In the October 1 issue of the MSR, we published a story on conditions for temporary workers at the Twins stadium (“Twins ballpark temps rally for better pay and working conditions”).
Charles Hallman
Charles Hallman is a contributing reporter and award-winning sports columnist at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.
Posted inSports
Hockey player a pro sports pioneer
Blake Bolden is an honest-to-goodness professional hockey player. She is among the pioneering players in the inaugural National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL), which began this past weekend.
Posted inArts + Culture, Movies
13th Annual Twin Cities Black Film Festival shines light on local talent
The 2015 Twin Cities Black Film Festival (TCBFF) will kick off four days of films, shorts and documentaries — all by Black filmmakers — Thursday, October 8 through Sunday, October 11 at Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis.
Posted inLynx/WNBA, Sports
WNBA Finals | Lynx come alive, win Game 2
Game Two of the WNBA Finals was different than Game 1: Unlike Sunday’s contest, where the home team were seemingly looking for a jump start — as well as a jump shot — the Minnesota Lynx on Tuesday found something a bit more lasting — intensity.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Gov. Dayton, state NAACP heads talk racial disparities
According to a U.S Census report released mid-September, household incomes fell for Blacks in Minnesota and while they remain constant for whites, Hispanics and Asians.
Posted inLynx/WNBA, Sports
WNBA Finals Dispatch | ESPN’s Carolyn Peck weighs in on Game 1
If it was up to her, Carolyn Peck would be in Minneapolis in person for Game 2 of WNBA Finals on Tuesday.
“I would love to be at the game,” admitted the ESPN studio analyst Monday in a MSR phone interview. “Are you kidding me?”
Posted inArts + Culture, Theater
Roger Guenveur Smith gives his all in stirring ‘Rodney King’
Against a black background and on a square white platform within a larger stage, Roger Guenveur Smith put everything he had in Rodney King, a one-man play which opened Thursday night at Penumbra Theatre for a 11-show run.
Posted inArts + Culture
Roger Guenveur Smith on Viola Davis’ speech
Roger Guenveur Smith is in town for the next couple of weeks in his acclaimed Rodney King at the Penumbra Theatre in St. Paul.
During a MSR phone interview, Smith was asked about Actress Viola Davis, who recently won an Emmy for her performances in How to Get Away with Murder.
Posted inLynx/WNBA, Sports
WNBA Finals | Fever takes Game 1
It’s not so much what happened in Game 1, but instead what adjustments the team — now down a game in the best-of-five championship series — will do for Game 2.
Posted inSports
The Only One | Surveying the lack of diversity in college hockey
I know there are Blacks who like hockey, occasionally we run into one or two at games. But rarely, if ever, does the Only One find someone who looks like me in the press box or at media days.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Grand juries targeted for change
Black lawyers nationwide are concerned about “prosecutor’s discretion” whether or not to file charges on police officers who shoot Blacks. The Cochran Firm, founded by late attorney Johnnie Cochran, earlier this summer released a “boiling point” timeline of police-related shootings of Blacks over a 12-month period from July 2014 to July 2015.
Posted inArts + Culture, Theater
Rodney King humanized on Penumbra’s stage
Award-winning actor Roger Guenveur Smith brings the late Rodney King to life on stage beginning this week at St. Paul’s Penumbra Theatre. Smith stars in Rodney King for eight shows, October 1 – 11.
Posted inSports, Twins/MLB
Twins batboy hopes long hair will get him to playoffs
Dominic Frost all season has faithfully maintained one of baseball’s time-honored traditions — never mess with a streak. The Minnesota Twins batboy pledged not to cut his hair while the team strives for its first post-season spot since 2010.
Posted inSports, Twins/MLB
What’s come between Blacks and baseball?
Why isn’t baseball the American pastime for Blacks? My late father and late uncle hooked me to baseball as a child. The former would listen to Detroit Tigers games on his car radio. My uncle conspicuously planted an egg-colored earphone in his ear connected to his pocket-sized AM transistor radio, also listening to baseball broadcasts. […]
Posted inNational, News
Twins ballpark temps rally for better pay and working conditions
The Minneapolis City Council last week approved funding for a study to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour as well as a proposed ordinance to help protect minimum-wage workers, including “predictability pay” for employees if their work schedule changes, cancels or shortens with less than 24 hours’ notice. The council’s actions may have been influenced by labor unrest at the downtown Twins stadium.
Posted inSports, Twins/MLB
Jim “Mudcat” Grant: “You should not let the history of the game get away”
Randi Chapman of Potomac, Maryland, intended to purchase some team merchandise at the Minnesota Twins stadium store while in town on business. As she left the store, Jim “Mudcat” Grant was selling books outside, in between late afternoon showers before a Twins game.
Posted inLynx/WNBA, Sports
West finals: Lynx battle it out, take Game 1
This year’s West finals, based on the first game played Thursday in Minneapolis, is Ali-Frazier like. “[Like] two heavyweight fighters going blow by blow,” remarked a relieved Seimone Augustus after Minnesota’s 67-60 win over Phoenix to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three semi-finals series.
Posted inArts + Culture, Television
‘Urban Perspectives’ grabs local Emmy nomination
Urban Perspectives, a weekly local urban affairs program, has received a 2015 Midwest Regional Emmy nomination for Program/Host.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Penumbra hosts dialogue on race, violence and policing
The term “Black-on-Black crime” is oft-referenced in reporting on violence in this country, often using the annual FBI crime reports. These reports show that the percentage of Black murder victims who have been murdered by Blacks in the U.S. has consistently hovered around 90 percent since 2009.
Posted inGophers/College, Sports
Chevy Cobalt relieves stress for Gopher running back
It’s an old story: A young man gets his first car and then goes to work on it, making it uniquely his own.