The United States in Tecumseh’s day was bold and brash but untested, its survival far from assured. It had only won independence with backing from the Dutch, Spanish and (decisively) the French […]
Tecumseh in the Time of Monsanto, Part 2 of 3
A Unity of Fires: Tecumseh in the Time of Monsanto, Part 1 of 3
It’s time we talked about Tecumseh. There are compelling reasons to study this powerful brother. He organized a movement that was intended to block the westward expansion of the brash, young United […]
Policing and Race in a Bankers’ Paradise
The Minneapolis Police have been getting the kind of attention they don’t like. Twice, recently, officers have been filmed engaging in racist harassment. The department was already in damage control mode after […]
What I Might Not Have Learned from the Cabora Bassa Dam
The Cabora Bassa Dam had been under construction for years when I first became aware of Mozambique. Mozambique, along with Angola and Guinea Bissau, was one of three major African territories […]
Things that Being an Artist Has Taught Me about Changing the World: random installment 3
10) Dangerous dreams. The African anti-colonial leader Amilcar Cabral described culture as “the collective personality of a people.” The arts, then, are its collective dreamlife. If there are issues, experiences or […]
Climate Change, Climate of Fear
A giant moose puppet, lumbers across the Mississippi River over Minneapolis’ Stone Arch Bridge. A serpentine pipeline slithers behind, complete with a black trash-bag oil leak spewing from a gash in […]
How It’s Done
First you “stopped and frisked” the young, the dark and the poor, but I know what that’s like and I joined with them in protest. Then you came after the immigrants but […]
Trayvon and the road ahead
“What do we do now?” While marchers chanted “No justice, no peace,” this question kept coming up in interactions along the route. The question was about more than the verdict. It […]
A Hundred Years of Attitude: Bachmann, soap and the hazards of clever
I can’t help thinking about Michelle Bachmann when I travel by air. More specifically, when I go into an airport bathroom. Since I’ve been traveling, I have had plenty of opportunity to […]
Things That Being an Artist has Taught Me About the World: random installment 2
6) Arrogance and humility. Practicing art in the context of community is an exercise in balancing arrogance with humility. Humility, because you are called upon to listen patiently, to identify the injuries […]
Ricardo Levins Morales