Bridging Minneapolis – the Phillips West Project is ON

I’ll update the blog soon but in the meantime, check out our new website! It’d be great if you add it to your fb page, write a comment, subscribe…

www.bridgingminneapolis.com

 

More panels!

 

 

 

New mural panels

I’m overdue for an update and will write soon but I couldn’t wait to post these new panels Elissa Cedarleaf co-created with students from Jefferson Community School. You’ll see that one is a re-imagining of The Scream…transforming the scary bridge (and our neighborhood) into a vibrant place where we could be safe and happy. In the other panel, they expand the concept of “neighborhood” to the furthest reaches.

It’s in the blood

My Grandma Thea was a community organizer in her ND town. When there was talk of tearing out the historic library, she petitioned until the city renovated instead of destroying it. Then, across the street from her house was a lagoon and a big patch of unkempt land. Grandma got the owner to donate the land and she drew up plans, collected donations, got someone to bring in an old log schoolhouse from the country and she landscaped the whole area. Later she drew up plans for a picnic area and she collected donations to install that too.

I learned today that just like me, Grandma would go to sleep thinking about something and her ideas came to her in dreams. Isn’t that a cool thing to inherit? (I wish I’d gotten her legs but I’ll take the dreams I guess.)

I have fantastic news! A neighbor and I knocked on all of the doors in the vicinity of the dog park today and garnered 100% enthusiastic support. This is a significant milestone in the project so I’m overjoyed. Two formalities remain: an April neighborhood vote and the official Park Board vote. After that, I’ll gather landscape design proposals and move into installation mode.

First Mural Panels

First mural panel (from St. Stephen’s)

The artist holding his mural panel

Serendipity reigns!

I’d planned to limit myself to one blog update per week but I have to tell you this!

Madeline Douglas, our Project Historian, just found a 1973 Minneapolis Star article about a muralist (then a student at MCAD) who wanted to paint the 35W walls. I’m calling him today so he’ll know that MCAD students are making his wish happen!…28 years later.

And get this. I found an article about a painting he did of Kateri for a church. Our next mural session (next week) is at a facility called Kateri Residence.

later…I called him this morning and he’s lovely. He said words can’t express what this means to him. And, what are the odds?, his (deceased) father was a bridge engineer and his godfather was the head of MNDot for years.

On another front: I sent a request a year ago to an organization that arranges non-profit’s shipments in airline cargo holds. I inquired about whether they could partner with World Pulse (a women’s organization that gets  computers and equipment donations) and Medwish International (an organization that collects excess medical supplies). They never replied to my request. Until today. I finally received their “sounds great!” reply. I can’t wait to make the hook-ups.

I’m blessed beyond reasont be in this portal.

The Artists of Bridging Minneapolis

Elissa Cedarleaf http://arteconelissa.org/

Greta McLain http://gretamclain.com/

1st Annual ‘Seven Days to Play’ arts and cultural event

… to celebrate creativity and collaboration in West Phillips, culminating on Sun with the project’s big unveiling party. (I’m a big fan of the term “1st Annual”. It’s so optimistic isn’t it?)

I just thought of this event last night so it’s not fleshed out yet, but I’ll share what I’ve got.

Date: Summer 2011 (date TBD)

Objectives:

• Make us soulfully proud to live in West Phillips
• Show the world we’re a gifted, collaborative community
  
• Highlight the many cultures that make up Phillips West and showcase skills and talent
• Provide a forum for artists to get paid to teach and perform their craft
• Offer exposure to a wide variety of cultures and artistic disciplines
• Offer an opportunity for young and old to learn arts and culture
• In honor of the bridge, we’ll encourage cross-collaborations, e.g. inter-generational, inter-cultural, inter-disciplinary
• Since the project artists and I plan to continue Bridging Minneapolis project across the city, I’d like Seven Days to Play to be a part of each installation. Each neighborhood will hold the event annually so it continues and extends.

Components:

• We collect donated instruments and art supplies for local kids
• Artists are paid to teach classes and lead activities that are free to attend (e.g. drawing, Soukous guitar, Tango dancing, Ojibwe drumming, spoken word, songwriting, puppetry, etc.)
• Find artisans/performers from the neighborhood
• Interdisciplinary, inter-generational performances
• Round-table discussions on a variety of topics, including one on how to do a project like this.
• Kid-friendly movies
• A parade?
• Arts and Crafts festival on Sat-Sun (a sale featuring the works of local artisans)
  
  On Sunday (culmination and celebration day):
• I’ll have the city block off traffic on both sides of the bridge
• Traditional healing ceremony
• Arts & Crafts Festival
• Performances (music, puppets, dance, etc.)
• Food/drinks
• Local organizations will have tables to describe what they do, ask for volunteers/members, etc. (I’ll ask Gardening Matters, Transition Towns, e-Democracy, Center for Changing Lives, Cultural Wellness center, Swedish Institute, Mad Dads, Urban Ventures, Communities of Light, Video Brigade, St. Stephen’s, Ebeneezer, MCAD, MIA…who else?)

