Great Weekend in Minnehaha
So I got home from Minneapolis two days ago. I have been back to work for two days and I still don't know what I'm doing. Have confidence in me as a case manager! Over the weekend Mike, Nate and I rode over 100 miles. It didn't feel like it at the time. I was really confused as to why I was so tired everyday, it was probably from all the bike riding.
Now I know that 100 miles over 4 days isn't really that much. Heck 100 miles could be done in one day, but with all the other stuff we did and all the miles we walked, it was a good time.
Now let me tell you something about Minneapolis. My friend Nate likes in "the hood." Basically he lives on the wrong side of the interstate right. But like the first time I visited Minneapolis, "the hood" there has nothing on Detroit. The first time I was in Minneapolis I went to the north side (read - "real bad part of town") to visit a church up there. We were getting the keys to our friend Dave's house to stay in while we were on tour (we = chinesehappy). That neighborhood looked like one of Detroit's suburbs. It looked like Warren, so not the nicest, but no slum by any means. Maybe it helped that it was sunny outside?
Anyway, my friend Nate lives in this neighborhood that has a lot of Somali refugees so I guess that makes it a bad neighborhood or something. I was walking through his neighborhood and notice a lot of "no tresspassing" signs on houses. I questioned Nate about the signs and he was like "those houses are abandoned - they don't want people stealing copper tubing." Let me tell you about these abandoned houses: they look nicer than a lot of houses being rented in Detroit. I guess in Minneapolis they paint the boards when they board up a house and then people magically don't break in. Nate said that often people in the neighborhood will unboard a house the night it has been boarded up. I guess this makes it look still lived in and no one steals the pipes. Either way, Minneapolis's abandoned houses ain't got nothing on Detroit's. If there was a fight...well Minneapolis would win because Detroit's houses are missing parts and have holes in them, but...we have more street cred?
We ended up not going to see Baby Guts like we planned, but that was okay cause it was raining like crazy and the ride to St. Paul would have sucked. Instead we went to see radical theatre instead at the Bedlam Theatre. This place was great. It was like a mix of the Aberact, Planet Ant and Hastings St here in Detroit. Here is a great bit about the Bedlam Theatre:
GENDER NUETRAL BATHROOMS!
Fuck yeah, they just listed on the outside "mostly stalls and a urnial" and "mostly stalls (for sitting" and then another sign said something like "bathrooms may not conform to conventional gender norms" I think that was a great way of doing it cause cisgendered people could recognize that the bathroom "with a urinal" is "male" if that makes them feel more comfortable, but at the same time anyone can pee! I mean, gender nuetral bathrooms shouldn't cater to cisgendered people, but I think listing what kind of facilities are in each room was a real cool way of doing it.
Anyway, we saw an ad for a show that was playing there. We saw this take on Cabaret, except it was starring children. Basically we didn't know that this meant that it was an alternative high school's musical. I think we may have been the only people there that weren't family or friends of the cast but it was okay. Only one of the kids sang in tune and some of the acting was bad. But considering it was a bunch of high school kids doing a gender and sexual deviant show, it was pretty amazing.
Let me explain that sentence.
I felt weird about watching children perform a show with sexual themes however it was done tastefully (of course). The thing is these kids took on issues that a majority of America isn't able to discuss as adults and performed it in front of their parents. Fuck'n progressive Minneapolis punk rock families! Plus seeing kids gender being is great. Gender should be bent until it is snapped.
There was one mom there that had this crazy dyed hair so some strands were red and blue while the rest was black. She also had these gnar ass tattoos covering her arms and back (for those of you that don't know "gnar ass" is a good thing). This older woman was in the play and Mike thought she was a teacher. She had a bunch of tattoos. The woman directing the play (probably a teacher at the school) had a bunch of tattoos. I think this school is where tattooed teachers go after they get kicked out of their conventional schools. It was pretty fun.
Afterwards we went to The Hard Times Cafe. It is a cooperatively run and owned diner. I had some vegan mac & cheese along with some soup. The food was not amazing, but it was good. After you write your order down on some paper and pay they prepare it. When it is ready they yell "HEY! JASON! (or whatever name you put down)" It is pretty awesome. A great late night hang out. It is like a Denny's for vegans, except it doesn't completely suck. Actually it isn't like Denny's at all because Denny's is a complete shithole. And really Hard Times is not only for vegans, but definately caters to them.
The reason I would say that The Hard Times Cafe wasn't amazing is because we also ate at a place called Ecopolitan. This was a raw food vegan restaraunt. I don't know about this raw foods thing, but that food was SO GOOD! It was really pricey, but after paying $4.50 for a round trip ticket to Minneapolis, I could spend a little more on food. Mike said Ecopolitan was Minneapolis's version of Inn Season here. The difference is that Ecopolitan is in the city instead of the suburbs and EVERYTHING was vegan. Also, they didn't cook anything. But the comparison is fare. Basically it is a semi pricey vegan haven, but worth it when you have the extra money to spend.
To compare to another coopertively run space, we also ate at the Seward Cafe. This place was on my list and we didn't get there until lunch on Monday. I would have been bummed if we didn't make it there. I have a tofu mock muffin and some french toast. Holy shit that french toast was so good. If the Hard Times and Seward Cafe are punk rock place with their worker owned spaces, then I would say that Hard Times would be the hardcore punks that don't wake up until 1pm and listen to thrash and streetpunk. The Seward would be the eco punks that grow gardens and listen to folk punk and artsy indie rock. I love them both. I would rather eat at the Seward, but late at night I would rather hang out at the Hard Times. Well, you can't hang out at the Seward late at night, but still - they are different places for different times and crowds.
We also ate at the ever great Galactic pizza. We got the Paul Bunion pizza that comes with Bison on it. "Free Range" bison. We of course ordered it vegan and got vegan sausage which was spiced like the bison. Eating animals is stupid.
Speaking of animals, we went to the zoo. I HATE ZOOs. I am opposed to zoos existing really, but Nate got free passes and both him and mike wanted to go. I got depressed and pissed off. Mike says that he always wants to correct parents at zoos because they always give kids wrong info. While we were there I heard him correct a woman who called a gorilla an orangutan. Seriously, I know they aren't native to north america, but I thought that was general knowlege!
I read this book talking about how zoos say they are good because they encourage mating endangered species and public education. Go to a zoo and tell me that it is an educational space. Usually it is like what we experienced. A dumb fucking kid screaming and throwing ice cream at a caged animal and some dumb fucking adult telling the kid it is something that it isn't. "That be a kangaroo!" "That would be a wolf" "oh..." Yep, educational instituations my ass.
I heard one dumbfuck say "at least these animals are moving!" at one 'display.' Sorry lady, but you put these wild animals in 30'x30' cages. Do you expect them to suddenly overcome their depression and dance for you!? The tiger they had was pacing over and over. Basically I watched it go insane. I watched a couger crouch down as if it was going to pounce and just starred at this worker outside of its enclosure. That cougar wanted to kill that girl so bad, I could just tell. Then it started pacing back and forth. When caged animals start pacing like that, it is because they are going insane. There are documented cases of animals in capitivity killing themselves. They know what is happening to them, they know what they are doing, but we don't even know what kind of animal they are, "It's a chimpanzee son!" "That is a badger asshole."
Then of course you can get your fucking carnival food at the zoo. Hey kids look at these cute animals - NOW EAT ONE! Fuck that fucking shit. There was no education going on that day. Fuck stupid fucking zoos. I hate going to them. Zoos are bullshit.
Luckily after we left the zoo there were a bunch of gardens to walk through. Those calmed me down. There were less idiots in the gardens but there were a few.
This is the end of part one of my writings. Coming up I will have to share with you about tandem bikes, mr. sex nipples and the city of angels moment, the greenway, the bike sculpture, art museums and the plans for a bike tour! Fuck yeah.
time to go watch LOST with my militant vegan friends!
Now I know that 100 miles over 4 days isn't really that much. Heck 100 miles could be done in one day, but with all the other stuff we did and all the miles we walked, it was a good time.
Now let me tell you something about Minneapolis. My friend Nate likes in "the hood." Basically he lives on the wrong side of the interstate right. But like the first time I visited Minneapolis, "the hood" there has nothing on Detroit. The first time I was in Minneapolis I went to the north side (read - "real bad part of town") to visit a church up there. We were getting the keys to our friend Dave's house to stay in while we were on tour (we = chinesehappy). That neighborhood looked like one of Detroit's suburbs. It looked like Warren, so not the nicest, but no slum by any means. Maybe it helped that it was sunny outside?
Anyway, my friend Nate lives in this neighborhood that has a lot of Somali refugees so I guess that makes it a bad neighborhood or something. I was walking through his neighborhood and notice a lot of "no tresspassing" signs on houses. I questioned Nate about the signs and he was like "those houses are abandoned - they don't want people stealing copper tubing." Let me tell you about these abandoned houses: they look nicer than a lot of houses being rented in Detroit. I guess in Minneapolis they paint the boards when they board up a house and then people magically don't break in. Nate said that often people in the neighborhood will unboard a house the night it has been boarded up. I guess this makes it look still lived in and no one steals the pipes. Either way, Minneapolis's abandoned houses ain't got nothing on Detroit's. If there was a fight...well Minneapolis would win because Detroit's houses are missing parts and have holes in them, but...we have more street cred?
We ended up not going to see Baby Guts like we planned, but that was okay cause it was raining like crazy and the ride to St. Paul would have sucked. Instead we went to see radical theatre instead at the Bedlam Theatre. This place was great. It was like a mix of the Aberact, Planet Ant and Hastings St here in Detroit. Here is a great bit about the Bedlam Theatre:
GENDER NUETRAL BATHROOMS!
Fuck yeah, they just listed on the outside "mostly stalls and a urnial" and "mostly stalls (for sitting" and then another sign said something like "bathrooms may not conform to conventional gender norms" I think that was a great way of doing it cause cisgendered people could recognize that the bathroom "with a urinal" is "male" if that makes them feel more comfortable, but at the same time anyone can pee! I mean, gender nuetral bathrooms shouldn't cater to cisgendered people, but I think listing what kind of facilities are in each room was a real cool way of doing it.
Anyway, we saw an ad for a show that was playing there. We saw this take on Cabaret, except it was starring children. Basically we didn't know that this meant that it was an alternative high school's musical. I think we may have been the only people there that weren't family or friends of the cast but it was okay. Only one of the kids sang in tune and some of the acting was bad. But considering it was a bunch of high school kids doing a gender and sexual deviant show, it was pretty amazing.
Let me explain that sentence.
I felt weird about watching children perform a show with sexual themes however it was done tastefully (of course). The thing is these kids took on issues that a majority of America isn't able to discuss as adults and performed it in front of their parents. Fuck'n progressive Minneapolis punk rock families! Plus seeing kids gender being is great. Gender should be bent until it is snapped.
There was one mom there that had this crazy dyed hair so some strands were red and blue while the rest was black. She also had these gnar ass tattoos covering her arms and back (for those of you that don't know "gnar ass" is a good thing). This older woman was in the play and Mike thought she was a teacher. She had a bunch of tattoos. The woman directing the play (probably a teacher at the school) had a bunch of tattoos. I think this school is where tattooed teachers go after they get kicked out of their conventional schools. It was pretty fun.
Afterwards we went to The Hard Times Cafe. It is a cooperatively run and owned diner. I had some vegan mac & cheese along with some soup. The food was not amazing, but it was good. After you write your order down on some paper and pay they prepare it. When it is ready they yell "HEY! JASON! (or whatever name you put down)" It is pretty awesome. A great late night hang out. It is like a Denny's for vegans, except it doesn't completely suck. Actually it isn't like Denny's at all because Denny's is a complete shithole. And really Hard Times is not only for vegans, but definately caters to them.
The reason I would say that The Hard Times Cafe wasn't amazing is because we also ate at a place called Ecopolitan. This was a raw food vegan restaraunt. I don't know about this raw foods thing, but that food was SO GOOD! It was really pricey, but after paying $4.50 for a round trip ticket to Minneapolis, I could spend a little more on food. Mike said Ecopolitan was Minneapolis's version of Inn Season here. The difference is that Ecopolitan is in the city instead of the suburbs and EVERYTHING was vegan. Also, they didn't cook anything. But the comparison is fare. Basically it is a semi pricey vegan haven, but worth it when you have the extra money to spend.
To compare to another coopertively run space, we also ate at the Seward Cafe. This place was on my list and we didn't get there until lunch on Monday. I would have been bummed if we didn't make it there. I have a tofu mock muffin and some french toast. Holy shit that french toast was so good. If the Hard Times and Seward Cafe are punk rock place with their worker owned spaces, then I would say that Hard Times would be the hardcore punks that don't wake up until 1pm and listen to thrash and streetpunk. The Seward would be the eco punks that grow gardens and listen to folk punk and artsy indie rock. I love them both. I would rather eat at the Seward, but late at night I would rather hang out at the Hard Times. Well, you can't hang out at the Seward late at night, but still - they are different places for different times and crowds.
We also ate at the ever great Galactic pizza. We got the Paul Bunion pizza that comes with Bison on it. "Free Range" bison. We of course ordered it vegan and got vegan sausage which was spiced like the bison. Eating animals is stupid.
Speaking of animals, we went to the zoo. I HATE ZOOs. I am opposed to zoos existing really, but Nate got free passes and both him and mike wanted to go. I got depressed and pissed off. Mike says that he always wants to correct parents at zoos because they always give kids wrong info. While we were there I heard him correct a woman who called a gorilla an orangutan. Seriously, I know they aren't native to north america, but I thought that was general knowlege!
I read this book talking about how zoos say they are good because they encourage mating endangered species and public education. Go to a zoo and tell me that it is an educational space. Usually it is like what we experienced. A dumb fucking kid screaming and throwing ice cream at a caged animal and some dumb fucking adult telling the kid it is something that it isn't. "That be a kangaroo!" "That would be a wolf" "oh..." Yep, educational instituations my ass.
I heard one dumbfuck say "at least these animals are moving!" at one 'display.' Sorry lady, but you put these wild animals in 30'x30' cages. Do you expect them to suddenly overcome their depression and dance for you!? The tiger they had was pacing over and over. Basically I watched it go insane. I watched a couger crouch down as if it was going to pounce and just starred at this worker outside of its enclosure. That cougar wanted to kill that girl so bad, I could just tell. Then it started pacing back and forth. When caged animals start pacing like that, it is because they are going insane. There are documented cases of animals in capitivity killing themselves. They know what is happening to them, they know what they are doing, but we don't even know what kind of animal they are, "It's a chimpanzee son!" "That is a badger asshole."
Then of course you can get your fucking carnival food at the zoo. Hey kids look at these cute animals - NOW EAT ONE! Fuck that fucking shit. There was no education going on that day. Fuck stupid fucking zoos. I hate going to them. Zoos are bullshit.
Luckily after we left the zoo there were a bunch of gardens to walk through. Those calmed me down. There were less idiots in the gardens but there were a few.
This is the end of part one of my writings. Coming up I will have to share with you about tandem bikes, mr. sex nipples and the city of angels moment, the greenway, the bike sculpture, art museums and the plans for a bike tour! Fuck yeah.
time to go watch LOST with my militant vegan friends!