In the 1970s, lesbian and feminist organizations popped up in cities across the nation. Minneapolis and Saint Paul were no exception. Here in the Twin Cities, the Amazon Feminist Book Store, Lesbian Resource Center, and Lesbian Feminist Organizing Committee all provided space and community for newly out lesbians and queer women.

At the same time, a small network of transgender women started their own type of organizing, one that relied more on mutual support than a physical meeting place.

But these groups weren’t mutually exclusive. In the late 1970s, a trans woman named Sissy Potter tried to join a lesbian feminist group called A Woman’s Coffee House. She’s probably not the only one, either. On the season 8 finale of MinneCulture from producer Kira Schukar, Sissy’s letter sparks a conversation about feminism, gender, and transfeminism in the Twin Cities and beyond.

Content warning: This podcast contains a transphobic slur and comments.

MinneCulture is hosted by John Gebretatose and edited by Julie Censullo. Support for MinneCulture is provided by the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage fFund.

Music from Blue Dot Sessions:

Silver Lanyard by Bitters

Borough by Molerider

Two Pound by Muffuletta

Eggs and Powder by Muffaletta

Dowdy by Muffaletta

True Shape by Muffaletta

Sources:

“2023 Anti-Trans Legislation.” Trans Legislation Tracker, https://translegislation.com/bills/2023. Accessed 26 Mar. 2024.

2023 State Equality Index: A Review of State Legislation Affecting the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Community and a Look Ahead in 2024. Human Rights Campaign Foundation, 2024, https://reports.hrc.org/2023-state-equality-index?_ga=2.7211186.1288380725.1706647812-211073266.1705959553.

Enke, Finn. “Collective Memory and the Transfeminist 1970s: Toward a Less Plausible History.” TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, vol. 5, no. 1, Feb. 2018, pp. 9–29.

---. Finding the Movement: Sexuality, Contested Space, and Feminist Activism. Duke University Press, 2007.

---. “Smuggling Sex through the Gates: Race, Sexuality, and the Politics of Space in Second Wave Feminism.” American Quarterly, vol. 55, no. 4, Dec. 2003, pp. 635–67.

Franklin, Michael David, et al., editors. Queer Twin Cities. University of Minnesota Press, 2010.

Grossman, Mary Ann. “Pioneering True Colors Feminist Bookstore Expected to Close in February.” Twin Cities Pioneer Press, 27 Dec. 2011, https://www.twincities.com/2011/12/27/pioneering-true-colors-feminist-bookstore-expected-to-close-in-february/.

McNaron, Toni. “About Toni.” Toni McNaron, https://tonimcnaron.com/about/. Accessed 26 Mar. 2024.

Van Cleve, Stewart. Land of 10,000 Loves: A History of Queer Minnesota. University of Minnesota Press, 2012.

Whitaker, Jan. “‘Way Out’ Coffeehouses.” Restaurant-Ing Through History, 28 Sept. 2009, https://restaurant-ingthroughhistory.com/2009/09/28/way-out-coffeehouses/.

Take a dive into comedic history in this story about the beginnings of the Brave New Workshop. The Brave New Workshop was founded by a former circus former named Dudley Riggs. In the mid 20th century, a new kind of humor was taking the world by storm, and Riggs tapped into the zeitgeist of improvisation that had no limits. KFAI's Sheila Regan weaves together the voices of past and present company members, archival audio, and an interview with Riggs himself in this celebration of comedy that speaks to its time.

MinneCulture is hosted by John Gebretatose and edited by Julie Censullo. Support for MinneCulture on KFAI has been provided by the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.

The history of the Animal Humane Society offers a jaw-dropping glimpse into Minneapolis life in the late 1800s. This was a time when horses struggled to pull loads up Lowry Hill and dogs at the pound were drowned in the Mississippi River. As part of a national movement, the humane society formed to prosecute cruelty to animals — and they prosecuted cruelty to children too. Investigating hundreds of cases, humane agents became the state’s first social workers and probation officers. This story traces Minnesota’s relationship to animals, from the workhorse era to the pandemic-puppy era. Produced by Michelle Bruch.

