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OpenNews •

Product manager diary: Learning to work with vendors and development teams outside of your organization

A big part of product management, and career growth too, is figuring out how all the pieces fit together. ( Photo by Vlad Hilitanu on Unsplash ) This year has been my first as a product manager in a newsroom, after working in editorial and engagement roles as a student and early-career journalist. The most challenging parts of product work feel similar to the newsroom and yet completely different at the same time. A big focus over the last year has been identifying how the skills I already have
Philadelphia Neighborhoods •

Southwest: A Day at John Bartram High School’s Football Homecoming

By the looks of the shiny silver bleachers and new turf paint, one wouldn’t have guessed all the troubles the Braves faced to make it to their first homecoming game on their new field. But after a period of disrepair and two years of renovations, Bartram Field is now open for their home games. Their season’s late-August prior home game, the field’s debut, took place in a downpour head coach Jim Chapman called a “monsoon.” Following that, the team’s other games were scrapped due to storms and CO
Star Tribune •

Why the old-style Lake Harriet Band Shell remains a perennial favorite

Before crowds began ending summer concerts with standing ovations, before moviegoers flocked to the lakeside spot, even before it was built, the Lake Harriet Band Shell got a round of applause. When Minnesota architect Milo Thompson revealed the plan for the revamped band shell in 1986, residents responded with clapping and cheers. Thompson, now 86, is still surprised by how the city has embraced the band shell over the years. "I never expected, really, that it would become the icon that it i
Star Tribune •

Despite the internet, Twin Cities zines continue to flourish

With so much of the world staying virtual, let's turn our attention to a lasting and tangible art form that's been through it all: zines. The do-it-yourself publications are still telling stories about arts, politics, culture, identity and organizing that were once exclusively shared in them. Zines are sold in brick-and-mortar bookstores, shared at events and meetups, downloaded digitally or ordered online through subscription services. Some zinesters use Instagram, Discord or online wikis, wh
Star Tribune •

Get homestyle cooking at Minneapolis' new Soul to Soul Smokehouse and CHX restaurants

It's 2, 3, 1 = home cooking. Two trios at new Minneapolis restaurants share one goal in bringing homestyle cooking to the city. Both CHX in Uptown and Soul to Soul Smokehouse in Midtown are run by longtime friends who work together like brothers — and in one case, are related. And both groups wanted to bring the recipes they were raised on — hand-dipped chicken tenders at CHX and smoked meats at Soul to Soul Smokehouse — to locations they felt could use a family-like taste. The restaurateurs a
Star Tribune •

4 Minnesota front-line workers on pandemic: 'There's still a little healing to do'

Sabrina Collins' hair is back. The 46-year-old nursing home assistant cut her hair last April, after the stress of her job in a senior care center caused it to thin. Her hair had been down to her shoulders before she chopped it to 3 inches. Now, she can tie it back into a small pigtail. "When I can pull it all back and put it in a binder, that's like, 'Hey, that's progress,' " Collins said. Progress is something that's difficult to gauge in the lives of many of Minnesota's essential workers.
Star Tribune •

Twin Cities band 26 BATS! celebrates a magic number with a new sound

This Monday belongs to no one other than Bailey Cogan. The 26-year-old singer-songwriter's group 26 BATS! is debuting "Portal Party," its third album to be released on the 26th of a month. The cherished numerology is a nod to Cogan's May 26 birthday and a figure that's guided their artistry from the start. "That's my magic number, that's the number that follows me everywhere. Why not celebrate it?" Cogan said. Celebrate, indeed. "Portal Party" and its upcoming 7th St. Entry release show Aug.
Star Tribune •

Minneapolis duo 26BATS! hits their magic number

This Monday belongs to no one other than Bailey Cogan. The 26-year-old singer-songwriter's group 26 BATS! is debuting "Portal Party," its third album to be released on the 26th of a month. The cherished numerology is a nod to Cogan's May 26 birthday and a figure that's guided their artistry from the start. "That's my magic number, that's the number that follows me everywhere. Why not celebrate it?" Cogan said. Celebrate, indeed. "Portal Party" and its upcoming 7th St. Entry release show Aug.
Star Tribune •

Vets vie for largest virtual pet hangout while partying to Prince at First Ave

Prince's "Animal Kingdom" is taking on the virtual world. As part of its annual conference, the American Veterinary Medical Association is attempting to set the world record for the Most Users in a Pet Video Hangout. And that virtual pet party will be accompanied by a livestream from First Avenue on July 29. Why Minnesota? And why the Purple One? The national conference was supposed to take place in Minneapolis this year but went virtual because of the pandemic. The organizers wanted to find
Star Tribune •

10 Twin Cities summer date ideas that are more than just a meal

It's midsummer, and you're ready to get back out there. But after 16 months you may be a little rusty, so we asked Star Tribune readers and staff on social media to share their favorite Twin Cities date spots. While restaurant patios or a picnic by the Stone Arch Bridge are always a good bet, we decided to pick places that are more than just a meal. Whether you're headed for music in the park as a pair, or roller-skating as a group, here are 10 ideas to get you started. This carnivallike amusem
Star Tribune •

Phoebe Bridgers heads to St. Paul's Palace Theatre for a two-nighter

Indie-rock star Phoebe Bridgers will play a two-night engagement Sept. 11-12 at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul as part of a tour announced Monday. The tour — her first since November 2019 — is in support of Bridgers' album "Punisher," released last summer and nominated for a Grammy as best alternative-music album. The "Kyoto" singer did a virtual tour last summer and performed other online concerts during the pandemic, but the so-called Reunion Tour will be Bridgers' first opportunity to perfo
Star Tribune •

10 ways to celebrate the return of Twin Cities Pride Weekend

There'll be no parade, concert or fireworks for Twin Cities Pride Weekend this year, but there's still a celebration to mark the 52nd year since the Stonewall Riots in New York kicked off the gay rights movement. Once state COVID-19 restrictions relaxed in May, Twin Cities pride organizers scheduled the festival for July 17-18, a month after its usual mid-June dates, to ensure time to organize in a safe way, given rising vaccination numbers, said festival executive director Dot Belstler. Last
Star Tribune •

84-year-old Deephaven painter Keith Wilcock wants to spread 'a jolt of joy' with art collection

Bedridden for a year with rheumatic fever during the second grade, Keith Wilcock spent hours upon hours drawing scenes of planes crashing. His technique grew, and once he returned to school, he made his first painting for its art contest: a pirate ship. Wilcock's teacher teased him for coloring the boat's sails purple, but his work still took the prize. "It was far better than anybody else's, I must admit," says Wilcock, 84, chuckling amid dozens of acrylic and watercolor scenes on the walls
Star Tribune •

Phoebe Bridgers heads to St. Paul's Palace Theater for a two-nighter

Indie-rock star Phoebe Bridgers will play a two-night engagement Sept. 11-12 at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul as part of a tour announced Monday. The tour — her first since November 2019 — is in support of Bridgers' album "Punisher," released last summer and nominated for a Grammy as best alternative-music album. The "Kyoto" singer did a virtual tour last summer and performed other online concerts during the pandemic, but the so-called Reunion Tour will be Bridgers' first opportunity to perfo
Star Tribune •

Maria Milagros Claro Mitchell, mother figure and immigrant mentor to many, dies at 67

Maria Milagros "Mila" Claro Mitchell was a giving mother to her family and communities, which stretched from her relatives in tiny Trosky, Minn., and Macalpi-ay, Pastrana, Leyte, in the Philippines to her dozens of foster children and the many Filipinos she helped emigrate to Minnesota. Called by her middle name, which means "miracles" in Tagalog, Mitchell spent her final days in the Philippines with her younger sister, Maria Cristina, while visiting her older sister, Maria Conchita, after Mitc
Star Tribune •

Lost in the Boundary Waters, a Minnesota couple found each other

Sometimes, poor navigation skills can lead you in a direction for life. That's what happened to Nicole Erickson after she held a map upside down on a college canoe trip, got lost and crossed paths with Michael Kelly. Erickson and Kelly just got engaged at Horseshoe Island near Saganaga Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness — the place where they met when their canoe groups converged on a college orientation trek. Ahead of their freshman year at the College of St. Benedict and St.
Star Tribune •

Minnesota theaters are welcoming moviegoers back 'home'

It is back to the past and future for movie theaters. Theaters today have to "show people that it's more than just sitting at home and watching a movie," said Rich Gill, former assistant lead manager of the Uptown Theatre, which lost its lease earlier this month over unpaid rent. He's now received messages from people who saw "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" there in the 1970s, remembering going out dressed in costume and with toast in hand. Gill, who has been 18 years in the movie business, sai
Star Tribune •

At Minneapolis' first-ever Native Prom, Indigenous youth celebrate their culture

As they formed a circle for the night's round dance, high schoolers, graduates, parents and chaperones tossed their glittery high heels to the side of South High School's practice field. Around 70 people — some dressed in ribbon skirts and ribbon shirts, others in color-coordinated prom dresses and tuxedos — gathered for Minneapolis Public Schools' first-ever Native Prom on Saturday night. Hosted by the city's Indian Education Department, Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center and the Divisio
Star Tribune •

Through digital detective work, Minneapolis professor processes friend's suicide in a new podcast

Chris Stedman last heard from Alex Small in a scheduled e-mail telling him he had died by suicide. Attached were two audio files of Small speaking to an online friend who sounded eerily like Britney Spears. Stedman puzzled over the message for weeks after Small's death in December 2019: "I just kept coming back to these files ... trying to figure out what he is trying to show me, like: Why did he send me these files?" A professor at Augsburg University, author of "IRL: Finding Realness, Meanin
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