February 25, 2014

Executive Director Update

I am looking forward to today's Finishing Well program on Understanding Grief. The first two programs, Demystifying Hospice and Palliative care and Plan Ahead and Rest in Peace (funeral planning), were very informative and thoughtfully presented. Today's program is the final of the three part series, Finishing Well.

Finishing Well was developed as part of an 18 month Healthy Village Program that launched with Bumps in the Road in September of 2012. Later that fall, we presented a four part series Journeywell: A Guide to Quality Aging and that January started the monthly program Aging Well: An Ongoing Conversation. Last spring, we held a three part series on Advance Directives and POLST and in the summer, a home safety program To Fall or Not To Fall. This fall we presented two financially focused programs: Long Term Care and Medicare and the Affordable Care Act. And now conclude with Finishing Well.

We are already making plans to encore this Mill City Commons exclusive program and will start with Bumps in the Road with a focus on the role of Care Managers. Special thanks to MCC members Ellie Hands, Delia Bujold, Carol Jordan, Marion Kagan and Jack Meyer for helping develop Healthy Village Programs and/or provide speakers. (I apologize if I missed recognizing someone.)

I hope to see you this afternoon at Finishing Well Part III and/or Last Tuesday Happy Hour at Wilde Roast Cafe! (Please see below for details.) -- Linnea

Finishing Well Part III: Understanding Grief
What to Say When You Don't Know What to Say
Tuesday, February 25, 3:30 - 5:00 pm

Winslow House Community Room, 100 2nd St SE

Guest speaker, Edward J. Holland, will discuss grief's questions and healing resources. Edward J. Holland, MDiv, BCC, LMFT, currently serves as the Coordinator of Spiritual Care and Grief Support at Park Nicollet Methodist Hospice, in Minneapolis, a program he helped to create in 1979. Edward is a certified Respecting Choices © Advance Care Planning Facilitator and Instructor and serves as a member of Park Nicollet's Caring Choices Advance Care Planning Team.

MCC Members sign up here.

Last Tuesday Happy Hour

Tuesday, February 25, 5:00-6:00 pm

Wilde Roast Café, 65 Main Street SE

Join us for the Last Tuesday Happy Hour at Wilde Roast Café. Catch up with friends and neighbors over drinks and small bites. Barbara Brown hosts! No reservations -- Dutch treat.

MCC Members and Guests.

Men's Coffee and Conversation

Thursday, February 27, 7:30 - 8:30 am

Elsie's Restaurant, 729 Marshall St NE

Coffee and camaraderie for the male members of MCC! This group meets every other Thursday and is hosted by various members who get the conversation going.

This week, Peter Lefferts will facilitate an informal, open discussion on "bucket lists" and "unfinished business." Peter will offer a couple of brief personal experiences in "closing the loop" with memorable people in his own personal history and then open the discussion for C&C participants to share their own experiences. What were the outcomes? What were the learnings?

Men MCC Members sign up here; Guests email MCC.

Technology Helpdesk

Monday, March 3, 5:30-7:00 pm

MCC Office, 219 Main Street SE, Suite 401

Schedule time with a Tech Support Guru from Network Guidance 2.0 and have your nagging technology questions answered during our complimentary Helpdesk. When you register, MCC will confirm the time of your 20-30 minute one-to-one session. Reminder: Installing or upgrading software and creating accounts cannot be included in the Helpdesk session, as they exceed the allotted appointment time.

Members sign up here.

Guthrie Play Reading: Othello

Tuesday, March 4, 6:30-9:30 pm

818 S 2nd Street, Livingston Conference Rm

Enjoy this month's Guthrie Play Reading of Othello, Shakespeare's great tragedy of sweeping passions and murderous jealousy. The play is a thrilling meditation about the power of love and the destructiveness of doubt and suspicion, triggered by one of literature's most manipulative villains: Iago. It's a devastating story of cultural diversity, race, and the complexities of ambition and trust. A Guthrie dramaturg will assign parts.

Members sign up here; Guests email MCC.

Social Bridge

Wednesday, March 5, 3:00 - 5:15 pm

Stone Arch Lofts Community Room, 600 S 2nd Street

Join advanced or intermediate bridge players for a round of social bridge. You are expected to come with a partner at your level. (Advanced players play all major conventions comfortably). If you need help finding a partner, contact Carol Jordan at 612-817-0466 or caroljordan@millcitycommons.org and she will assist you. Play beings immediately at 3:00 pm.

