Local youth seek to improve neighborhood

Members and volunteers of East Side Voice are shown at a meeting held at Metropolitan State University.

By Mike A. Lang
   A new playground, area improvement projects and more community events are just a few of the ideas collected by a youth group called East Side Voice. 
   At a listening session on the Metropolitan State University campus over 40 youth and 20 adults provided feedback, voiced opinions and participated in group conversations on how to improve the Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood. 
   East Side Voice facilitated this event to gather information about the community and call attention to what makes it great.  They began with a letter from Mayor Chris Coleman recognizing their leadership and thanking them for their efforts to make St. Paul a better place to live.
   The audience was split into two groups of youth and one group of adults and each took turns offering feedback about the quality of education, ways to improve the Eastside and what people enjoy about the East Side. 
   The diverse group of teens will combine this feedback with over 50 interviews of other local area youth they conducted earlier in the year.  They will present their findings and conclusions at a Dayton’s Bluff community event to be held at the end of April.  Details are still in development. 
   These efforts were noticed by State Senator Mee Moua’s office.  A representative attended to take notes and report back on the event.  There was even mention that East Side Voice could be invited to speak with the State Senator.
   This was a joint project sponsored by Metropolitan State University, the Dayton’s Bluff Community Council, Community Design Center, Hmong American Partnership, Dayton’s Bluff Community Service, Dayton’s Bluff Neighborhood Housing Service and other local organizations.

Swede Hollow book is in the works and you can help

   Friends of Swede Hollow is sponsoring a picture/caption book on Swede Hollow for Arcadia Publishing’s “Images of America” series.  Angela and Karin DuPaul are in the process of collecting Swede Hollow history, stories and photos.
   Swede Hollow is a picturesque valley with a creek running through it. Phalen Creek was used for travel from the Mississippi River to the chain of lakes in the north by the American Indians. Later the hollow spent over 100 years as home to European immigrants, many from Sweden, Italy, Mexico, and Germany. Today Swede Hollow is a city park. 
   A little background about the project: Ted from Arcadia Publishing called Karin wondering if she or someone else would like to write a photo caption book on Swede Hollow.  She was thrilled to accept. She then called her partner in Swede Hollow research, her daughter Angela, to see if she would work on this. Without any hesitation Angela said she would love to assist. 
   Over the years the DuPauls have been very active in everything Swede Hollow.  They have been involved in Friends of Swede Hollow, researched Swede Hollow history, led tours, and wrote “A Swede Hollow Walking Tour” booklet.  Arcadia has around 5,000 books on local history in their Images of America series.  It will be wonderful to have Swede Hollow included in the series.
   The search is on to talk with people who lived in Swede Hollow along Phalen Creek, and to find photos that might be helpful to us in presenting a more complete history of this unique area.  Any relevant photos that you would be willing to share with our project would be a big help toward that goal.  We would also love to talk to anyone who has Swede Hollow connections, Hollow memorabilia, family memories, and photos.
   You may contact the DuPaul by, email at SwedeHollow@gmail.com or call 651-776-0550 and leave a message if no one answers the phone.

Dayton's Bluff Community Meeting

   The next Community Meeting is Thursday, March 5 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. in the meeting room at the Dayton’s Bluff Community Council, 798 East 7th Street at the corner of 7th and Margaret   The Dayton’s Bluff Community Council holds its Community Meeting on the 1st Thursday of each month.  The purpose of the meeting is to work with block clubs and neighborhood residents on problem properties, criminal and nuisance behavior, code enforcement issues and any other neighborhood issues, concerns, and/or new ideas for improvement in Dayton’s Bluff
.    If you can get me the addresses of problems ahead of time I can get them to the police and code enforcement.  Then they can bring information about the problems to the meeting. All Dayton’s Bluff residents are welcome to attend. If you need more information email Karin@DaytonsBluff.org or call Karin at 651-772-2075.

