May 2017        Smaller footprint. Stronger community.       TransitionASAP.org        District 12, St. Paul, Minnesota
In this issue:


From screens to shirts: Join us for a community arts evening May 20 at Minnesota Center for Book Arts. We'll prepare our 
Transition Now! project for the Northern Spark festival in June, whose theme is Climate Chaos / People Rising. Details below left.
 
National Adaptation Forum
Tuesday, May 9-Thursday, May 11
RiverCentre, downtown St. Paul. 
Climate focus on May 9. Info & registration.

Positively Electric breakfast meeting
Wednesday, May 10, 7:00-8:30 am
Town & Country Club, St. Paul. Hosted by Fresh Energy. Info & tickets
.

Friends School Plant Sale
Mother's Day weekend, May 12-14
State Fair Grandstand. This huge sale is easy to navigate, festive, and fun. Annuals, perennials, natives, trees, veggies, herbs, hanging baskets. No neonics! FB / website. Support Friends School of MN.    

Neighbors' gathering at Seal
Saturday, May 13, 9:30 am
Seal Tower, corner of Territorial and Raymond, main floor lounge. 
Informal group conversation hosted by Ali Osman and Meredith Sommers about Ramadan and Somali culture. All who live in the area are welcome here!  RSVP to  Meredith if possible, or just join us at 9:30. 
   





MayFest at the Co-op!
Saturday, May 13, 11:00 am-3:00 pm 
928 Raymond Avenue.
Party and plant sale with live music, demos, food on site.  Info.
   

Rally: Fund Transit Now!
Tuesday, May 16, 6:00-7:30 pm 
Green Line, Capitol/Rice Street Station.
Speak up: No hikes! No cuts!  Info .

100 Years at the Library
Tuesday, May 16, 7:00-8:30 pm 
SAP Branch Library, 2245 Como. 
Our library is 100 this year! Learn the history

Zero Waste action group

Wednesday, May 17, 7:30 pm 
2236 Commonwealth Ave. 
 
Join other  ZW
boosters. Questions?  Email Brandon.
  

Sustainable Food & Land group
Thursday, May 18, 7:00 pm 
2362 Carter Avenue. 
Help plan projects: visit the
webpage. Questions?  Email Kit.
   

Community Arts Prep Party
Saturday, May 20, 6:00-9:00 pm
Minnesota Center for Book Arts
1011 S. Washington Ave., Minneapolis 







For our Transition Now! project, we'll screen-print T-shirts, make tiny booklets, and create a "Grove of Life" to inspire Northern Spark visitors to climate action. (The all-night festival runs June 10-11.)
_______________

Join us!
Visit " Action Groups" or email us:
   Community solar: Barry Riesch
   Home energy curtailment:   Tim Wulling
   Housing options:   Phil Broussard
   Reflective Circle:   Marilyn Benson  
   School liaison:   Mimi Jennings
   Sustainable food:   Kit Canright
   Transportation:   Pat Thompson
   Zero waste:   Brandon Sigrist  
Join our email list: send your address to Communications@TransitionASAP.org. 
Visit our Facebook page "Request to join" our  Facebook group Follow us on
Twitter:   @transitionasap1 Submit news and views:  email  the editor  (and  see back   issues) .  Logo  by Pat Thompson. Transition "t" and  Bee  by Regula Russelle. 
How to take part in the National Gathering:
Host a visiting Transitioner this July
July is a wonderful month in Minnesota, especially when you can host interesting folks from all over the country attending the first-ever Transition National Gathering, held at Macalester in St. Paul. Some will stay in dorms or elsewhere, but for others, a homestay makes the trip possible. Open your doors, and you'll gain insight into the many faces of Transition. 
  • Dates: Homestays are needed for 3 to 7 days, July 25 - August 2. The main conference runs Friday, July 28 - Sunday, July 30, but some people arrive early; others stay for post-conference events through August 1. 
  • What's needed: Bed and/or sofa space for one or more people: tell us how many you can house, on what dates, and any other parameters. We'll match hosts with guests. No need to provide food or transportation. 
  • Making contact: We'll connect you with your guests before they arrive. 
  • For more info email Rebecca Cramer (rebacramer@gmail.com) or Janet Dieterich (jecdieterich@aol.com.)
Can't offer a homestay? Consider other ways to participate: 

Help with outreach and publicity.
We need more Minnesotans on the outreach team headed by Nils Palsson of Transition US (based in California). Email Mindy (mindykeskinen@comcast.net) and learn more on the team's national phone meeting May 9, 5:00 pm Central. 

Connect with a potential conference sponsor.
Do you know of a potential local or regional sponsor for the gathering? To discuss the possibility, contact Michael Russelle (michael@cedarfencepress.com).

Buy your ticket! 
Buy your own conference ticket, day pass, or admission to single events: the movie Demain, keynote by Richard Heinberg of the Post-Carbon Institute, and more. Some scholarships and work-trades available.  Ticket & program info.  
--Janet Dieterich
Poets: Send us your "laundry lines" by May 22
Why do we love clotheslines? They save energy--a lot of it. Clothes last longer when they're not tumble-dried. Shirts and sheets smell fresh, like wind and sun. And hanging laundry outdoors (or even indoors) can be a satisfying ritual. Clothing evokes memories. Hanging the wash is a universal, ancient practice. 

So write us a poem about it! Email it to Communications@TransitionASAP.org by May 22, and we'll hang it on our poetry clothesline at the SAP Arts Fest June 3. Short or long, rhymed or not, a haiku, a song... you choose. 

On Earth Day at the Hampden Park Co-op, we gave away clotheslines and started our call for poems. Thanks to the Co-op, Noll Hardware (our volume supplier), and the SAP Community Foundation grant to Transition Town ASAP, which gave us a budget to work with.  
--Mindy Keskinen
Jennings students aim for a high-yield garden
This fall, students at Jennings Community School  will harvest vegetables from what will likely be a bountiful garden. On May 3, with teacher Sam Eberhart and Joan James of A Backyard Farm, they filled raised beds with soil and placed irrigation tubes that will water with no waste or evaporation. With succession planting, each square foot will yield several crops, bringing a healthy dose of green to the school's parking area between University and Territorial Avenues.  

A 7-12 public charter high school, Jennings takes a project-based approach to learning, "pushing the boundaries of the classroom into the community, locally and globally," says Sam. 

Can you help us keep up with our area schools' sustainability projects? We'll connect you with teachers at SAP Elementary, Murray Middle School, Como High, Avalon, and Jennings. To consider serving as our informal liaison, contact Mimi Jennings  ( 651-644-4510).
"Poems for Transitional Times" at the Dubliner


As poet Eric Tu spoke the closing lines of his Postcards from Saturn I, he looked out at the listening crowd.

"... I call the names of ghosts and nothing happens. Bad connection maybe, or I've reached the wrong extension of the heliopause, or surely us second-gen Asian Americans have no real connection with the history of our ancestors because ghosts can't hold phones the way the living hold memories."

At the April 25 reading titled Poems for Transitional Times,
Tu and five other Twin Cities poets-- Naomi Cohn, Alice Duggan, Mary Easter, Dave Healy, and organizer Mimi Jennings-- reminded us that poetry spoken aloud in our public gathering places can unite us, as we respond together to its beauty and mystery. Thanks to Mimi, the Dubliner Pub and Cafe, and National Poetry Month. 
Good connection!

Poem quoted with permission of Eric Tu.
The Transition Town - All Saint Anthony Park initiative grew from the Energy Resilience Group, a subcommittee of the Saint Anthony Park Community Council's Environment Committee. Visit the SAPCC website to learn more about Saint Paul's District 12 neighborhood projects, including the Creative Enterprise Zone. Lend a hand!   Our purpose:  To raise our understanding in Saint Anthony Park of climate change, the limits of fossil fuels, and the adaptation of our community that is possible and positive.   What's a Transition Town?   It's a community starting the transition from a fossil-fueled, energy-intensive way of life to a more satisfying, locally oriented community with increased stability in disruptive times.