I recently attended a meeting put on by the Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness (MICH). As is common these days, the meeting began with a land acknowledgement, which is a statement recognizing that what is now Minnesota was and is the homeland for various Native American tribes. The wording of a land acknowledgement is up […]
Meaning What You Say Read More »
I recently travelled to Breezy Point, in northern Minnesota, to speak at a conference. Since the trip involved five hours of driving, I made sure I had some audiobooks to pass the time. I started listening to Taking the Work Out of Networking: An Introvert’s Guide to Making Connections That Count, and within an hour
Networking The Mother of All Mixed Blessings Read More »
In a recent conversation with Dave and Dennie Scott about their experience as Peace House volunteers, the dominant theme was hospitality. It’s not that they framed their reflections explicitly around that word. In fact, they might not have even used it. But their comments about what they do and why they do it bear the
Making Hospitality Real: Dave and Dennie Scott Read More »
I have recently been reminded of the complexities of communicating with others, and the value of improving our abilities to communicate. A few days ago, a conversation about foreign languages started at Peace House Community. Well, it was supposed to be about foreign languages; we spent the first 15 minutes talking about our own language
For the Love of Language Read More »
This will be the least enjoyable Director’s Corner I’ve written since I joined PHC. As always, I want to thank all our supporters for making everything at PHC possible, but I also need to let you know about our current financial struggles. Coming out of covid, PHC was financially comfortable. We had a balanced budget
Ahmed’s road to Peace House Community was longer than most, but now that he has arrived, he is making the most of his time with us. Ahmed was born in Somalia in the 1980s, but as war enveloped his country, his family came to the U.S. as refugees when he was 14. The trip involved
I need to make some apologies after my article in the Alley last month. The article praised Ventura Village, but when I wrote the article I forgot that the Alley serves many neighborhoods, not just Ventura Village. The Alley staff recognized the problem, but because I submitted my article so close to the deadline, they
This article may sound like I’m currying favor, or being really self-serving, but I want to praise what I see in the Alley and in Ventura Village. When I started writing articles for the Alley five years or so ago, I didn’t really expect anyone to read them. I thought this was a small neighborhood
In Praise of Ventura Village Read More »
It was about forty yards to the gallows. I watched the bare brown back of the prisoner marching in front of me. He walked clumsily with his bound arms, but quite steadily, with that bobbing gait of the Indian who never straightens his knees. At each step his muscles slid neatly into place, the lock
Like many people in this part of Minneapolis, I am continually reminded of the challenges facing our neighborhoods. High crime rates, limited resources, livability crimes, drug use…. you know the list as well as I do. Aside from my personal observations, I hear about the challenges the members at Peace House Community deal with every