Members sign up here; Guests email MCC.

Our Turn: A Conversation for Women

Thursday, March 6, 3:30 - 5:00 pm

The Carlyle Social Room,100 S 3rd Street

MCC women, come and join other women in conversation! This week's Our Turn is hosted by Charlotte Davnie. The topic: A discussion on mental illness and its impact on our community, friends and family. Pat Kiland a board member of Guild, will speak (15 minutes) on the impact of mental illness on a family and the help and education they received through Guild.

Women MCC Members sign up here; Guests email MCC.

Nosy Neighbor Tour: Grain Exchange

Friday, March 7, 1:30-3:00 pm

The Grain Exchange Building, 400 S. 4^th Street, #130

Organized in Minneapolis in 1881, the Grain Exchange responded to Minnesota's status in 1900 as the largest primary wheat market in the world by constructing the present Grain Exchange Building. Influenced by Louis Sullivan's large-scale commercial/office buildings, this edifice was one of the first buildings in Minneapolis to make use of the steel frame for its interior structural system. Members will meet in the main lobby of the Grain Exchange where Joe Albrecht will discuss the history of the Grain Exchange, show the trading floor and present a video that describes the floor before it was converted to its current use as a business office.

MCC Members sign up here; Guests email MCC.

Great Decisions: U.S. Trade Policy

Monday, March 10, 7:00-8:30 pm

La Rive Social Room, 110 Bank Street SE

The Great Decisions Discussion Group is centered on the Great Decisions briefing book developed by the Foreign Policy Association. Dr. David Lynch, Professor and Chair in the Department of Social Science at Saint Mary's University, will lead the topic "U.S. Trade Policy." America's foreign policy tools are not limited to sanctions, treaties or military campaigns - they also include the sales pitch. The logic behind this pitch, or "economic statecraft," is simple: promote the benefits of democracy and the free market. Now, as China and other emerging nations battle the U.S. for global influence, Secretary Kerry will take the reigns as a free market matchmaker. Elisabeth Bennett hosts.

GD MCC Members sign up here.

News From Members

MCC members Bud and Carol Hayden and NAZ Friends of the Future invite you for Cocktails and Conversation with Mayor Betsy Hodges and CEO Sondra Samuels. Enjoy wine, appetizers and inspiring talk about the complexities and positive changes happening on the Northside of Minneapolis. Learn how the Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ) is partnering with more than 1,400 youth and their families on a journey out of poverty and into college. Tuesday, March 4, 5:30-7 p.m. Program at 6 p.m. Phillips Family Office, 100 University Ave, SE. Click here for details and to RSVP.

MCC member Katie Searl invites you to a fashion show and gourmet luncheon fundraiser for Friends of the MIA Thursday, March 6th featuring dugo, a premier clothing store at the Galleria in Edina. dugo is prepared to delight you with fashions from Armani, Escada and other designers. Check-in at 11:30am MIA Reception Hall. Tickets are $75 ($40 tax-deductible) at (612) 870-3000 tickets@artsmia.org.

MCC member Laura Crosby has a photograph in an exhibition titled Liminal Communities, opening March 6th in New York City at A.I.R. Gallery, 111 Front St #228. This exhibition brings together the work of 19 national and international artists. Laura's photograph documents homeless youth finding shelter under a viaduct in Minneapolis and is titled Home Address: 2,500* Viaduct Ave, Minneapolis MN * The number of homeless youth on any given night in Minneapolis. For details, click here.

MCC member Karla Ekdahl shares the link to the Nora Gallagher interview with Kerri Miller which was done in October of 2013 and was replayed last week. Karla says, "It was a really powerful discussion and felt relevant to our organization and its members. Nora Gallagher wrote Moonlight Sonata at the Mayo Clinic, a memoir about her journey through illness."

http://www.mprnews.org/story/2013/10/31/daily-circuit-nora-gallagher?from=dc
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15849463-moonlight-sonata-at-the-mayo-clinic

MCC members Kim Eslinger and Dave Tinjum have created a metro website devoted specifically to our neighborhood. It's a place to go to find out what's happening, whether it's a new restaurant opening, a local event, proposed new construction, etc. Check it out at MillCityTimes.com.

