When I think about the East Side Freedom Library I think about dirt. More specifically, about dirt and community and the similar ways they are structured and how those structures determine the […]
Community Soil and Exchange Capacity
Monsanto in the Mirror
One of the great inventions of the past hundred and fifty years is the rear-view mirror. It permits us to move forward while remaining aware of where we have come from. As […]
Unity and Division in the Ninth Ward
I wasn’t going to say anything aloud about the ninth ward, Minneapolis city council race. I don’t ignore electoral contests exactly but they don’t dominate my attention, either. You see city councils, […]
Miss Saigon With the Wind
I would like to invite the leadership of the Ordway Theater to a panel discussion on why I didn’t consult them before creating this poster and why they should be grateful for […]
Tecumseh in the Time of Monsanto: A Voice in the Wind. Part 3 of 3
There are no discontinuities in history. The trees of today were yesterday’s seeds; the gentle hills were once mountains, worn down by time; the transformation of forest into desert proceeds by small […]
Tecumseh in the Time of Monsanto, Part 2 of 3
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 […]
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 […]
Ricardo Levins Morales
Ricardo Levins Morales Art Studio 