TWIN CITIES TRANSPORTATION BLUES
Lyrics by Jill Field
Original tune: "Don't Get Around Much Anymore"

I spent most of last year
Stuck on 694
Moving to the south metro
Don’t get around much anymore

Thought I’d take the light rail
But the wait’s such a bore
Till they tunnel through Kenwood
Won’t get around much anymore

Well darling, I guess I’ll stick to my car
But nevertheless I’ll hope I don’t have to go far 

Survived a polar vortex
Didn’t go out the door
When you live in the tundra
Don’t get around much anymore

Darling, I guess I’ll try to be glad
But now looking back those old streetcars don’t seem so bad

So I’ll just catch a flight
Though Northwest is no more
I’ll change planes in Atlanta
Or I won’t get around much anymore

Lyrics by Laurie Kramer
Original tune: "YMCA"

Young man, please stop snooping on me
I said young man, please protect priv – a – cy
I said young man, it’s as clear as can be
You have got no business listening

Young man, when I’m calling my kid
With good reason, sometimes flipping my lid
Or my girlfriend, who I like keeping hid
You have got no business listening

And now I’m asking you, why NSA?
Why NSA…?
Leave my family alone
Let my life be my own
Get your data bank off my phone

MNSURE YOURSELF
Lyrics by Corey Anderson
Original tune: "Consider Yourself"

MNSure yourself from home
MNSure yourself, and your family
We've built this site so wrong
It’s clear, it's going to take too long

Consider yourself on hold
Consider yourself on a waiting list
There isn't the time to spare
Who cares? You'll eventually get healthcare!

If it should chance to be
That you see
Blocked artery ways
Leaky bladder days
Why grouse?
Always-a-chance you'll get
Somebody 
To foot the bill
With just a click of your mouse!

To insure yourself, old mate
You've got to go through some fuss
For after all the machinations by our state
Consider your health
Safe with us!

SIXTEEN PANS
Lyrics by Al Sicherman
Original tune: "Sixteen Tons"

Some people say a job needn’t pay much at all
They can’t seem to picture living close to the wall
It’s simple economics, they explain through their sobs
If your pay increases that just means fewer jobs

You scrub sixteen pans, and what do you make?
Less’n ten bucks an hour and a ten-minute break
Be thankful when there’s movement on the government stage
If you’re tryin’ to earn a living on the minimum wage!

WE’LL NEVER BE LAWYERS
Lyrics by Joe Kimball
Original tune: "Royals" by Lorde

We’ll never get hired at full time jobs
We cut our teeth on writing blogs, and on Twitter
And we’re proud of being new-school
In the torn-up world, with online envy

And everybody’s like one-source, quick-hit, tweetin’ in the bathroom
Bluetooth keyboard, tappin’ on the IPad
We don’t care, we’re writing resumes in our dreams
And everyone’s like Facebook, Snapchat, chatting from your iPhone
Tablets, Android, posting in the comments
We don’t care. We sure need a new career

But we’ll never be Lawyers (lawyers)
It don’t run in our blood
That kind of job just ain’t for us
We crave a different kind of buzz

Let us brew your coffee, Coffee
Or hire us to watch your kids
We’ll stay in school, in school, in school
And get another darn degree

THE CANDIDATE’S LAMENT
Lyrics by Lee Lynch
Original tune: "You've Got a Friend" by Carole King

When you’re running for high office
And you know you’ll need lots of cash
And nothing, whoa, no nothing is coming in 

Then you just call all of your friends
And you know wherever they are
They’ll avoid you, won’t see them again

Winter, spring, summer and fall
All you got to do is call

Ring Ring 1:  Call from Arne Carlson

Arne thanks for your support, but what I really need is your money!

Winter spring summer or fall
All you got to do is call

And they’ll be there
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I need the dough 

Ring Ring 2: Call from Tom Horner

I’ve just called all that I knew
And I’m down to just a few
I’m so tired
Won’t do this again

This money begging is so strange
This system has just got to change

Winter spring summer or fall
All you got to do is call 

Ring Ring 3: Call from Mom

If anyone out there is even thinking of running for office, think again because
You’ll not have a friend
Not even one friend
Not even one friend

Winter spring summer or fall 
All you got to do is call….
All you got to do is call

NOW THAT WE'RE A RICH STATE
Lyrics by Marlys Harris
Original tune: "If I Were a Rich Man"

Dear God, the recession made many, many states poor.
It’s no shame to be poor, of course, but a billion-dollar budget surplus is an honor – one that we have brought upon ourselves:

Now that we’re a rich state
Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum
All day long we can biddy biddy bum
Now that we’re a wealthy state

We shouldn’t have to tax much
Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum
Now that we’re a billion billion rich
Idle diddle daidle daidle state.

We’ll build a big train system right from the cities
Out to Mankato and beyond
A wine bar to put passengers at their ease,
There would be deep fat sofas, so nice to sit in
And cushions even softer full of down
And snack trays filled with lefse, ham and cheese

We’ll fill our lakes with sailboats, pontoons and yachts -- all
Free for everyone to use
Funding pre-K for toddlers just can’t wait
We’ll fix the highways and stud the bridges with jewels
And build ten thousand brand-new schools 
To make it clear we are a wealthy state

Now that we’re a rich state
Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum
All day long we’ll biddy biddy bum
Now that we’re a wealthy state

We shouldn’t have to tax much
Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum
Now that we’re a billion billion rich
Idle diddle daidle daidle state.

We see our neighbor Wisconsin looking like a pauper
With its budget in the red
Slashing teachers’ pensions to get by
Those Badgers slinking round like beggars in the street -- oh
BOY, what a happy time’s ahead
Watching Cheeseheads wail and moan and cry

Now we’re rich, we have the time that we lacked
To nap by Minnetonka Bay
And hold court at a café down in St. Paul
Where we’d sip lattes and discuss public policy several hours every day
That would be the sweetest thing of all

Now that we’re a rich state
Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum
All day long we’d boodle boddle boo
Now that we’re a wealthy state

We shouldn’t have to tax much
Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum
Now that we’re a billion billion rich
Idle diddle daidle daidle state. 

Lord who made the lowly and the great,
You decreed how everyone will rate
You have set our true eternal fate
By making us a wealthy state!

Ethics in business and personal life will be discussed at a May 13 forum of the Rotary Club of St. Paul.

An invited group of people from government, law, accounting, police, fire, religion, military, education, arts and culture, and nonprofits will meet in the morning for a workshop on values and ethics.

A public lunch, with a speech by Marilyn Carlson-Nelson, will follow at the Prom Center. Tickets are $25 in advance; $30 at the door.

In announcing the forum, Rotary Club President Jim Kosmo said:

"Every day news media reports blast out scurrilous details of prominent people and organizations encountering embarrassing ethical and values challenges. The true challenge is how we react. What is our litmus test for ethical behavior?"

Kosmo, retired riverboat pilot with the Padelford fleet on the Mississippi River, is a former mayor of Bayport. He's co-author, with John Kriesel, of "Still Standing."

The morning forum starts with a debate on "Does America face a values crisis?" between Mitch Pearlstein, founder and president of the Center of the American Experiment, and Rich Broderick, research fellow for the Thai Khadi Institute and an editor, historian and journalism professor. Moderator will be Rotarian Stephen Young, global executive director of the Caux Round Table and former dean of the Hamline University Law School.

After the debate small groups will current ethical issues.

The noon lunch is open to non-Rotary members. Keynote speaker at lunch will be Marilyn Carlson-Nelson, former chair/CEO of Carlson Companies. She will be introduced by Stanley Hubbard, chair/CEO of Hubbard Broadcasting. Online registration is available.

Creative Commons/Guilhem Vellut

The AP says there’s a “new compromise” on getting medical marijuana to the suffering that “is unopposed by law enforcement.” It would be small-scale clinical trials, not involving smoking. That’s a pretty big come-down from what advocates wanted, but the bill does guarantee the med-mal will be available even if the feds don’t approve the trial. 

Tom Scheck at MPR saw this coming earlier in the day: “Police and prosecutors say they're open to a compromise on medical marijuana but remain firmly opposed to efforts to allow patients to smoke it. Law enforcement groups told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday that they might not oppose marijuana extracts like oils or pills for treatment, but they don't want to see the creation of 55 marijuana dispensaries, as allowed in the bill.”

Homeless … Edina? Mary Jane Smetanka of the Strib says, “A seemingly unlikely location — Edina — has been chosen as the place to build the first apartment building for homeless young people in the western suburbs. Local churches are working with Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative of St. Paul to convert a TCF Bank building near Southdale into a 39-unit apartment building with space for counselors who would help homeless youths finish school and find jobs.” I hope they get food chits for The Galleria.

Does the U really need another sports-spending initiative? Also in the Strib, Amelia Rayno says, “The University of Minnesota already has big goals for athletic venue upgrades. This spring, it’s looking to add one more building to its to-do list: Mariucci Arena. The university is considering an $8 million renovation of Mariucci that could potentially include a smaller ice sheet, better sight lines and increased seating.” How about wider nets?

Shocking … . Mike Creger of The Forum News Service says, “Ships are still being escorted with ice breakers on Superior, so the clump of those seen coming into Duluth on Wednesday will likely be repeated in coming days. Nine upbound ships were just north of Whitefish Bay on Wednesday afternoon, headed to ports west.” One expert says he wouldn't be surprised if there was ice on Superior in June. 

This sort of thing will only grow as the year’s go by … . The AP says, “One of the most popular songs of all time, Bob Dylan's ‘Like a Rolling Stone,’ is going to auction this summer. Sotheby's is offering a working draft of the finished song in Dylan's own hand for an estimated $1 million to $2 million. … The draft is written in pencil on four sheets of hotel letterhead stationery with revisions, additions, notes and doodles: a hat, a bird, an animal with antlers.” It’s not exactly The Gettysburg Address. But it’s up there.

Fascinating New Yorker piece on how China recruits U.S. spies. The elusive local angle? The spy profiled is a University of Minnesota engineering grad.

Protect the beasts who serve … . Paul Walsh of the Strib says, “Protective vests are being donated to the four-legged protectors of citizens and visitors in Hennepin County. The eight vests, designed to counter gunfire and stabbing attempts, are being issued for dogs on the roster with the Sheriff’s Office. The donation is from the nonprofit Vested Interest in K-9s of Massachusetts.”

During Mark Dayton’s first gubernatorial run it was clear that the man cared passionately about Minnesota schools. He was prone to popping up in principals’ offices to ask wonky questions and staying as long as they’d have him.

Dayton came as close as he ever does to sparkling when the campaign presented opportunities for him to describe, in passionate detail, the pupils and teachers he met along the way. And he seemed wholly unconcerned about the politics of it all.

Education may have been front and center in Wednesday night’s State of the State address, but this time out Dayton is talking like a man who wants to be re-elected. His remarks, it’s safe to say, preview Dayton’s 2014 campaign.

A quick canvass of public-education advocates suggests that the speech was something of a political Rorschach test. There was something in it for any and all to latch on to as evidence that a second term for the governor would be good for their policy agenda. 

Calls for review of tests

First and foremost, Dayton called on the state Department of Education to conduct a review of tests administered in Minnesota schools with an eye toward streamlining assessments. No doubt this will be the most popular of the talking points to come with both parents and with the state’s largest teacher union, Education Minnesota.

It’s also a pretty safe place to expend some political capital because the uses and misuses of assessments are devilishly tricky to understand. A big, broad policy statement might mean anything in terms of implementation.

Over the last few months, teacher unions and other groups have gained tremendous traction toward capturing the public’s imagination concerning testing. Student creativity and energy, the line goes, are being crushed by mandates to drill for one test after another.

There is, of course, some truth to this. And some truth to the notion that as a matter of course the issue has been quietly fixing itself as better tests roll out.

Until recently, the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments — the exams the state is obliged to administer — were so flawed that most districts administered a second, more useful set of “value-added” tests.

This has changed over the last couple of years, but as new exams in reading, math and science have been rolled out the public perception has increasingly become a conviction that more high-stakes exams are being forced upon teachers and students.

Governor understands ed-data uses

Dayton — at least the Dayton who enjoyed holing up with principals and their statistics before his election — understands all of this. During his first campaign he demonstrated a keen understanding of the possible uses of data in education.

In his Wednesday night address he telegraphed as much, making reference to the on-the-fly quizzes and tests teachers are being encouraged to use to plug gaps in student learning on the spot.

“A growing number of elementary schools in Minnesota are applying ‘one-minute, read-out-loud’ tests, which can determine reading levels in just that one minute,” he said. “Such tests can be repeated throughout the school year, as often as necessary, to measure students’ progress and adjust learning strategies accordingly.”

In the same breath, however, he also used examples of standardized test scores by individual grade and demographic group to assert that Minnesota compares favorably to school systems around the nation and world.

A sore spot

This has become a sore spot with many of the education advocates who are concerned that information about student performance is being selectively reported in an election year. Scores for other groups of students, they note, continue to show huge gaps in outcomes.

Finally, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has been crystal clear about accountability. States must continue to measure schools’ performance, although there is leeway in terms of how they do it.

There were other places in the address where Dayton might want to consider whether he is leaving himself open for rebuttal. Among the accomplishments of his administration he mentioned the 2011 Legislature’s creation of an alternative pathway to teacher licensure.

Technically, he is correct. But it is also true that he appointed all of the members of a state Board of Teaching that three weeks ago, three years overdue and under the threat of legal action, finally implemented one plank of the law and who are set to vote on another next week.

Similarly, lest he be confronted by questions of implementation, Dayton might want to reconsider talking about the “Read Well by Third Grade” literacy initiative.

Early-ed advocates were pleased

Early-childhood-education advocates were thrilled with the address. Calling early ed “real education reform,” Dayton called for access to quality, affordable pre-K programming for all Minnesota 3- and 4-year-olds by 2018. Mushy in the details, certainly, but still a strong commitment.

Dayton also noted last year’s $46 million appropriation for early-ed scholarships for low-income families and pointed out that the state Senate this year proposes doubling that amount.

This is particularly intriguing to the early-ed lobby, which has feared for weeks that the increased scholarship spending would not survive the conference committee process in part because Dayton has repeatedly asserted a spending target that would not allow for it.

Longer days, school years ahead?

Finally, Dayton hinted at a couple of reforms that might be the kind of political hot potato a safely re-elected governor could take on. Minnesota schools have some of the shortest pupil days and years, he noted, something that must change if the state is to remain competitive.

“We want Minnesota to be the best,” he noted in closing. “To be the very best it can possibly be. Because we live here. Many of our children and grandchildren will live here. We want them to achieve the very best they can for themselves and for their families.

“In his epic saga 'Giants in the Earth,' O.E. Rolvaag wrote, ‘By attempting the impossible, they accomplished the unbelievable,’ ” Dayton continued. “Unity of purpose might seem impossible. But if we try, it might just show up, when we really need it.” 

Gov. Mark Dayton is scheduled to fly to Los Angeles today to attend a conference of high-end donors to gay rights causes.

According to its website, the Gill Action Political Outgiving Conference is:

"...geared toward individuals whose annual philanthropy exceeds $25,000 and who are interested in increasing the effectiveness of their giving in support of the LGBT movement. The events are invitation-only, private, solicitation-free, and no media are permitted."

Dayton's travel had been restricted since February when he had hip surgery, but his campaign manager said Wednesday night that Dayton would attend the California conference, which is scheduled to run through Sunday.

The Star Tribune reported:

Tinucci said the Los Angeles conference will honor officials, "who made progress on the marriage issue."

The conference had been planned for the Beverly Hills Hotel, but organizers reportedly have moved it to a new, undisclosed location, because the hotel is owned by the sultan of Brunei, and that country is expected to implement a law making homosexuality punishable by stoning.

The governor's public schedule for today says simply: "In the afternoon, the Governor will travel out of state for political events."

Former Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman has endorsed Anne Mavity to replace her in District 3 which includes St. Louis Park and southwest and downtown Minneapolis.

Mavity and Marion Greene were the winners in a primary contest earlier this week to replace Dorfman, who resigned from the Board to become Director of St. Stephens Human Services.  The general election is Tuesday, May 13.

“Anne Mavity understands that coordinating public programs around health care, housing for at-risk adults and youth, builds self-reliance and reduces costs,” said Dorfman in her endorsement statement. 

Mavity is a consultant on affordable housing issues with clients that include Project Pride in Living and Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative.

Dorfman, a former St. Louis Park Mayor, and Mavity, a current St. Louis Park City Council member, met 15 years ago when Dorfman convened the Hennepin County Advisory Board on Homelessness to which Mavity was appointed.

Greene, who finished first in the primary, was endorsed earlier by current Hennepin County Commissioner Linda Higgins.

Minnesota House leaders say they’ve reached a new compromise on clinical trial medial marijuana bill that has support of many advocates and no opposition from law enforcement.

But the new deal has caused factions among longtime community supporters, since not everyone qualifies for the studies the proposal outlines. What’s more, senators have been moving at a quick pace with a much broader proposal, and Gov. Mark Dayton is still reviewing the bill to determine if he can offer his support.

Under the scaled-back deal announced Thursday afternoon by House DFL leadership and bill author Carly Melin, the state would set up a medical marijuana clinical trial for children and adults suffering from a select list of illnesses. That means anyone suffering from cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, Tourette Syndrome, Lou Gehrig's, seizures and epilepsy, Crohn’s disease and severe and persistent muscles spasms like Multiple Sclerosis can be enrolled in a trial by their practitioner.

Parents with children under 18 can opt out of being given a placebo in the trial, Melin said.

The deal would allow delivery of medical marijuana in a liquid oil pill or in vapor form under the supervision of a practitioner. The bill would allow a single in-state manufacturer contracted through the Department of Health to distribute medical marijuana for the studies.

The idea originally came from Dayton’s office back in March, when he pitched the Mayo Clinic enter into a clinical trial. At the time, medical marijuana advocates opposed the study because there was no state-allowed source for the marijuana — the federal government hasn’t assisted with other such studies around the country. The new deal also allows vaporization in the study — Dayton’s solution did not.

There would be no smoking of medical marijuana in the bill, a key component that kept law enforcement, and thus Dayton, from supporting Melin’s original bill. 

"I appreciate the efforts being made to develop a bill that offers hope to children and adults suffering from horrible diseases," Dayton said in a statement. "The bill places heavy new responsibilities on the Minnesota Department of Health, and I have asked Commissioner Ehlinger to assess the costs of its implementation and its practicability. I also want legal counsel to assess the potential liability to the State from sponsoring such trials. I will need that information before making any decision."

“This is something that [the governor’s office is] taking very seriously and looking at very seriously,” House Speaker Paul Thissen said. “They are looking at it.”

Said Melin, “It’s by no means the perfect approach that will result in as many people getting helped as the original bill was, but we know we have some families in Minnesota that really have some imminent needs. We have some families that have already relocated to other states to treat their children.”

Illnesses like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and intractable pain wont qualify for the trial under the new bill. Advocates from Minnesotans for Compassionate Care, the lead group pushing for medical marijuana this year, says the deal doesn’t go far enough and studies could take years. They plan to continue pushing for the Senate proposal working through committees.

Under the bill from Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, patients would be allowed to access up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana for certain medical conditions. That bill moved out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. 

“I don’t like that some people are being left out,” Melin said. “That’s the way things work around here, we compromise to get things done.”

The proposal will be taken up in the House Rules Committee Friday morning, and could get a vote on the House floor as soon as next week. Melin anticipates the new deal will get broad support from legislators.

Two congressmen, two former U.S. Senators, and the minority leaders in the Minnesota House and Senate are part of unusually high-powered group of hosts for a fundraiser on behalf of a state representative.

Norm Coleman, Rudy Boschwitz, Tom Emmer, David Hann, Kurt Daudt, Erik Paulsen, and John Kline are supporters of Eden Prairie Republican Jenifer Loon. Loon is running for re-election after failing to receive her party’s endorsement because of her vote last year to make same-sex marriage legal in Minnesota.

Sheila Kihne, an activist who may challenge Loon in a primary, led the fight to deny Loon’s endorsement. “I will make a decision on running in primary after the legislative session ends and before June 1,” she said in an email.

Kihne indicated that Loon’s vote on gay marriage would be an issue in a primary campaign. “It’s no surprise that Jenifer Loon would continue to use her vote to redefine marriage in Minnesota as a fundraising opportunity,” she said in the email. “Her largest donors have shifted from friends and neighbors in our district to out-of-state liberal donors to Democrat causes.”

The hosts of the Loon fundraisers are neither Democrats nor non-Minnesotans.

In addition to elected officials, former Republican party chair Ron Ebensteiner and co-chair Annette Meeks (Tom Emmer’s running mate during his 2010 gubernatorial campaign) are among the co-hosts of the May 20 fundraiser.

The legislature is scheduled to adjourn May 19. 

Loon was one of four Republican state representatives to vote for gay marriage. David Fitzsimmons of St. Michael was also denied GOP endorsement and is not running again. Andrea Keiffer of Woodbury did not seek re-election. Pat Garafolo of unanimously won Republican endorsement in Farmington.

Bryan: "I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."

Judge Kevin S. Burke

It was a memorable line by a fictional dad in the movie "Taken." Language like that virtually always should be reserved for the cinema. But this is that rare time where the world community needs to join together and speak for the parents and daughters who have been abducted in Nigeria: "If you let the girls go, that will be the end of it. But if you do not, we will find you and we will kill you." 

 On April 16, 234 Nigerian schoolgirls were kidnapped. That is not a misprint: 234 daughters never came home to their parents. These children remain missing.

The parents of these girls — just like Bryan, the father portrayed by Liam Neeson in "Taken"— do not have any money for ransom. But it does not appear that ransom was the motive for this horrific act. It is believed that the terrorist group Boko Haram took the girls not to seek ransom but to enslave them.

Although there has been modest press coverage of the kidnapping, there has thus far not been the degree of outrage an act like this might engender. The missing Malaysian aircraft got people's attention. Although CNN made the missing aircraft a staple of its programming, lots of others had plenty of coverage of it as well. Regrettably, if you were not careful, even those who regularly follow world events may have missed the story of these kidnapped children.

'Shared out as wives'

On Wednesday the Washington Post reported, “We have heard from members of the forest community where they took the girls. They said there had been mass marriages and the girls are being shared out as wives among the Boko Haram militants.”

The Nigerian government has said the security forces are diligently searching for the girls, but its critics say it is not doing enough. When he learned of what had happened to his daughter, one girl’s father fainted, the Guardian reported, and has since been hospitalized. What an understandable reaction! Village elder Pogo Bitrus told Agence France Presse that locals had consulted with “various sources” in the nation’s forested northeast. “From the information we received yesterday from Cameroonian border towns our abducted girls were taken … into Chad and Cameroon,” he said, adding that each girl was sold as a bride to Islamist militants for 2,000 naira — $12.

Boko Haram has staged numerous brutal attacks in northern Nigeria in recent years. It is estimated 1,500 people have been killed in the violence and subsequent security crackdown this year alone. Although there are vocal critics of the Nigerian government's response, the imperative now is not to assign blame. On Tuesday the Nigerian Senate urged the government and security agencies to seek the cooperation of other countries and the U.N. Security Council in the rescue effort. That call for the U.N. Security Council to respond should occur, but this is not a situation where a simple resolution is sufficient. The imperative is for the international community to be as blunt as the character Bryan in "Taken."

President Barack Obama, who has two daughters, needs to call world leaders regardless if they are friend or foe and say, "We have differences that are not immediately going to disappear, but I'm a dad and you, too, have daughters and sisters. We are bound by one common value. We love our children and, unlike the parents of these girls from Nigeria, we have the power and might to make their pain go away. I ask you to join with us is sending a message: ‘If you let the girls go, that will be the end of it. But if you do not we will find you and kill you. We will save these children. And we will act with the passion one would expect if these girls were our children.”

Implore public leaders

The pain of losing your child does not fade. Just ask parents like Patty Wetterling, whose son Jacob was abducted at the age of 11 on Oct. 22, 1989. Minnesota is a state that was traumatized by the kidnapping of Jacob Wetterling, and we tried to be supportive. The magnitude of what has happened to the Nigerian schoolgirls is exponentially horrific. And it requires each of us to pause right now in what we are currently occupied with and implore the world leaders, for just this moment, to act in unison: Save these girls.

There is a power that social media has. If it were our daughter who was kidnapped we would Tweet, send emails to every contact we had, go on Facebook and implore everyone to help find our child. The parents of those children in Nigeria need that kind of commitment from us. 

Kevin S. Burke is a trial judge on the Hennepin County District Court and past president of the American Judges Association. 

WANT TO ADD YOUR VOICE?

If you're interested in joining the discussion, add your voice to the Comment section below — or consider writing a letter or a longer-form Community Voices commentary. (For more information about Community Voices, email Susan Albright at salbright@minnpost.com.)

With all us losers there has to have been some big winners … . Dave Shaffer of the Strib reports, “The bitter cold winter helped electric and gas utilities shovel in profits from January through March. Xcel Energy, a natural gas and electricity supplier in Minnesota and other states, reported Thursday that three-month earnings rose 10 percent over the same period a year go, exceeding Wall Street expectations.” Centerpoint's was up 17 percent. Meanwhile, Al Franken proposes creating a "national propane reserve," the Strib's Allison Sherry notes.

As they say in “Fargo” … “jeez.” Pat Pheifer of the Strib reports, “A Waseca teenager who idolized the Columbine High School shooters plotted to murder his parents and sister, then go on a rampage through Waseca’s junior high and high school, setting off pressure cooker bombs, throwing Molotov cocktails and gunning down fleeing students, according to criminal charges filed Thursday. John David LaDue, 17, allegedly detailed his plans in a 180-page notebook, police say. He’d been amassing a stockpile of handguns, automatic weapons and bomb-making equipment in his bedroom and in a storage unit, the charges claim.”

Says Abby Simons in the Strib, “A new law that will streamline the screening process for mentally ill jail inmates could drastically shrink the amount of time they spend in Minnesota jails without treatment.… The new law, which goes into effect Aug. 1, could save time as well as money” by better coordinating necessary hearings. Hennepin Sheriff Rich Stanek estimates 12,000 people booked into his jail annually are mentally ill.

Kline versus the college-athlete unions. At MPR, Brett Neely says,“Can a college quarterback also be a union steward? That’s sure to be a question that will come up at a hearing scheduled for next week by Rep. John Kline, the Minnesota Republican who chairs the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee. … Kline’s committee has been central to a GOP push to pare back what Republicans see as the power of labor unions.”

On the pot (oh, okay, “medicinal marijuana”) compromise,John Croman of KARE-TV says,“Supporters of legalizing medical marijuana in Minnesota are divided over the new scaled-back version of the bill intended to win the backing of Gov. Mark Dayton and statewide law enforcement organizations. … Another facet of the plan aimed at winning over Gov. Dayton and law enforcement groups is that all of the drugs used in the study would be supplied by a single manufacturer, a contractor to be selected by the Minn. Dept. of Health.”

There’s no mandatory retirement in Lake Wobegon.Jeff Baenen of the AP says, “[Garrison] Keillor, who turns 72 in August, hinted a few years ago that he planned to retire in 2013, and the show had its first guest host in 2011. But while he says the show ‘could definitely go on’ without him, Keillor already has planned the next season and has started talks about the season after that.”

Water levels up … even underground. Cathy Wurzer of MPR spoke with “Jason Moeckel of the Department of Natural Resources Division of Ecological and Water Resources, about how a week of rainy days affects the water level in our underground aquifers. ... It's early enough in the season that plants aren't absorbing that water, so much of it is recharging aquifers. ‘What we've seen this year has been tremendous,’ said Moeckel … .”

The war between governments and "ride-sharing" apps heats up ... . Now the state Commerce department has issued a consumer alert about using Lyft and Uber, noting drivers' insurance may not be up to passenger protection in a crash. The PiPress's Nick Woltman says there may be "gaps" between drivers' personal policies and the appsters' umbrella policies; the businesses deny it. The Strib's Eric Roper has more.

Related: Minnesota might be out three-quarters of a billion dollars if the federal Highway Trust Fund goes broke in August, the Strib's Tim Harlow reports. The national gas tax, which funds the fund, was last hiked in 1983; Obama has proposed a fix. Your move, Boehner.

Also related: In a Strib commentary Shoreview psychiatrist Kevin Turnquist offers cures for our freeway traffic problems. “While changing the driving habits of millions of humans may seem impossible, a simple 10-point plan would certainly improve things:  1) New drivers should receive specific training in freeway driving and be required to prove their competence on busy highways before becoming licensed. … 4) Changing lanes in a manner that causes traffic to be stopped will automatically be seen as a traffic violation.” I say we fine everyone who is in my damn way.

It’s not like they could call him any worse names … . Stribber Rachel Stassen-Berger writes, “Minnesota's Tea Party leaders have called Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike McFadden a phony, a fraud, suggested he is frightening and should go away. Now McFadden ... 'is coming to the stage of the North Metro Tea Party. This has been a long time coming but on Thursday, May 8th he has made the commitment to me to be the keynote speaker and (answer) any questions you may have for him,’ North Metro Tea Party leader Jack Rogers posted on Facebook.” Al Franken himself might as well go.

St. Paul's Como Elementary houses the city's only planetarium. Besides drawing students from all over the metro area, the Como Planetarium offers shows that are open to the public. Below, Nick Nelson of St. Paul's communications department talks to Planetarium Director John Iverson. 

CC/Flickr/Dan Klimke

It is critical for the economic survival of our state that parents have access to stable, quality early learning programs for their children to ensure they are receiving the start they need to be ready for success in school and beyond.

The past two years have seen many positive developments for schools, parents, teachers, and, most important, Minnesota’s students. Gov. Mark Dayton and the Legislature have taken necessary steps to pay back the shift in school funding, and they have invested in all-day kindergarten and made a significant investment in pre-K education.

Last session, Minnesota’s leaders allocated $46 million to fund parent-directed, pre-K scholarships tied directly to quality programs. This important first step has already had an impact — we’re hearing success stories from across Greater Minnesota. More programs are adopting the Parent Aware quality rating and opening up brand-new classrooms, knowing that for the first time parents will be able to access and choose the programming that best meets their children's needs.

Programs, whether school-based, Head Start, or licensed family child-care centers, should seize this opportunity to engage parents, explain what quality early education means and how scholarships can be used. The Minnesota Parent Teacher Association has long understood that collaboration between providers and parents is essential for the success of all children; pre-K scholarships present an opportunity to build that relationship early.

Parent engagement occurs when there is an ongoing, reciprocal, strength-based partnership between families and their children’s early learning programs. Scholarships are designed to enhance such engagement by giving parents the opportunity to enroll their children in quality programs. Parents also receive information about child development and the importance of school preparation, building a deeper level of engagement with providers.

Waiting lists around the state

The current investment, however, meets only 9 percent of the total need. Programs around the state have waiting lists of families eligible for scholarships, with the lack of funding being the only thing standing in the way of their children's quality early education. Expanding access to early childhood care and education through scholarships must remain a top priority for legislators.

It is critical for the economic survival of our state that parents have access to stable, quality early learning programs for their children to ensure they are receiving the start they need to be ready for success in school and beyond.

When children are unprepared for kindergarten, they are more likely to need remedial or special education, commit crime, have lower wages and require treatment for substance abuse and preventable medical conditions. Research by the Wilder Foundation estimates that Minnesota loses several hundred million dollars each year as a result of our kindergarten readiness gap.

Many are on board

There is broad, statewide support for this solution. The Minnesota PTA is part of the MinneMinds coalition of more than 75 organizations representing pre-K through 12, including leading philanthropic organizations, local chapters of national nonprofits, businesses and organized labor, as well as parents and early learning and child-care providers standing together to support increased funding for these scholarships.

We can secure a better future for Minnesota and create a vibrant, productive workforce by making sure our most at-risk kids have access to quality early learning options in every community.

Tracie Dewberry is president of the Minnesota State PTA Executive Committee.

WANT TO ADD YOUR VOICE?

If you're interested in joining the discussion, add your voice to the Comment section below — or consider writing a letter or a longer-form Community Voices commentary. (For more information about Community Voices, email Susan Albright at salbright@minnpost.com.)

Minnesota Lynx Coach Cheryl Reeve’s tongue must be made of titanium. The coach of the most successful current professional team in the Twin Cities, Reeve frequently reads or hears something dismissive about the Lynx, the WNBA, or women’s athletics in general. Most times Reeve lets it go, because who wants to spend half their day arguing with people? 

But on Easter morning, confined to bed rest in her Minneapolis home after complications from back surgery, Reeve read something on Twitter that irritated her so much that she decided to respond.

Reeve follows Keith Leventhal, a statistically minded KARE-11 weekend anchor and cameraman. The Wild’s Game 1 loss to Colorado in their first-round NHL playoff series prompted Leventhal to tweet the dismal postseason records of the Vikings (2-4), Twins (1-12), Wild (4-14 at the time) and Timberwolves (0-0) since 2004, the last time the Wolves made the playoffs.

Several followers asked Leventhal about the Lynx, winners of two WNBA titles in three years with a finals appearance in between. Leventhal responded with their impressive 19-7 record, plus this caveat: “Was just talking big 4 sports. Included Lynx on my next tweet with all-time records.” 

Oops.

“Big 4” means the NFL, NBA, NHL and major-league baseball. Reeve calls Leventhal a friend and an ally who often reports about the Lynx and women’s basketball with respect. But she bristled at the reference, and answered Leventhal with a reasoned, five-tweet manifesto (We’ve capitalized and un-abbreviated for readability): 

With the backdrop of a recent Twitter conversation initiated by a media member referring to @minnesotalynx as outside of 'The Big 4' sports on the Minnesota sports scene, I feel compelled to share these thoughts in hopes that all members of the Minnesota media will listen and attempt to understand that framing @wnba and womens sports in general in this manner does a great deal of damage.

I want to call on media to be cognizant of the effects of trivializing and marginalizing coverage. With a commitment from our media, we can be leaders in enacting social change ... an ideal that Minnesotans pride themselves on.

 So I'd love to read about the playoff records of Minnesota pro sports teams ... any media have a tally representative of all Minnesota pro sports teams?”

This week, with Lynx training camp rolling at the Target Center, Reeve eagerly revisited this with MinnPost.

Reeve is still walking stiffly after surgery to remove a benign tumor from her upper spine; staffers brought down a soft leather office chair for her to watch practice.

Reeve can be a smartass — what else would you expect from someone raised with two brothers in southern New Jersey? — so she joked that she wasn’t on Percocet when she reacted to Leventhal. The funny business stopped right there.

KARE11

Keith Leventhal

“What I spend a lot of my time doing as a coach of a woman’s sport is biting my tongue, because we hear things almost daily that, intentional or unintentional, is a marginalization statement,” Reeve said. “People haven’t been enlightened. People haven’t learned. And you have a choice as a woman. You can be bitter and fight a battle every day every time you hear something. Or you can challenge yourself to enact change. And the way to do that is, one person at a time.

“It’s not the first time I’ve heard about this Big 4 that didn’t include the WNBA. I just thought we deserve more respect. It’s one thing to say the WNBA isn’t a Big 4. It’s another to say locally, the Minnesota Lynx did not deserve to be included in the professional landscape. And in some of the Twitter exchanges I got back from people, it’s not a local problem; it’s a national problem. It’s a problem for women in this country in all phases of life, not just sport.”

Reeve’s answer resonated with women like Nicole LaVoi, associate director of the University of Minnesota’s Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Woman in Sport. “She’s pretty much nailed this, and I applaud her for using her platform to draw attention to this issue, because it does exist,” she said. “Cheryl is right on the money here.”

If you go by championships and playoff victories, there shouldn’t be an argument.

Besides the old Minneapolis Lakers, who won six titles in various pro basketball leagues between 1948 and 1954, only two other Twin Cities major-league franchises have won championships — the Twins in 1987 and 1991, and the Lynx in 2011 and 2013.

The Vikings, Wolves, Wild and North Stars? Nada.

And only the Lynx (20-9, .690) and the Lakers (73-47, .640) won more than half of their postseason games. With all five starters coming back — Seimone Augustus, Maya Moore, Lindsay Whalen, Rebekkah Brunson, and Janel McCarville — the Lynx expect to contend for another championship.

If attendance drives you, the Lynx averaged 9,381 per game last season, down slightly from the club record 9,683 in 2012 but still second-best in the WNBA. And that’s with significantly fewer no-shows than the Timberwolves or the Twins, whose attendance reports could win a National Book Award for fiction. Enthusiastic Lynx crowds inspired the Tucker Center’s recent initiative to document attendance upticks at women’s sports events, called the #HERESPROOF Project.

The Lakers were the only Twin Cities pro team to reach a league final three consecutive years until the Lynx did it last year. Reeve has won as many championships as former Twins manager Tom Kelly, in a shorter period of time — four seasons, compared to Kelly’s five-plus. By those numbers, the Lynx belong at the holiday table with the adults. 

Right?

“I understand her point,” Leventhal said. “And I get the point she’s trying to make. But I don’t necessarily agree with it at this point in time.

“I’m not saying they won’t be there. The NBA wasn’t always a Big 4 sport. In the 1970s it was on life support, and the WNBA is certainly in better shape than the NBA was then. But I think she’s going to have to consider the whole league.

“In Chicago, New York and D.C., it’s definitely not a Big 4 sport. The L.A. Sparks almost folded in the off-season because they couldn’t find an owner. Could you imagine the Spurs folding, or the Heat folding? They’ve got a great product and great support from the fans here. But they just don’t have the traction yet in Chicago and New York and L.A. that they have here.”

(Unrelated to this, KARE-11 did not renew Leventhal’s contract, which expired last Sunday. By the way, we also checked into the Lynx TV ratings; Fox Sports North refused to provide them and the team said they didn't have them.)

Leventhal is right about the Twin Cities, where the Lynx receive more attention than most WNBA teams. That’s great, Reeve said, but it’s still not equitable. The Star Tribune and Pioneer Press assign full-time staffers to the Lynx beat who usually only cover home games; stringers or wire service reporters fill in on the road. Both papers staff the Vikings, Twins and Wild home and away. The Pioneer Press, down to a skeleton staff, stopped travelling with the Timberwolves last season, but the Strib still does.

Reeve wishes major media would treat the Lynx like a men’s pro team, with the same detailed analysis and off-season features you see about the Twins or the Vikings. No one is saying the Strib should fly someone to China to watch Maya Moore go off for her winter league team. But there is Skype, email and Twitter. As LaVoi pointed out, if Kevin Love dominated an off-season league in Russia, somebody would be all over it.

“This is one of those instances where you go, 'C’mon, take that next step,'” Reeve said. “And understand by not taking that step and not including us, it is marginalizing, framing women in a way that keeps us down. I felt that need to get it off my chest.

“All I wanted to do is educate. You can’t stand idly by in those big situations. If you have a voice, use it. I have a voice. I want a young girl to be impacted by it. And I want a young boy to kind of go, yeah, that’s right. From that, if one person changed their mentality, then I felt like it was worth it.”

Photos from the variety show featuring Lizz Winstead, Brian Turner, Goldy Gopher and VocalEssence. Photos by Jana Freiband.

MinnRoast revenues contribute almost 10% of MinnPost's annual budget. Please support independent journalism by making a donation to the MinnRoast 2014 special appeal.

Donations of $10 or more can be made here

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

Matt Horstman, Sarah Thompson, Cari Hatcher, MinnPost advertising operations director Brian Perry and MinnPost interactive news developer Alan Palazzolo

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Elizabeth Krueger and Jen Nelson

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Sylvia Kaplan, Carol Meshbesher Givens and Archie Givens

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Pat Irestone and Helen Brooks

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Brian Turner and Erin Schwab performing "Over Here"

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Sen. Al Franken

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MinnPost contributing journalist Jim Walsh

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Al Sicherman and Debbie Irestone performing "Some Hacker Stole My PIN"

Photo by Amy Koch

Former state Sen. Amy Koch's selfie, taken during MinnRoast 2014. Left to right: U.S. congressional candidate Tom Emmer, Koch, lieutenant governor candidate Tina Smith, House Speaker Paul Thissen, Franni Franken and Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges.

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

VocalEssence's Joanna Swantek, Clara Osowski, Anders Eckman and Ryan French performing "Twin Cities Transportation Blues"

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MinnPost journalist Cyndy Brucato

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U of M president Eric Kaler and Goldy Gopher

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Brian Turner, Lee Lynch, Warren Kapsner, Joe Kimball and Joel Kramer performing "YNSA"

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Mark Andrew introducing Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges

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Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges

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Erin Schwab, Mugsy and Lynn Benson performing "We'll Never Be Lawyers"

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Comedian Lizz Winstead, right, trading barbs with her brother, Bloomington Mayor Gene Winstead

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Jim Graves performing "The Candidate's Lament"

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Gov. Mark Dayton and Katharine Tinucci

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Tesfa Wondemagegnehu performing "Rich State"

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

Mugsy, Joel Kramer, MinnRoast choreographer DeAnne Sherman, Lee Lynch, Lynn Benson, Clara Osowski and Anders Eckman performing "Rich State"; VocalEssence artistic director Philip Brunelle is on piano

More photos from the MinnRoast pre-party at Rock Bottom Brewery featuring Jim Graves, Monica Little, Tom Emmer and more. Photos by Jana Freiband.

MinnRoast revenues contribute almost 10% of MinnPost's annual budget. Please support independent journalism by making a donation to the MinnRoast 2014 special appeal.

Donations of $10 or more can be made here

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

Wally and Connie Shaver and Barb Davis

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Greta Kaul and former MinnPost reporter James Nord

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MinnPost contributing illustrator Hugh Bennewitz and Jennifer Briggs

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Jesse Marx, Mike Mullen and Sally Hedberg

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Jennae Saltzman and Kathy Saltzman

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MinnPost comment moderator Faith Christine, Lynn Christine, Jim Heynen, MinnPost journalist Sarah T. Williams, Kathy Schwartz and Jason Barnett

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Dick Wolsfeld and Mark Shavlik

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Dave Foster and Sarah Stoesz

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Shirley Erstad, right, and friend

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Sean Smith and Cody and Jacob Wolkowitz

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MinnPost contributing photographer Bill Kelley, Paul and Elissa Weller

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Randolph Cooper, Katie Kramer, Norah Cooper, Nicole and Dan Cooley, Matt Kramer

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Tom Barrett, Dave Steglich and Joelle Nelson

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Julie Graves and MinnPost board member Jim Graves

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Matt Buckley, Amy Hertel, Nate Seiber and Chrystal Brakke

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Tamara Prato

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Fred and Anna Vagle, Harriet and George Horner

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Tim Poretti, Monica Little and Mark Abeln

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Tom and Jacqueline Emmer, Annamarie Saarinen and Patrick Rosenstiel

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

Hattie Carvalho and Tyler Hall

Photos from the pre-Roast reception featuring Tesfa Wondemagegnehu, Lee Lynch, MinnPost publisher Andrew Wallmeyer and more. Photos by Jana Freiband.

MinnRoast revenues contribute almost 10% of MinnPost's annual budget. Please support independent journalism by making a donation to the MinnRoast 2014 special appeal.

Donations of $10 or more can be made here

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

VocalEssence's Anders Eckman, Tesfa Wondemagegnehu, Clara Osowski and MinnPost board chair Lee Lynch

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MinnRoast ticket volunteers Logan Schumacher, Kameron Engle, MinnPost office manager Bethany Hollenkamp, Lori Eagle, Ali Hourigan and Nora Hollenkamp

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Sylvia Kaplan, Lisa Armstrong, Sam Kaplan, Fawn Bernhardt-Norvell and Kevin Armstrong

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The Peggy and Ilo Leppik table

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Stacy Strauss Sellers and Daniel Sellers

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Kim and Richard Brown

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MinnPost board member Kari Swan, Anne Mahle and Amy McKinney

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Christina Melloh and Patrice Halbach

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Lowell and Deb Stortz, Peter and Lauren Routhier and Tom Sanders

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Courtney Burton and Larry Lamb

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Cynthia Bauerly, Kevin Armstrong and friend

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MinnPost board member Kathy Longo, Jay Pluimer, Kurt Weamer and Linda Holstein

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Katrina Wallmeyer, MinnPost publisher Andrew Wallmeyer and MinnPost CEO Joel Kramer

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Eric Moore and Stan Alleyne

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MinnPost board member Kathy Hansen and U of M Journalism School director Al Tims

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Ellen Peterson and Megan Peterson

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Ryan Medeiros, Lacey Zeiler, Renata Shaffer-Gottschalk and John Zeiler

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Dane Smith, Peter Heegaard, Alfred Eze and Anne Heegaard

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Terry Saario

I wish that I had an interview with Garrison Keillor to share with you today, on the eve of the launch of his new book, “The Keillor Reader” (Penguin). But a writer of his stature has people, whose jobs are devoted to checking in with his other people, the nearer ones who act as gatekeepers of his time. This phalanx of professional wheedlers and dodgers determined that, so sorry, but he is busy.

Respectfully, we might imagine that he is busy writing. We might even guess that this gent is simply sick of talking to people about his work. Fair enough. At age 71, with an enormous pile of pretty decent work behind him, he has earned the right to be busy, or not, as he pleases.

The helpful thing about “The Keillor Reader”  is that it answers a number of questions we never had the chance to ask. The book is a compendium of sorts, including pieces Keillor wrote for the Atlantic, New Yorker, and of course some of what we presume are his favorite bits from the “News from Lake Wobegon.” With each piece is a preface in which Keillor explains what exactly he was thinking or doing when he wrote that one, with notes on influences and things going on in his life at the time, oftentimes unflattering or intimate (although, for what it’s worth, self-effacement is part of his schtick). Other notes explain the mechanics of writing and performing, or interactions with other artists he’s worked with over the years. It’s all pretty interesting, actually, in a how-the-sausage-is-made kind of way.

Cleans up good on the page

That News bit is sort of a singular work of American letters. Reading the polished, edited version in this book is one thing; he’s a very good storyteller and cleans up even better on the page. But watch the show live and you’re seeing an original story essentially told from memory, with the teller only occasionally glancing at notes as he wanders around the stage, even though, as we learn in this book, he wrote it just that same morning, after procrastinating long enough.

What other writer can do that? And still, that story is so complex and nuanced, with its insights into human nature and turns of phrase and plot twists, that those of us not yet 71 can only hope that we’ll be so sharp one day. Sometimes you can hear a stumble, as he tells the story just as he’s remembering the story he actually meant to tell, but now it’s too late. And he recovers neatly. “If you skid of course, don’t slow down; go in the direction of the skid,” he explains in the Reader. There are people who will dismiss the News as the nostalgic ramblings of an old fart, but those people aren’t paying attention. It’s something more.

“I’ve listened to the show for years, and grew up [in New Paltz, New York] with Pete Seeger and that whole storytelling-folk music tradition. But I wasn’t prepared for how fascinating it is to watch him live,” said Lisa Channer, associate professor of theater and dance at the University of Minnesota, and artistic director of Theatre Novi Most. “I was so impressed with how beautifully executed the whole show is, and how his presence takes it from a sort of family vaudeville entertainment to performance art. He’s like Laurie Anderson circa 1990s. He’s not an MC like you’re used to — a person onstage forcing you to watch them entertain you. He’s in his own creative world, rarely even acknowledging the audience, even as he’s very generous with the guests. You watch him the same way you watch Baryshnikov dance — there’s a ton of technique behind it, but it seems effortless.”

Keeps it fresh

Channer says her kids love the show, and credit goes to Keillor for staying relevant while working within a decrepit art form. He’s good about that, writing for the Internet, teaching young humorists at the University of Minnesota, and bringing hip young bands like Wilco and Neko Case onto the show.

And Keillor makes a point of mentoring young writers (and of remembering the writers who mentored him, including Allen Tate and James Wright at the U of M in the 1960s).

Shannon Olson, the author of "Welcome to My Planet" and "Children of God Go Bowling," team-taught a humor-writing class with Keillor at the U and now teaches at St. Cloud State. "As it happens," she said, "Garrison came up to St. Cloud State in March. We needed to raise money for our student literary journal, the Upper Mississippi Harvest, and he very generously agreed to do a show on campus with Rich Dworsky to support Harvest. He also spent an hour in the afternoon meeting with the English students, and they loved him. He told stories about being a young writer, and talked about the importance of narrative — how the world needs stories and people who know how to tell them well.

"I think what really appealed to them about Garrison's work, and the stories he told that afternoon, is that they're so human ... so wonderfully specific and funny that they become universal, and manage to move across generations. I had my fiction students read and analyze the first chapter of 'Pontoon'; that chapter details the life of a spunky old woman named Evelyn. The first line ... reads, 'Evelyn was an insomniac so when they say she died in her sleep, you have to question that.'

"After reading the chapter, one of my students, a guy about 21 years old who likes to smoke weed and skateboard, wrote, 'As I finish reading this piece, I can feel the absence of her once fiery spirit, and find myself hoping to be more Evelyn-like in my life.'"

Keeps it modern

Radio theater may be dead, but Prairie Home Companion is not going gentle into that good night. An episode from last week isn’t the same as one from 1980, even if the show’s format is structured the same. Little details place the show firmly in the modern era. Sometimes it’s those little details that reveal why the audience you might think would appreciate old-time radio hate it (as many do).

Velenchenko

Garrison Keillor

Last year, during the News, Pastor Liz visited some of her parishioners at home, and they complained about all the usual things people complain about. But suddenly those complaints took a sharp and pointed turn toward Congress, as a parishioner suddenly shifted into a tear about guns and mass shootings in America. At that moment, clearly, Keillor stepped into the story, and then just as seamlessly stepped out to carry on. It was a monologue he delivered when the show was on tour in Texas.

Keillor makes no bones about being an unrepentant liberal, although he can be more than understanding and sympathetic to some on the other side, and poke at his own team as well. The Internet is curiously full of blog posts and Facebook rants that hinge on the phrase, “I hate Garrison Keillor,” including many quite vicious attacks by a supposedly younger liberal crowd, not just the usual public radio enemies. It would be interesting to get all those people in the same room. If that room were at the Fitzgerald on a Saturday night, some of them might even have a good time, to their surprise.

Tells what it's like

The Reader is helpful with busting some of the suppositions that Keillor inspires. Does he paint Minnesotans as uptight? The Reader is stuffed with sex, both serious and humorous. One News reads like the plot of an Adam Sandler screenplay, complete with a young man parasailing over a lake with a hollowed-out bowling ball containing his grandmother’s ashes. Things go wrong: the swimsuit is ripped off, a boatful of drunken foreign visitors witnesses the whole thing before the boat capsizes. And he goes even further, with a pertinent detail that would earn this scene an X rating in Hollywood. (I won’t elaborate.)

You can hate his politics and still appreciate that he knows how to tell a tall tale with raunch and grace at the same time. You can cringe at his portrayal of Minnesotans as a people unable to express emotion, and still acknowledge that many of his characters show their hearts through their actions. If nothing else, his show has created a narrative over the decades about what it’s like to be from this place.

He preserves the memory of the way Midwestern small towns were before Walmart opened up on the edge of town and the Pretty Good Grocery went out of business and the Chatterbox Café became a Subway. He acknowledges the state's changing demographics and our seesawing politics; even a master storyteller couldn’t make up Jesse Ventura (a gift to all humorists), the pathos of the end of the Paul Wellstone (when the show veered from its set format), the doofus dichotomy of Pawlenty and then Dayton.

He’s keeping a record in a society that races forward without thinking back. And if nothing else, how we vote says something about this state. In an essay for National Geographic, he talks about Minnesota’s landmarks, geography, people, the little things that he notices when he drives his daughter to school — and it’s his life story, lived in the same place we live. It’s familiar. He gets what it’s like to live here, at least one version of that story.

Maybe he's right

Maybe "The Keillor Reader" is Keillor’s last book. Maybe it’s the one book among his 19 that sums up what the guy’s all about. Maybe he’s easier to read than to listen to (certainly he’s easier to read than to listen to singing). Maybe he really is busy, writing that one true thing that everyone will agree sums up what it’s like to be from this place, or to live here now. Maybe his version is so far off base that some other writer will be inspired to try his hand at describing the real Minnesota. Maybe that’s his intention, to goad us into proving him wrong. Or maybe he’s right. Is it such a bad thing to remember the past?

“When you die, it all goes with you — your stories, so vivid, the scenes of your colorful life, your fine education, the people you loved," he writes. "Since I’m a writer I can’t help believing I can keep all that alive.”

We’ll see. A couple years ago, he thought he’d retire, but then he changed his mind. He now has no plans to retire, according to his people.

Almost 1,400 members and friends enjoyed MinnPost's seventh annual variety show on April 25 at the Historic State Theatre. Hundreds crowded into Rock Bottom Brewery for the pre-show party. Joining regular performers like Sen. Al Franken, former state Sen. Amy Koch and Gov. Mark Dayton were comedian Lizz Winstead, VocalEssence and University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler among others. MinnPost contributing photographer Jana Freiband captured the evening.

MinnRoast revenues contribute almost 10% of MinnPost's annual budget. Please support independent journalism by making a donation to the MinnRoast 2014 special appeal.

Donations of $10 or more can be made here

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

MinnPost web editor Corey Anderson and MinnPost contributing journalist Terry Gydesen

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MinnRoast co-chair Kim Kieves, left, assisting with sponsors' packets

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Revenue Commissioner Myron Frans, Susan Segal, Pat Effenberger and former MinnPost news editor Don Effenberger

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Betsy Benjamin, Helen Brooks, MinnRoast volunteer Caitlin Schober and Bob Hirte

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

MinnPost chief revenue officer Laurie Kramer, Marty Rosenbaum and MinnPost advertising coordinator Tema Rosenbaum

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

Michael and Kay O'Keefe

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

Erik and Cathy Broberg

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

Kristi Hamilton and Erin Shanahan

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

MinnPost board member Barbara Klaas, Dr. Michael Brennan, Dr. Rebecca Bahn and Paul Klaas

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

Stephani and Jim Tikalsky

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

Neil Otto and Roberta Peterson hosted a group of 14 friends

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

Kippy Freund, Tamara Blaschko and Christy Kujawa

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

Kevyn Burger and Julie Kramer

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

Lauren Bergal, Adam Twedt, Richard Jett

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

MinnRoast volunteers Kate Carpenter and Jane Cracraft

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

Emily Anne Tuttle and Missy Staples Thompson

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

Dan Berg, Welcome Jerde and Eric Anderson

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

Catherine Gray, Luz Maria Frias, Reggie Johnson, Minneapolis Public Schools Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson and Elizabeth Krueger

MinnPost photo by Jana Freiband

Jim and Ellen Van Iwaarden and Jay Cowles

Andrea Davis Pinkney

People are flying in from all over the country to see Saturday’s May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture, an annual national event hosted this year (for the first time) by the University of Minnesota. Don’t think of it as an academic speech with an uninspiring title. Think of it as a TED talk, only longer. The speaker is Andrea Davis Pinkney, a New York Times best-selling author of more than 20 books for children and young adults, creator of the first major children’s book imprint run by an African-American woman, writer of several acclaimed biographies of extraordinary African-Americans, currently vice president and executive editor at Scholastic, named one of the 25 Most Influential Black Women in Business (Network Journal) and one of the 25 Most Influential People in Our Children’s Lives (Children’s Health). In other words, a force in literature, in publishing, and in our culture today. Award-winning children’s author Kate DiCamillo will give the introduction. Attendees will receive a link to an e-edition of Pinkney’s not-yet-published new book, “The Red Pencil.”

Pinkney’s lecture is at 7 p.m. at Willey Hall. It’s free, with advance reservations required. As of this writing, it’s sold out. Call 612-626-9182 to ask about turnbacks, or just show up and hope to get in. Meanwhile, much of the Andersen Library has been given over to an exhibit related to Pinkney’s talk. Complete with life-sized lunch counter, “Rejoice the Legacy!” explores the history of black Americans, the Civil Rights Movement, how a children’s book is created (including many original sketches by Pinkney’s husband and frequent collaborator, Brian Pinkney), the close, sometimes contentious relationship between author and editor, and the creative process itself. The exhibit runs through May 14.

There’s a new classical music presence in the Twin Cities. Conceived by Mischa Santora, a former associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra and a strong advocate for new music, the Minneapolis Music Company is a flexible ensemble of artists who are approaching music differently: as narrative, with visuals. “I have worked with a lot of orchestras worldwide,” Santora told MinnPost. “Classical music ensembles today are missing out on opportunities to tell a narrative about classical music and make it more relevant to an audience not necessarily steeped in the classics the way they were 50-60 years ago, and to take advantage of visual elements society has gotten used to … Part of our mission is to present musical performances in a theatrical, visual way.” He plans to draw on talent already within reach. “We have a fantastic pool of musicians here, and an incredible number of cutting-edge, creative organizations in the performing arts.” In the works: theatrical renditions of works by Stravinsky and Wynton Marsalis, and collaborations with Zenon Dance and Heart of the Beast.

Photo by Leslie Plesser

Mischa Santora

Since “collaboration” is Kate Nordstrum’s middle name, it’s not surprising that MMC will perform its first public concert Tuesday as part of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Liquid Music series, which Nordstrum curates. The program will feature the premiere of Icelandic composer Daniel Bjarnason’s string orchestra version of “Sleep Variations,” composed for the electrifying young violist Nadia Sirota (who will be here to perform it), plus Bjarnason’s “Bow to String” and New York-based composer Judd Greenstein’s “The Night Gatherers,” newly arranged for chamber orchestra. The event takes place at Amsterdam Bar & Hall. This performance will not include visuals, but it will give us a first listen to what MMC can do. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 6. FMI and tickets ($10).

We’ve been looking forward to hearing about Liquid Music’s next season, and the Walker’s 2014-15 performing arts season, which always includes musical surprises that make us jump up and down, and now the Schubert Club has its own new-music series, Schubert Club Mix. Although it hasn’t yet wrapped up its inaugural year (“ETHEL’s Documerica” comes to Aria on June 3), Mix is first out of the gate with its 2014-15 season announcement. Of the four concerts planned, two will take place at Aria in Minneapolis and two at Bedlam Lowertown in St. Paul.

