Estelle Timar-Wilcox

Twin Cities activists, students, and community members are taking to the streets—once again—to demand change after the police killing of Amir Locke. Early in the morning on Wednesday, February 2, a Minneapolis Police Department SWAT team burst into a downtown Minneapolis apartment with a no-knock warrant and shot and killed Locke, a twenty-two-year-old Black man who was asleep on the couch with a gun that he was licensed to carry in his hand, though there was no indication he was going to use it.

In the weeks since four former Minneapolis police officers murdered George Floyd outside Cup Foods on May 25, community members have transformed the intersection at E 38th St. and Chicago Ave. into a memorial. Every day, community members flock to the site to grieve, protest or celebrate — and, at times, all three at once. A team of reporters from The Mac Weekly spent the day there last Saturday, June 20.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, every organization has needed to rethink how it operates. Churches were among the first to take a hit when gathering for mass became impossible. But as parishioner and volunteer John Shuler put it: “the churches aren’t empty, they’ve been deployed.”

Since 1986, Spanish professor Galo González brought a distinct energy and light to Macalester. He was known for his love of poetry, of literature and of dance. You always knew his class was in session when you heard chatter and music bursting from a classroom in the Humanities building. Last November, González passed away from cancer, shortly after teaching his last class in the first module of the fall semester. This week, almost a year later — and one day after what would have been his 72nd birthday — the Department of Spanish and Portuguese hosted a celebration of his life with music, poetry and storytelling.

Her started this project after COVID-19 forced a change in direction. In the spring of 2020 as meeting people in-person became impossible, she put her portrait work on pause. She brought her camera along on a road trip to visit family in California, where she was intrigued by the story of Mount Shasta. The region is home to a large Hmong population. Many of them cultivate marijuana. In recent years, they’ve faced droughts, fires, and legal challenges to their marijuana farms.

For the past six years, Macalester has been invested in Enbridge, the company currently constructing the Line 3 pipeline through Indigenous land in violation of treaty rights in northern Minnesota. Former leaders of the student divestment organization Fossil Free Mac found this information while researching Macalester’s investments in December 2020. Macalester students, staff and faculty alike have dedicated years to the ongoing movement to stop Line 3. Since Enbridge began construction on the pipeline in November 2020, several students have been arrested for physically blocking construction at the pipeline site in northern Minnesota.

As the rest of Minnesota prepares for two weeks in the sun at the State Fair, Gerry Kulzer is preparing his parka, gloves and carving tools. He’ll be spending the fair in a 40-degree cooler, carving a new larger-than-life sculpture every day — in butter. And he couldn’t be more excited. “This is the best job in the world,” Kulzer said.

At the start of a new high school sports season in Minnesota teams hold tryouts, scrimmages, and first games. For a few of Minnesota’s best-known players, there is a new opportunity to make money. In June, the Minnesota State High School League approved guidance that allows students to sign name, image and likeness (NIL) deals. That means companies can contract with students to advertise or endorse products. Proponents are excited for the opportunity to give athletes a chance to make some money and get business experience. But some coaches and experts are worried about how pay for some will change high school athletics.

“I was not prepared for what it meant to have a chronic illness and move away from home,” Berry said. In her eyes, Macalester — and higher education in general — is not designed for people with disabilities or health concerns. “We’re a school for the fully abled, and it’s wrong,” Berry said. “We do pride ourselves on things like acceptance and multiculturalism and everyone having their different unique situation[s], but we’re not really willing to accommodate for most of those variations of situations.”

Roller skating made a comeback during the pandemic, and there are plenty of outdoor skate meetups around the Twin Cities. But indoor rinks are few and far between. The only ones left in the metro area are in the suburbs. A new project called Roll North is trying to change that.