Block club meetings

  * Wilson Avenue Block Club meets on the second Wednesday of each month at Mounds Park United Methodist Church, at Earl and Euclid, at 6:30 p.m.
  * Lower Dayton’s Bluff Block Club Kickball meets on the second to the last Tuesday of each month at Dayton’s Bluff Rec Center at 800 Conway at 6:30 p.m. Kids and parents are welcome. Kids play, parents talk.
  * Margaret Rec Center Block Club meets on the second Thursday of each month at the Margaret Rec Center, at Margaret and Frank, at 6:30 p.m.
  If you wish to have your block club listed, or need information about starting you own block club, please contact Karin at 651-772-2075 or Karin@DaytonsBluff.org.

Free Experimental College classes

Photos by Karin DuPaul Experimental College students checking out plants in the greenhouse. L to r: Wally Waranka, Susan Richter, and Kathy Schumacker.

    The Eastern District Police host their monthly meetings for community members at 722 Payne on the corner of Payne and Minnehaha Avenues. One is on the third Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. and the other on the third Friday of each month at 9:30 a.m. In March the meetings are on the 18th and 20th.
  The meeting is intended as a time to listen to and address people’s concerns about crime and other issues on the East Side.

    Dayton’s Bluff Take a Hike occurs on the first Saturday of most months.  The next hike is Saturday, march 7.We meet at 10:30 a.m. in Indian Mounds Park at Earl St. and Mounds Blvd. We’ll hike from Mounds Park to the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary and then walk along the Bruce Vento Recreational Trail through Swede Hollow Park to the new East Side Heritage Park. Along the way we will share stories and learn some local history of the area. The hike is about four miles long with some moderately rough terrain. Transportation will be available to return to Mounds Park, or you may hike back.
    Join us and explore some of our parks and the regional trail. For more information contact Karin at 651-772-2075 or Karin@DaytonsBluff.org.

Home repair help

Landlord training

   Rental property owners and managers can attend a workshop to learn more about management of rental property.
    The next training is Wednesday, March 11, 2009 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Western District Police Offices at 389 Hamline near I94.
   The workshop includes information on leases, lease addendum, tenant screening, narcotics identification, working with law enforcement, eviction action, and crime prevention through environmental design.
   For more information or to register call RuthAnn at 651-266-5451.

March at the Mounds Theatre

Bethlehem Lutheran Church events

"Putting JOY into your child's life"

By Rev. Nathan Raddatz of Bethlehem Lutheran Church
   The slogan above best describes JOY Preschool & Childcare, located in the education wing of Bethlehem Lutheran Church at 655 Forest St.  The slogan is new, but the preschool and childcare continues to build on a well-deserved reputation that dates back to its beginning in 1971.  
   JOY was started to serve the children of Bethlehem Lutheran Church and Dayton’s Bluff.  It has come a long way.  The members of Bethlehem as well as the staff at JOY are firmly committed to serving children on the East Side, particularly Dayton’s Bluff.
   In order for JOY to remain viable and continue to focus on children in Dayton’s Bluff, the pastors and staff at Bethlehem and JOY realized that things needed to change.  Pastor Raddatz, the senior pastor describes JOY “as the best kept secret in Dayton’s Bluff.”  
   The way in which JOY was being marketed needed total overhaul.  Recently, Mani Vang, a member at Bethlehem who worked formally for Target.com, stepped up to lead the marketing overhaul.       
   JOY has in place all the components to flourish: an experienced and committed teaching staff, a quality of education and childcare that are second to none, great diversity among children and generous support from members of Bethlehem.  However, these things do no good, if no one knows about them.
   The marketing overhaul began at the end of last summer.  Carol Fink, JOY’s director, took the initiative to research Parent Aware, a quality rating’s program.  Through much hard work, JOY was accepted into the program and enjoys a three-star rating.  Not only does JOY’s rating ensure the quality, but also allows JOY to participate in the Allowance Program, an initiative of the city of St. Paul.  Families with a certain income level may participate, meaning they are allotted up to $4,000 to send their child to a quality preschool and childcare.
   Fast forward to the beginning of January 2009.  Mani Vang with the help of Director, Carol Fink and teacher, Melanie have constructed a separate website for JOY (www.joypreschool.org), created a new logo, magnet, brochure, flyer, and unveiled a new referral program open to the church, preschool families and community.  They have also met with the Wilder Foundation and soon the St. Paul Foundation.
   On behalf of the staff at JOY Preschool & Childcare as well as Pastor Krueger, members of Bethlehem and myself, we want to “put JOY in your child’s life” too.  We encourage you to visit JOY’s website at www.joypreschool.org, stop in at JOY to observe and meet the staff or call Director, Carol Fink at (651) 771-6982.  We are here to nurture children in a safe and secure preschool, where quality and diversity do matter.   

Scarlett the starlett: A Dayton's Bluffer on the stage

By Steve Trimble
   Quite frequently during this January and February, Mounds Park resident Scarlett Thompson has been screaming, falling on the floor, loudly stomping her feet, eating with her hands and throwing things around.
   It’s not because this local girl is uncontrollable, but because she has been acting in a play that requires her to do so. Scarlett had a major role in “The Miracle Worker” at St. Paul’s History Theatre as young Helen Keller. It was co-produced with the Torch Theater, which has presented the award-winning play twice before.

Scarlett Thompson	Scarlett as Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker

Scarlett’s fascination with acting started out with “Annie,” a popular movie filled with acting and singing. “I really liked it and I decided we should get some of my friends together and do our own show of Annie.” Then came the rehearsals, finding or making costumes, and getting her parents to help build the outdoor set.
   It was produced-complete with several songs- in the family backyard. This shortened version of “Annie” was watched by many of the people who had showed up to her family’s large annual potluck block party. The next year a different play was put on and the “acting bug” had hit had.
   Ten-year-old Scarlett is in fifth grade at the J. J. Hill Montessori magnet school in St. Paul. She lives in the Mounds Park area with her parents-John Thompson, a realtor and Mary Petrie, a writer and teacher-two brothers—Stryker and Merrick and two cantankerous dogs.
   This was not Scarlett’s first theater experience, but it was her most important to date. She first appeared at the age of eight at the Steppingstone Theater and has been in a Guthrie performance.
   Scarlett met Stacia Rice, who runs the Torch Theater, at an audition and ended up taking a girl’s acting workshop from her. At the time, she knew very little about Helen Keller, but was introduced to her life at Stacia’s workshop. To get a sense of not having eyesight, everyone in the group was blindfolded to see how difficult it would be to get around.
   Stacia thought that Scarlett ought go to the auditions for the ”The Miracle Worker,” but it almost never happened.  It turned out that they were on her birthday and plans had been made for a big slumber party.  To keep from missing either, the whole bevy of girls went along to see the successful tryout. The rehearsals and performances do cause Scarlett to miss out on things, including Halloween trick-or-treating, as well as her school dance and talent show.
   The play presents the story Helen Keller, struck blind and deaf by an early illness, whose inability to communicate left her frustrated and violent. Her desperate parents hired Anne Sullivan, a sight-impaired young woman, who was able through persistence and caring to help Helen break out of her walls of isolation.
   “What Anne Sullivan did was really amazing,” Scarlett stated,  “to be able to teach Helen sign language and how to see pretty much with just her mind.” The play was very daunting, even though she had only one line to say - “wa-wa” - towards the end. But its physical nature was hard.
   Scarlett had to move around a lot, so the “blocking” on the set was complicated. She was pushed and pulled around so much that there were often after-the-show bruises, but that was all right since, according to the diminutive diva,  “I have so much energy.”
   Critic Dominic Papatola, writing in the Pioneer Press, liked the play and said that Scarlett “has an appropriately feisty presence and is as willing to go toe to toe with Rice’s Sullivan… Thompson’s performance is completely effective… bringing a different and appealing patina of vulnerability to the role.”
   Rebecca Mitchell writing for the on-line Twin City Daily Planet agreed and said that “ten-year-old Scarlett Thompson, who plays Helen, is, despite her age… capable of holding her own” and “easily conveys Helen’s fiery unruliness.”
   There won’t be too much of a break from being on the stage since Scarlett has been chosen to play Ramona in the Children’s Theater offering of  “Ramona Quimby” in the spring.  Because so many school group’s come to see the group’s plays in the afternoons, she will be missing a lot of her own for two months, some weeks only being able to attend J. J. Hill once a week. But there will be time to do homework during breaks and the Children’s Theater has a tutor who helps out.
   In many ways decade-old Scarlett remains a somewhat typical pre-teen. She does well in school, hangs out with her friends, loves reading and Parkway Little League baseball. She likes music and is taking some voice lessons. However, she does have a few eccentricities, such as always wearing unmatched socks.
   Scarlett hopes for a professional acting career. She thinks that there is  “something about when you act you can become a completely different person on stage and enter into a different world.”
   It could happen. After all, St. Paul has been the home to famous theater actress Blanche Yurka and Dayton’s Bluff produced movie leading man Richard Arlen.  Maybe some day the name Scarlett Thompson will be up in lights. If that happens, people around here are bound to say “I knew her when she was living in the neighborhood.”
   Next up at the History Theatre is “Blue Collar Diaries”.  It opens in March and is written and performed by a St. Paul native.  It is about our working class communities.  For more details visit www.historytheatre.com.

