the whole affair, depending on whatever university location Gameday chooses week to week. Cole ultimately delivered with a detailed look at the mobile-TV trucking niche. Find that and other reports from a wide array of freight niche operations via our occasional Niche Hauls series, collected via this link: https://www.overdriveonline.com/t/4378936

A reminder of Olivia and Ray's views on the the University Avenue proposal and views from members of the public from the road consultation last Thursday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jon, Melinda and Doug are joined by Lori Newton of Bike Windsor-Essex to discuss the changes to city committee structure and the cancellation of a temporary protected bike lane on University Avenue.Rose City Politics is brought to you with the kind support of LiUNA Local 625: Building Better Communities. Support the show at Patreon.com/RoseCityPolitics. Read our work in Biz X Magazine. Find us online at BizXMagazine.com or RoseCityPolitics.ca

"We as poor people need help. We as whatever caveat comes your way, we need help because it's just a human response. We were made to ask for help. We were made to look for help, period. It's biblical and it's natural however way you want to look at it." - Breanne WardIn this thought-provoking episode of the Healthy Project Podcast, host Corey Dion Lewis engages in a compelling conversation with guest Breanne Ward, a respected mental health therapist, and advocate. Together, they explore the importance of creating safe spaces for mental health support, especially within marginalized communities. Breanne Ward passionately discusses the necessity of normalizing help-seeking behavior and shares her approach to making mental health therapy accessible and relatable.Time Stamped Shownotes: [32:24] Breanne talks about the fear often associated with reaching out for help and the portrayal of this in various commercials. [32:53] Discussion on the need to normalize asking for help, especially among people of color and other marginalized communities. [33:38] A historical perspective on the treatment of marginalized communities in medical situations and how this impacts perceptions of mental health therapy. [34:38] Breanne shares her efforts to change perceptions about mental health treatment through platforms like Facebook. [35:07] A look into the life of a therapist - how Breanne balances her work and personal life. [36:15] Breanne discusses how she recharges and maintains her well-being, highlighting the importance of nature and physical activity. [37:15] The role of a supportive community and accountability partners in maintaining mental health. [39:56] Breanne mentions the therapist of color meetups she organizes to provide a safe space for people who might not have a supportive community. [41:30] Details on where to find and connect with Breanne. About the Guest:Owner of Forward Consulting LLC, Breanne Ward is a mental health therapist and advocate committed to making mental health support accessible, especially to marginalized communities. She is passionate about creating safe spaces where individuals can express their emotions freely, normalize help-seeking behavior, and work towards improved mental health.Where to Connect:To connect with Breanne Ward, find her at Forward Consulting LLC, located at 43rd and University in Des Moines, 4309 University Avenue. She is currently accepting new clients who wish to explore the benefits of therapy. Feel free to follow Forward Consulting LLC on Facebook and Linkedin. You can also find more about her work and services by Googling "Forward Consulting LLC" or "Breanne Ward".Connect with Corey:LinkedinInstagramFacebookYouTubeTwitterWebsiteLoved this episode? Leave us a review and rating here: Apple ★ Support this podcast ★

Anastasia Hopkins Folpe of Rochester, Minn., first encountered the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona several years ago.“I would describe it as a hidden gem,” Folpe said. “It's on the river in Winona, kind of behind the downtown. You have to hunt for it a little bit.” She credited the museum's director Scott Pollock for investing in spaces devoted to younger visitors.  “It's just a very welcoming and mellow place. I just like to go there and hang out. I think people just don't know about it. So I hope everyone learns and goes there.”Peg Guilfoyle is a writer living in downtown St. Paul and a longtime arts enthusiast. She's also a fan of sea shanties.“There is something about coming off the street into a room filled with singing,” she explained. “I'm here to testify to the flat fun of the sea shanty sing-along held monthly at the Dubliner Pub on University Avenue in St. Paul, and also in Minneapolis at Merlin's Rest on Lake Street.”“No band, no sheet music or lyrics and all volunteer singers,” Guilfoyle enthused. “Who knew there were so many people who love sea shanties?”The next sea shanty sing-along will be July 10 at the Dubliner.Katrina Knutson of Minneapolis is a teaching artist and muralist. “You should definitely go check out the Chroma Zone Mural and Art Festival,” she said. The event will feature new murals painted by six artists.“I'm really excited to see work by Sydney James, who is an artist who's visiting from Detroit,” Knutson added, “and Leslie Barlow, one of my very favorite Minnesota painters, will also be painting a mural.”She pointed out additional pleasures of the festival, its location in St. Paul's Creative Enterprise Zone, between the two downtowns: “It's a great neighborhood to go around because there are dozens of murals within a few blocks of each other,” Knutson said, who takes friends and out of town visitors on a tour of the murals.Events related to the festival are scheduled through Sept. 16, including a talk by artist Sydney G. James at Urban Growler in St. Paul on July 14.

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I'm here with your update for Thursday, June 29.According to the National Weather Service it will be a partly sunny day in the Cedar Rapids area on Thursday, with a high near 92 degrees. There will be widespread haze again, mostly before noon. There will be chances for showers and thunderstorms both in the morning and in the evening hours heading into Friday.The Iowa Department of Natural Resources issued an update late Wednesday extending the haze air quality advisory. The advisory stated that fine particulate levels near or above EPA health standards are expected to remain elevated Thursday and persist in Eastern Iowa through Friday.Iowa state officials have reversed course and will apply for federal assistance to provide food for Iowa school children from low-income families during summer break, following weeks of lobbying by anti-hunger advocates.Alex Carfrae, a spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, told The Gazette late Tuesday the state will participate in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's summer program this year. The deadline for states to apply is July 14.Earlier this month, a department official told a member of the Iowa Hunger Coalition that Iowa was not going to participate in the summer Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer — or P-EBT — program this year, according to an email obtained by The Gazette.That would have meant forgoing a potential $28.2 million, or $120 per eligible child, in federal food aid for an estimated 235,000 children who would have received free or reduced-price school meals this past school year.Tuesday's announcement comes after Iowa Democratic lawmakers last week implored Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds to apply for the federal assistance, and after weeks of lobbying by members of the Iowa Hunger Coalition.A North Liberty man, who was convicted of sexually abusing a boy over a year or so when the boy was 5 or 6 years old, was sentenced to 80 years in prison this week.Sixth Judicial District Judge Andrew Chappell, during Monday's hearing, ran four of the sentences for 38-year-old Thomas Dean Jesse, consecutively, and the others were run concurrently for a total of 80 years. Jesse was convicted of one count of lascivious acts with a child and 40 counts of second-degree sexual abuse.Chappell said Jesse must serve 70 percent of three of the sentences before being eligible for parole.Jesse was charged in January 2022 after a relative saw his laptop with videos that depicted dozens of acts of Jesse sexually abusing a 5- or 6-year-old boyIowa will receive $35 million in federal infrastructure money for bridge and road improvements across the state, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Wednesday.The funding will be split among three projects:•$24.8 million to replace nine bridges across the state•$10 million to rebuild Main Street in Cedar Falls between University Avenue and Sixth Street• And $300,000 to evaluate approaches to improving infrastructure connecting downtown Clear Lake to Interstate 35.

