What’s going on in the city

 

 

 

Hello Monitor readers,

I’m keeping it short this month with an expression from a neighborhood reader with much to say in a brief manner. And, I’m repeating a story from my July 2022 column.

 

*I’m all about Piper’s vision (local youth) of planting a mini-urban forest in Como!

*Pay homage to the Ancient Oak we’re losing in Como at Chatsworth & Nebraska before she’s gone!  

*SAVE the HAMLINE LIBRARY!!!

 *URBAN FARM VS. TOXIC HARM in the Phillips neighborhood in Mpls. (Stay abreast as to the community’s progress!)

*Support sustainable practices, those creating community gardens/farms and saving heirloom/organic seeds.

*In spite of losing our ‘full-on’ version of Heart of the Beast’s May Day Parade, communities still rise and celebrate the day at Powderhorn!

 *Our collective loss of Intermedia Arts is still felt, but giving thanks for JXTA’s new building, Public Functionary’s new digs at Northrup King and south Minneapolis’ Mudluk Pottery!

*We may have loss Fasika, Marla’s, Foxy Falafel and now, Breaking Bread Cafe – But instead, we have West Indies Soul back, Bole’s two sites, Flava, Rafiki’s, HEAL Mpls, Indigenous Food Lab & Seward Cafe’s re-opening! (which happens to be the oldest collective in the country, operating since 1979).

*Gratitude, honor and support to all Water Protectors fighting Line 3 and Line 5 tarsands oil pipelines, threatening the health of our planet/homes!

 *Keep-up our two-year and counting fight, to SAVE the Frederick Miller Spring in Eden Prairie!  Best free drinking water this side of Duluth! Support if you are able @Springvalleyfriends.org

*Reconcile/make right the systemic racism/genocide that’s woven into this ‘great’   nation we call home. Reparations, land- back, Just Deeds and abolish/re-think our  so-called justice system!

 *Much respect to all ready to stand against injustice and dedicate to ending all ism’s and rise in gratitude to Our Ancestors, seen and unseen.  To the teachers, mentors, makers, Elders and Wise Ones.... Give them space, respect and reverence....always!

 From St. Paul/Minneapolis artist/activist:  Nancy A. Sampson - Thank you, Nancy!!!!

 

A fable that I first heard from a Black preacher years ago. This is a shorten version of the Story of Truth and Lie, as shared by https://medium.com/@ParkerSimpson/the-story-of-truth-lie-1476bda2d45e

One day a man named Truth and a man named Lie stood by a river just outside of town. They were twin brothers. Lie challenged Truth to a race, claiming he could swim across the river faster than Truth. Lie laid out the rules to the challenge stating that they both must remove all their clothes and at the count of three, dive in to the freezing cold water swim to the other side and back. Lie counted to three, but when Truth jumped in, Lie did not.

As Truth swam across the river, Lie put on Truth’s clothes and walked back in to town dressed as Truth. He proudly paraded around town pretending to be Truth. Truth made it back to shore, but his clothes were gone and he was left naked with only Lie’s clothes to wear. Refusing to dress himself as Lie, Truth walked back to town naked.

 

People stared and glared as naked Truth walked through town. He tried to explain what happened and that he was in fact Truth, but because he was naked and uncomfortable to look at, people mocked and shunned him – refusing to believe he was really Truth. The people in town chose to believe Lie because he was dressed appropriately and easier to look at. From that day until this, people have come to believe a lie rather than believe a naked truth.

The moral of this story, and how it applies to modern day society, is that we often either consciously or subconsciously reject certain truths in our personal lives or in the world around us for the sake of our peace of mind. These truths may be in our personal lives: financial issues, relationship issues, struggles with our faith, addiction problems; they are all areas where we often turn our back to the cold hard truth, even if it’s at our own peril.

We’ve also seen this in public society, as well. Our country is brutally divided among ideological lines on every front. People can be presented with irrefutable yet inconvenient truths regarding societal issues including terrorism, global warming, race relations, cultural differences, and countless other issues, but they shun those truths and decide instead to believe the well-dressed lie, especially if it benefits their agenda or idealistic narrative. The story of Truth and Lie swimming in the river may answer why we do this to ourselves, but what it doesn’t answer is when and if we will ever learn from it.