Confessions of an Errant Mind

I submitted a letter to the editor of the Star-Trib today about Nick Coleman's recent column on a tragic shooting in our neighborhood. Here it is:

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Does Nick Coleman ever visit north Minneapolis when there hasn’t just been a shooting? After an incident on the bus, he rides the 5. After the tragic shootings this week, he talks to workers at a neighborhood bar. Perhaps this ambulance chasing journalism is part of the reason the picture he paints of this neighborhood is so bleak. This may be a surprise to him, but many of us in this neighborhood live our lives each day without getting shot, even while riding the bus or going out to eat. People grill out for dinner, and kids play in the street, just like any other neighborhood.

North Minneapolis has more than its share of problems, but Coleman’s bleak columns do little to help solve them. Here’s a suggestion: make more visits to places not wrapped in crime scene tape, like the Bean Scene, the Cookie Cart, Juxtaposition Arts, or any neighborhood park. There’s more to this neighborhood than just what’s listed on the police blotter.