Garden Update

May 31, 2012 By 11 Comments

I’ll admit, a couple neighbors gave me odd looks. Not because I tore up a bunch of my lawn and planted a big vegetable garden, but because when they asked where I learned how to do it, I responded, “My blog readers.” Thanks to everyone who gave me advice. I’ve tried to follow it.

Here’s what we did:

If you look closely, you can see the old garden on the left, dwarfed by a 7-year-old.

No, I didn't rent a power sod cutter. That explains the size of my right quadricep.

Built the raised beds with the heaviest lumber that Home Depot carries.

More pics below the fold:

[Read more...]

Filed Under: minnesota Tagged With: 11 Comments

Custody Laws: Our Government in (In)Action

April 13, 2012 By 29 Comments

My testimony in front of the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee of the Minnesota Senate (photo by Courtney Perry/All Rights Reserved)

Last month, I testified in front of the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee of the Minnesota Senate. I spoke in favor of Bill 1402, which aims to bring presumed equality to shared parenting time in divorced families. Currently, the presumption in Minnesota — that is, the guidelines that are recommended for family court judges to follow — is that one parent gets the majority (75%) of parenting time, and the other parent gets the rest. As you might guess, the 75% almost always goes to the mother. (I won’t comment on my own custody arrangement; negotiations are ongoing.)

This bill has been bouncing around the Capitol for over a decade. One intrepid woman, Molly Olson, has kept the bill alive. She — and I — believe that it is in the best interests of children that the default presumption should be 50-50. The bill makes all sorts of exceptions, for unfit parents and other extenuating circumstances.

By the time I testified, the bill had basically been gutted. The percentage was dropped from 50% to 35%. Nevertheless, I testified that the Court system has habituated a outdated notion that mothers are always better to be the primary parent than fathers. I argued that when the judicial branch of our government is too habituated in certain patterns, the legislative branch needs to step in and set things right.

I acknowledged that it’s odd for a white man to be claiming discrimination. Even so, that’s what this is.

But here’s the funny thing: Democrats are unanimously against this bill, and Republicans are for it. You know who else is against it?

[Read more...]

Filed Under: divorce, family, minnesota 29 Comments

My Black Brother

April 10, 2012 By 13 Comments

That headline is not metaphorical. My parents, in their retirement, have taken in a young African American man, and he has lived with them for the past several years. Cavonte has become a part of our family, and a brother to me. His mother is in prison, and he does not know his father. We have become his family.

My parents have performed a profound act of Christian charity.

Last night, the local news aired a story on Cavonte and my parents:

Filed Under: family, minnesota 13 Comments

Ground Rules for Debating Same Sex Marriage

March 9, 2012 By 7 Comments

A Minnesotan and pastor’s kid offers these ground rules for my fellow citizens as we debate the marriage amendment, on the ballot this fall:

Let all Minnesotans remember that:

There is no one Christian position. Some, like the state’s Catholic bishops, advocate for the amendment on Christian grounds. Others, like the majority of delegates at the recent Minneapolis Synod Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, oppose the amendment. As a Christian pastor myself I would be the last to say that one’s religious convictions should not influence choices at the voting booth — anything but. However, it should be noted that Christians hold varied and complex positions on the amendment. We cannot be seen as one voting bloc.

We all support families. I believe both those supporting and opposing the amendment have the well-being of families at the heart of their position. In this way all voters are “pro-family;” they just deeply disagree as to what sort of families should have the legal status of marriage.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: glbt, minnesota, same sex marriage 7 Comments

Minnesota Beer

March 6, 2012 By 17 Comments

So, I made an off-handed remark last week about Minnesota having the best microbrew community in the country, and I got all sorts of push-back from people touting Colorado, Oregon, even Indiana (cough, cough). Puh-leeze.

While I should not have to explain myself, I nevertheless will, by overwhelming you with links. Read a few of these and tell me why you’re not packing a UHaul and moving here.

Because Surly Furious is ranked the #1 IPA in the world by RateBeer, the Rotten Tomatoes of beer (which means it’s a rating of all reviews)

Because Surly is building a $20 million destination brewpub

Because James Fallows tries a Surly and admits he was wrong about canned beer

Because a Minneapolis brewer uses yeast he imported in vials from Belgium, and his Chinese father-in-law, to make Boom Island

Because I will be refilling my growler of another IPA this weekend: Fulton’s Sweet Child of Vine

Because all these brewers started in their garages.

Because the Four Firkins is an amazing beer store.

And I could go on…

Go ahead, Indianans, have at it!

Filed Under: minnesota 17 Comments

Fighting Misogyny in Rap Music

March 2, 2012 By 8 Comments

The Twin Cities, proudly my home, is currently going through a renaissance, especially on two fronts. The first is beer — we’ve got the finest collection of microbrews of any city in the the nation.

