One thing I’ll say from the off-set, the spring of 2021 was a lot less intense than that of 2020! And for that I’m grateful.
That’s not to say that the momentous events of last year are not still impacting life in 2021. On April 20, for instance, former police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd (right). It was the first conviction of a white officer in Minnesota for the murder of a black person. (On June 25, Chauvin was sentenced to 22-and-a-half years in prison.)
On the evening of the verdict, I joined with a number of my south Minneapolis neighbors to walk with lighted candles through our neighborhood (above). We did this to both honor the memory of George Floyd and commit to the ongoing work of racial justice.
For more images and commentary on the events of April 20, click here.
Above: Signs on the fencing around the burnt and abandoned 3rd Precinct in south Minneapolis, just a few blocks from my home – April 4, 2021.
For an account of my experience of the events of last spring, including the uprising in response to the police killing of George Floyd, click here.
Above: Standing at right with fellow members of the Palliative Care team at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids – March 23, 2021.
Since September 2018 I’ve worked as the Palliative Care spiritual health provider (or chaplain) at Mercy.
Above and below: As spring kissed the earth once more, I often went and sat outside in the back yard under the pear tree, reading a book . . . and, over the course of March, April, and May, photographing the steady, greening transformation around me.
Above: My friends Kathleen, Calvin and Joseph – March 26, 2021.
I live with these wonderful people (and Calvin and Joseph’s dog, Frodo) in a triplex in the Seward neighborhood of south Minneapolis. I live in the third floor attic apartment of this triplex.
One of the truly great things about the spring of 2021 in Minnesota was that as more and more people got vaccinated against the coronavirus, we were able to go out and socialize more . . . minus our masks!
People hosted parties again . . . including my dear friends Joan and Matt, pictured above at left with (from right) John, George, and Brent – March 27, 2021.
Above: Another social gathering hosted by Joan and Matt – April 4, 2021.
Above and right: My friend Phil, with whom I shared a wonderful meal at Fasika, an award-winning Ethiopian restaurant in Saint Paul – April 11, 2021.
Above: With my friend Ed, enjoying brunch at Longfellow Grill, Minneapolis – April 17, 2021.
Left: With darling Amelia and Eddie and Penny – April 25, 2021.
For more images and commentary, click here.
Left: Frodo, the animal companion of Joseph and Calvin. He is the most placid and loving dog I’ve ever met! Oh, and he has eyes of gold!
And, yes, it was a total surprise to her!
You may recall that back in 2015 Joan accompanied me on a visit to my homeland of Australia. For images and commentary on that wonderful time, click here.
Right: With my friend Gary at Joan’s party.
Above and below: Views of the Mississippi River near my home in south Minneapolis.
Above: My mate Deandre working on installing a new battery in his car – June 6, 2021.
I remember it was a stinking hot day . . . one in the longest streak of 90-degree days on record before June 15 in the Twin Cities.
Above: Joseph and Kathleen working on preparing Kathleen's newly installed hot tub to be filled with water for the first time – June 17, 2021.
Above: My dear friend Brigid treated a number of us to a last-day-of-spring lunch on Saturday, June 19, 2021. Thanks Brigie! 💗
From left: Mike, Jane, Kathleen, Colleen, Sue Ann, Mary, and Brigid.
Above: Welcoming the summer on a (thankfully) cool Summer Solstice evening – Sunday, June 20, 2021.
Spring 2021 Wild Reed posts of note:
• Reading About Keats on the Spring Equinox
• Refuting Surface Level Comparisons Between the Insurrection at the Capitol and Black Lives Matter Protests
• Heather Cox Richardson on Combating the Republican Party’s “Rigging of the System”
• Chadwick Boseman Receives Posthumous NAACP Image Award
• The Problem Is Ultimately Bigger Than Individuals. It’s Systemic
• Trans 101
• Bearing Witness
• “And Still and All, It Continues”
• Remembering and Celebrating Dusty
• Reacting to the Effects, Not the Cause, of What Ails Us
• Remembering Elisabeth Sladen, Ten Years On
• Minnesota Governor Tim Walz: “We Need to Make Systemic Changes”
• “Let This Be a Turning Point”
• Celebrating the “Color of Spring” . . . and a Cosmic Notion of the Christ
• “He Was Just Interested In the Work”: Remembering Chadwick Boseman
• Beltane Morning Light
• Two Comments on Racism in America . . . and a Perspective on White Solidarity
• The “People Between”
• Under the Blossoming Pear Tree
• Celebrating the “Wonderful” Joanna Lumley
• “Of Course America Is Racist”
• Two Conservative Voices of Integrity
• Spirit Dreams
• Progressive Perspectives on the Ongoing Israeli-Palestinian “Nightmare”
• Dan Rather: Quote of the Day – May 19, 2021
• Remembering George Floyd on the First Anniversary of His Murder
• A Wondrous Sight
• Remembering Chadwick Boseman’s Life of Purpose
• Rep. Ilhan Omar: Quote of the Day – May 29, 2021
• Spring . . . Within and Beyond
• “A Book About Revolutionary People That Feels Revolutionary Itself”
• “The Absolute Gall”
• Pollyanna, “Miracle Worker”
• The Big Switch
• Remembering Dusty Springfield’s “Daring” 1979 Gay-Affirming Song
• Interiors
• Zaylore Stout on the Meaning of Emancipation in 2021
• The Chill Sounds of Daby Touré
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Out and About – Winter 2020-2021
• Out and About – Autumn 2020
• Out and About – Summer 2020
• Out and About – Spring 2020
For previous Out and About series, see: 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020
Images: Michael J. Bayly.
No comments:
Post a Comment