Just north of us, along Snelling Avenue, is the area known as Midway, which “gets its name from its location: midway between Minneapolis and Saint Paul.” Minneapolis is about 3 miles west; Saint Paul, 3 miles east. According to visitsaintpaul.com, “The key Midway intersection of University Avenue and Snelling Avenue is one of the busiest in all of the Twin Cities — a far cry from a century and a half ago, when the area was a giant prairie between Minneapolis and Saint Paul.” I mention Midway because we have come to the midway point in the letter to the Hebrews. Chapter 8, verses 1–2, is the seam that runs down the middle of the book. This is the halfway point. Now chapter 1 is three miles behind us; chapter 13 is three miles ahead.So this may be a good time to say more about the structure of this book than we have so far. Let's start right here where we are, at the midpoint, and move outward to get a sense of the whole landscape.Structure of HebrewsThe heart of the letter is chapters 5–10. These chapters focus on the person and work of Christ — or who he is as high priest and then what he does. Chapters 5–7 (with the aside in chapter 6 to warn sluggish hearers) make the case, as we've seen, for Jesus as the great high priest. He is not a priest in the Levitical line, under the terms of the first covenant. Rather he is a priest of a different order, a king-priest, like that enigmatic king-priest figure in Genesis 14 named Melchizedek. So, chapters 5–7: Jesus is the climactic, final, great high priest to which the whole old-covenant system pointed and anticipated. Before moving on, Hebrews wants to make sure we're clear on that. So he says in 8:1, “Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest.” Got it? Chapters 5–7: Jesus is the great high priest. And we have such a high priest! Already. No more waiting. We have him now — the “one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places.” So, not only is Jesus a new kind of priest, but as a priest he must have some work, some ministry, to do. That's what chapters 8–10 are about: Jesus's work as high priest.That's the heart of Hebrews, chapters 5–10, with 8:1–2 in the middle. And standing guard around the heart of this letter is two important and similar exhortations in 4:14–16 and 10:19–23. Both passages, like 8:1, say “we have a great (high) priest” (4:14; 10:21), and both name him as Jesus (4:14; 10:19) and say he has passed “through the heavens” or “through the curtain” (4:14; 10:20) into God's presence. And both give this double exhortation: “let us hold fast our confession” (4:14; 10:23) and “let us draw near” with confidence (4:16; 10:22).Then, still working outward, 3:1 and 12:1–3 bring to the exhortation the specific language of “consider Jesus” (3:1; 12:3), that is, look to him, attend to him, meditate on him; don't ignore him, or forget him, or drift from him; but remember him, ponder him, contemplate him — and in doing so you will hold fast to your confession of faith in him and draw near to him.Between the exhortations to “consider Jesus” and the pillar exhortations (in 4:14–16 and 10:19–23), we have the negative example, in chapters 3–4, of the wilderness generation not enduring in faith, and we have honor roll in chapter 11 of positive examples of pre-Christian saints who persevered in faith, culminating with Jesus himself.Chapters 1–2, then, are a kind of extended introduction, which doesn't make them any less important. Chapters 1–2 tell us about the exaltation and incarnation of Christ, leading up to that first charge to “consider Jesus” in 3:1. And chapters 12–13 are, in many ways, a kind of extended conclusion, following the highpoint of Jesus as the grand finale of the faith honor roll. So Hebrews:Ch. 1–2: introduction: Jesus as exalted, incarnate, reigningCh. 3:1: consider Jesus; look to Jesus; contemplate himCh. 3:3–4: negative example (of unbelief): Israel's wilderness generationCh. 4:14–16: we have a great priest; hold fast, draw near, to himCh. 5–7: who Jesus is: the true priestCh. 8:1–2: midway — “Now the point in what we are saying is this…”Ch. 9–10: what Jesus does: the true sacrificeCh. 10:19–23: we have a great priest; hold fast, draw near, to himCh. 11: positive examples (of faith): from Abel to JesusCh. 12:1–3: consider Jesus, look to Jesus, contemplate himCh. 12–13: extended conclusionHebrews communicates, again and again, that Christian faith perseveres as we look to Jesus. As the patterns of our lives, and the gaze of our souls, return again and again to contemplate Jesus, and draw near to Jesus, so we hold fast to him and our faith in him perseveres. So, having established Jesus as the superior priest in chapter 7, and made this transition from his person to his work in 8:1–2, we turn in Hebrews 8:3–6 to three more superiorities of such a superior priest.1. Jesus Serves in a Superior Place (vv. 4–5)Verse 2 introduced the notion of place. Jesus is now in heaven and “a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.” Verses 4–5 then expands on the location: “Now if [Jesus] were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, ‘See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.'” The last part of verse 5 quotes Exodus 25:40. As Moses and the people of Israel went about constructing the old-covenant tabernacle, they were not to just design it as they saw fit. Nor did God just make it up on the spot. Rather, God showed Moses a pattern. He gave him a pattern to follow. Which means that this tabernacle wasn't the original; it was based on something else. The earthly tabernacle was patterned after the original place of God's presence, namely, heaven itself, the true tabernacle. And so, according to Exodus 25, the holy place of the old covenant was not the original or final holy place. The tabernacle was a copy and shadow. And now, the risen Christ, has ascended into heaven itself, the superior place, and sat down at the right hand of Majesty.And lest we assume, as many do in the modern world, that the superior place is down here — this world with its sights and sounds and smells and tastes and pleasures — and that heaven is the shadowy, ethereal, bland place, Hebrews confronts us with another way of thinking. Jesus isn't less effective for us as king and priest because he's in heaven, but more. “It is to your advantage that I go away.” The upshot is not that we would think any less of the realness of our world, but that we would reckon all the more with the realness of heaven, where Jesus is more real than our problems and obstacles and anxieties, and heaven is far more real, in the immediate presence of God, than this fallen world in all its many glories and sorrows.Heaven is the superior place, where our superior high priest ministers for us, right now. And a day is coming when he will return, and bring his superior place with him, and remake this world into his new heavens and new earth.2. Jesus Makes a Superior Offering (v. 3)Verse 27, at the end of chapter 7, hinted at Jesus's superior offering: “once for all . . . he offered up himself.” Now verse 3 says, “every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.” Remember, chapters 5–7, his priesthood; chapters 8–10, his offering. Verse 3 begins the focus on his offering. What do priests do? They make offerings and sacrifices. If someone is appointed a fireman, what do you expect he will do? Put out fires. If someone becomes a mailman? Deliver the mail. So, when Jesus is exalted, in the words of Psalm 110:4, to the position of priest, what should we expect him to do? Have something to offer.In the old covenant, the work of the priests was endless. They had to “offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people” (7:27). With each new dawn, more sacrifices awaited. The work never finished. So too, throughout the day, priests were on their feet; there were no chairs in the tabernacle. They had offerings to make according to the law.But now Christ has come, as the true priest, and of a new order. And since he's a priest, we ask: What does he offer? What work does he do?Chapters 9 and 10 will have much to say about the offering. Next week we'll look at the second half of chapter 8, which is the longest Old Testament quotation in the New Testament, from Jeremiah 31. Chapters 9 and 10, then, will expand on Christ as the superior and final sacrifice. And there we'll learn more about the old-covenant place and offerings (plural) in contrast with the new covenant place and offering (singular). Which leads to one last superiority of Christ over what came before.3. Jesus Mediates a Superior Covenant (v. 6)This is verse 6: “But [now, in contrast to the past], Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.” So, if we want to know how much better is Jesus's new covenant, than the old covenant that came before, it might help to put them side by side. In some sense, the whole of Hebrews — but especially this passage — turns on the comparison of old and new. Consider the contrasts just in Hebrews 8:First covenant — New covenantEarlier — laterOn earth — in heavencopy and shadow — original and actualearthly tent — the true tent man set up — God set updirected through Moses — prophesied by David and Jeremiahenacted by sinful priests — enacted by a sinless high priestimperfect, incomplete perfect, complete, final Ready to vanish away — will not endGood — (far) better, much more excellentThe end of verse 6 says that the reason Christ's new covenant is “much more excellent than the old” is that “it is enacted on better promises.” What might those be? What are the “better promises” of the new covenant, compared to the old?Chapter 7 already has spoken of “a better hope” and “better covenant” related to the oath and promise of Psalm 110:4: “The Lord has swornand will not change his mind,‘You are a priest forever.'” So, we might first say, the promises are final and forever. Final: God has sworn; he will not change his mind. Forever: Christ was raised from the dead, to never die again, with indestructible life, and will continue forever as the permanent high priest. Which means (more promises) He always lives to make intercession for us, and he is able to save us to the uttermost. And as we've seen, in Hebrews 8, the place of his priesthood is better, and his offering of himself, once for all, is better. And next week we'll see more “better promises” in Jeremiah 31. That God will put his law in our hearts by his Spirit, and we will know him, and he will remember our sin no more.How New Is the New Covenant?But let's end this morning with a question, and some implications for our lives related to this new covenant, in contrast with the old.The question is this: How new is the new covenant? Look at verse 7: “If that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.” Do you see that word second? A second covenant. And see that word first. Hebrews, here and throughout (like Jesus and Paul and John), speaks of two covenants, a first and a second, old and new. And when he says new, it's plain he means new. Actually new. Not an update. Not an expansion. Not an appendix. Not a renovation. New. There was old; now there's new. There was a first. Now there is a second. And in enacting a new covenant, through his death on the cross, as we'll see in chapter 9, the old is brought to a glorious end — its God-appointed consummation.Change the Priesthood, Change the CovenantThis contrast between covenants in chapter 8 is an outworking of what we saw two weeks ago in Hebrews 7:11–12: if you change the priestly order, you change the whole covenant. “Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood [for under it the people received the law], what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.” Many Christians do not tend to think this way, but verse 11 says that under the priesthood the people received the law-covenant from Moses. In other words, the priesthood is not founded on the law. The law is founded on the priesthood. And now, in Christ, there has been a change in the priesthood. A priest of a new order has arisen. And verse 12 says, “when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law-covenant as well.” Brothers and sisters, know your covenant. Cherish your new covenant. In Christ, you are under a new covenant. Not renewed, not tweaked, not updated, not expanded; new. It is another covenant. Another priest has arisen, and with him, a new covenant. There was a first; this is a second; there was old; this new. 7:18 said the old has been “set aside.” 10:9 will say that Jesus “does away with the first in order to establish the second.” And as we'll see next week, verse 13 says that Jeremiah, in prophesying of a new covenant, has made the old one obsolete. The language must stand in some sense. Obsolete. If there is no real sense in our theology in which “obsolete” can stand, we have a problem.So, the new covenant is such a superior covenant. It is not the same old covenant newly enhanced, improved, renovated, or expanded. It is new. You cannot do justice to the argument of Hebrews if our covenant is not new.Let's close, then, with three implications for us living under this new covenant.New-Covenant HabitsFirst, we read the Bible as new-covenant Christians. Which means we distinguish between the Old Testament as our Scripture and our covenant. All the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is our Scripture. But the old covenant is not our covenant. Our spiritual heritage, yes. Our Scripture, yes — and critical for understanding and appreciating our covenant. But the old covenant is not our covenant. Ours is the new, enacted and mediated by Jesus Christ, our covenant head. And so every Sunday, at the Commission, we repeat his words about “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” As we read the Bible as new-covenant Christians, we take the commands of Christ and his apostles as commands to us, in our covenant, in a way that we do not directly apply the commands of Moses, say, to those under the old covenant.In Christ, we love the Old Testament and its types and prophecies and hints and foreshadowings, because they help us to better understand and appreciate the antitypes and fulfillments and substance we now have in Christ.Second, we pray as new-covenant Christians. We pray to a heavenly Father, as Jesus taught us. And we pray in Jesus's name. And we pray as those indwelt by the Spirit of Christ who: “helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26). What a glory it is to pray as a Christian. Don't throw away “Father” at the beginning of your prayers, or “in Jesus's name” at the end, or the opportunity to now speak to the living God at any moment.How unspeakably great it is to “have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens” that we may “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14, 16).Finally, we belong to the body of Christ as new-covenant Christians. We are not in the new covenant alone. We have fellows. And so, very practically, local church membership matters. And we covenant with each other, as an extension of our new covenant in Christ by faith, to be the church to each other in this time and place. Which means that we, of necessity, establish certain terms of this local membership.Our formal fellowship, this particular local church, requires what we call “a credible profession of faith” for baptism and church membership. We realize, and own, that those are (at least temporarily) exclusionary terms. That excludes adults, and children, whose profession is not yet credible, or who are not yet able to profess faith. And we have established these terms, in part (among other reasons, including our understanding of New Testament commands), because this best corresponds to the reality of the new covenant, in contrast with the old, as we've seen in Hebrews 8.The old covenant, at its core, was ethnic and tribal. There were provisions for proselytes (Exodus 12:48–49; Deuteronomy 29:10–13), but by and large, the covenant members were born into the covenant. The locus was a particular ethnicity. So, applying the rite of initiation, circumcision, at physical birth was fitting.But now Christ has come, and brought to an end the old, with its ethnic and bodily focus. The new covenant is not tribal and ethnically centered. Jew is an ethnicity; Christian is not. And we, as Christians, are under a new covenant. Today the covenant locus is those who have experienced new birth. And so, in this locality, we give effort to make our church membership, as best as we can, more proximate to God's new-covenant people, rather than less.We sure hope — in fact, we intend to make it sure — that being born into a Christian family is a priceless, inestimable grace: to be near to the life-saving and life-giving word, to be cared for by parents who have the Holy Spirit, to be part of a larger church community. And in accordance with the terms of the new covenant, we do not presume that birth into a Christian family means eventual new birth. We do not believe that physical birth into a Christian family is the proper occasion for baptism or church membership, but rather new birth by the Spirit. And so we want our church's membership to be as similar to new-covenant reality as we can reasonably discern. Which means baptizing and receiving new members based on a credible profession of faith in Jesus.As we'll see next Sunday, at the very heart of the new covenant, according to Jeremiah 31, is personally knowing God. And so at Cities Church, and in light of Hebrews 8, for belonging to this body, we confirm the knowledge of God in Christ in view of a credible profession. Which is also what we call for, and nurture, at this Table.Have Him at the TableThe glory of Hebrews 8, and the new covenant, is that we can say, right now, we have Jesus as our great high priest and our once-for-all sacrifice. That is not a prayer, or hope, or longing for a reality that will only one day be true. It's true right now. We have such a high priest.And what did Jesus say on the night before he died? “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20). We not only have him now as our great high priest, but he has offered himself, shed his own blood, to enact and welcome us into his new covenant.

Saeed Amidi is the CEO of Plug & Play, a venture capital firm that has invested in over 1000 startups. Amidi is renowned for his ownership of the so called "Lucky Building", building at 165 University Avenue, which has housed many of Silicon Valley's top startups. This prime location allowed Amidi to become an early-stage investor in tech giants like Google and PayPal. (00:00) Intro (02:02) Life before Plug and Play (03:41) Bottled Water business (04:58) Real estate business (06:18) Early investment in Google and Paypal (08:02) Investment tips on startups (11:24) Startups not to invest in (14:17) Investment failure with Airbnb (16:23) How to recognize Unicorn startups (18:42) How startups make the world better

Leslie Jenkins, Membership Committee Chair of the Citizen's Climate Lobby/Susquehanna Valley Chapter, speaking about "Joy to the Earth," the second annual Earth Day celebration on Saturday, April 22, 2023, at East Snyder Park, 875 University Avenue in Selinsgrove, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. Admission is free. There will be an arts component featuring works created from recycled materials, with the Lewisburg Children's Museum organizing the exhibit. The deadline to submit a form for participation is Monday, April 10. There will be music and many projects and presentations for young people and adults. For information: susquehannavalley@citizensclimatelobby.org/

The show: The full interview with bonus material: A new rental unit built in Cobourg promised to provide affordable housing. The developer, Balder Corporation, constructed 71 units at the corner of William Street and University Avenue. It received a $15 million loan from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation or CMHC. For this, it would […] The post Town staff explain decision to support Balder rental development after affordable units questioned appeared first on Consider This. Related posts: Committee recommends apartment for condo conversion Inside look at the county and mental health association's collaboration to provide supportive housing in Campbellford Sleeping cabins put on hold as Cobourg council to offer land to county for affordable housing

