When Franklin Delano Roosevelt put people to work as part of his New Deal programs in the 1930s, he didn't just work with farmers and construction workers. Creative types were also employed: writers wrote...

On the list of things you're unlikely to hear in an average bar, opera probably ranks high. But a couple of graduate opera students are trying to change that, breaking down the barrier between high culture...

E Global Lens 2008 WHERE: Walker Art Center WHEN: May 7-18 TICKETS: $8, $6 for Walker members, buy three get fourth free, $24, $18 for Walker members, May 8 screening of Luxury Car and May 15 screening...

With only sub-par reality television to entertain us during the writers strike, Jeremy Bishop and some friends decided to create some entertainment of their own. No Time for TV WHEN: Mondays, 8 p.m. WHERE:...

Imagine coming to a university with more than 50,000 students but choosing to spend your four years as an undergrad with the same 20 people, day-in, day-out, Monday through Saturday, for 1460 days. Then,...

This is not your mother's "Wiz," nor is it your grandfather's "The Wizard of Oz." In fact, forget that you've even heard of either one. This is "The Wiz," University of Minnesota-style. As Dorothy (Ivory...

Jamie Schumacher noticed the discrepancy right away. Four years ago, she moved to the Twin Cities because of the vibrancy of the artist community in the area. She quickly noticed that her new home had...

.In American Sign Language, you quite literally are what you do: The sign for an occupation is a verb for what you do, and then the sign for person. For example, a teacher is a "teach person." Similarly,...

The term "dyke" just doesn't mean what it used to. When "Dykes to Watch Out For" creator Alison Bechdel named the comic back in 1983, the word had a different meaning than it does now. Reading WHEN: 7...

Manil Suri started writing as a hobby. He was already an associate professor of mathematics at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County and he said he felt he needed an extra dimension. So he sat down...

."4 draft offices in state raided, 8 accused of attempted sabotage" "FBI Nabs 8 in Minnesota Draft Office Break-ins" "8 Arrests in Draft Raids Spur City Demonstration" "Further protests threatened in 8...

War isn't pretty. Since anti-war protests have taken off in the past few years, the words war and peace, terrorism and troops, national and security, get thrown around without much thought. It's the rare...

David Treuer can tell a love story. In fact, he can tell two at the same time. "The Translation of Dr. Apelles" was published in paperback Tuesday, following its hardcover release last September. In his...

Many people hear modern dance and picture dancers dressed all in black, convulsing and jumping indiscriminately around a stage to the sounds of screeching birds and train whistles. They're scared of it,...

Lynn Fellman's presence at the American Society of Human Genetics conference in San Diego last October was unusual. She isn't a scientist, and she doesn't work for a science journal. She didn't even go...

Dennis Duff is a self-described historian of Roller Derby. He's loved the sport ever since his sister's boyfriend came over one day when he was young and tuned the television set to a roller derby bout....

On Dec. 12, Israelis and Palestinians will once again come to the bargaining table attempting to broker a peace between the two sides that have been at odds for more than half a century. Observers doubt...

;102 LITE FM is already playing Christmas music 24/7. The Christmas shopping season has already begun with the madness of Black Friday's unbeatable sales and ridiculously early wake-up calls. Christmas...

."All you have to do is listen," says August Rush, the 11-year-old orphan who uses music to search for his long-lost parents. His music permeates the holiday friendly "August Rush," without which the whole...

."May you be in heaven a half hour before the Devil knows you're dead" goes the old Irish blessing, the basis for the title of Hollywood legend Sidney Lumet's latest film "Before the Devil Knows You're...

'Imagine what you would like to see happen, and then don't do anything to make that impossible.' Ron Padgett didn't come from a particularly literary family. Up until he began writing poems at the age...

I'm not sure why I enjoy reminiscing about my childhood so much, but whatever the reason, I'm often caught listening to the teeny-bopper music that defined my sixth-grade music collection, or watching...

College houses are swimming cesspools of dead skin, pubic hair, beer caps and that popcorn from two weeks ago, not shining examples of cleanliness. Whether it's apathy or lack of time, perhaps the dirt...

John Cage once said that any noise can become music if you listen to it hard enough. The modern composer is most famous for his 4'33", in which he uses a piano to play nothing for four minutes and 33 seconds....

The weekend after Halloween seems a fitting time to hold a chocolate show. After over-indulging in the milk-chocolate and tootsie rolls of childhood, the adult palette might be craving the good stuff. Enter...

At the head of England's emergence as an empire was the legendary Queen Elizabeth, the virgin queen, daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII and no stranger to scandal. Her power led to a relatively stable...

One expects certain things from the Jerry Springer Show: Fights. Sex. Big hair. Bad makeup. Tight clothes. Grown men in diapers. "Jerry Springer - The Opera" WHEN: Through Oct. 28. WHERE: Hennepin Stages,...

What goes better with zombies than blood and guts? Why, fashion of course. In a post-apocalyptic world, where the zombies have taken over and only small pockets of humanity remain, we must still cling...

Corporate culture. It's all over our entertainment. Why? So we can relive our terrible day at the office again when we turn on the television at home? Is it because it's so darn relatable, and just so...

Depression. Suicide. Molestation. Nightmares. Nudity. Mickey Mouse's high, squeaky voice. All are subjects of Altered Esthetics' newest group art show, "Dirty Little Secrets." Confessional WHAT: Dirty...

Imagine the world without us. Imagine we disappear into nothingness. Our cities, our farms, our toxins, our garbage remains, but we are gone. "The World Without Us" Author: Alan Weisman Publisher: Thomas...

The story of Chris McCandless does not have a happy ending. His body was found in the Alaskan wilderness, decomposing. He died of starvation, probably brought on by eating the wrong kind of seeds, effectively...

Some people can just tell a good story. I lose $3 on the bus and it's a side note when I tell my roommates about the day. Then another person loses $3 on the bus, and the story becomes epic, involving...

We hear about the economic might of China, the collective power of 1.3 billion people. We see the "Made in China" stickers as we peel them off the cheap plasticware we buy at Target or Wal-Mart. We hear...

After constantly pressuring their students to grow in their artwork, the faculty of the art department finally get the opportunity to do so themselves. Out of the Comfort Zone WHEN: Tuesday through Sunday,...

Governed by invisible forces, our lives are constantly pulled and prodded into a submission. Host WHEN: Sept. 8 through Oct. 21, Thursday and Friday, 2 to 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. WHERE:...

You might have walked in on your roommate using this, maybe even twice, or more, in one day. No, not "doing it." Replace human emotion with sexual stimulus manufactured to make you orgasm in 10 minutes...