The second is music. Driven largely by The Current — arguably the best radio station in the world :-) — we are back to the territory of Prince and The Replacements. The hip hop scene here is ruled by The Doomtree Collective, which is fronted by Dessa. She’s smart. Real smart. Here’s one of her songs:

She’s got an Op-Ed in today’s paper about the use of “bitches,” “hoes,” “faggot” and other hateful language in rap and hip hop music. Here’s a money quote: [Read more...]

Filed Under: minnesota, music Tagged With: , 8 Comments

Warming to Chicago

February 15, 2012 By 4 Comments

If you grew up in Minnesota (or Wisconsin, or the Dakotas), you were taught that Chicago is mainly a pain in the ass.

Any trip East meant that Dad would complain about Chicago traffic, and the entire trip had to be scheduled to avoid the notoriously horrible Chicago traffic. If the Twin Cities were home, that meant leaving at 4am so that we could drive the Family Truckster through Chicagoland sometime after the morning rush and before the afternoon rush. According to Dad, that was a 35-minute window. Every summer driving trip — to Boston, to Washington, D.C., to New York City — hinged on this eye-of-the-needle calculus.

Then there’s A.J. Pierzynski.

So, I’m being honest when I say that I’ve never been much of a fan of the Windy City.

All that changed last week.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: christianity in america, minnesota Tagged With: , , 4 Comments

What Votes Do You Regret?

January 18, 2012 By 29 Comments

I regret voting for George W. Bush in 2000

There are a few votes that I’ve cast in my life that I regret — and, no, voting for Jesse “The Body” Ventura to govern my state for four years is not one of them!

I regret voting for the Minnesota Legacy Amendment to the state constitution in 2008. I don’t think that we should legislate via constitutional amendments, nor do I think that taxes should be set by amendment.

I regret voting for Norm Coleman for U.S. Senate in 2002. I was going to vote for Paul Wellstone. But the speeches of Rick Kahn and others at Wellstone’s funeral pissed me off so much that I lodged a protest vote against the Democrats. I flinched, and that was a mistake.

And I regret voting for George W. Bush in 2000. His disastrous response to 9/11 — the invasion of Iraq and the war in Afghanistan — drove our country into moral torpor and economic recession. I think he was a good guy, and ultimately a centrist, but he let himself get pushed around by Cheney and Rumsfeld. He listened to the wrong people.

OK, so what votes do you regret?!?

Filed Under: minnesota, politics Tagged With: , , , , 29 Comments

Buh-Bye Bachmann

January 4, 2012 By 2 Comments

 

Turns out a million-watt smile doesn't win Iowa.

With Pawlenty gone, and Bachmann (reportedly) leaving the race today, yet two more Minnesota also-rans.  Our presidential victories match our number of Super Bowl victories.

Bachmann reportedly cancels South Carolina trip, will call press conference

By Devin Henry | Published Wed, Jan 4 2012 7:27 am

DES MOINES, Iowa — Michele Bachmann has reportedly cancelled her string of campaign stops in South Carolina and will hold a 10 a.m. press conference in Des Moines.

Bachmann finished a distant sixth in last night’s Iowa caucuses, a disappointing finish for a native Iowan who had staked the prospects of her presidential campaign on a strong showing in the state. During the last days of campaigning, she repeatedly told reporters that she would travel to South Carolina despite the Iowa caucus results and in a speech to supporters last night, she indicated she would continue her presidential bid.

“There are many more chapters to be written in our party’s path to the nomination,” she said.

Mitt Romney won the Iowa caucuses by eight votes over Rick Santorum.

via MinnPost – Devin Henry: Bachmann reportedly cancels South Carolina trip, will call press conference.

Filed Under: minnesota, politics Tagged With: 2 Comments

Should Churches Be Able to Build Anywhere?

December 30, 2011 By 14 Comments

The current home of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Minnetonka, in Wayzata.

According to a federal law passed in 2000, the answer is basically yes.  To wit, a Unitarian Universalist church in Wayzata, Minnesota has won an out-of-court settlement to build a new church in the middle of a residential neighborhood, against the objections of the City of Wayzata:

In a church-state dispute with echoes across the country, a Wayzata congregation has won its battle to build a new church in a residential neighborhood.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Minnetonka will be allowed to tear down a house and build a church and parking lot in its place, according to a federal court-mediated settlement reached last week between the church and the city of Wayzata.

To underscore the church’s victory, the settlement also requires the city and its insurer to pay the church $500,000 in damages and attorney’s fees.

The 2000 federal law under which the church sued Wayzata, which effectively allows religious projects to trump local zoning restrictions, is being tested in a growing number of communities around the country. Cases resulting in victories for congregations have cropped up in California, Maryland, Colorado and elsewhere.

In its 2010 federal suit, the Unitarian church also charged Wayzata with violating its First Amendment rights to free speech and religious worship.

My question is this: In this day and age, is it appropriate for churches to be built in residential neighborhoods? There is so much commercially-zoned property these days, it seems to me that churches should be built in those areas.

In other words, isn’t it more neighborly for a church to build in a commercial zone than in the middle of a residential neighborhood?

Filed Under: christianity in america, church, minnesota 14 Comments