The Legacy of Eastwind Books Tonight APEX Express focuses on the legendary Eastwind Books, the oldest AAPI book store in the country closes on April 30, 2023.  Host Miko Lee speaks with founder Harvey Dong and staff Cheryl Truong and Banoo Afkhami about the history and the future of this beloved community activist book store.     SHOW TRANSCRIPTS EastWind Books 20230323-Thu1900 [00:00:27] Miko Lee: Express. Good evening, you are tuned into Apex Express. We're bringing you an Asian and Asian American view from the Bay and around the world. I'm your host Miko Lee, and tonight we're talking about the beloved and amazing East Wind Bookstore. It'll be closing its doors on April 30th after 41 years in operation. Joining us are is the founder Harvey Dong. Staff Cheryl Truong and Banoo Afkhami. So keep it locked on Apex Express. Welcome East Wind Books to Apex Express. I am so excited to talk to you all about the legacy of East Wind Books, I wanna start first with our legacy make. Harvey, can you just first share, I mean, I think many people know about you and we've interviewed you on Apex Express before talking about the history of where the terminology Asian American even comes from. And we know you're an esteemed professor at, um, uc, Berkeley. But can you, in your own words, tell us who you are, who your people are, and what legacy you carry with you from your ancestors? , [00:01:33] Harvey Dong: that's a tough, uh, question because, um, it would take quite a lot of thinking of the different places I've been in in the past. But, um, I, I would just start with, uh, this was our decision to, uh, continue the operations at East Wind Books, uh, was when a friend of ours, uh, Who was the manager of East Wind Books and Art, uh, informed us that this bookstore, uh, 1986 Shaddock, uh, was planning to be closed. And he was sad to see it closed, and he asked us, Myself and my wife Beatrice, if we'd like to continue it, possibly as an Asian American bookstore. Um, and we said that, uh, we'd think about it and it took us about two years. 9, 19 94, we were customers at his store and in 1996 we decided to take the leap, um, Beatres. Uh, graduated with a degree in ethnic studies, studying literature with, uh, professor Barbara Christian in African American Studies and Professor Elaine Kim in Asian American Studies and also Saling Wong in Asian American Studies. So she was very familiar with ethnic. lit and myself, I had the experience of, being involved when I was in the AAPA Asian American Political Alliance, to open the first Asian American bookstore on Kearney Street. Yeah, on the international hotel. We were evicted from that location in 1977. We gave it another try for another two years and, uh, everybody's shut down it's operations. So this is post third World Strike Post, um, uh, I Hotel. It was a time. Conservatism Prop 2 0 9, uh, attacks on the affirmative action and so forth, and we decided that maybe we could make a contribution by opening up and continuing. And evolving East Wind books of Berkeley. Uh, so since then, um, it's been a, uh, uh, quite a ride, you know, in terms of the people we've met, the people we interacted with, uh, the social movements that have come up and. We offered it as a, a place for up and coming, uh, Asian American studies, ethnic studies, uh, poets, uh, writers, um, and so forth. And it's, it's a, uh, a, a spot that we really. Treasure, we really enjoy. Um, the, the dream I had back then was, uh, people go all over to go to City Lights. Maybe East Wind books could be something like that. You know, we, we knew, uh, someone who worked at City Lights. Too. I [00:04:55] Miko Lee: love that. And I think for many people it has become a version of city lights, especially for the Asian American Pacific Islander community. But Harvey, you ignored my initial question. You went right into East Wind Books, which we're gonna be spending our whole episode talking about. And I wanna know, go way back and go back to growing up in Sacramento and, and tell me about, I know that your mom was also an activist. Can you tell me about how your mom influenced you as an organiz? [00:05:23] Harvey Dong: Well, my mom was always a very outspoken person. A lot of this had to do with the fact that because of the Chinese Exclusion Act, people who came over as paper sons, paper daughters, uh, she was left behind by both her parents, uh, because, uh, boys were prioritized over girls and her papers were given to a male cousin who could help at the, uh, grocery business. So she was, uh, left. And she went through the sin, uh, jaap Japanese war, uh, during war, war, war ii. Uh, she, uh, was a political refu. She was a refugee, uh, moving from China to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Macau, and then back to China. So she had all this experience, and so she wasn't afraid to speak. Uh, we did see her speak out when, uh, acts of racism, uh, happened and, uh, she was also active in the, uh, uh, unions in, uh, for the state employees. So she, she was an inspiration to us, although we were probably too young to realize that we thought that she was just someone that was. Loud, [00:06:38] Miko Lee: loud. What wasn't afraid to speak out or speak her mind, right? Mm-hmm. . So not the model minority, your [00:06:44] Harvey Dong: mother? Uh, no, definitely not. Um, later when we, when I myself became active, uh, her main concern was not so much the, the content of the activism, but more whether or not I would graduate. [00:07:00] Miko Lee: Uh, yes. Graduating from college. That was the critical component to your. . Right. So tell me what was your, I know you have been involved in so many of the fabric that makes up Asian American movement building from the Third World Liberation Front to the Black Panthers to and with bees involvement in the Garment workers movement to the I Hotel. Tell me, what was your very first activist, uh, involvement? What was the thing that spurred your organizing? [00:07:30] Harvey Dong: Well, my first activist involvement. Dropping out of the, uh, RTC army program at uc, Berkeley. Uh, because I had talked to, uh, fellow classmates about the war. I went to a bookstore, uh, right around the corner from unit three where I lived. I just went out that exit and I just went in Cody's and read all their books about us imperialism and colonialism. And so I became, uh, anti-war and I. Lose some friends in the dorms over that cuz fellow Asian American friends who, uh, weren't as, uh, informed. You know, I would get into discussions and debates and so forth. [00:08:16] Miko Lee: And you had been reading all the books so [00:08:17] Harvey Dong: you knew Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I, I, I felt really passionate about it and I participated in Stop the Draft week 1967, uh, to, to, to, uh, uh, sit in at the induction. In Oakland, uh, I witnessed, uh, police brutality on demonstrators and it only fired us up, uh, for next year. Stopped the draft week part two in 1968. And so that kind of got me. Involved as an individual. Um, the anti-war movement, uh, began to relate with the, uh, black Panther movement. And from there I attended Black Panther functions. I even went down to the, uh, the headquarters as a volunteer witness, uh, because of the fact that there was news that there was gonna be a, a raid on the Black Panther headquarters and they needed community support. So I did have that background experience and then when the Asian American Political Alliance started in around May of 1968, um, I joined it the following fall. , um, they, they helped organize one of the first Asian American studies courses. It was an experimental course, and from there, I, I was, uh, became active in A A P A That led to the formation of the T W L F in, uh, December of 1968, and the strike begins in January, 1960. So I did, uh, meet quite a few people. We did, uh, connect with, uh, different, uh, peoples of color. Um, and white supporters during that time. [00:10:14] Miko Lee: Thank you for sharing that. And I know, um, B couldn't be with us here today, but b is your spouse and partner and collaborator, um, life partner and business partner. And I'm wondering if you can share a little bit about how b for Scott involved, and I know that she worked with the, um, garment workers, but do you know her origin story, her activist origin story? [00:10:35] Harvey Dong: Uh, sure. The, um, the strike, uh, ended. Um, with a moratorium of strike activities pending further negotiations for a third World College. Um, part of that agreement would be the establishment of an interim Department of ethnic studies at uc, Berkeley to begin fall, uh, 1969 and b. , the first, uh, among the first students to be part of that fall 1969, uh, ethnic studies, Asian American studies class. So she, so from there she, uh, she was actually, uh, previously active in the Asian block at Oakland High. They worked with the Black students Union. So she started [00:11:22] Miko Lee: as a high school student? Yeah. As an activist. [00:11:24] Harvey Dong: Wow. Yeah. Yeah. They, they had a group there and the, quite a few number of the. Black students, uh, uh, went to Berkeley that following fall, and they became very active in Asian American studies. Asian American studies was, uh, somewhat of a liberated, uh, program because they gave us a minimal amount of funding, uh, with the hope that we would, um, burn ourselves. Ah, but instead we, we used whatever funding we had. Uh, we used the, uh, the classes to develop Asian American studies and reached out to the communities nearby, such as Japan Town in San Francisco, uh, Oakland, Chinatown, Oakland, uh, Manila Town, uh, San Francisco, Manila Town, south of Market. And so forth. And, and then students from Asian American studies classes would go to all these locations and they would become, uh, uh, people who would start, uh, serve the people type programs. [00:12:38] Miko Lee: I love that. So they thought they were gonna squish y'all, but instead they kind of helped to fire up a movement. [00:12:42] Harvey Dong:.Yeah, we had to really Think and brainstorm, you know, solutions, you know, given the limitations. So Bee became, very active in, Asian American studies. It was called Asian Studies back then, and she was actually in the, governing body, you know. Oh, wow. So just imagine a university program where you have a freshman having a say in the running of the program. [00:13:15] Miko Lee: Does that happen nowadays? [00:13:15] Harvey Dong: Uh, now it's very distance, you know, it's, it's not, not at all [00:13:21] Miko Lee: basically. No, no, that doesn't happen now. Wow. And then how did you two meet? What is the activist love story of Harvey and B Dong? [00:13:30] Harvey Dong: Well, we've met, in Asian American. we became closer through the formation of the, uh, Chinatown Cooperative Garment Factory, which was a, uh, an alternative to the, sweatshops in San Francisco Chinatown. Uh, that was also an, originally an Asian American Studies, community course project where there's investigation, uh, interviews, oral histories, and, and then we applied for, uh, seed. To purchase equipment machinery to establish a, um, a cooperative garment factory, um, in the basement of the International hotel. [00:14:14] Miko Lee: Oh, so you started that first and then it was at the I Hotel that you started mm-hmm. , everybody's bookstore, is that right? [00:14:20] Harvey Dong: everybody's bookstore was on the, Kearney street entrance of on the international hotel block. that started as a  like a 10 by 10 room. We, solicited like 50 bucks each from different  AAPA members and we raised about $500 and we got a business license. We went down to l n s bookstore., the book vendor in San Francisco, uh, book people was another. and also China books, which had a, never ending supply of, of red books and, literature from China. that's how the bookstore started. And that was actually I think the, the last activity of the Asian American Political Alliance. It, it ended, you know, cause So, so [00:15:25] Miko Lee: was was founding [00:15:26] Harvey Dong: the bookstore? Uh, yeah. Was founding the bookstore. And then after that, the, the bookstore, uh, is, um, becomes independent of, uh, of the aapa because people, scatter, move, go to different directions and stuff. we then inform. around that same time, we, we, Asian American Studies, formed this Asian studies field office, which brought students to, uh, San Francisco Chinatown and Manila Town holding classes. So, so we had this bookstore, we had this Asian studies field office. Uh, a couple years later, funding gets cut for, for the field office. And we then form an independent Asian community center known as acc. And the acc, um, had to raise its own monies. Uh, there were a lot of elderly people coming down, a lot of seniors, and they themselves felt really very attached to the center and they. , um, solicit funds to cover the rent. Yeah. Wow. So it became a community space. what happened there was we, we, we had people go to, uh, Portsmouth Square and we told the, uh, people sitting there, the elders that, you know, you can come down to our center and sit. You don't have to sit out here in the cold. Ah, in the rain. [00:16:57] Miko Lee: You gave them a space. [00:16:57] Harvey Dong: Yeah. So they all came down. The only problem was, you know, there was a lot of smoking and, uh, we did, there's no, you know, tobacco type related regulations and stuff like that, right? But,  there was tea serve. some of the old men, elders would tell us talk stories, while we're drinking tea. we connected, you know,  this type of phenomenon, we found out was also happening. Other locations and places. There was community center set up in, Japanese Community Center. in J Town there was a basement workshop in New York City., so you have this, the Civil rights Movement, black power movement, ethnic studies, movements. These classes,, wanting to send students to the community. then you have these centers developing. So it shows how like movements interrelate and connect the bookstore, everybody's bookstore was a part of that, providing the information. [00:18:13] Miko Lee: So it's always been, even in its very roots, it's been based in and of, and by and for the community as a way of building in political action. Is that right? [00:18:21] Harvey Dong: Yeah. exactly. We were definitely about, Building this wave of activism by going to the grassroots, you know? and that was happening, uh, in, particularly in, in, in the African American community, the Puerto Rican community,, Chicano community. All that was, was happening where you have young people, redefining their, their purpose in life. [00:18:57] Miko Lee: and their connection with their elders. Harvey Dong: Exactly. Yeah. Miko Lee: That's amazing., I have a question that has come from my colleague, which runs, Nancy Xiong that runs Hmong Innovating Politics. And actually tomorrow, our network at AACRE, we're doing an intergenerational exchange all about organizing and it's, elders speaking with young folks about how they're organizing and how they're uplifting their community. And her question is, can you talk about. organizing has evolved over time as you go through the different life transitions, like starting a family, taking care of kids, take, taking care of parents. How do you, what, what is a way to keep a healthy work life balance with your [00:19:40] Harvey Dong: activism? Well, taking care of um, uh, elders is a very tough task cuz we're, we're dealing with that now cuz Bee's dad passed. Last month, and then her mom moved into our, our house, uh, this, this month. So, so definitely it's, it's, it's something that, that has to be, uh, addressed. I, I know back then, you know, we, we, um, we did have, um, quite a few elders, uh, relate to our organization, but we, we didn't have any specific, uh, program. Uh, other than recreation, um, showing of films, uh, celebrating holidays, uh, together and, and so forth, the international hotel tenants, um, I, I know the International hotel, um, tenants collective, they, they, they actually, uh, brought in, uh, food programs, social services. Needs, you know, things that could meet, meet the daily needs of the elderly. So, so definitely it, it has to be a, uh, Dealt with on a community-wide basis so that people aren't isolated. [00:20:59] Miko Lee: But for you personally, how do you balance work and life with all of these things that are going on? You're still a professor, you're still, you know, been running the bookstore, you've been doing your activism, you've been doing so many different things. How do you, Harvey, I know in the past you used to do Tai Chi, and I'm just wondering, are there other tools that you utilize on the daily to be able to stay sane in a crazy world? [00:21:20] Harvey Dong: Well, sometimes if I, I. Extremely stressed. I would get on a bike and ride it and I would take pictures of water. [00:21:30] Miko Lee: What is it about water that's calming for you? [00:21:32] Harvey Dong: Uh, well, the, the, if, if you ever look at the bay, the water changes, you know, sometimes it's higher, sometimes it's lower, sometimes it's blue, sometimes it's gray. So it, it does, it does, uh, make you kind of, um, think about how things. Um, and it never stops. You know, it, it's always something you can learn and pick up. Tai Chi, I, too, Kung fu, especially when we started, we were getting threats and, uh, from the. Messages. And, you know, when you started the bookstore, [00:22:13] Miko Lee: you were getting threats? [00:22:13] Harvey Dong: Oh, oh, yeah, yeah. And the Asian Community Center, we, we, because we were an alternative to the, uh, conservative establishment, um, in Chinatown, uh, there were newspaper articles and, uh, from conservative newspapers that, that, uh, something should be done. And, and, and, and, and then we, we, we did, uh, uh, participate in some activities where, um, the Dolui movement, uh, back then, I, I, I remember it was attacked by, uh, hired thugs. And so it was ver very tense times too. You know, it wasn't like, um, easy going, you know? Right. There's, there's always violence, the threat of violence, and you have to figure. How to survive, uh, preserve your, your energy and also, uh, protect, uh, the community. So what did you figure out about that? Uh, well, an elder came down and sat down with us and said, uh, I'm gonna bring you guys to, to these, uh, uh, seafoods who can, uh, teach you, uh, some martial. . Um, so, so we did that and, but, but I, I would say that the, the main thing was to establish ties and con connect and connections with, uh, the youth in the community, you know, that could be used against you and, um, know your enemies, know your enemy, uh, build allyships, um, run, uh, programs that have meaning. You know, we, we. We, uh, distributed food to, um, maybe a thousand families every month. You know, uh, Lonnie Ding, the filmmaker actually, uh, found that there was this government surplus food, and she initiated that program and the Asian Community Center provided the. So every month it, the, the, the place from front to back was filled with surplus food, And in that surplus food we would have literature, uh, uh, about resources, services. Uh, a lot of the, uh, the people who received the food were workers and when they had labor disputes, they would come to us and we would provide translation. Uh, seek out legal aid and so forth. Yeah. So [00:24:46] Miko Lee: provide the community what they need. Harvey Dong: Yeah. Food, legal services, advice. Yeah. And educate them about what's going on in the exactly capitalistic system. Yeah. Um, we're hearing words of wisdom from East Wind Books Founder Harvey Dong. We're gonna take a moment and just have a little break and listen to some music. Uh, the Yellow Pearl from. Old School Movement Song Collective Charlie Chin, Chrissy Gemma, and Joanne Nobuko Miyamoto. And we'll be back in a moment after listening to Yellow Pearl. Song [00:27:02] Miko Lee: Few. All right. That was Yellow Pearl from A Grain of Sand by Old School Collective Charlie Chin, Chris Ijima, and Joanne Nobuko Miyamoto. And we are here with the folks from East Wind Bookstore and you are tuned in to Apex Express, a 94.1 K P F A, and 89.3 KPF FB in Berkeley. 88.1 KFCF in Fresno, 97.5 K2 four eight BR in Santa Cruz and online@kpfa.org. So we are here talking about East Wind Books, talking about organizing and talking about the impacts that this has on your body. And I'm gonna actually throw the mic over to Cheryl Trong to ask a question of Harvey about, that you're curious about. Go ahead. [00:27:54] Cheryl Truong: um, hi everyone. I'm Cheryl. I work at Eastman Books. I've been working here for maybe two years now. Over two years. Um, yeah, I mean, just going back to that question of navigating this work life balance, I think there's something that's not always talked about in these radical organizing is the effect it has on your life. Kind of like a sacrifice. And while Harvey is super humble and you know, is someone who does everything with all of his heart, as I know, and Bonnie's also right here next to me on my right, who also works at the bookstore and started when I did, we've seen just within these last two years, you know, the, how much it affects. How much organizing affects you and how much you sacrifice for it. Um, something Harvey doesn't talk about often is one, like financially, like back in the day when he was organizing, he didn't have a fridge. He would put a gallon of milk on his balcony every night just to keep it from spoiling and eat bread. Um, so there's a lot you do. I mean, there's a lot you gain too. You know, the community. And that spiritual, you know, aspect of fighting for the things you believe in with people that you care about. Um, but there's also, you know, you sacrifice a lot. I mean, also, you know, b the co-owner of East Wind Books, she stays up till 3:00 AM ordering books and planning our next events. You know, they both put all of their heart into everything that they do. And while it's such a beautiful sentiment, they're also. Real life aspects as well. Um, oh, I was supposed to ask a question. [00:29:37] Miko Lee: Well, Cheryl, I think you wanted to ask about how, um, you were mentioning this to me before about how both Harvey and Bee hold all of this space in their bodies, how they take care of themselves, how they work through this, because you've been doing it for a long time. So what are the elements that keep you going day? . [00:29:58] Harvey Dong: Um, well, I just wanted to address the, uh, the milk being put up on the window. So , [00:30:04] Miko Lee: critical component. . [00:30:07] Harvey Dong: Uh, yeah, actually I, I, I did get away with doing that and I thought it was convenient, except that one day I saw a rat, um, trying to get the milk. So after that, that, that stop [00:30:20] Miko Lee: So then what did you do with the milk Harvey? [00:30:20] Harvey Dong:  Um, well, shortly after that, me and. Um, got married and she did have a refrigerator, . And so, so with that marriage we, the wonders of marriage, we had a refrigerator . But, um, but definitely, I, I, I, I think it, it is not unusual for, for activists in the sixties and seventies to, to, um, do many tasks cuz there were so many things going on. Time was co. You know, you say, uh, 1968, so many things happened in one year, um, internationally, the war nationally, um, assassination of civil rights, uh, leader, uh, Martin Luther King, uh, SF State, uh, students, uh, negotiating for, uh, uh, thorough studies, um, the, the Chinatown protests against Poverty. Um, the French, uh, student rebellion, the Zarin student rebellion. So, so time is really compressed and you feel that you, you have to do the, the best you can, you know, given the, the short amount of time. I, I, I think that people felt that they, they did have to sacrifice because of the, the fact that, uh, the world could end too, you know? And so, so, so there's that time. That a lot of the activists had, uh, back then. And, um, so some of that, uh, probably does come back and kind of, uh, define what I do. I, but lately, I, I do know that, you know, as you get older, you, you can't do so