Podcast 199

News Cleanse Day Five. First Day of The Minnesota State Fair. Observations on the final day of the ‘News Cleanse’. Memories of the Minnesota State Fair. Broadcasting live, handing out bags, how the fair has changed over the years. Has an agricultural fair become a food fair, despite being the biggest attraction in the State of Minnesota the whole year? How Podcast 19 (The Lost State Fair Podcast) came about. What is it like to work out at the fair for ten hours a day, ten days straight? This is the last podcast of impressions from the News Cleanse. Back to the news for the next podcast. History is made slowly; we become aware of it only after many years of change. What kinds of changes are happening now, we’re unaware of? An age of disruption (as overused as that term is) is just beginning. All Americans are on this journey together, and all Americans will experience ‘history’ when the journey ends. The media ill serves us in this quest. What are the problems? How do we learn what works to solve those problems? How do we re-learn the citizenship process to help ourselves? Because no one is coming to help…and our ‘leaders’ aren’t creative enough, to solve them. Either informed, responsible citizens will decide the future, through the political process, or the mob will. Which do you prefer? Sponsored by X Government Cars.

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Podcast 194

Alcoholism. Some final thoughts on Robin Williams’ suicide. Aside from the idiocracy on Social Media, the vast wasteland which has become talk radio, there are people interested in what happened to Robin Williams, and what is happening to ‘older’ men in this country. New data indicates white men in their sixties who have suffered a loss of a job, struggle with addictions, or depressions are at high risk for suicides; which is a LOT of men sixty plus. How habits you adapt in your thirties and forties can ruin your life in your sixties. Should you listen to doctors? What about all those studies saying coffee is bad for you, the fact that french fries taste really good, and pancakes, pastries, cheesecake, donuts and other goodness. There is no reason why men in their sixties shouldn’t be robust, athletic and kicking ass. As Carlos Slim says, “60 is the new 40”. Meanwhile, the ‘depression’ motif has been extended to the ‘mood’ of the nation. Another spate of articles about the United States losing its MOJO. Its time to Buck Up Little Mister! We’re just living through the administration of the worst President in US History, and one of the dumbest Congresses! Plus floods, drought and the catastrophe of the coldest summer in 40 years. Goodbye Global Warming, we hardly new ye! Sponsored by Autonomouscad.com

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Podcast 185

Gentrification. A walk through Uptown Minneapolis on a Saturday night. What used to be a bohemian hipster paradise is lousy with 1 percenters. How Uptown was, when it changed, how it changed and what it is like now. Share memories of the Uptown Punks, the run down houses, the Port Arthur, Vonns, The Uptown Bar, Uptown diner, the Rainbow, and the beginnings of the changes in Uptown; Calhoun Square. Sure the people in the neighborhoods wanted a little more vibrant business district, but did they get more than they bargained for? Do government tax breaks, zoning laws, ‘affordable housing’ initiatives, light rail help, or hurt a neighborhood? Sure there are a lot of twenty somethings coming to the bars, and packing in roommates in the expensive new apartments, but what happens when millennials start families? Will they be able to afford houses in Uptown? Minneapolis leads the nation in gentrification; when wealthier residents and businesses pushing out middle and lower middle class businesses and residents. Moreover, tax increases to provide the tax breaks and special deals to get those expensive condos and rental apartments built means residents of the city of Minneapolis pay more, whether it is a carrot cake and coffee at a trendy cafe, or groceries. It’s no secret Minneapolis has one of the most progressive governments in the United States. Are the goals of progressives being met when the 99 percent has to move to cheaper suburbs, and the one percent moves into their old neighborhoods? And yes, I keep calling it ‘regentrification’ but it is in fact, gentrification. Sponsored by X Government Cars. Cover photo art courtesy of Mitch Rossow.

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