Letter to the Editor
Support 3M museum proposal

Laughing together is one way of welcoming immigrants into the community.

Set of 12 Dayton's Bluff postcards available

The Dayton’s Bluff area has always been picturesque.  It has so many scenic views—and now they are available in postcards! There are 12 different scenes, including  the Seventh Street Improvement Arches, the Mounds Park Pavilion, the Scenic Overlock at Mounds Park, the Margaret Recreation Center, the Stutzman Block and seven others.    A set of 12 is $10—only $5 for Dayton’s Bluff residents. Buy one to keep and one to send. Photography and printing of the postcards was donated by Dayton’s Bluff resident Steve Trimble. All proceeds support our local paper, the Dayton’s Bluff District Forum. Call 651-772-2075 for more information

Amazing Grace Assembly of God
1237 Earl St.
651-778-1768    
Sun 9:30 am - Sunday school all ages
Sun 10:30 am - morning Worship
Sun 6:00 pm - evening Worship

Hmong Asbury United Methodist  
815 Frank St.  
651-771-0077

Bethlehem Lutheran Church  
655 Forest St.  
651-776-4737
Sun 9:00 am - Morning Service
Sun 10:15-11:15 am - Sunday School & Bible Hour
Sun 11:15 - Hmong Service

Faith Temple - Templo De Fe
1510 Payne Ave
651-778-0096
Sun 10:30 am - Spanish Bilingual Service
Sun 6:00 pm – Spanish Bilingual Service
Wednesday family night

Mounds Park United Methodist 
1049 Euclid St. 
651-774-8736
9:15 am -  Sunday School, 4-year-old through Adult
10:30 am - Worship

Our Savior’s Lutheran  ‘LCMS’
674 Johnson Pkwy 
651-774-2396
Sun only - 8am Worship, 9:20 education hour
Sun 10:45am - Worship

Sacred Heart Catholic Church  
Iglesia Sagrado Corazón
840 E. 6th St.
651-776-2741
Sat 4:00 pm English Mass &
   5:30 pm Spanish Missa
Sun 9:00 am English Mass &
   11:00 am Spanish Missa
Mon, Wed, Fri 8:00 am Mass

St. John of Saint Paul Catholic Church
977 E. 5th St.  
651-771-3690  
Mon-Sat. 8:00 am – Mass
Sat 4:15 pm - Mass
Sun 9:00 am, 11:00 am - Mass

St. John’s Outreach Ministry
1154 E. 7th St.  
651-771-7639
Sun 9:30 am - Sunday School
Sun 10:45 am - Worship
Wed 7:00 pm - Bible Study

St. John Ev. Lutheran  
765 Margaret St.
651-771-6406
Sun 9:30 am - Worship
Thurs 6:30 pm - Worship