many things at. Uh, much lesser. Remember ? , [00:32:16] Miko Lee: I think you have an amazing memory. You're always spitting dates out that I'm saying. How does he keep all that in his mind? ? Yeah. Um, we're gonna get, we're gonna talk about the future of East Wind Books in a moment, but I, I wanna just go and talk a moment about like, what is a memory that stood out? Like when you, when you're just talking about how you learn martial arts, um, as a way. You have, have safety and also a sense of wellness. I'm wondering, was that before or after the whole Bruce Lee Wong jog Jack Man fight schools that were in East Wind Books. And can you tell that story to our audience about what [00:32:51] Harvey Dong: happened? Well, the, the learning of martial arts was, was actually, um, even before Bruce Lee became famous, you know, because we, there was definitely a need to defend yourself safety. Yeah. For safety. Um, but years later, uh, at East w Books of Berkeley, um, there was, um, a book event we had, um, with, uh, Rick Wing who teaches at community college. I think he's a math professor, but he was also the, uh, the. assigned by Wal Jackman to carry on the legacy of his school. And Wong Jackman was the person who fought Bruce Lee. And there's many stories about who, who won that? Wong JackMan or Bruce [00:33:41] Miko Lee: Lee won one of the most famous karate battles. Yeah. Ever. [00:33:42] Harvey Dong:  And it's, it, it, it's, it is comp continually being retold with different angles and stuff like that. But, uh, Rick Wing, um, did research on it and he wrote about it. Um, I think it's online. Um, and he invited, uh, he wanted to have a book event and we had at East Wind Books and he invited all the martial arts schools in the Bay Area and. , the first thought that came to my mind is, oh, no , what's gonna happen? Yeah. What's gonna happen? Or, or, or, how big is our space? How big is our space? And, um, would this create like rivalry between different clubs over their styles? And so, so there were TaeKwonDo, uh people, karate people, kung fu. Um, how many people showed up? Uh, about 45 or 50. Mm-hmm. and some of 'em were huge , big people, Uhhuh, and they were, uh, but we just sat around and, and, and, and people were sharing stories about their martial arts club and, and their interactions with Bruce Lee and Wal Jackman and, and, and, and, and then there's one huge, uh, Puerto Rican, uh, karate guy said, man, this. uh, I feel like a, a child in a candy shop. I, I, I'm really enjoying all these stories. , . [00:35:12] Miko Lee: So it became a talk story event. Yeah. Not just like, oh, my school's better than your school, or, he won this [00:35:17] Harvey Dong: fight. Yeah, yeah. None of that. Yeah. And, and, and, uh, people really respected each other. And when the, the, the, the, the event ended, uh, , everybody went across the street to the Taiwan restaurant, which is no longer there.Oh, yeah. Yeah. And, um, for, for a meal. And, um, one person said, I don't, I don't know what I should do, uh, because I feel that we all got together here, and this is like a. Sacred place. And then he turned around and did a bow as if he was in, in, in a, uh, a studio in Dojo, dojo, , or, good. Love it. [00:35:54] Miko Lee: Love it. That is so fun. Are there other, um, memories that have stood out for you in the 41 years of experiences that have happened at East Wind Books that you think, oh [00:36:04] Harvey Dong: wow. Uh, let's see. Yang did an event, [00:36:10] Miko Lee: Jean Yang of the graphic novelist, the Eisner Award-winning graphic novelist that did American Boy in Chinese. That's actually just about to come out as a whole series, I think, on Disney with, um, almost all of the same performers from everything everywhere all at once. But anyway, that Jean Yang, yes. [00:36:31] Harvey Dong: Yeah, yeah. He, he, he tells the story about how he, he. , um, uh, affections for East Wind Books of Berkeley because when he first started out, he created this, this zine that was, uh, stapled and he came into East Wind Books. And he said, uh, would you carry this? And I said, yeah, just put it there. But, but he went, but he went to other stores and they, they wouldn't take it cuz they thought he was this young kid. Yeah. Uh, trying to promote something that wouldn't grow or develop. Do they sell? Uh, yeah. Yeah. They sell. Do [00:37:06] Miko Lee: you have one? Um, that would be such [00:37:08] Harvey Dong: a collector's item. I think we, we, we, we sold out. Oh. But, but he always remembers that. So whenever we have an event, you know, he. ask him to do an event. He's willing to. Yeah. I love [00:37:20] Miko Lee: that. Yeah. That is so amazing. Um, okay, now tell me about what made U N B decide to close East Wind Books? Uh, [00:37:29] Harvey Dong: well, it, there's the issue of gentrification, the rent, so there's the economic part there. Uh, age is, is another part. And, um, family responsi. . Um, so we had to kind of weigh that, you know, um, I, I think one time, um, the last time we were thinking of closing it, I, at, at, at a book event. I, um, I think it was, um, uh, black Against the Empire, um, is, uh, Waldo Martin, um, um, worked on a. About the Black Panthers. Mm-hmm. and, uh, Bobby Seal was there and we, we talked about, uh, the importance of the book and the importance of the bookstore. Uhhuh . And I think I said, oh yeah, we'll, we'll be here forever. [00:38:29] Miko Lee: Alas . [00:38:30] Harvey Dong: And so after making that statement, we, we did commit for another five years on. You, [00:38:38] Miko Lee: you boxed yourself in there, , but I'm, I'm wondering you what your take is. Okay. We're gonna get back to that one second, but I'm wondering what your take is on ethnic bookstores like Marcus Garvey books and East Wind Books. It's really there. Yeah. There's, it's a, it's a hard thing to keep going these [00:38:54] Harvey Dong: days. Uh, yeah, yeah, definitely, uh, difficult, uh, largely having to do with rent and, uh, gentrification and, and we have a, um, a huge. you're in, um, net, net, net, uh, bill mm-hmm. , which means that we, we pay something like 4% of the bill for the entire building, including water, to insurance, to property tax, to Right. Uh, repairs, which is not feasible. Yeah. So it, it definitely, uh, every year it's, it's, um, increasing. Um, and then the, uh, overhead we have to deal with, uh, The payroll tax, which is important, but um, is, it's a big pill. And, and also the, um, um, sales tax. Yeah. That always comes up. [00:39:48] Miko Lee: So modern living, modern living as, uh, then the burdens of trying to just keep things going are just too much. [00:39:56] Banoo Afkhami: Yeah. But to go back to your question, Miko, um, about like, you know, the role of ethnic bookstores, uh, well, I, I can't speak for like Harvey, but I can speak on, you know, as a staff person who has seen and helped many customers through the store and also as a person, like who enjoys shopping at Eastwood and spends a portion of their paycheck back at the bookstore just buying books again. Love it. Um, , it's ethnic bookstores are really hard to come by and, you know, as Harvey like really highlighted like there's a lot of costs that just make it really hard to exist as a small bookstore without all the additional like, challenges you face. Just, you know, of like carrying a very niche selective books that you know though very important, not a lot of people are gonna. Really want to go for it, you know, because Right. It goes against, um, pop culture. It goes against like, you know, the common media stream, you know, which is centrist, if not conservative. [00:40:50] Miko Lee: Or even just taking some young person's little zine that they stapled together. and putting it on the shelf. [00:40:56] Banoo Afkhami: Yeah. You know, and supporting like local artists and everything. Yeah. Like it's, they're super important, you know. Though, you know, though we are small, um, you know, there are so many people that come into the store and are just like, wow. You know, like, I've never seen it all in one place. Right. You know, I, I like, I'm, you know, like seen [00:41:13] Miko Lee: what in [00:41:13] Banoo Afkhami: All plate, one place seen. So, you know, we feature Asian American books, but also just radical, radical books at all times. And by authors? Yes, by bipo authors. And you know, like for example, I remember, especially with like, you know, our Filipino-American population here in the Bay Area, there's not a lot of representation in media of like Asian-Americans in general, but especially anything outside of like, you know, Chinese American, Japanese-American, Korean American, like the rest of us go kind of forgotten, you know? Right. Um, and so like, you know, especially like seeing this happen with like a lot of more like, you know, niche communities, you know, like. just a few days ago, you know, there's a Phil Filipino American, uh, person, and they came into the store and they're like, do you have any stuff on, like, anythings on like Filipino, you know, diaspora, Filipino American stuff. I'm like, yeah, actually we have a whole shelf on it. You know, I added them over. There's exception on that . And like, they were so heart warmed and overwhelmed by that, and it's like, oh my God, I ha I never saw them in all in one place. You know? Like you might find like in, you know, an Alan Robles book, you know, here, or you know, you could find like this other book there, you know, but you don't. all together. Right. And when you see an entire shelf full, it's kind of magical. Um, and I remember that person, like I ended up bringing them a stool just cuz they wanted to like, flip through all the books and like decide which ones they wanted to go through, you know? And, and they ended up buying a bunch of them, you know, and it's just, it's moments like that, you know, where you remember, wow, like, this is a really important thing to have. Um, and it's really difficult to keep open, you know, because, , there's, you know, these communities are intentionally like left out of mainstream media. Right. You know, like there's, it's a constant fight to get more representation and when you're already underrepresented, you know, and like the most that maybe a common person might want to get. In the store. I don't, I shouldn't say common, but like, you know, a person who only watches mainstream media. Like they, they might come in and be like, Hey, do you have the new chan? You know, like the Chani comic book or like, do you have like, you know, like, you know, crying in Amart, although that one's really good, you know? Or like That's a good book, . Yeah. But it's like, you know, they only, what's the bestseller ones? Yeah, what's the bestseller? You know, do, right. Do you have like, , you know what, what was the other one? Bullet train. You know, that one sold. Like things like that. Right, [00:43:31] Miko Lee: right. Well, um, I love hearing that about how there will be East Wind is continuing in some way and I wonder if, um, both Bonu and Cheryl, can you talk about what is the future of East Wind Books, the brick and mortar Store we know is closing in April. Right. And, and we're inviting folks to come to the bookstore. Yeah. There's a what, tell us what's happening at the bookstore before it closes first and then where, where we are going in the future. [00:44:00] Cheryl Truong: So right when you said, asked us to start talking about the future, Harvey gave me this really funny look. [00:44:06] Miko Lee: I noticed that. What's that about? Please tell us. [00:44:08] Cheryl Truong: I mean, he's curious too, you know, because this is something really only our generation can answer. Um, so, okay. So as for now, I mean, Eastland Books is still gonna be here in the Bay Area. We're still gonna be doing our community events. We're gonna be online distributing books on a even wider reach. Now, you know, we can ship. Globally, uh, instead of just having in-store pickup, things like that. Um, [00:44:37] Banoo Afkhami: our website is asia book center.com [00:44:39] Miko Lee: and we're talking about doing some kind of apex collaboration Yes. So that we can celebrate a p i books on air as well. But what's happening if somebody walks into the bookstore right now on University Avenue, what do they see? What's happening right now? [00:44:54] Cheryl Truong: You're gonna see a whole bunch of. On for sale for $5. Wow. And we're talking actually like really amazing, incredible books. Um, so we're trying to clear our shelves. Lots of really great books are on sale for 30% off. Um, you're gonna see Harvey in the back office drinking a can of Diet Coke, even though I tell him not to. You'll probably see me or Bonoo at the front counter and we're. . Also happy that it lasted for as long as it did and will end [00:45:31] Miko Lee: strong. And then there's community events that are still ongoing. I know that you have one coming up. Yes. The Oakland Cultural Center. Asian Cultural Center. Can you tell us about that one? [00:45:40] Cheryl Truong: I'm so excited for this one. So Chiwan just re released a book called, have you Eaten yet? Recipes from Chinese American Family or something like that. Um, and then he's going to be in conversation. Amazing. Chef Martin Jann from YN Can Cook, and I think a little birdie told me that, uh, Jann is going to be doing a surprise cooking demonstration at the O A C C too, which is something I think they've never done before. So yeah, we're excited. [00:46:11] Miko Lee:  So how do people find out about coming to that event? [00:46:14] Cheryl Truong: Well, you can go on our Instagram. , uh, at Eastwood books or follow the Oakland Asian Cultural Center at Oakland Cultural Center on Instagram. Or you can go on occ.cc/events and you'll see a whole bunch of their events there too. [00:46:31] Banoo Afkhami: And you can also check out our website and send up to our newsletter, uh, which is also on our website. Um, like I said, it's asia book center.com. Uh, we post all of our events on there as well as links to purchase the books of the events. [00:46:46] Miko Lee: Um, so while the brick and mortar store is closing, you will still continue.I know East Wind Books is also a nonprofit, so the nonprofit arm is the aspect that's continuing. Is that right? Mm-hmm. . So the community center part, the community, maybe it's a virtual community or a community center at different locations will continue to exist? Yes, [00:47:09] Harvey Dong: correct. And then the, the other, um, activity that'll continue is, um, uh, the publishing of, um, books. [00:47:19] Miko Lee: Oh, great. Tell us about that. [00:47:20] Harvey Dong:  Uh, well, professor Carlos Munoz, who's active in the Chicano movement. is, um, writing a book about his, uh, life story, uh, his autobiography, and it it'll be published by East Wind Books of Berkeley. And the book covers his life from being involved in the, uh, LA student, uh, uh, blowouts. It was a huge walkout in, um, around 1968 and, um, his, uh, teaching of ethnic studies and Chicano studies. at uc, Berkeley and his activism in the Chi Chicano movement. Um, another uh, book that we recently released is titled The Power of Our Stories Won't Stop. And Who's that by? Uh, that's published by, um, uh, Helene Helen Lee. that book, uh, uh, is an anthology of. peoples of color, uh, who write about their early activism and sharing their stories, uh, to the younger generation. Oh, [00:48:37] Miko Lee: love that. That would be, that's very appropriate to our conversation today. Maybe we could do a book club on that. That sounds fun. Um, how many books has East Wind published? [00:48:48] Harvey Dong: We put 'em out on the table that day and there must be about six or seven. [00:48:52] Miko Lee: There's more than that. There's [00:48:53] Banoo Afkhami: more than that. Harvey. Those was just the ones we had on hand, Harvey. Yeah. And also like I, I was limited on table space there. Okay. You know , [00:49:01] Miko Lee: you'll see East Wind at a series of different community events that are happening. Um, I saw you backstage at Cambodian Rock Band. We. So good. Yeah, so different events. You'll see East Wind books and we always encourage folks to support local bookstores, not the big bad monsters. In [00:49:18] Cheryl Truong: addition, uh, there's a East Wind documentary in the works being worked on by Banu, uh, our good, good French Shine Lee and um, myself. [00:49:30] Miko Lee: Oh, great. What's the timeline for that, Cheryl? Tell us about the document. , we're [00:49:35] Banoo Afkhami: gonna hopefully have a teaser done by sometime in April. Um, you know, to commemorate the closing of the store. And I don't know, as of right now, I mean, there's no complete set timeline. We're just kind of, we want to capture these stories and the stories of, you know, Harvey and b and, you know, everyone involved in the movement. Um, So we actually agreed, you know, a couple weeks ago in a, in, in a Zoom meeting, sometime ridiculously late into the middle of the night , um, that, you know, we wouldn't set a 100% firm timeline for the super final product, but we will be releasing a teaser sometime in April. Um, just because we wanna make sure that we're doing justice to their stories and we don't want. Rush that process. Um, especially, you know, once we, you know, feel, like, feel out what, like the final through lines of the story are gonna be, um, and just to make sure that we do it just as, because it's such an important part of the community, it's such an important part of the Asian American movement. Um, and it can serve as a really beautiful metaphor for, you know, passing the torch and also just. Um, what it means to be an activist. So we don't want to rush that process. But, um, we're [00:50:53] Cheryl Truong: also definitely approaching it kind of with a whole bunch of seeds of curiosity. I think our hypothesis is kind of us asking how do we navigate, uh, post East One society? Not that, you know, east wind's forever gone, but just how do we move on after being impacted? Influentially by such a wonderful [00:51:16] Miko Lee: place. I love that. Thank you for sharing. Can each of you, Cheryl and Bonous, share what, who you come from, who are your people, and what is the legacy you carry with you, especially as you go into this next envisioning of what East Wind becomes? I [00:51:33] Cheryl Truong: love this question so much, right? When you asked it, Bonu, Bonu basically gave me a mental fist bump. Um, we love talking about this, so I. . I was born and raised in Long Beach, California, right? Harvey? Harvey loves Long Beach, um, . So I was born and raised in Long Beach. I come from a family of three or four siblings, or no, three other siblings, four people in total. Um, both of my parents are refugees from Vietnam. My mom left Vietnam when she was young to China, and then eventually, Had to leave China and walk or and go to Cambodia. And from Cambodia, she walked all the way to Vietnam again. Um, my dad was part of the second wave of Vietnamese boat people. He was on sea for, you know, five, five days, four nights I think, before he eventually landed in a refugee camp in Malaysia. Um, so I think our connect. I feel really similarly with Harvey, our connection to water. You know, we can trace our bloodlines through waterlines basically. Um, and yeah, we're, yeah, that's my family I guess. I have other family in Orange County as well in the little Saigon area, and my sister and I are up here in the East Bay. Love it. [00:52:52] Miko Lee: Thank you. And finally, I'd love to hear. [00:52:55] Banoo Afkhami: Yeah, so, um, my mother's actually Mexican American. My dad is Iranian. Um, he immigrated after the revolution. Um, as an artist. He was a photographer and at the time he was studying and working to be a director in cinema. Um, but then the revolution happened and there were a lot of restrictions on art, um, and self-expression. So he had a really complicated immigration story. Um, That I'm probably not gonna own to right now, but he, uh, after a lot of trial and error and years of trying, he made his way over to America. Um, and he opened a Photoshop, um, in San Leandro near the Bayfair Mall. Um, and my mom, uh, so she was Mexican American. Uh, she grew up in la um, To at the HNO family. So we're at the Hans, uh, generationally speaking. So like the border crossed us, we did not cross the border. . Yeah. Uh, we were Mexicans native to Texas. Um, and then Texas became a part of the US after my people were already there. Um, but yeah, so my grandparents left Texas because Jim Crow there was really, really awful. And, um, they moved to LA and my mom grew up in LA and. . Um, then she moved up to north, uh, northern California and she was into photography as a hobby. And so that's how my parents met. Um, my mom was his customer and so that meant for growing up in a really interesting upbringing. Um, just in the sense of it was weird, but in a lot of ways, being Iranian taught me how to be Chicano and being Chicano taught me how to be proud of being Iranian and Asian American. Cuz as far as diaspora goes, like. Um, like as Chicanos, we've been here and dealing with this type of racism for like a lot longer than the Iranian community has, where as a lot of us only immigrated in the eighties. So it really helped having, you know, people who like for generations understood what racism was to a community that was. So that's where it's like, you know, like I'm, you know, second gen in this, you know, where it's like my dad immigrated, you know, hoping to live the American dream and, you know, Now I'm the one that has to deal with like growing up Iranian American in a society that, you know, hardly wants to recognize that you exist. So in that sense, to go back to your original question of like, what does that do for, you know, east Wind or whatever, I mean, or whatever, , . Well, I don't know. I think in terms of our generation when it comes to community work, I don't feel like I can take claim. our movement. I think our movement is made up of everyone. You know, I don't think it can just be one person or, um, what I do see in terms of differences between our generation and older generations is some of the ways that we organize. Um, and also like, I don't know, we have to kind of evolve that and evolve how we trust each other. Cuz I remember Harvey, you know, would talk about how back in the day, they just had to trust in each other to show up and for us, I don't know, we have to be more creative with it. Um, [00:56:09] Miko Lee: thank you so much for sharing so much information about Legacy and about the future of East Wind Books and how we have to work together to be able to make it all happen. this is so critical for our movement, for our movement building. Webid a fond farewell to the brick and mortar store of East Wind Books. We encourage people to come there. Door closes,  in April and encourage people to get involved in all the different events that are happening. Um, that will continue to happen both online and at different locales. So find out more information at the East Wind website. You can also check out more information about. Amazing community events that are happening. There's a Women of Color Leadership conference tomorrow in San Francisco. There's the People Get Ready Political Conference at uc, Berkeley on Saturday. Cambodian Rock Bands still playing at Berkeley Wrap and Muni raised me is at San Francisco. Check those out. Um, and please check out our website, k pfa.org to find out more about these events and about East Wind Books. And we thank all of you out. Listeners, keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating, and sharing your visions for the world. Because your voices are important. Apex Express is a proud member of Acre Asian Americans for civil rights inequality, a network of progressive AAP I groups. Find out more@acre.org. Apex Express is produced by Paige Chung Swati. Raam Anju Pret Man, Shak Jalina Keenly, and me Miko Lee, thank you so much to our engineer, Jose Gonzalez, for making this show happen. Woo, and to all have a great night. The post APEX Express 3.23.23 The Legacy of Eastwind Books appeared first on KPFA.

