Health + Wellness

Whenever I hear my pre-adolescent daughter say, “Mom, I’m hungry!” I’m reminded of how much things have changed since I was her age. At the risk of sounding like I grew up on Little House on the Prairie, I would like to add that at her age I could cook, clean, and otherwise run an […]

Brittle nails? Snapping hair? Losing your complexion? Don’t let the winter blues get you down. Take control of your hair, skin and nails and moisturize yourself back to vitality! Harsh winter temps can wreak havoc on our bodies, but you can fight back! These simple tips will keep you warm and moisturized all winter long. […]

Welcome to 2013 — the holidays have come to a close. Congratulations for making it to another new year. Many of you have set New Year’s resolutions. Some of you want to lose weight.  Some of you want to drink less alcohol. Some of you want to stop smoking. Some of you want to go […]

“We are in trouble as a People” is a statement that I hear many times over the course of a week from people in the community, both younger and older. I hear stories from children who tell of the painful experience of being isolated from their biological parents, children who have been abandoned by their […]

As a career changer, I can say that I owe much of my career transition success to informational interviewing. An informational interview is a meeting in which a job seeker asks for career and industry advice rather than employment. The job seeker uses the interview to gather information on the field and to find employment […]

Power, politics, and policy and the influence they have over African American people  The danger in trying to define “power” is that just when you have things all figured out, another form of power presents itself. As I sat in a movie theater watching the movie Lincoln, tears rolled down my face when the African […]

It’s 2013, and we are still working on this issue of crime and violence across the country. However, I did get some feedback on my last article, so let me try to give some clarity again… The savage murders of 20 children is still outrageous and insane; the murder of eight adults in the same […]

Governor Dayton has declared January “Radon Action Month” to encourage testing Minnesota homes need to be tested for radon; winter is the best time to do it. Every 25 minutes, one person in the U.S. dies from radon-related lung cancer. It is the largest environmental cancer risk and t‹he leading cause of lung cancer among […]

“There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only passion for life.” — Federico Fellini  New Year’s resolutions are a waste. People tend to make a promise on January 1 with great sincerity but follow it with little effort. Thus, 88 percent of New Year’s resolutions fail. Having a purpose and passion in […]

By Andrea Parrott Contributing Writer  After daily witnessing situations in which patients suffered or had to make decisions detrimental to their health due to difficulties in accessing health care, Dr. Elizabeth Frost and Dr. Ann Settgast had enough. They felt they had to do something that would allow everyone to have health insurance and access […]

The next interviewer — or for that matter, anyone at all — to ask why this columnist, being male, continually, constantly, and at every possible opportunity protests, decries and denounces man’s inhumanity toward woman might just get told a few unkind things about themselves. In real plain words. Submitted for your consideration: News came December […]

When I was a little girl, people would ask, “What nationality are you?” That is to say, to what tribe do I belong? What is my country of origin? Belonging is tribe, blood and culture, not necessarily territory and certainly not based on citizenship now that so many in the world occupy diasporas and are […]

By Makula Dunbar Contributing Writer Contrary to how most people view it, Tiffany — a teen who’s just become familiar with the foster care system — says it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to her. Making the shift was a dream come true she says, as was becoming a participant of Connections to Independence […]

Lack of toilets, water overuse will bring the crisis to the U.S., engineer predicts   By Charles Hallman Staff Writer Human waste disposal and how to properly manage it has been a recognized environmental issue since 2008 when the United Nations declared that year the “International Year of Sanitation.” However, some believe that the issue […]

Once again the African American is being told he is not human…during the recent acts of murder of 20 innocent children and eight adults in the state of Connecticut. All of a sudden the White majority is outraged because they see themselves as the only human beings. However, we have lost lives across this nation […]

Upon entering my 40th year, I decided that I needed a mid-life career change. I knew that it would be something drastically different from the course that I had embarked on in 1988 as a bright-eyed, newly graduated genetics student. My growing concern for the economic advancement of women, workforce development, and a desire to […]

While sifting through the daily array of political comments, announcements, advertisements, and bundles of self-promoting rants and web links, something on Twitter caught my attention — a tweet from someone in my circle that said: “How you get him, is how you keep him.” I know. I know. It’s the title of a book. But […]

‘Tis the season of giving, but too many Minnesotans this time of year are giving and receiving something nobody wants: norovirus infection and the nasty illness that comes with it. Noroviruses are a group of viruses that can cause inflammation of the stomach and intestines, leading to vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramping. Other symptoms can […]

By Charles Hallman Staff Writer Quincy Lewis says a large part of his new role as an associate development officer at the University of Minnesota is to create and maintain “the passion” among the school’s many supporters. He also wants to improve relations between the school and the city’s Black community, which historically have generated […]