By Bill Albertson

My cell phone rang at about three in the morning.

"Hello?"

"I haven't got time to talk. I'm busy. But in case you hear
anything, I wanted you to know I'm okay."

My son was doing his mother and me favor. He knew that every time we heard of an American soldier killed in Iraq, our stomachs took a brutal twist.

He arrived in Iraq with a Special Forces Unit more than two years ago. For a while he went native and become an honorary member of an Arab tribe. For that he had to eat the left eye of a goat. Later, he became an observer for the 101St Airborne Assault Division and directed air strikes on retreating Iraqi soldiers. Once he picked up a wounded and bleeding Iraqi girl of about eight and carried her to a medical facility. The doctor said they were too busy, but relented and said because of his rank and insistence, they would care for the girl. Just by chance, he was not in his Humvee when it hit an improvised explosive device which killed his captain, a sergeant, and blew off the legs of a young soldier. During his tours in Iraq, two of his interpreters were killed along with their children.

By Colette Davidson

Early on a recent Saturday morning, three semi-celebrities with strong views about the news media took the stage at Hamline University -- two of them Fashion Misfits, and one a Political Nostradamus.

Caribou coffee in hand, Lizz Winstead, co-creator of the Daily Show, appeared in thigh-high boots, followed by dapper New York University communications professor – and author of “Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class and What We Can Do About It,” Mark Crispin Miller.

The event was a panel discussion entitled “The Future of News,” hosted by the Twin Cities Media Alliance and the Twin Cities Daily Planet, a web site of local community and ethnic journalism. The two panelists, Miller and Winstead, were moderated by public television producer and personality John Forde, whose red basketball shoes set off a dark gray suit.

By Taina Maki

MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- Tired volunteers picked up coffee and bagels at the Minneapolis American Indian Center gymnasium, preparing for a day of door knocking for 5th Congressional District candidate for the U.S. Senate, Keith Ellison.

It was only a few days before the political party primaries held last November 12, and Keith Ellison, who ultimately won his party’s endorsement, was taking nothing for granted.
Around the gymnasium, tables bearing signs like “Training” and “Turf Table” guided volunteers through the various stations designed to ready them for a day of activism, getting out the vote.

By Angela Hoffman

SHAKOPEE, MN -- April Hurley grew up in a small town where the neighbors lived both next door and miles away; where she could get a treat at a store and pay for it the next time; and an oil change cost lest than $15.

And her parents used the stick to teach her “Minnesota Nice.” A bit of a thrashing now and then, Hurley said, taught her how “I could be be better in the community, nicer to my classmates, and know how to be a good citizen.”

April was such a nice girl, neighbors and strangers told her alike. She thought it was thanks to the demanding, “no bull” discipline her parents instilled in her. She always thought that, anyway, until she moved away.

Test

By Angela Rolle

Jennifer Berg is a full-time student at the University of Minnesota. On top of her schooling, she works as a waitress and bartender at two Twin Cities restaurants, logging up to 40 hours a week to help pay for school. She goes straight from class to her jobs, which usually go to 11 p.m., and has a pile of homework to tackle when she gets home.

“Sometimes I go for sixteen hours straight and haven’t even touched my homework,” says Berg. “It can definitely wear on you after a while.”

But even with all that work, is she doing what she needs to get a good job when she graduates? Although Berg maintains a high GPA and is involved in extracurricular school activities, she doesn’t have any “real” work experience to speak of. She hasn’t racked up time as an intern in a workplace that’s like the one she would like to find herself in, once she graduates.