Untangled Roots is celebrates the history and culture of communities of color across Minnesota, with a focus on Black experiences.   The first season pf the MPR News podcast explores what the Rondo neighborhood in St. Paul meant and still means to Black Minnesotans and what ethnic enclaves like “Little Mekong” on University Avenue in St. Paul contribute to the state. Co-hosts Brandt Williams and Jonathan Rabb also have frank conversations about Black cultural spaces and what it's like for new Black Minnesotans to find community and connection. MPR News host Angela Davis talks with the people behind the podcast in the North Star Journey project.   Guests:   Brandt Williams is an editor for MPR News and co-host of the Untangled Roots podcast.   Twila Dang is an MPR News producer and the producer on the Untangled Roots podcast. 

Untangled Roots is celebrates the history and culture of communities of color across Minnesota, with a focus on Black experiences.  The first season pf the MPR News podcast explores what the Rondo neighborhood in St. Paul meant and still means to Black Minnesotans and what ethnic enclaves like “Little Mekong” on University Avenue in St. Paul contribute to the state.Co-hosts Brandt Williams and Jonathan Rabb also have frank conversations about Black cultural spaces and what it's like for new Black Minnesotans to find community and connection.MPR News host Angela Davis talks with the people behind the podcast in the North Star Journey project.  Guests:  Brandt Williams is an editor for MPR News and co-host of the Untangled Roots podcast.  Twila Dang is an MPR News producer and the producer on the Untangled Roots podcast. North Star Journey was made possible in part with funds from the Legacy Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