Around Town

Fifth Annual Cuban Film Festival

February 20 - March 27, every Thursday, 7 pm St. Anthony Main Theatre, 115 Main Street SE

The Fifth Annual Minnesota Cuban Film Festival will once again present a selection of the best new and vintage Cuban cinema. This year the theme is Women and Afro-Cubans in Cuban Cinema, dedicated to the continuing fight for the release of the Cuban 5 and the ongoing struggle for racial equality. Films are in Spanish with English subtitles. Join the discussion afterwards at Pracna on Main. For more information: http://www.mspfilmsociety.org/content/5th-annual-cuban-film-festival.

Nordic Lights Film Festival - Twin Cities

February 28 - March 6, St. Anthony Main Theatre, 115 Main Street SE

The fifth annual Nordic Lights Film Festival - Twin Cities, in partnership with The Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul, will once again include a variety of feature-length and short films from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Sápmi. This year the opening night will feature a talk by Nordic film scholar Anna Stenport entitled "Nordic Film: Fire & Ice." This talk will be open to the public and free with purchase of a ticket to the film following the talk, Above Dark Waters. Visit the Festival website, www.nordiclightsfilmfestival.org to view the full schedule, synopses and trailers and to get ticket information.

MCC Upcoming Events

View the March Calendar here

February 25: Finishing Well Part III: Grief Resources. Members click here.

February 25: Last Tuesday Happy Hour. No reservations necessary.

February 26: Rendezvous on 5. No reservations necessary.

February 27: Men's Coffee and Conversation. Members click here; Guests email MCC

March 3: Complimentary Helpdesk. Members click here.

March 4: Guthrie Play Reading. Members click here; Guests email MCC.

March 5: Rendezvous Readers' Book Chat. No reservations necessary.

March 5: Social Bridge. Members click here; Guests email MCC.

March 6: Our Turn: A Conversation for Women. Members click here; Guests email MCC.

March 7: Nosy Neighbor Tour: Grain Exchange. Members click here; Guests email MCC.

March 10: Great Decisions. MCC GD Members click here.

March 12: MCC Board of Directors meeting. For details, click here.

March 13: Men's Coffee and Conversation. Members click here; Guests email MCC.

March 16: Sunday Soup Soiree. Members click here.

March 17: Nosy Neighbor Tour: HCMC. Members click here.

March 19: Social Bridge. Members click here; Guests email MCC.

Mill City Commons

Did You Know?

Members are our best source for program ideas! The Program Committee loves receiving suggestions and decided a process for handling program, activity and speaker recommendations would be of value to all.

We've created an eight point Program Sponsor Process and Checklist and a four point Program Description Form. You'll find the checklist and form here. Please download and share your ideas with MCC. Thank you!

-- The Program Committee

MCC Ongoing Social Opportunities

Rendezvous

Readers' Book Chat
Wednesday, March 5, 9:30-10:30 am
Guthrie Theater Level 5 Express

No reservations required.

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

Rendezvous on 5

Wednesdays, 9-10 am

Guthrie Theater Level 5 Express

Drop in and join your friends and neighbors for fellowship at this neighborhood haunt. This weekly adventure requires no reservations!

Men's Coffee and Conversation

Thursday, February 27

7:30 - 8:30 am

Elsie's Restaurant,

729 Marshall Street NE

Caffeine and camaraderie for the male members of MCC! This group meets every other week and is hosted by various members who get the conversation going.

Our Turn

Thursday, March 6

3:30 - 5:00 pm

Relax and chat with other MCC women. This group meets every other week and alternates between morning and afternoon times. Look for details in the body of this newsletter.

MCC Ongoing Fitness Opportunities

SBS Class

Mondays

7:30-8:30am

Thursdays
2:00-3:00pm

501FIT,
501 Washington Avenue

Created exclusively for MCC, this class at 501F1T focuses on strength, balance, and stretching.

Please register by contacting 501F1T at
612-767-4415.

River Walkers

Tuesdays and Thursdays,

7:30-8:30am

Stone Arch Lofts Riverside Parking Lot

All level of walkers welcome for this early morning walk along the banks of the Mississippi River. An MCC volunteer leads each walk.

Hatha Yoga

Wednesdays and Fridays,

8:00-9:15am

Yoga Center Minneapolis, 212 3rd Ave N., Suite 205

This is an alignment-based class. Purchase a 12-class pass for $132 directly from YCM to use as your schedule allows, or drop in on a class for $12.50. Contact Dena at 612-436-4700 for details.

Drop-ins welcome.

Mill City Commons | 219 Main Street SE, Suite 401, Minneapolis, MN 55414
www.millcitycommons.org | info@millcitycommons.org
612-455-3329