I love teaming up with other local creatives (consider this an invitation to collaborate and contact me). Thanks to a great team, Amber Brenke, Andrew Thomas Evans, Gemini Tribe, and Tory Roff for all your work and contributions that make my spring lookbook possible.  Check it out (click open in new window to get a better look).

Hi Friends,

Please watch this short documentary:


http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/ai-wei-wei/?utm_campaign=viewpage&utm_medium=grid&utm_source=grid

Not only is it very interesting, it is very relevant right now.  I love how Ai WeiWei uses gentle subversion through creating brilliant and thoughtful sculpture, photography and performance art among other things. The only think I can think of when I hear some of his artistic antics is to draw comparisons to Jesus and Gandhi... it's that kind of thoughtful, humorous, turning of the tables to pointedly expose injustice that has the potential to create real and needed social change.

I went back and read the filmmakers thoughts about making the documentary and about Ai WeiWei and this was the last paragraph:

(Read the whole thing HERE)

"Why isn't he in jail?

After spending the last two years following Weiwei, I still don't know exactly the answer to that question. Events over those two years show that Weiwei is certainly not immune to government persecution. When I first started filming, his blog was still running, with minor government interference; he'd never been put under house arrest or injured by police; none of his buildings had ever been demolished; and he was never barred from leaving the country.
I guess my answer to the question is perhaps succinctly summarized by magazine publisher and popular Chinese-language blogger Hung Huang. She told me, "China isn't China until it's China." She explained that the relative freedom of daily life, and people's recent ability to acquire the commodities and luxuries they want and to live without government interference, doesn't prepare you for that moment when the authorities do descend.
Sometimes China can feel like the Wild West, the kind of place where you can show up at a police station with cameras rolling and get away with it for an hour. Until they stop you. This means, essentially, that Weiwei is not in jail until he is in jail. I hope that this story, and my film, can help raise awareness for Ai Weiwei in case that day ever comes."


Go to this site to sign the petition to hopefully get him out: http://www.change.org/petitions/call-for-the-release-of-ai-weiwei

Click here to download the 17 page Economic Summit Response


So far Dayton has listed the programs that are out there, which is nice, and I personally have seen the youth job corps program in Saint Paul succeed, so I can feel confident that many of the other programs listed are greatly benefiting the community as well.  The new ideas I see stemming from this 17 page Economic Summit Response are the following excerpts:

"Effective immediately, the Dayton Administration will re-launch the Urban Initiatives Board (UIB) to create jobs and strengthen minority enterprise development." (followed by details) -page 14

"Through DEED, our Adminisration will immediately dedicate $300,000 to launch a FastTRAC program offered to 100 unemployed and underemployed residents in North Minneapolis who need skills for employment. FastTRAC will integrate work, occupation and college readiness skills leading to an industry-recognized credential certificate and sustainable jobs and careers." -page 16

I'm pretty skeptical in general of what even higher-ups can do to change large problems which is why I try my best to participate in however small movements of change by normal people doing their best to understand and be good to each other. But these are some good initiatives (why was the UIB ever taken out of commision??)

This article breaks the plan down further and offers a knowledgeable reaction/critique.


http://www.minnpost.com/stories/2011/04/11/27358/daytons_economic_summit_report_likely_met_with_both_skepticism_and_hope_in_north_minneapolis

 I am excited by the hopefulness of this article, and very curious about what the response plan will include.  This is the kind of effort that I hope to support by casting my vote.
 It is outrageous to hear that a Minnesota Governor has not set foot in North Minneapolis since 1991.

http://www.minnpost.com/stories/2011/03/31/27071/dayton_wows_north_minneapolis_economic_summit_with_a_simple_promise

Here are some of the disappointing (for lack of a better word) stats about Minnesota:

"Average income for a black working person in Minnesota, $26,930. For a white worker, $57,000. Unemployment among blacks, 20. 4 percent. Among whites, 6.6 percent. High school graduation rates among blacks, 43 percent. Among whites, 82 percent.

Poverty rate, 36 percent among blacks. Among whites, 7.4 percent. Home ownership among blacks, 32 percent. Among whites, 74 percent.

These disparities place Minnesota at the top of virtually every negative list in the nation."

This video is a good snippet of why I long for summer. Today was the warmest day of the year so far, and reminded me that it is not always hard to live here.  I literally skipped from the house to the car while I carried buckets of water and comfortably washed our new little VW.  Our neighborhood is so quiet right now and has been all winter.  Interestingly though, I am constantly meeting new young people and families who just bought a home in North Minneapolis or who say they've been thinking about moving here and want to hear all about it.  And I get really excited and am more than willing to oblige.  It is so unique to join in on a transformation that people have been working toward for a long time, at a moment where it's showing signs of growth. I'm mainly gauging growth right now based on 1. The sheer number of people I meet that are investing in the area or considering it,  2. How passionate all of these people are about where they are, and 3. What I read in the Northside News, which is fantastic. Tory showed me this article over breakfast a few days ago about an neighborhood about 10 blocks from our place. 


 http://www.nenorthnews.com/CurrentNews.asp?view=1654&paperID=2&month=

This is partially nostalgic for me having grown up in Canada and made similar igloos when I was younger, but also heartwarming to see people diverse in age and race getting to know each other and enjoying their community even in the middle of a bitter Minnesota winter.

Before: we were two people, each with our own priorities and sense of balance between them all.
I kept a pretty easy balance between things I needed to get done, things that could wait, and how each would affect my overall happiness and relaxation. 
Now: we are two people, living as one, and we need to find a new balance.  Time to restructure!