Season 7 of the MinneCulture podcast is edited and executive produced by Julie Censullo and hosted by John Gebretatose. Support for MinneCulture on KFAI has been provided by the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.

Historic photos courtesy of the Animal Humane Society; Music “Lissa” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).

In the late 1800’s, European immigrants — mostly German and Scandinavian — flooded Minnesota, and the population boomed like few other times in history. This new majority of people in a new land needed myths and stories to fill in the blanks about why and how they came here. Like the story of Kensington Runestone. A purportedly 'discovered' rune stone that proved that Nordic expires made it to Minnesota in the year 1362.

In this episode, reporter Matthew Schneeman dives into the connection between the stone and Minnesota's white population, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of folk archeology.

Music from "Runestone! A Rock Musical": https://garyrue.bandcamp.com/album/songs-from-runestone-a-rock-musical

Support for MinneCulture on KFAI is provided by the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund. Season 7 of MinneCulture is edited and executive produced by Julie Censullo and hosted by John Gebretatose. For more information about KFAI's MinneCulture, check out kfai.org/minneculture.

With its haunting call, distinctive black and white plumage, and intense, almost otherworldly red eyes, the Common Loon is an icon of northern Minnesota wilderness.

But some researchers believe future generations of the beloved bird in this region may be in jeopardy.A recent study in Wisconsin showed some worrying trends. Chicks are getting smaller, their survival rates are lower, and loons that migrate as juveniles are returning to their birthplace at low rates.

Now, there’s a concentrated research effort by the National Loon Center in Minnesota to find out whether the same declines are present there. Reporter Emily Haavik spoke with bird-lovers and scientists about their efforts to study and protect the Common Loon.

Support for MinneCulture has been provided by the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund. Season 7 of the MinneCulture podcast is edited and executive produced by Julie Censullo and hosted by John Gebretatose. For more information about MinneCulture, check out kfai.org/minneculture.

KSTP-AM is one of Minnesota’s oldest and formerly most successful radio stations. By the 90's, it had been mostly forgotten, as fans flocked to FM. While music fans enjoyed the stereophonic sounds on the other side of the dial, a new form of radio program began to emerge. Before long, talk radio flourished across the United States, and nowhere was it strong than at “The Talk Station.”

Fueled by a desire to shake up the radio landscape, Hubbard Broadcasting’s Ginny Morris took charge of the station and hired a new set of voices in the Twin Cities to break up the status quo. It was an eclectic cast of characters, and none of them were more unique than Tommy Mischke. Left to his own devices and given the keys to a late night kingdom, the renegade broadcaster blazed his own path. Hear from his colleagues and managers to get the inside story about what made The Mischke Broadcast one of Minnesota’s favorite radio shows, it’s legacy and why it’s a show that could only happen here.

Today, Tommy Mischke might be known as a podcaster and book author, but long before that he known by Twin Cities radio fans as only “The Phantom Caller.”

This documentary was produced Kyle Shiely and edited by Julie Censullo. Hear more classic Mischke bits at MischkeMadness.com and keep up with Tommy at the Mischke Roadshow, available wherever you get your podcasts. Find more of Kyle’s work at kyleshiely.com.

Support for MinneCulture on KFAI is provided by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. MinneCulture is hosted by John Gebretatose and edited by Julie Censullo.