Space: I’ll ask the Open Eye Theatre if we can use their space, I’m hoping to use the empty lot (by the bridge) and will work with Whittier Alliance to organize on the other side of the bridge.

Potential collaborators/sponsors: Wells Fargo, Allina, MCAD, MIA, Target, Abbott Northwestern, Children’s Hospital, Ameriprise Financial, Eye Institute…

Right now, I’m praying for a project team! Do YOU wanna join me?

Project “Bridging Minneapolis” is Underway!

After my 1st home burglary, I installed a fence, a steel door and window locks. After the 2nd one (w/in a year) came more steel doors and a security system. I didn’t like the direction this was taking…living in fear and spending money to protect stuff I don’t need. This realization came as I returned from DR Congo. I thought of how the central character in The Alchemist traveled far, only to realize his treasure was back at home. I decided to focus on my own community, my own block.

My neighborhood, Phillips West in Minneapolis, has for decades been over-run by crime and decay. We hide out because the streets aren’t our own. People drive in from the suburbs to buy drugs and sex, oblivious to the resultant destruction. Where ever there’s a void, something comes along to fill it. To explore how I might fill that space, I first listed the assets on my block. At the end of the block is an underutilized pedestrian bridge crossing the freeway. Next to me is an empty lot and across the street is the community-focused Open Eye Figure Theatre. Around the corner are the residents of two high rises and a green space shaded by a canopy of trees…perfect for a dog park.

In a dream, I saw the pedestrian bridge replaced by a vibrant, meandering green space. Kids were learning guitar, Somali women were sitting on low stools laughing and talking, people were reciting poetry and artists were painting the Minneapolis skyline as bicyclists and happy people with dogs passed through. It was one of those dreams you know is real. I could feel it. Just after the dream, I happened upon High Line Park in Manhattan and realized my crazy dream could actually happen.

I discovered that our foot bridge is slated to be destroyed by 2017 so I need to act quickly. I explored the history of the bridge and learned that in 1967, against the neighborhood’s vehement protests, the freeway was installed, decimating the community and causing devastating hardship to those who were forced to move and those left behind. But Pastor Warren Sorteberg and a small contingent of neighbors lobbied relentlessly until the city constructed the foot bridge in 1971…making this the 40th anniversary of the bridge.  This story has been forgotten; people don’t know that our bridge is a testament to activism. This knowledge gives me absolute conviction. They did it and so can we! Breathing new life into this story is paramount.

I’ve also discovered that our neighborhood was named after activist/abolitionist Wendell Phillips and 2011 is the 200th anniversary of his birth. I’m so inspired, knowing our predecessors already laid the ground for this project. Unfortunately, as these stories fell from memory, the neighborhood fell into decades of decay, as has the bridge. But a number of community-engagement initiatives are emerging throughout Phillips. Despite daunting challenges, a transcendence is imminent. This is our time! I talked with our state representative last fall who agreed to add the bridge to the state’s 2011 discussion agenda.

I need to act quickly. First up is addressing safety. (My friend was robbed at gunpoint there.) Also, what would beautify the space and increase foot and bike traffic? In late Dec 2010, I held a meeting to explore possibilities. As a result, I launched a project.

Our Arts college (MCAD) introduced me to Greta McLain, Elissa Cedarleaf, two renowned mural artists. We’re collaborating with several local organizations to create community mural panels conveying the concept, “What is a Bridge?”. They’ll be installed on each side of the bridge, re-connecting the neighborhood. Participating so far are four shelters, a kids’ after school program, a homeless youth program, Minneapolis Public Schools and the Open Eye Theatre. Many more have expressed interest and since the project involves panels and not one mural, we’ll add to it over time. Greta and Elissa had been percolating an idea to do murals on freeway walls. Our meeting was pure destiny!

Our first session with each group is dedicated to ideation, using Appreciative Inquiry to explore powerful questions like, “What is a bridge? How have I been a bridge? How has someone been a bridge for me? How is it to be in transition? How does it feel to walk toward the future with hopefulness? If I’m not hopeful, where can I go for inspiration?”. (I could write volumes about the conversations that are generated from these questions. I’m in jaw-dropped awe every time.)

There’s an exciting development on another important front. The City Council approved the new Dog Park, the neighborhood association offered me $5k to install it, the Dep’t of Transportation agreed to lease the land for practically nothing and the Park Board offered to maintain it. Assuming I succeed in garnering approval from the neighbors, it’ll be installed this summer and will be the only dog park in south-central Minneapolis, thus is sure to be highly utilized. This is significant as it’ll bring people into our neighborhood (and across our bridge)…many for the first time. It’ll garner positive press and enliven the space with plenty of people and happy dogs. (The city’s making me tear down my big old tree so it’s becoming wood chips for the dog park.)