Recap your news day with the Grand Forks Herald Minute Podcast. Join us daily for the latest headlines from news, weather and sports in the northern Red River Valley area. The Grand Forks Herald Minute can be found on Spotify, Apple and Google Podcasts as well as the Herald website.

Behavioral artist Aki Shibata is delighted that the all-night festival Northern Spark will return to her Frogtown and Rondo neighborhoods. This year's festival takes place at four locations along and near University Avenue in St. Paul, from 9 p.m. Saturday until 2 a.m., with a closing event Sunday morning that ends shortly after sunrise on Raspberry Island. The theme for the artists' work is “What the World Needs Now.” Visitors may navigate their way among the locations to admire a range of art, many of which have interactive elements. The locations include the Victoria Theater Arts Center, the Rondo Community Library, Springboard for the Arts, and the Minnesota Museum of American Art. Shibata says she plans to attend them all, but she is particularly looking forward to the Drive-in Movie Extravaganza with shadow puppets, created by Eva Adderlay at the Victoria Theater, and to watching the sun rise over the interactive closing event by Sequoia Hauck, which will include painters, singers, and dancers celebrating our connection to the water. Allison Baker, an art professor at Hamline University, was excited to see the solo show by Ta-coumba T. Aiken at Dreamsong Gallery in northeast Minneapolis. Baker said the show “couldn't have been better timed,” coming weeks after Aiken was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship for 2022. The exhibit, entitled “Awakenings,” features Aiken's large, abstract paintings and works on paper. Photo by Tom Dunn, courtesy of Dreamsong Ta-coumba T. Aiken. Ripple Effect, 2021. Acrylic on canvas. “He talks about channeling the spirits of his ancestors into form and color,” said Baker, adding that he does so in “beautiful and incredible ways.” In some paintings, figures seem to emerge from the energetic lines on the canvas. She also recommends paying attention to the smaller studies and collages, which are a delicate counterpoint to the larger work. The exhibit at Dreamsong runs through June 25. You may see more of Aiken's work at Soo Visual Arts Center in Minneapolis. The show, opening Sunday, is “Change is God-Take Root Among the Stars: Black Abstraction in the Midwest” and features the work of 17 artists. Minneapolis-based performer and costumer Anissa Lubbers suggests catching the “10-Minute Play Festival” from the Lakeshore Players, which runs through Sunday at the Hanifl Performing Arts Center in White Bear Lake. Lubbers said the festival is an audience favorite that traditionally wraps up the players' season. The show features 10 plays, written by playwrights around the world and performed and directed by local talent. As for style, the audience can expect a bit of everything, from the silly to the serious and timely, from comedy to horror.

Tom and Andy talk about the videos circulating online of a gun battle on University Avenue along what's known as Frat Row next to the University of Minnesota.

The Tailgaters Food Truck on University Avenue in Norwood is a popular destination, but don't expect it to be open every day. WBZ's Chris Fama reports.

[EP 86] Do you have five minutes to practice English listening in a fun way? Great! In this episode we interview the Candy Queen! Trascription in the notes to help you! [Transcription] Hi everybody, and welcome to Episode 86, of Unexpected English podcast where you can practice your English listening, with a transcription to help you, in under five minutes. Now this one is really short, it's not long at all, but it's a good one. And you know we have an expression when something is not long but it's good we say it's "short, but sweet." And this one you'll find out is definitely short but sweet. Now, you just have to make me one promise. If this episode of Unexpected English makes you smile, you have to share it with somebody, okay? Just just send them the link or share it on Instagram or something. Because I know you're listening on Spotify and you could do that. And that would be great. That is if you like it, and I hope you do. So let's go! (bump) So I was walking down the street and I spotted an interesting sign that said "The Candy Pushers" and I thought, what's that? And I looked inside and sure enough, it's full of candy! So I thought I would go inside and speak to the... owner? Yeah, I'm the owner. My name is Shannon. I'm the Candy Queen of the Candy Pushers. Oh, hold it right there! We are talking to the candy queen! Okay, so relax everybody. I know it's exciting, but... I'm the Candy Queen of the Candy Pushers. My wife and I own the business, and she's the Fudge Master. And we have... And you say the fudge master, does that mean she makes the fudge? Fresh homemade fudge every week. Oh, oh, okay. I'm sorry people. Hold on. I have to get over this, because I'm a little excited -- it's fudge! Yeah, we make and rotate through 48 flavors a year. What kind of flavors of fudge exist? There's the Fudge Packer. We have Lemon Blueberry uh Cheesecake. Citrus Bliss, which is an orange and lemon essential oils mix of fudge. We have Chocolate, Chocolate Walnut, Vanilla Pralines... Oh, okay, do people get, like, addicted to this? It sounds a little addicting! Yes. 100% We have people who come in every week to buy their fudge. Because the chocolate does something to you, right? Well, it makes you happy and puts a smile on your face. Oh, there you go! So okay, people next time you're on University Avenue... University and Richmond. University and Richmond, stop by the Candy Push... If you don't like fudge, there's a whole, like, wall full of other kinds of candies too. What is... We have between twelve and thirteen hundred other bin and packaged candies Twelve and thirteen hundred, That is one thousand two hundred different kinds of candies. It's true. Well, I won't ask for the names of all those candies. I'll just say thanks a lot for your time. You're welcome and have a flavorful day! *** Thanks for listening! If you liked it please FOLLOW on Spotify or Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. Instagram too! IG: @UnexpectedEnglish Seriously ... if you like the podcast, please follow, share, and Hey! leave 5 stars on Apple Podcasts if you can!

Welcome to the only Friday the 13th of all of 2022! Many consider the day to be unlucky, a tradition that goes back many centuries. Rather than go through all of that, I’m more curious to know what you think of this day. Do you take precautions? Did you even notice? Do other days in a Friday the 13th’d month also have powers? In any case, those questions aren’t the purpose of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a podcast and newsletter whose host still wonders why. Charlottesville Community Engagement is mostly free but your financial support will help it growing! On today’s program:Governor Youngkin orders flags at half-mast to commemorate one million Americans who have died from COVIDThere are five vacancies on the Charlottesville Planning Commission, and the city is seeking applicantsAn update on the city’s zoning process as well as an update a lawsuit claiming the Comprehensive Plan is invalid under state lawAnd a quick preview of a conversation between the Reverend Alex Joyner and the author of a book on Virginia’s eugenics movement Shout-out to Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards In today’s subscriber-supported Public Service Announcement, the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards continues to offer classes this spring and summer to increase your awareness of our wooden neighbors and to prepare for the future. Coming up on June 7 is a tree identification course taught on Zoom by tree steward Elizabeth Ferguson followed by a separate hike on June 11 at the Department of Forestry’s headquarters near the Fontaine Research Park. That’s followed by a tree identification walk at the University of Virginia on June 12 for the public. On June 14, Rachel Keen will give a lecture on Zoom on the Social Life of Trees. Do trees really communicate with one another? What is a 'mother tree'? Can a tree do anything to repel a pest? Learn more at charlottesvilleareatreestewards.org.One million Americans have died of COVID since pandemic beganGovernor Glenn Youngkin has followed the direction of President Joe Biden and has ordered that the United States and Virginia flags be flown at half-mast until Monday to commemorate the milestone of a million Americans who have now died of COVID in the past 26 months. I’ll have more on the pandemic tomorrow.On Thursday, the Virginia Department of Health reported another 3,144 new cases, and the seven-day average for new cases is 2,441. The seven-day percentage for PCR tests is 13.7 percent, up from 11 percent on May 6 and 9.1 percent on April 29. None of those numbers include tests taken at home. This morning the Virginia Healthcare and Hospital Association reports 325 people in hospitals are currently COVID positive, but many of those patients may have been admitted for other reasons. Forty-five COVID patients are currently hospitalized in intensive care units and 20 of those are on ventilators. Nationwide, the trend is toward more cases with 84,778 new cases reported through PCR tests according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control. Hospitalizations are also trending upward across the country with a seven-day average of 2,603 new admissions a day. It’s important to remember that the number of COVID fatalities continues to trend downward with a current seven-day average of 272 deaths. The highest seven-day average during the pandemic was 3,420 in mid January of 2021 and 2,709 in early February of this year. Charlottesville hires two department headsThe City of Charlottesville has promoted two employees to take over their departments, and has also filled the position of Human Resources Director. Mary Ann Hardie will move to Charlottesville from Washington state to take the human resources position, which has been vacant since November 2020 when Michelle Vineyard left after just over a year of service. Hardie has served for the past three years as human resources director in Lacey, Washington. That’s a suburb of state capital Olympia that grew from 42,393 people to 53,526 from 2010 to 2020 according to the U.S. Census.Hardie starts work on May 16.Misty Graves has been with the city of Charlottesville’s Human Services Department for 16 years and has been the interim director since Kaki Dimock left the city to work for Albemarle County. “I am humbled by the opportunity to build on the existing work of the Department," is quoted in a press release. "Our Department is comprised of dedicated staff that are committed to creating a more equitable and just community so all of our residents may thrive, and it’s my honor to work alongside them.”David Dillehunt has been the interim deputy director of the Office of Communications and Public Engagement since soon after former director Brian Wheeler stepped down late last year. Deputy Director Joe Rice left soon afterwards. Dillehunt began working for Charlottesville in 2005 as a consultant has won two Regional Emmy Awards for work he’s produced for the city. In 2004, Dillehunt also produced a documentary on the children’s program You Can’t Do That On Television. (play the trailer) The city is still looking to fill the director’s position for the Office of Communications and Public Engagement. The position closes May 18 if you want to throw your hat in the ring. (see the vacancy)Vacancies opening up on Charlottesville Planning CommissionIf you have an interest in advising Charlottesville City Council on land use decisions, and have time to devote to the effort, you may get your chance. “There are spots on the Planning Commission that are coming open this summer,” said Missy Creasy, the Deputy Director of the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development Services. “And right now we are in the window for applications.” There are five terms ending this summer, and at least two current members cannot reapply. They are Jody Lahendro and Taneia Dowell. Commissioner Karim Habbab is filling an unexpired term which runs out on August 31. The terms of Hosea Mitchell and Rory Stolzenberg are both running out on that day. Stolzenberg is also filling out the unexpired term vacated when Hunter Smith resigned in 2018 after a handful of months in the position. Apply for the position here.Charlottesville zoning info slightly delayed Work on the next phase of the rewriting of Charlottesville’s zoning ordinance continues, but it’s slightly delayed. Neighborhood Development Services Director James Freas told the Planning Commission Tuesday that a “diagnostic and approach” report was not ready in time for their May meeting, but he hopes it will be out by the end of this month. (previous coverage)“As this point we are anticipating that the joint meeting between the Council and the Planning Commission to eventually make a decision on moving forward with that report, we’re projecting that happening in September at this point in time,” Freas said. Freas is now referring to this report as a conceptual plan for the new zoning ordinance. “It’s going to lay out what the approach is towards bringing our zoning into consistency with our Comprehensive Plan and its meant to include within it both modeling of potential building outcomes, so what type of buildings might be buildable under the policies articulated in the Comprehensive Plan, and how the market might respond to this new zoning,” Freas said. Freas said a public meeting will be held two weeks after the report with other community engagement events happening over the summer. The new Comprehensive Plan was adopted in November 2021. Consult Information Charlottesville for a series of property transactions in city limits since then. That joint City Council and Planning Commission meeting in September will be after a pair of judicial proceedings related to a lawsuit filed by anonymous Charlottesville property owners challenging the validity of the Comprehensive Plan. A hearing on the initial motion will be held in Charlottesville Circuit Court on July 15 with Judge Richard E. Moore presiding. A hearing on a city-filed demurrer to require the plaintiffs to identify themselves will be held on August 26. Alderman Library construction reaches milestoneThe tallest portions of the new Alderman Library have been installed, and the University of Virginia marked the occasion with a “topping out” ceremony. UVA Today reports that over a hundred workers were on hand to witness the placement of two steel beams that had been signed by UVA officials and more. “The two beams are part of the steel-framed clerestory roof structure, an architectural feature that will allow natural light to reach the study and reading rooms inside the library,” writes Matt Kelly in an article posted yesterday. The library itself is only two thirds of the way to being completed. When it’s done, there will be a new entrance that faces University Avenue. Bill Palmer is with the UVA Office of the Architect and he gave an update to the Charlottesville Planning Commission on Tuesday. “That’s a big milestone of a transformative project over there that will really open up the library towards University Avenue as you’re going up and down that thoroughfare,” Palmer said. The original library opened in 1937, but was closed off to University Avenue in 1967 when the “stacks” were built. I’ll have more from the Planning Commission in a future edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. In today’s other three shout-outsCode for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects. In the middle, I’d like to take the opportunity to wish my brother, Steve Tubbs, a happy birthday for tomorrow. The final comes from another Patreon supporter who wants you to go out and read a local news story written by a local journalist. Whether it be the Daily Progress, Charlottesville Tomorrow, C-Ville Weekly, NBC29, CBS19, WINA, or some other place I’ve not mentioned - the community depends on a network of people writing about the community. Go learn about this place today!Eugenics and the Making of Modern VirginiaThe newsletter and podcast you’re experiencing stems from a website I created in 2005 to bring lectures, interviews, and audio segments to the public as an experiment. The Charlottesville Podcasting Network has been in the hands of my friend Dan Gould for several years, but he recently retired and passed the baton back to me. From time to time, I’ll end this newsletter with a small taste of what you might hear there. The Reverend Alex Joyner is the pastor of Charlottesville First United Methodist Church, and he wants to ask questions about what it takes to make a place more whole. One thread in his questioning is the future of Market Street Park in downtown Charlottesville. In February, he interviewed Elizabeth Catte, the author of Pure America: Eugenics and the Making of Modern Virginia. Catte said she wrote the book after learning about some of the history of Western State Hospital. After the original structure closed in 2005, the site was turned over to the Staunton Industrial Authority for redevelopment as apartments. At one point, the facility was known bluntly as the Western State Lunatic Asylum. “Its history became part of its branding identity and that was a really interesting transformation to me,” Catte said.“Yeah, that’s a long stretch to pull those two things together,” Joyner said. “So 200 years of history had to get condensed into something that could be about two paragraphs on a website and could also be anchored to branding material for tourism, for community development, so it developed this really cozy kind of positive story about early physicians who committed themselves to the humane treatment of mental illnesses,” Catte said. “That was certainly one of the chapters of that sites’ history but the larger chapter that I knew as a historian was the history of the institution during the eugenics era.”Eugenics was the legal practice of sterilizing those thought to be inferior so they would not reproduce. The 1927 United States Supreme Court ruling of Buck v. Bell cleared the way for the practice, with Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes delivering the line “three generations of imbeciles is enough.” The practice was legal until the 1970’s.“At least 1,700 people were sterilized against their will at Western State Hospital,” Catte said. “The longest serving superintendent was a vocal leader of the Virginia eugenics movement and it has a very harrowing history.”To hear more from Alex Joyner’s interview with Elizabeth Catte, visit the Charlottesville Podcasting Network.Or view the interview on YouTube. Help Ting help support Town Crier productions!For one year now, Town Crier Productions has had a promotional offering through Ting!Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Don, Jon, and Doug are joined by Kiemia Rezagian and Jessica Macasaet-Bondy to talk about their delegation to council, political engagement in Windsor and the debate around parking on University Avenue.Rose City Politics is brought to you with the kind support of LiUNA Local 625: Building Better Communities. Support the show at Patreon.com/RoseCityPolitics.

The break room inside of Taste of Rondo Bar and Grill overlooks a well-traveled portion of Interstate 94 in St. Paul. An estimated 160,000 vehicles per day travel the stretch of I-94 between Minneapolis and St. Paul, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. As the cars sped past on a recent weeknight, Robin Hickman-Winfield and her husband Steven Winfield wondered how many of those travelers know about the history of Rondo. “Just imagine,” Robin said. “Our homes and businesses again.” Nicole Neri for MPR News Robin Hickman-Winfield and Steve Winfield talk about their memories of the Rondo neighborhood before the construction of I-94 and their hopes for the area's future at Taste of Rondo Bar and Grill earlier this month. The walls of the restaurant are lined with black and white photos depicting past generations of Black families enjoying life in Rondo. Pictures of members of Robin's own family also adorn the menu. "This is my father, Bobby Hickman and uncle Gordon Parks," Robin said, using her finger to point them each out.  Nicole Neri for MPR News Robin Hickman-Winfield points to an image of her family members, including her uncle Gordon Parks, on the menu at Taste of Rondo Bar and Grill on March 3. Bobby Hickman was a community activist and educator and Gordon Parks was a renowned photojournalist and artist whose works highlighted the Rondo neighborhood.  When she first saw the menu, “I just boo-hooed,” Robin said. “We are Rondo.” Named for an early settler, Rondo Avenue was the heart of the largest Black community in St. Paul from the 1930s through the 1950s. The surrounding neighborhood stretched into today's Summit-University neighborhood and north to University Avenue. There are many stories of generations of Black families that prospered even with the challenges that came from building I-94, Robin explained. But 1,000 or so family homes and businesses were demolished to make room for the highway and the effects linger in lost opportunities to build generational wealth. “I am taking my rightful place in reclaiming what was stolen from us,” Robin said. Robin and her husband Steven are spreading the word anywhere they can about an idea called the Land Bridge. The goal is to reconnect the vibrant community that was split in two by the construction of I-94 from 1956 to 1968. The bridge would serve as a cap over the part of the highway that encompasses what used to be the entire Rondo neighborhood.  Steven has fond childhood memories from the old neighborhood. "Whether it was here or on the other side of University, Frogtown or wherever, people were just close and cared about each other," Steven said.  When Steven was growing up in St. Paul's Rondo neighborhood in the ‘50s and ‘60s, it was as if I-94 was growing along with him.  It started as a giant hole in the ground Winfield and his baseball teammates would run through during practice. "That's one of my fondest memories is wondering ‘What is this hole they are digging here?'" The new east to west interstate highway would eventually connect people all over the region, but for Steven Winfield's family and many other Black families, it meant their homes were chosen by the government to be demolished. Derek Montgomery for MPR News An aerial view of St. Paul's Rondo neighborhood on Monday. The Winfield name would go on to become part of baseball history as Steven and his brother Dave grew up to play professionally. Dave was inducted into Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame in 2001. ReConnect Rondo — The Land Bridge Courtesy of ReConnect Rondo A rendering for the Land Bridge, and idea which would attempt to connect the Rondo community that was split in two by the construction of I-94. “Now is the moment,” says Keith Baker. “We will not be in this moment again.” Baker is the executive director of ReConnect Rondo, the advocacy organization that has been studying and planning the Land Bridge idea for more than five years. Baker secured $6 million from the state last year to continue developing the idea and say the descendants and current residents of Rondo should be at the center of planning the project and what is built on top of that land bridge. ”To generate the economic opportunities that stay within the community for wealth-building," Baker said. MnDOT has been working on a project called Rethinking I-94 since 2016. The goal is to make needed repairs to the aging infrastructure, while creating methods to reduce further harms caused by the freeway. Metro deputy district engineer Sheila Kauppi said the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in 2020 represented another moment to reflect and listen. “It has pivoted from where we were in 2016 to where we are now,” Kauppi said. “We listened to a lot of people, we learned a lot about the community.” Kauppi said MnDOT does not currently have funding for anything beyond the most needed repairs to maintain the infrastructure that already exists along the entire 15-mile stretch of the project between the Twin Cities. It encompasses the stretch of I-94 between Broadway Avenue in Minneapolis and Highway 61 in St. Paul. Derek Montgomery for MPR News Interstate 94 runs through the Rondo neighborhood with a view toward St. Paul near the Chatsworth Street North pedestrian bridge on Monday. Kauppi said MnDOT is in the process of gathering public input to consider any proposed project alternatives and plans to have some initial plans ready to release in late summer. The next steps for I-94 will take 15 to 20 years to implement. “We are making a long-term effort to engage with communities, making sure we are making decisions with the community context that we have,” Kauppi said. “Recognizing cities and counties have built economies around the I-94 corridor.” MnDOT has about a dozen examples of highway caps and buildings over highways including Target Field, Lowry tunnel in Minneapolis and Superior Street Bridge-Cap in Duluth. Baker said the land bridge across the Rondo community would rely on a combination of public and private funds, and could cost more than $450 million to complete. “So, you can see, the land bridge is just simply the tool for catalytic economic benefits,” Baker said. “Housing benefits, open park space benefits, all of the amenities that we know improve quality of life.”  Our Streets — Twin Cities Boulevard Courtesy of Our Streets A rendering of Twin Cities Boulevard, an idea that would replace a stretch of I-94 with various modes of travel. Another alternative proposal for I-94 emerged this year that suggests ripping out the entire stretch of the highway MnDOT is considering and replacing it with various modes of travel. The idea is called Twin Cities Boulevard. The Minneapolis nonprofit Our Streets aims to make cities more easily accessible to bikers and walkers. The group's plan still includes some driving lanes, which Our Streets argues would accommodate locals who mostly use the freeway to make shorter trips. Others traveling between suburbs or through the state could use alternatives like Interstate 694. On a recent unseasonably cold evening, Our Streets transportation policy coordinator Alex Burns was knocking on doors to raise awareness about Twin Cities Boulevard. Two next-door neighbors living right next to I-94 told him they did not know big changes were even being considered. The two houses were split on the idea of a freeway-to-boulevard conversion as they looked at the renderings. Burns said the idea also would center communities along I-94 that experienced demolition along with other economic and environmental harms. “A difference we have tried to make clear is we feel like a land bridge over a reconstructed or expanded freeway, that cements I-94's harms for another half-century is an unacceptable outcome for this project,” Burns said. Keith Baker of ReConnect Rondo said Our Streets never tried to work with his organization ahead of releasing its plan. “It fails to recognize the extraordinary time we are in post-George Floyd, and the disparities that exist in the state of Minnesota,” Baker said.  MnDOT will consider both ideas. A vision of possibility Nicole Neri for MPR News Robin Hickman-Winfield and Steven Winfield talk about their memories of the Rondo neighborhood. For the Winfield's, their family stories are more than a window to the past, they are lessons for the future. “I drive around St. Paul and see representations of community Utopias,” Robin said. “Why not us?” Robin and Steven chuckled as she referenced the Black Utopia in the movie Black Panther. “I've had folks laughing talking about ‘Rondo Wakanda forever,'” Robin said. “Why not? Our children need to have that vision of possibility.” More from North Star Journey series Minnesota names Connections, struggles for inclusion What stories should we cover next? Pass the Mic

When I first moved to Belfast, my housemate mentioned The Belfast Friendship Club to me. He told me this club hosted a weekly event where the sole purpose was the connection with other people in the room. No registration fee, no data collecting – just your first name and where you are from and you're away. I finally got to visit The Belfast Friendship Club a few months ago and I was struck by how ‘exactly what it says on the tin' the experience was. A room of people from all over the world, from a wide range of diverse backgrounds who are all currently living in Belfast looking to connect over tea and coffee. In 2022, such a setup is beyond rare. I personally have never come across such a club. I was so impressed by the simplicity and genuineness of it all that I recently asked the co-founder of the Belfast Friendship Club, Stephanie Mitchell and Engagement Officer Trevor to come onto the podcast and talk about the club in more detail. This chat covers the initial starting of the Club, the two rules of the Club, why the gathering provides something different and how it has helped people who have been touched by the club. We also discuss Small Worlds, a project that provides a safe space for participants to meet and engage with people from different parts of the world and to learn about the challenges of being new in Northern Ireland. This is all carefully managed by an experienced facilitator. If you are in the Belfast area and interested in seeing what the Belfast Friendship Club is all about (they meet 7-9 pm every Thursday at Aleksander's/Common Grounds Cafe, 12-24 University Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1GY). If you are not in the Belfast area but inspired by the project, feel free to reach out to Stephanie through the contact details below. All the best, Belfast Friendship Club websitehttp://www.belfastfriendshipclub.orgSmall Worlds workshop Open Democracy filmhttps://opendemocracy.net/build-bridgesBe the change: a guide to creating safe and inclusive space http://www.belfastfriendshipclub.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Be-the-change-December-2014.pdfContact detailsStephanie Mitchell (coordinator/co-founder)07548 938508stephanie.mitchell@sbrtr.org.uk (in use until June 2022)

The show: The full interview with bonus material: In 2020, just before the pandemic hit, a Cobourg developer decided not to demolish a house on University Avenue. Instead, he called Habitat for Humanity Northumberland. Meghan MacDonald, the executive director, jumped at the chance to get a home it could renovate for a family in need. […] The post A house goes on an incredible journey thanks to Habitat for Humanity Northumberland appeared first on Consider This. Related posts: Habitat for Humanity makes sure an older house gets new life for local family A group of women seeking support in Northumberland to bring Afghan family safely to Canada Transition House prepares to move back to Chapel Street into new home with a new plan

The West Bend Theatre Company is putting on a production of the stage masterpiece, Our Town, coming up 10/8-10/10 and 10/15-10/17/2021. On this week's episode, I'm joined by Kimberly Laberge and Benjamin Johnson, the actress and actor who play the two main characters in the performance. Kimberly and Ben talk about what it's been like getting ready for this famous play, what to expect from the show, and what they'd love to do in the future. The show takes place at the West Bend Masonic Center, 301 University Avenue in West Bend. Tickets for the show are available at https://westbendtheatreco.com (https://westbendtheatreco.com). Proceeds from the show will be donated to Habitat for Humanity of Washington and Dodge Counties. If you like the show, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. You can also follow the show: Instagram: https://instagram.com/fifteenwithfuzz (https://instagram.com/fifteenwithfuzz) Facebook: https://facebook.com/fifteenwithfuzz (https://facebook.com/fifteenwithfuzz) Twitter: https://twitter.com/fifteenwithfuzz (https://twitter.com/fifteenwithfuzz) or visit https://fifteenwithfuzz.com (https://fifteenwithfuzz.com) Thanks for tuning in! This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

The East Side Freedom Library and the Ramsey County Historical Society invite you to our monthly “History Revealed” program, featuring Kao Kalia Yang. As the country's doors were closing and nativism was on the rise, Kao Kalia Yang—herself a refugee from Laos—set out to tell the stories of the refugees to whom University Avenue is now home. Here are people who have summoned the energy and determination to make a new life even as they carry an extraordinary burden of hardship, loss, and emotional damage. In Yang's exquisite, poetic, and necessary telling, the voices of refugees from all over the world restore humanity to America's strangers and redeem its long history of welcome. KAO KALIA YANG is a Hmong-American writer. She holds degrees from Carleton College and Columbia University. Yang is the author of The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir winner of the 2009 Minnesota Book Awards in Creative Nonfiction/Memoir and Readers' Choice, a finalist for the PEN USA Award in Creative Nonfiction, and the Asian Literary Award in Nonfiction. Her second book, The Song Poet won the 2016 Minnesota Book Award in Creative Nonfiction Memoir, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Chautauqua Prize, a PEN USA Award in Nonfiction, and the Dayton's Literary Peace Prize. The story has been commissioned as a youth opera by the Minnesota Opera and will premiere in the spring of 2021. She is now writing a series of children's books. For this event, before we open the virtual floor for questions and comments from audience members, Yang will be joined in conversation by four readers of her book: Saymoukda Duanphouxay Vongsay is an award-winning Lao American poet, playwright, cultural producer, and social practice artist. She is the author of the children's book WHEN EVERYTHING WAS EVERYTHING (Full Circle Publishing) and is currently the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence at Theater Mu. Visit her at www.SaymoukdaTheRefugenius.com and follow her @refugenius. Thet-Htar Thet (she/her/hers) is a writer, educator and activist originally from Yangon Myanmar. Now based in her home country, Thet-Htar is focused on education reform and identity-driven writing as a consultant for UNESCO and a freelance creative nonfiction writer. Sangay Taythi is a Tibetan refugee born in India who with his family immigrated to the United States in 1998. He has been a community and labor organizer, including the Students for a Free Tibet chapter at the University of Minnesota, the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress of Minnesota, the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota, the Tibetan National Congress and Tibetans for Black Lives and SEIU Healthcare Minnesota. Najaha Musse is a 4th year medical student pursuing a doctorate in Osteopathic Medicine. Her family fled rural Ethiopia for a refugee camp in Nairobi Kenya, and then settled in Minnesota where she began formal education in the 3rd grade. As the oldest in a family of 8 children, she became the first in her family to graduate from high school and receive a college degree. While attending medical school, Najaha has focused on social justice issues pertaining to educational access for disadvantaged students and social medicine. To view the video: https://youtu.be/c_p7Nx_SmD8

Lyle was born in Memphis, Tennessee although he grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His father, reportedly, was a sports writer for the Star Tribune newspaper.He had his first gig at 16 and played in the 1960s with Gene and Jerry Hubbard in the Bobby Lyle Trio. They were very popular at the Blue Note on Plymouth Avenue on Minneapolis' North Side, and at the Ebony Lounge on University Avenue in St. Paul. When Ramsey Lewis left the Trio which he started and made famous, Lyle became the keyboard player for Young Holt Unlimited.In 1970, he had a meeting and subsequent jam session with Jimi Hendrix who was planning on starting a jazz-rock group with Lyle and fellow Minnesotans Willie Weeks and Bill Lordan as the rhythm section before his death later that year.He moved to Los Angeles aged 30 in 1974 and soon went on the road with Sly and the Family Stone. During this time he also played with the Ronnie Laws band. This led to a meeting with Wayne Henderson of the Jazz Crusaders who then took him to Capitol Records for his first solo recording deal in 1977. After three albums ("The Genie", "New Warrior", and "Night Fire"), Capitol abandoned their jazz division. Without a record deal, Lyle returned to his sideman work in 1981 with George Benson. In that same year he was a guest artist on the Yellowjackets debut LP and in June 1983 performed with the late Al Jarreau in Italy.Extensive tours with Bette Midler, Al Jarreau, and Anita Baker (all as musical director) occupied most of his time in the eighties. While performing with saxophonist Gerald Albright in 1987, Bobby came to the attention of Sylvia Rhone, then VP of Jazz and Urban music at Atlantic Records. This resulted in a recording deal in 1988 which spawned six albums in nine years. In the meantime, Lyle continued to tour with his own bands as well as with Bette Midler. He received an Emmy nomination for his musical direction on her HBO special, "Diva Las Vegas" in 1997.