This week on the Wedge LIVE podcast, John is joined by candidates for Minneapolis School Board At-Large: Collin Beachy, KerryJo Felder, and Sonya Emerick (We weren't successful in our attempts to contact candidate Lisa Skjefte). We talk about why they want this low pay/high stress job; the candidates' leadership experience; what they're looking for when they hire the next schools superintendent; what's behind declining enrollment numbers and how to reverse them; the Minneapolis Public Schools budget crisis; and more. We close each episode with three recommendations from the candidates.

More information on how to vote in Minneapolis: https://vote.minneapolismn.gov/

Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive

This week on the Wedge LIVE podcast, John is joined by candidates for Minneapolis School Board At-Large: Collin Beachy, KerryJo Felder, and Sonya Emerick (We weren't successful in our attempts to contact candidate Lisa Skjefte). We talk about why they want this low pay/high stress job; the candidates' leadership experience; what they're looking for when they hire the next schools superintendent; what's behind declining enrollment numbers and how to reverse them; the Minneapolis Public Schools budget crisis; and more. We close each episode with three recommendations from the candidates.

More information on how to vote in Minneapolis: https://vote.minneapolismn.gov/ 

Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive

This week on the Wedge LIVE podcast, John is joined by candidates for Minneapolis School Board At-Large: Collin Beachy, KerryJo Felder, and Sonya Emerick (We weren't successful in our attempts to contact candidate Lisa Skjefte). We talk about why they want this low pay/high stress job; the candidates' leadership experience; what they're looking for when they hire the next schools superintendent; what's behind declining enrollment numbers and how to reverse them; the Minneapolis Public Schools budget crisis; and more. We close each episode with three recommendations from the candidates.

More information on how to vote in Minneapolis: https://vote.minneapolismn.gov/ 

Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive

After getting laid-off from her job as a college professor during the great recession a decade ago, a Minneapolis woman with a fear of bikes and strangers, takes a 420-day bike trip around the perimeter of the country with her spouse, accepting invitations to stay in the homes of strangers along the way. I met Anne Winkler-Morey at Open Streets on Franklin Avenue several weeks ago and was taken by her story. Who doesn't fantasize about leaving it all behind, escaping the political despair, facing your fears, and having an adventure? Anne is the author of Allegiance to Winds and Waters: Bridging the Political Divides of the United States. We talk about the shallow culture war politics that divide our country, the hundreds of people she met, and the conversations that convinced her our divisions are manufactured. I ask if there's anything to be learned for Minneapolis in this moment. Anne describes how common it was to be invited into strangers' homes. She talks about the physical toll, the heat stroke, biking through rain, the importance of shelter. And what we owe to each other as it relates to the commons, public spaces, and food deserts. For answers to questions like "how did her spouse's bike end up dragged under a car?" and "why did Anne toss her bike in the woods?" you'll have to read the book.

From Anne's website:

"Allegiance to Winds and Waters mixes the angst and hilarious misadventures of an unlikely bicyclist, poignant stories of the strangers she meets, and acute observations of a historian and social activist." -https://annwinklermorey.com

Anne is also the founder of the Minneapolis Interview Project: https://turtleroad.org/ 

Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive

John is joined by Jason Garcia and Josh Martin for a reaction to the results of the 2022 Minneapolis primary election. Though this episode premieres two days after election day, Josh announces results as if in real time, accompanied by breaking news music. We ponder the meaning of Rep. Ilhan Omar's surprisingly small margin of victory; Mary Moriarty's comfortable first place finish in the Hennepin County Attorney's race; Don Samuels and Martha Holton-Dimick's failure to win in North Minneapolis, despite touting their community connections; and the geographic strengths and weaknesses of the candidates. John suggests Ryan Winkler's loss can be attributed to never finding a lane -- being neither the progressive choice nor a bomb throwing law and order type. Jason announces results from Meg Tuthill's front yard. John wonders if Don Samuels was making a Nixonian dog whistle on law and order by using the phrase "exhausted majority" during his triumphant concession speech. We take a fond look back at the video highlights from the Tad Jude campaign, aka Batman's police friend.

Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive

John and co-host/producer Paula Chesley begin by storming the main beach at Lake Nokomis doing "person on the beach" interviews. Then we're joined by local artist and activist Patrick Scully and his friend Wendy Morris for a conversation about a different beach: Twin Lake's hidden beach. For decades it's been unofficially a place where it's ok to swim naked -- until the police show up. Patrick tells a story of a 1977 police raid of the beach and how he barely escaped arrest (after a police officer maced himself). He talks about his 2012 legal battle with the City of Minneapolis for being naked on the beach. Wendy tells us about the time in 1998 -- enduring a hot summer, pregnant, and feeling the urge to swim naked -- that Patrick took her to visit Twin Lake. Two women warned her it would be dangerous to visit the "gay beach." We talk about the American cultural hostility to nudity on beaches compared to other countries and the Minneapolis Park Board's recent action to legalize toplessness for women. 

Camera work and chauffeuring by the indispensable Conrad Zbikowski.

Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive

John is joined by Melody Hoffmann from https://SouthwestVoices.news, who is finally off podcast probation, for our regular "Monthly with Melody" conversation. Topics include: a a very brief farmers market update from an unprepared Melody; Mayor Frey's choice for Community Safety Commissioner, Cedric Alexander; the burgeoning movement against 5G towers in the Kingfield neighborhood; and we dissect John's thesis that "Fear is ruining Minneapolis politics, mainstreaming offensive and/or oddball characters, attracting more context-free local TV news coverage, and causing more and more people to believe things that aren’t true."

Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive

John and co-host/producer Paula Chesley climb down a 90-year-old staircase to visit Longfellow Beach, an unsanctioned beach on the Mississippi River. Experts will advise you not to swim in it. It's full of agricultural runoff and bacteria -- and the currents might carry you off. Paula gets out the pH test strips to see how the river water compares to kimchi, a substance that is apparently safer to swim in than the river. Paula recounts some river beach history and reveals her rating system for beach quality. John denigrates Minneapolis beaches as places where you can hurt your feet on rocky sand and ingest dirty water. We're joined by Andrew From, a Longfellow neighborhood resident, who tells us more about this lowkey, out of the way, local beach. Andrew talks about his spouse from Montana who thinks it's just fine to get in the river as long as you don't submerge your head. We talk about City Council member Michael Rainville's racism (regarding his comments made a day before our recording). I question Andrew's fashion sense for wearing a "Mini Apple" t-shirt and ask if anyone from Minneapolis has ever called it that. Note: Camera guy Conrad tripped and fell backward over a log, but he's fine now.

Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive

The first in our Beachcast series of episodes. John and co-host/producer Paula Chesley are joined by Minneapolis Parks Commissioner Tom Olsen at his favorite beach: Hidden Beach on Cedar Lake. We discuss planned  improvements (including an amphitheater) and past changes to Hidden Beach -- and beach politics in the Kenwood neighborhood. We talk about  park issues, including bathroom availability, public drinking, nudity, crime, and mansion owners encroaching on the lakeshore (which is legally  park board property). We track down the mysterious Mudman and ask him  about the history of the Andrew J. Foss Memorial Mudhole, named for its first caretaker. The Mudman tells us about the benefits of submerging  your body in the mud: natural sunscreen and insect repellent. John suggests it's also a way to hide your heat signature from the Predator. Paula conducts a heartwarming child interview at the mudhole. We ponder the question: Is Minneapolis a beach city? 

Camera work and chauffeuring by the indispensable Conrad Zbikowski.  

Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive

What if instead of a dog grooming station or a cable TV subscription, your landlord or condo association provided you with free transportation? John's guest is Molly Burns-Hansen from Move Minnesota, who is seeking out tenants, landlords, condo associations, and neighborhood groups in order to sign buildings up for Metro Transit's residential transit pass program. It's just $14 per month to provide an unlimited ride transit pass to every unit in a building (or several buildings, with a minimum of 10 units per contract). We talk about how expensive and stressful car ownership is -- and how surprisingly cheap it is to provide transit. Molly has some early data on the program and how satisfied residents who've received the transit passes have been. We go off on tangents: Molly talks about how people with disabilities are disproportionately reliant on transit and expresses irritation that the "disabled" conversation has been hijacked to argue against transit improvements on Hennepin Avenue. John explains his philosophy that transit is freedom, how confused he is by Metro Transit's "downtown fare zone," attempts to interpret Molly's dream about Michael Rainville and the state of Ohio, and goes off on a tangent about how the pretend environmentalists suing to stop the city's 2040 Plan are the equivalent of climate deniers.

If you have interest in this transit pass program -- as a resident, building manager or otherwise -- contact Molly by email: [email protected]

Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive