Photo of artwork that used to adorn the side of the old Riverside Market, as part of the SNG/Seward Redesign public art project of 2006. by Article by Justin Schell   April 21, 2008 a suited Ali and his DJ, BK-One, walk past brilliantly multi-colored graffiti. John Grider�s peers out from behind them while hues of kids skateboard, skip rope, and play basketball. This brief clip takes place in front of…

by Essay by Camille LeFevre   April 15, 2008 of the steady demise of dance criticism (or even arts writing in general) as a profession worthy of respect, decent pay, and column inches. For years, it’s been evident to me that, for dance critics anyway, the era of full-time or even part-time positions at newspapers and magazines is over. In fact, I readily remind people who bemoan the lack of �dance critic� on…

by Article by Stephanie Wilbur Ash   April 8, 2008writers published in Minnesota�s literary magazines, and you�ve probably never heard of most of the literary magazines either.          But you�ve undoubtedly heard of Stephen King. This year, literary magazines got some much-needed kudos from Master Macabre. In his introduction essay to the most recent Best American Short Stories anthology, which he guest edits…

by Essay by Glenn Gordon   March 26, 2008 Its name is Thingdom. Its realms are piled with goods in volumes so immense that the walls of our granaries would burst were it not for the ingenuity of …

by Dispatch by Geoff Herbach   March 10, 2008, I am pleased that the temperature isn�t below zero. It�s hanging in the mid-twenties, even though the sun is down. Practically balmy. A South Minneapolis icon, Matt�s Bar, home of the famous Jucy Lucy (the cheese is inside of the burger!), is not even a block away. Even with the fleeting, decent February weather, weather that pulls us hibernating Minnesotans out…

“We Work All The Time” poster. (Courtesy of the artist) A LABOR CAMP IS A DETENTION FACILITY where inmates are held and forcibly engaged in penal toil. These facilities typically incarcerate political dissidents along with hardened criminals. Throughout history, particularly in the twentieth century, there have been many notable—and notorious—labor camps. Some of the most infamous of these include the…

ONE DAY IN DECEMBER, RIGHT AFTER BALLET CLASS, ballerina Sally Rousse stopped me with an idea for an article: would I be interested in writing something on what it means to be a dance muse? It was a topic Rousse was thinking quite a bit about at the time, because she was then separating from her husband James Sewell, for whom she has been an invaluable muse for nearly twenty years. Of course, I agreed…

Photo (top) is JoAnn Verberg with her camera during a shoot (Photo by Kristine Walsh appears courtesy of the Walker Art Center) by Profile by Euan Kerr   January 21, 2008 but if you�re going to talk to JoAnn Verburg about her work, at some point you will need to have a conversation about her camera. She uses a large format camera, which produces negatives five inches by seven inches across. It�s a close…

by Interview by Allison Herrera   January 10, 2008 Hot on the heels of success with one short, , which became a festival favorite around the country and internationally, just about wherever it screened; and with another short picked up by public television last year for broadcast in its MNTV series, Coleman Miller should be on track to fame and riches, right? You’d think, at least, it would be easy enough…