On Friday, Oct. 3, at Bedlam Lowertown: Anderson & Roe Piano Duo. The Billboard chart-topping, Emmy-nominated pair will play their arrangement of Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” recently released on YouTube. Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015 at Aria: the string quartet Brooklyn Rider with guest Greg Saunier, drummer for the indie rock band Deerhoof. March 10 at Aria: Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto and professional juggler Jay Gilligan will perform a Bach program. You read that correctly: juggler. Friday, April 24 at Bedlam Lowertown: Pianist Stephen Prutsman, a former artistic director with the SPCO, will present “Bach and Forth,” a program of short works by Bach and other composers from throughout the ages. Dare we hope for a little Thelonious Monk? Concert packages are available now ($100; $25/concert). Single tickets ($30) go on sale August 4.

Ten Thousand Things has announced its 2014-15 season: three plays that meet the theater company’s unique requirements of meaningfulness, entertainment value and minimal infrastructure. Each will begin its run at prisons, homeless shelters and other nontraditional places before moving into Open Book at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. TTT performs in plain spaces, without special lighting or other effects, yet its plays connect powerfully with all kinds of audiences. Opens October 10: Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet.” Peter Rothstein directs. Starts Feb. 13, 2015: “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” a musical TTT first produced 15 years ago. And beginning May 8: “The New Don Juan,” a world premiere by Mellon Foundation playwright-in-residence Kira Obolensky, whose “Dirt Sticks” opens next week (May 9).

Doctors Bellamy, Reuler and McClinton, we presume? Three local theater luminaries will all receive honorary doctorates this spring, Rohan Preston tells us in the Strib. Penumbra founder Lou Bellamy will receive an honorary doctorate of divinity from United Theological Seminary. Jack Reuler, Mixed Blood founder, will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Macalester. Concordia will award an honorary doctorate of humane letters to Marion McClinton, most recently director of “Othello” at the Guthrie.

On sale Monday, May 5 at 2 p.m.: “Rifftrax Live: Sharknado!” If you haven’t heard, the made-for-TV hit is about sharks getting sucked up by a waterspout and dropped onto Los Angeles, where they eat people. Rotten Tomatoes calls it “proudly, shamelessly and gloriously brainless.” As the film flickers on the State Theatre’s big screen, Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett, stars and writers of “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” will tell us what they think. This live event will be broadcast to hundreds of movie theaters across North America. Honestly, it’s hard to imagine having a better time. FMI and tickets. (On Wednesday, Syfy greenlighted “Sharknado 3,” so we can look forward to that in summer 2015.) 

Our picks for the weekend

Tonight (Friday, May 2) at Flow Art Space: Reception for the group exhibition “Woman.”  More than a dozen artists working in metal, watercolor, and other media interpret the expectations placed on women. Some pieces are funny, others not so much. 6-9 p.m. The show continues through May 17. Preview it here.

Tonight and Sunday at Northrop: Echoes of History: Osmo Vänskä & The Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra. It can safely be said that the Orchestra’s performance at the newly remodeled Northrop is the Big Event of the weekend. Originally scheduled by the Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra during the lockout, this performance will re-create the first concert played by what was then called the Minneapolis Symphony when Northrop first opened in 1929. Now that the lockout has ended, Vänskä has returned as music director, and Northrop is fabulous, we can only imagine the length and volume of applause that will greet the musicians and Vänskä when they take the stage. The program includes music by Wagner, Dvorak, Liszt, and Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture,” for which the Orchestra will be joined by the University of Minnesota’s Marching Band and Chorus. Historic with a capital H. These concerts were sold out, then additional tickets ($35-$75) were released earlier this week. It’s worth a call to the Northrop box office at 612-624-2345. 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon.

Tonight and Saturday: Kantorei: How Can I Keep from Singing? For the final concerts of its 26th season, the Minnesota-based a cappella choral ensemble performs the world premiere of “For God So Loved the World” by Minnesota composer David Evan Thomas and music by Josef Rheinberger, Peter Cornelius, Edwin Fissinger, Francis Poulenc, Paul Hindemith, Benjamin Britten, Stephen Paulus and others. 6:30 pm. Saturday at Sacred Heart Parish, 810 Cedar Ave. in Owatonna, Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Saint Paul Seminary, Chapel of St. Mary, 2260 Summit Ave. in St. Paul.

Sunday (May 4) at Powderhorn Park: In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre’s 40th Annual MayDay Parade and Festival. Has it really been 40 years? Here’s hoping for blue skies and warm temperatures as the parade begins at noon on the corner of 25th St. East and Bloomington Ave. South, travels south on Bloomington to 34th St. East and turns west toward the park. (Regulars, please note the new parade start time: noon, not 1 p.m.) The MayDay Ceremony and Festival commence around 3 p.m. This year’s theme is “Wonder? Wonder!” This year, when the parade is over, it’s still not over. From May 16-18 (Art-a-Whirl weekend), Public Functionary and HOBT will present an immersive retrospective gallery installation about the parade, with puppets up close, artwork, photography and narrative. FMI.

Sunday on your own teevee: Stay home or set your DVR for the first-ever fully LEGO-animated episode of “The Simpsons.” It’s called “Brick Like Me.” Woo-hoo! Here’s the trailer.

TOKYO — Did Japan elect the wrong Abe? The country’s more liberal-minded voters could be forgiven for thinking so.

Japan’s first lady, Akie Abe, has emerged as an unlikely progressive voice even as her husband, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, pushes increased military spending, a post-Fukushima nuclear restart, and unpopular tax rises.

She opposes a return to nuclear power, preferring instead to explore the potential of renewable sources of energy. While Mr. Abe’s political allies enraged South Korea by denying Japan had forced tens of thousands of young, mainly Korean, women to work as sex slaves before and during World War II, Mrs. Abe has spoken of her love of South Korean TV dramas and cuisine.

She even dipped her toes into the murky waters of the economy, questioning the need for last month’s rise in the sales tax — an unpopular move that her husband says is Japan’s last chance to tackle its enormous public debt and rising social security costs.

Last weekend, Mrs. Abe burnished her liberal credentials with an unexpected appearance at Tokyo’s Rainbow Pride parade in support of LGBT rights. Later, she wrote on her Facebook page that she had taken an interest in gay and transgender issues since joining a commission set up by UNAIDS and the Lancet medical journal last year.

"I want to help build a society where anyone can conduct happy, enriched lives without facing discrimination," she wrote. "I had the pleasure of having a fun time filled with smiles. Thank you.”

Her husband’s largely successful 16 months in charge of the world’s third-biggest economy contrast sharply with his first stint as leader, for just a year from late 2006, which was marred by scandals, gaffes, and poor health.

In a similar vein, Mrs. Abe appears determined to make the most of her second term as first lady, redefining the hitherto nebulous role in the process.

Over the past decade, Japan’s revolving-door leadership meant most prime ministerial spouses came and went practically unnoticed.

An "un-Japanese" first lady 

Her public persona led some sections of the Japanese media to refer to Mrs. Abe as the country’s “domestic opposition.” Given the parlous state of the biggest opposition party, the moniker isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds. We are still waiting, though, for a poll on the respective approval ratings of the two halves of the Abe marriage.

Given Mrs. Abe’s background, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that she has embraced her role with such fervor. The daughter of a former president of the confectionery giant Morinaga, she worked for Dentsu, the world’s biggest advertising agency, before marrying Shinzo Abe in 1987.

After Mr. Abe resigned as prime minister under a cloud in 2007, Mrs. Abe decided it was time to “start my own life,” as she put it in an interview with the Wall Street Journal last December. She took up running, cultivated her own rice paddies, and opened a Japanese restaurant in Tokyo that serves only organic food.

If she comes across as a very “un-Japanese” first lady, Mrs. Abe fits the media template created for the mainly female spouses of Western leaders, matching a penchant for designer clothes with campaigning and an easy public manner that served her well as a radio DJ in the late 1990s.

Far from casting Mr. Abe’s unshakable conservatism in a harsher light, some have speculated that she helps soften his image and acts as a useful conduit between the prime minister and his opponents at home and abroad.

“There are many people who are against my husband’s views,” she told the newspaper Asahi Shimbun last December. “The issue is how to establish a network with those people.”

He, too, hinted that the political divide in the Abe household is narrower than many think. “She is going her own way,” Mr. Abe said of his wife in a TV interview last May. “But when it comes to the crunch, we can work together.”