Thanksgiving, food, and the hungry

Happy Thanksgiving! This is a holiday-edition newsletter that covers both Thursday and Friday; look for your next Daily Planet newsletter on Saturday morning. On this day of gratitude, we're thankful for you: our readers, our writers, and the individuals and institutions whose contributions make the Daily Planet possible. Arts Orbit Radar 11/25/10 By Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet What's happening this week Thursday, November 25 On the radar: When my brother was a teenager, he and his friends drove around the upper Midwest in my parents' giant conversion van (mood lights? yes. curtains? yes. built-in CB radio? OBVIOUSLY), attending regional jam-rock shows. The van was adorned with a bumper sticker: where the heck is the big wu? If I were a better brother, I'd suggest that Joe and I go to see the Big Wu tonight at the Cabooze. But I'm not, because...MORE » Under the radar: ...invitations to Thanksgiving Day parties have been flying in like Angry Birds. I don't know why, but the Twin Cities seem to have collectively decided that this year, the thing to do on Thanksgiving is to throw and/or go to a house party. So go to one if you've been invited, or just wander around until you find one to crash. It won't take long. Food shelves feeling hunger pains By Ashley Bray, The Minnesota Daily Each Thanksgiving, food shelves across the metro area prepare for a rise in hunger during the holidays. With the recession, however, that rise has lasted long after the festivities end, and food shelves are feeling the pressure. At Keystone Community Services in St. Paul, the number of individuals looking for food has increased by 61 percent in the past year.MORE » Bachmann on her claim about Obama India trip: I never said I believed it By Andy Birkey, Minnesota Independent In an interview with the BBC on Friday, Rep. Michele Bachmann responded to criticism she's received over her claims that President Barack Obama spent $200 million a day during a recent trip to India. Bachmann defended the statement, saying she was just quoting a newspaper and that she never said she believed it.MORE » The all-American cranberry goes international By Phyllis Louise Harris, Asian Pages Cranberries, that traditional Thanksgiving sauce that makes every turkey dinner complete, are truly America's own homegrown fruit. While the Wampanoag Indians may have brought cranberries to that first Thanksgiving dinner in 1621, the Pilgrims probably ate them raw since they had no access to sugar to make sauce. MORE » Lives of the homeless: Their stories told with photos By Cynthia Boyd, MinnPost Given the numbers, we know the poor and homeless live among us. We pass them every day, in schools, on sidewalks, in the mac-and-cheese aisle at the grocery store. MORE » Inside the Daily Planet Anubis lands in downtown St. Paul to make ready the way for King Tut by Valerie Gallagher, TC Daily Planet From "Pig's Eye" Parrant to John Dillinger to Jesse "The Body" Ventura, downtown St. Paul has seen its share of larger-than-life characters-but even so, a 26-foot, 10-ton Egyptian god is bound to raise a few eyebrows. THEATER | At the Old Log Theater, Jeeves in Bloom droops by Elizabeth Lofgren, TC Daily Planet The venerable Old Log Theater in Excelsior has been presenting British farces and contemporary comedies since 1940. In Minnesota theater circles it's considered a granddaddy, having helped to launch careers of local actors from Loni Anderson to Steve Zahn. Unfortunately, this production doesn't promise to be among the golden children of that illustrious history. MUSIC | Red House supergroup Red Horse release a debut disc to enjoy over and over again by Dwight Hobbes, TC Daily Planet A trio of exceptional artists on the roster at St. Paul's Red House Records decided to get together, call themselves Red Horse, and record an album by the same name-and it's something quite a few lovers of acoustic music are going to find highly listenable. Red Horse is a solid outing by Eliza Gilkyson, John Gorka, and Lucy Kaplansky, the kind of disc you can slap on the stereo, press the repeat button, and just hang out around the house, enjoying the thing over and over again. MOVIES | Journey to the Fallen Skies by Tom Laventure, Asian American Press After being diagnosed with a terminal illness, a Hmong-American man returns to Laos to pay tribute to the late father he never knew. What follows is a personal journey spanning two worlds. Incorporating culture, spirituality and the relationship between a son and a father. Hmong daughter and mother struggle to understand each other's different cultures by Pa Houa Thao of Edison High School, ThreeSixty My freshman year in high school I started to feel like I'd rather stay at school after classes than go home, because at home all I do are chores like cooking. NEW IN BLOGS WHO IS THAT? | Brian Balcom, theater director extraordinaire by Jay Gabler • "I live near Southdale. After being publicly mocked by a postal employee at the counter I have stopped using the word 'Edina.'" THE OPTIMISTIC PESSIMIST | A Thanksgiving bounty of new releases, and vintage films from 1921 to 2001 by Jim Brunzell III • Just like Christmas Day, the day before Thanksgiving offers plenty of helpings of commercial and limited-release films. CRAZY BOY FARM | Postpartum survival by Amy Doeun • I remember when Two was born. He was our first baby and born unexpectedly at 35 weeks, which means early. Proeun had saved up a lot of sick time, and the doctor said he should be home for seven weeks to help nurse our son up to a full-term weight. We went home to our little cave and virtually stayed there day in and day out for weeks. Just the three of us. We were tired and exhausted, and our schedule was off, but we were together. Looking back, things were actually pretty peaceful. TC JEWFOLK | About Twitter, guacamole, and parenting by Galit Breen • So I signed up for my newest time-suck, Twitter, last week. Don't be too shocked that it took me this long. I held out with Facebook, too. And MySpace passed me over without me ever knowing the difference. But after a few gentle nudges (I think it went something like. "E-mail is so old school!") I decided to jump in and give it a try.
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