Trickster Tales Return After 40 Years
After nearly 40 years in a drawer, a collection of Coyote trickster tales is finally being published that somehow survived raising four children, deadlines at the Star Tribune and decades of neglect in what I call my Drawer of Forgotten Projects.
“Coyote and the Thunderbird: New Tales for the Book of Coyote,” to be published June 10 by Calumet Editions, began many years ago when I was teaching Native American literature and the literature of comedy.
To this day, I jokingly claim I did not actually write these stories myself. I prefer to believe the coyote characters painted by California Indigenous artist Harry Fonseca leapt down from my office wall after hours and dictated them directly into my Macintosh computer.
The stories follow trickster Coyote after he steals a mythic red 1956 Thunderbird and hurtles across North and South America stirring up laughter, trouble and occasional wisdom.
Along the way are coyote pups in the Sierra Nevada, Trout Mother on the Continental Divide, rock bands, baseball games, presidential campaigns, Wall Street schemes and Buffalo Woman Cafe.
Last fall, encouraged by Calumet Editions publisher Ian Graham Leask, I reopened the manuscript files for the first time in decades and was astonished by how strange, funny and unruly the stories remained.
I’ll be reading from the book Wednesday, June 10, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Minnesota Museum of American Art in St. Paul, where Fonseca’s coyote artwork “Shuffle off to Buffalo” is currently on display, and again Friday, June 12, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Lowry Hill Gallery in Minneapolis next door to Sebastian Joe’s, where Chocolate Coyote ice cream will be available.
After all these years, it seems only fair to let Coyote loose again.
— Jim Lenfestey, Lowry Hill
Hennepin’s Bike Lane Problems Should Not Be Repeated
I found the piece in the May issue on the Lyndale redesign project, “Will Lyndale Become the Next Hennepin?” both informative and thought-provoking.
As a resident who uses many modes of transportation, including walking, busing, biking and driving, I find Hennepin Avenue frustrating in nearly every mode.
My greatest concern is the bike lane design. While I appreciate the added distance from vehicle traffic, I am now in a constant state of hypervigilance at intersections during my commute to the Mill District.
In just two days of spring commuting, I experienced several near misses with drivers turning through intersections who seemed completely unaware of my presence.
The challenges do not stop with cars. Cyclists are constantly navigating pedestrians who often do not realize they are standing in a bike lane.
The current layout does little to intuitively distinguish pedestrian walkways from bike lanes, and the interaction between bus stops and bike lanes creates additional danger for both pedestrians and cyclists.
In one day alone, I narrowly avoided two collisions with bus riders stepping directly into the bike lane after exiting buses. One involved a blind woman whose cane provided no detectable cue before she entered the lane.
Minneapolis needs to more thoroughly evaluate how we design roads for true multimodal transportation.
I commend the decision to delay the Lyndale project to allow for additional stakeholder input and review.
We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes made on Hennepin Avenue.
— Madeline Turbes, The Wedge
I Like the New Hennepin Avenue
I like the remake of Hennepin Avenue. It is much safer no matter which mode of transportation I use.
I live in Lowry Hill and work in Lowry Hill East and am fortunate to walk, bike, bus or drive to just about everything I need and want to do.
I especially like the midblock crosswalks, one my family has nicknamed the Rinata crosswalk.
I don’t like that businesses suffered during the remake of Hennepin Avenue, nor that some have closed or continue to struggle.
I don’t think the design is the issue with Hennepin; rather it’s the jerks sharing our roadways in cars, on bikes and on foot.
I’m not sure what to do about them besides wish they’d go away.
Until that happens, I’ll be patient when driving and look both ways when walking or biking, as well as continue to support local businesses and embrace investments in our community.
— Sonja Elias, Lowry Hill
