• Advertise
  • Donate
  • Subscribe
    • Become a print subscriber
    • Sign up for e-Newsletter
    • e-Editions
Sunday, September 24, 2023
No Result
View All Result
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
  • News & Features
    • National
    • Local
    • Special Editions
      • MLK Legacy
      • Black History Month
      • The MSR Celebrates Women’s History Month
  • All Sections
    • Opinion
      • Mellaneous by Mel Reeves
      • Word on the Street
      • Reaching Out From Within
    • Health + Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • Minnesota Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Sports
      • Timberwolves/NBA
      • Lynx/WNBA
        • 20 in 20
      • Twins/MLB
      • MN Wild/NHL
      • Vikings/NFL
    • Business
      • Small Business Month Celebration
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
    • Arts + Culture
    • Photo Galleries
      • Photo of the Week
    • MSR Forefront Digital Roundtable Series
      • MSR Forefront Highlights
    • Go Green
    • Education
    • Bulletin
    • Jobs & Notices
      • Legals
      • Announcements
  • Events
    • Submit an event!
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • e-Editions
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
  • News & Features
    • National
    • Local
    • Special Editions
      • MLK Legacy
      • Black History Month
      • The MSR Celebrates Women’s History Month
  • All Sections
    • Opinion
      • Mellaneous by Mel Reeves
      • Word on the Street
      • Reaching Out From Within
    • Health + Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • Minnesota Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Sports
      • Timberwolves/NBA
      • Lynx/WNBA
        • 20 in 20
      • Twins/MLB
      • MN Wild/NHL
      • Vikings/NFL
    • Business
      • Small Business Month Celebration
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
    • Arts + Culture
    • Photo Galleries
      • Photo of the Week
    • MSR Forefront Digital Roundtable Series
      • MSR Forefront Highlights
    • Go Green
    • Education
    • Bulletin
    • Jobs & Notices
      • Legals
      • Announcements
  • Events
    • Submit an event!
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • e-Editions
No Result
View All Result
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
No Result
View All Result

On Thanksgiving: staying grateful for what we’ve got

by MSR News Online
December 1, 2010
29
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on LinkedIn

By Elizabeth Ellis
Contributing Writer

I wanted a place to live in at a price I could afford in conditions I could tolerate. Here in America, in our own Twin Cities, I saw walls kicked in, floors buckled from water damage, copper stripped from heating boards, ceilings falling through to the room below, and signs that said, “Unfit for human habitation.”

“What do you know about this place?” I asked the postman walking past.

“What do they call those dogs trained to kill? I forget. They raised them here,” he replied. “There were absentee landlords,” he went on, “lots of evictions, and police calls.”

“What do you know about this place?” I asked a neighbor on yet another city block.

“If you look real close,” he said, “you can see where the bullet hole went in on the corner. Over there. Police presence is pretty high, so response time is pretty fast.”

- ADVERTISEMENT -

I asked for crime statistics from the police department of another block I was considering. They told me if the average number of police calls is 68, this block’s number is 203. It didn’t make sense to move into a neighborhood so hardscrabble that others scramble to move out.

For as much as I grouse about these conditions, I remember a European city park where the grass was worn down to pockets of dirt filled with fetid water, littered with dog poop and empty beer bottles. The average life span of an adult male in that particular European country was 58 years: dead from the effects of alcohol and cigarettes. The hacker’s cough of the concierge could be heard each morning following that first cigarette.

And as much as I grouse, I remind myself, “We are five percent of the world’s population,” Colin Beaven wrote in No Impact Man, “emitting 25 percent of greenhouse gases.” And “consuming 30 percent of its resources,” Chaz Davis (Pulse of the Cities) adds.

At a World Press Institute panel discussion of 10 participants from foreign countries who visited America, the woman from Finland asked the audience, “What is it with you [Americans] drinking bottled water? You have perfectly fine water! This is ridiculous.”

“In my country,” the woman from India said, “it is not possible to drink from the tap.”

- ADVERTISEMENT -

I was told not to drink tap water in Russia without boiling it for 10 minutes.

A fellow once told me he ran to the bathroom 20 minutes after brushing his teeth with tap water in Africa.

The New York Times (09/17/2010) reported a Roma (gypsy) woman living in Romania with no hot water. As much as I groused about taking a cold shower when the thermocouple went out, I see that woman every morning when I look up into the hot water pouring from the shower head.

She will never know that I give thanks each morning that only fate separates us.

Elizabeth Ellis is the mother of three grown children, a college graduate, a 10-year veteran of the Foreign Service and a native of the Twin Cities. She welcomes reader responses to ellis101751@gmail.com.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

Support Black local news

Help amplify Black voices by donating to the MSR. Your contribution enables critical coverage of issues affecting the community and empowers authentic storytelling.

Donate Now!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...
ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

School drive for used musical instruments

Next Post

HIV/AIDS film screening puts spotlight on Black infection rates

MSR News Online

Reach the MSR staff at msrnewsonline@spokesman-recorder.com.

You Might Also Like

60th anniversary of Birmingham church bombing unites families of victims and perpetrators
Opinion

Four Little Girls

Blue Line extension planning moves forward after two key votes
Local

Blue Line extension planning moves forward after two key votes

Compton's Finest
Arts & Culture

Fall into new jazz releases

Black Business Spotlight: Thoroughbred Moving and Installation
Black Business Spotlight

Black Business Spotlight: Thoroughbred Moving and Installation

Comcast donates free WiFi access to four Twin Cities nonprofits to increase digital opportunities in the region
Local

Comcast donates free WiFi access to four Twin Cities nonprofits to increase digital opportunities in the region

Two new early vote centers open in Minneapolis
Local

Early voting begins Sept. 22 for local elections

Next Post

HIV/AIDS film screening puts spotlight on Black infection rates

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
ADVERTISEMENT

Upcoming Events

Sep 12
September 12 @ 6:30 pm-December 18 @ 9:30 pm Recurring

Vic Volare Presents MUSIC FOR MARTINIS ft: Vic’s Fabulous Nightclub Academy

Sep 25
6:30 pm-8:30 pm

Community Roundtable with Ayodele Casel and Torya Beard

Sep 26
7:00 pm-9:00 pm

Climate and Equity in Minneapolis: What we could win in this year’s budget

Sep 27
8:00 am-12:45 pm

It’s Time to Talk: Forums on Race™

View Calendar
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Read our latest e-Edition!

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Subscribe

  • Home/Office Delivery
  • Weekly e-newsletter
  • e-Editions

Support

  • Donate
  • Subscribe
  • MSR Newsstand Locations

Connect

  • About
    • MSR Staff
  • Contact
  • Send a news tip
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms

© 2023 Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

No Result
View All Result
  • News & Features
    • Local
    • National
  • All Sections
    • Arts & Culture
    • Health & Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • MN Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Business
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
      • Small Business Month Celebration
    • Opinion
    • Sports
  • Events
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • Donate
  • Subscribe

© 2023 Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

%d bloggers like this: