We all love our nearest natural area Lake Hiawatha, but did you know that most of our neighborhood streets flow directly into Lake Hiawatha untreated?

Corcoran GROWS and the Friends of Lake Hiawatha invite you to take our Clean Water Pledge this fall to help us reduce the flow of of trash, leaves and pet waste from our boulevards, yards and alleys into Lake Hiawatha.

Through our actions together over the next few years, with others who live upstream along Minnehaha Creek, we can restore Lake Hiawatha to a swimmable lake, with beautiful wild life habitat.  Lake Hiawatha was originally named Rice Lake. Wouldn’t it be great if we could grow wild rice there again?

We are looking for 10 block captains to each reach 6 neighbors to meet our goal to engage Corcoran 60 neighbors to take action for water quality.

National Night Out in Corcoran brought together neighbors of every age. I dropped in on five or six block parties along Longfellow and 19^th avenues to advocate for the elderly and was warmly greeted. Among the offers of brats, potato salad and brownies I had a chance to chat with a number of residents who expressed concern about how to maintain their quality of life as they age.

One older woman in particular has a real desire to stay in her home amid her Corcoran neighbors but worries about her ability to navigate her steps much longer. A middle-aged gentleman I spoke with eagerly wants to visit the elderly in ways that could accommodate his wheelchair. Along the route I also met a musician in his 80s. He doesn’t know how much longer he can live on his own, but he wants to stay creative and useful.

Twenty one blocks in Corcoran hosted National Night Out festivities all over Corcoran on August 2nd, 2016. Food, water games, music, dancing, and more were part of festivities across the neighborhood. Thanks to our photographers for submitting pictures of National Night Out!  Photographs taken by: Dora Kaufman, April Riordan, Marcus Larson, Phillip O'Toole, Sara Stamschror-Lott, and Kim and Tom Medin. 

Picture this: the nervous streets of first century Jerusalem, the smell of civil unrest in the air, and one man, Judah Ben-Hur, trying his best to keep the peace in his own royal household, while another man, Jesus Christ, offers a new way of peace.  A gripping theme is at work here, but does it materialize?

Ben-Hur, for me, was both epic and catastrophic.  First, the iconic chariot race delivers on a grand scale -- larger than life!  However, the rest of the action scenes felt like we had been set up to hold our breath and brace our seats (in part due to an intensely brooding techno-percussive score by Marco Beltrami) but it never proved necessary.  Even a pivotal underwater sequence ripe for suspense felt more like an Esther Williams ballet in slow motion.  The hits needed to be harder, faster, and more destructive, a la the plane crash in 2000's Castaway.  Alas, our title character, played well by Jack Huston but lacking the necessary attitude for a role of this stature, has a face that comes out squeaky clean after five years a slave in a warship galley.  Dear makeup department, what happened?  I found myself wishing this film could have gone through one more round of editing.  It had the potential for greatness, but stumbled over its own perceived weight in the shadow of the 1959 juggernaut which claimed eleven gold statuettes.

Both ‘refusing to choose’ & failing to ‘accept life on life's terms’ yields to an illusion called Fate.  Happiness is a choice, indeed, if we are to believe Abraham Lincoln who said, “A man is as happy as he makes up his mind to be.”   Yet, we walk with the enemy, and the enemy is us.

To quit walking with the enemy is to ‘Let Go & Let God’ (as I understand Her).  It seems so many of us spend soooo much time thinking about things we don't want or don't like, the outcome of which leads us to get more of what we don’t want or like.  We can focus on the problem or offer a solution.  When we push on a problem, the muscles used to push get stronger and the problem often gets fortified.  Here’s an example of that:  When someone is upset, we tell them to “calm down”.  It usually has the opposite effect to what we wanted. 

3545 19^th Ave South

(612) 889-8022

http://www.cynthiareussmassage.com/

Have you ever had a massage and by the time you get home your drive across town has you completely knotted up all over again?   I’ve found a way to solve this because I can now walk or bike to my neighborhood massage therapist!

Cynthia has lived in Corcoran on and off and after purchasing her house, is now here to stay!  She has a background in Outdoor, Recreation, and Environmental Studies, but chose to change careers in the early 2000s.  With her love of biology, she says it really wasn’t much of a shift.  She has 12 years of practice, many of those in chiropractic offices, which helped her specialize in deep tissue massage.   This therapy can target muscles that are tight and strained from overuse or injury as well as help the healing process after a knee or hip replacement or even a car accident. 

Providence Place Senior Living is a nursing home near the Corcoran neighborhood located at 3720 23^rd Avenue South, and I regularly volunteer to play music for the elderly there, with the St Helena Church Music Troop.

I play the piano, the flute, and sing for the elderly.  I consider it a special thing to volunteer with the elderly. It has shown me that everyone deserves a chance, and that everyone is unique.  I go to play music for them about every other Saturday, and I can see that they truly enjoy being visited.

You don't have to play music to bring joy to their lives, either! There is a plethora of different things you could do, from volunteering in some way or by simply bringing in a fresh face to someone who doesn't get many visitors  (Just make sure you check the requirements of the organization you wish to volunteer for, of course).  It is so clear by their expressions and actions, that they truly appreciate being visited.  Seeing the smile it brings to their faces is an experience like no other.

As I have said in this column before, our home has been a labor of love since the day we moved.  Our big ol’girl has taught us many things, from how to repair plumbing, all the way to appropriately staining and salvaging wood.  And truthfully, we could not have done all of this without the help of the Northeast Tool Library and its director, Thomas Ebert. 

So, maybe you are asking yourself, “What is a tool library?”  It’s just like the library for books…only instead of the sweet smell of musty pages, you get power drills!  Simply, you go and check out your needed tools and return them when you are done.  It’s a great way to save money on DIY projects AND it’s great for our environment to share!  Plus, Thomas is always helpful in suggesting certain types of tools to help you get the job done right!

And here is the exciting part…he wants to expand to the southside of Minneapolis!  (fingers crossed for it to  be in Corcoran neighborhood!) 

Facts:

Since July 12^th, there have been 25 home burglaries occurring in the area known as Sector 2.  This is the area between 2^nd Avenue South to Hiawatha/Lake Street East to 42^nd Street East.   Of these 25 cases, twelve were occupied burglaries.  Occupied means that the residents were home at the time of crime. Victims were in the home sleeping or in a different area of their home.  The most common time frame for the occupied burglaries is between 10pm-8am with the most common method of gaining entry through unlocked windows or doors. 

Losses have been purses, wallets, cash, personal documentation, electronics, jewelry and medications.

There is limited suspect information.

Although no one deserves to be victimized whether their doors and windows are locked or unlocked. By taking extra precautions to secure your home and garage, burglaries can be greatly reduced.

Congratulations to the Corcoran Park band, Parks and Wreck! The band will be recording 4 original songs at Powderhorn Studios and will hope to have them for purchase in the future.

New building hours begin August 29th, on the first day of school. The hours will be Monday through Thursday from 3-9pm and Friday 3-6pm. The Pool will be open until Labor Day on Monday, September 7^th, with normal hours until then; 10am-9pm daily.