Synergy abounds as this summer the city’s making 24th St a bicycle path and since the current bridge doesn’t have a ramp this leads into my case for replacing it. There’s also talk of renaming 24th St, “Wellness Way”, which would give us an excuse to extend the reach of the project.

I’m developing numerous components. If you live nearby, I need you!:

• Historian Madeline Douglas is helping me conduct research
• Wkly collaborative/improvisational gatherings on the bridge (yoga, drumming, poetry, etc.)
• The theatre’s asked the owner of the empty lot next to the bridge if we can use it for free kids’ programming in exchange for paying liability and handling maintenance. (They should donate it to us!)
• I’m engaging residents of the two high rises
• I’m facilitating workshops for neighbors to explore the concept, “What is a Bridge?”.
• I’m building solar lanterns for the dog run with local Communities of Light project
• I’m leveraging university contacts to develop data collection methods, including polling 200+ neighbors (pre- and post- project) to track improvement in sense of safety and livability and I’d also like to track crime stats.
• Unveiling celebration (music, food, performances, a panel discussion and kids’ arts activities)
• Photo contest (shots of people taken on the bridge and posted on the project website)
• Treasure hunt on and around the bridge
  Prizes for contests will be donated by local businesses.
• Neighborhood arts and crafts festival
• We’re creating a big planter to fill w/ flowers (via Greta’s mosaic project, Semilla) and place near the bridge.
• I’ve asked some graffiti knitters to do their thing on the bridge.

After the summer installation/celebration/evaluation:

• I’ll move forward with the bigger bridge project. The statistics dep’t of a European university is interested in sending a data collection team here so this fall I’ll bring project documentation to Italy to kick-start the plan.
• The artists and I will pursue “What is a Bridge?” installations throughout the city.
• We’re creating a Community Mural Toolkit for artists and organizers.

The latest from the past few days:

• Harvard University is holding a June conference in honor of Wendell Phillips and a local Professor is representing our neighborhood as a keynote speaker. I’ve been e-introduced to him in hopes an opportunity will emerge.
• I continue my quest to find neighbors who worked with the Pastor to build the bridge so I can videotape interviews.
• Last Wed a.m., a local paper asked me to send an article by the next morning. I boarded a plane and was seated next to a professional writer. He helped me write the article and inspired me to find ways to generate P.R.
• Fri, I’m on another plane, seated next to a P.R. professional who gave me tons of ideas.

Now you know what wakes me up in the middle of the night and brings me to tears every day.

Phase New

My experience in Congo was humbling. Until then, I’d spent years figuring out how to make my crazy schemes come to life. That’s a tremendously powerful intoxicant. But the level of need in Congo is so overwhelming that it brought me to my knees. When I returned, I couldn’t formulate a thought or make a simple decision for months.

I’ll preface this by saying that any positive contributions we make are important…every prayer, every wish, every contribution, every risk, every effort. And countless big-hearted people have helped me to raise money over the years and I completely believe in what we’ve accomplished. Yet still, sending donations through Paypal, bringing supplies and books when I travel, setting up monthly auto-deductions is so easy. Throwing myself headlong into doing everything I could on my trip to Congo was a natural evolution I suppose. And I don’t want to discount the impacts. But I so don’t want to join the gang of white people saving the poor people in [name your "third world country"]. For real. Popping in to drop off donations and leaving with an I-done-good feeling hovers dangerously close to self-serving. I love the love that acts as an impetus to touch lives. But it activates a separation, a dichotomy. Privileged and powerless. Powerful and powerless.

“If you’ve come to help me, you’re wasting my time, but if you’ve come because your liberation is bound up with mine, lets work together.” -Lilla Watson

Years ago, my friend lived next door to a young family on a suburban don’t-know-my-neighbors cul de sac. The young dad next door died  and my friend started doing the family’s mowing and yard work…at first out of that helpless feeling we get in situations when words won’t suffice. But he caught himself one day feeling full-of-himself about it. He ran back into the house to print calendars and he went around the neighborhood introducing himself and asking neighbors to sign up for a weekend. Everybody signed up and voila…a vibrant community emerged.

Soon I’ll write about my new neighborhood project. I feel like I’m living out The Alchemist. I traveled around the world to realize my work is in my own head…and my own hood. And since my hood now includes Camp Banana…

Mom, Aunt Phyllis and I sent a bunch’a mean green to Siama’s family yesterday so they can have another family reunion. I also sent some for Mama Rashidi with love from Tante Dallas. I woke up smiling…knowing brother Nlandu carried the surprise home today. Imagine along with me! Our Matadi family is so happy right now.

Next up, I’ll write about the new project.