Superman. Charlie Brown. Donald Duck. The existence of these 'toons all have roots in Minnesota. In this episode of the MinneCulture Podcast, KFAI's Britt Aamodt introduces us to a cartooning historian who helped preserve the backstory of some iconic characters. Support for MinneCulture on KFAI comes from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

In wilderness settings, there are connections people can make to the land, regardless of their age, race or gender, by walking in the footsteps of those who have come before them.With this in mind, a group of Minnesota paddlers set out in the fall of 2020 to travel across the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness to retrace the steps of a wilderness pioneer named Arthur Carhart. Their journey took them across abandoned portages, streams plugged by beaver dams and through remote territory inside the nation’s most visited wilderness area.Carhart made his journey to the Boundary Waters in 1921. Though a century has passed since his expedition, there were generations of people who lived in this landscape that is now defined as a ‘wilderness area.’ The Indigenous communities were here long before white voyageurs and government officials put their canoes on this countless collection of lakes, streams and pathways through the Boundary Waters.In this episode of the MinneCulture Podcast, producer Joe Friedrichs takes a look at what the term ‘wilderness’ means in the past, present and future of the Boundary Waters.

James Garrett Jr. is an architect at 4RM+ULA architects, one of the only Black-owned architecture firms in Minnesota. Garrett and his family have deep ties to St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood. During his childhood in St. Paul, James fell in love with buildings and the bustle of urban landscapes. Later, while in college, he would discover that he himself had a connection to these landscapes through a man who helped create them, Clarence Wigington, the first Black municipal architect in the country, serving St. Paul from 1915 to 1949.

In this episode of the MinneCulture Podcast, reporter Katie Thornton speaks with James Garrett Jr. about his life, his passion for architecture and how community-driven design can be a type of activism.

Polka dancing was once a staple of small-town Minnesota, enjoyed by German, Polish, and Scandinavian immigrants who settled in farming communities throughout the state. Today, polka dancing and ballrooms have mostly disappeared. But, for the residents of rural Sibley County, the legacy of one legendary polka venue still looms large. Producer James Napoli has the story.

The plain, uninteresting Mary Fridley Price. Not the sort of girl anyone would notice—except now she'd gone and leapt over a cliff to save her poor dog. The dull—and now very dead girl—was suddenly front-page headlines. No one was supposedly more grief-stricken than her charming husband Frederick Price, who found comfort in his wife's inheritance—and in the arms of his mistress...

Are you suspicious? Mary's father sure was.

KFAI's Britt Aamodt shares the story of Minneapolis' most notorious murder trial of 1916.

Support for MinneCulture on KFAI comes the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the Hennepin History Museum.

In July 1981, the New York Times published an article about a mysterious illness plaguing gay men in New York City. After reading the article, Bruce Brockway, a gay activist and publisher of the Twin Cities' first LGBT newspaper, turned to his partner and said, "I think I have that." That was AIDS and Bruce was right. Numbers-wise, Minnesota was never a hot zone of infection. But for the Minnesotans living with HIV/AIDS, the struggles were the same: to stay alive and to fight the homophobia that wanted to ignore an epidemic dismissed as a gay man's disease. This is their story, reported and narrated by KFAI's Britt Aamodt.

Minnesota was the first state to take Big Tobacco to trial in 1998. The biggest lawsuit in the state’s history forced the tobacco industry to take down cigarette billboards and release millions of internal documents that filled a Minneapolis warehouse.

When vaping e-cigarettes gained popularity among youth in the late 2010s, the Minnesota Attorney General’s office sued again, this time against market leader Juul Labs and the company’s Big Tobacco investor Altria. The lawsuit lifted thousands of new tobacco documents into the public archive.

KFAI's Michelle Bruch talked to people who worked on both trials — on both sides of the case — 25 years apart.

Support for MinneCulture on KFAI is provided by the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund. Season 8 of MinneCulture is hosted by John Gebretatose and edited by Julie Censullo.

Music: 'Ants in my pants' - SUPERARE

This summer on the MinneCulture Podcast, it's all about Minnesota History. As we kick-off Season 5 during Pride month, we celebrate one of the first well-known venues in the Twin Cities exuberantly claimed by gay men, a nightclub called The Gay 90s in downtown Minneapolis.

The Gay 90’s hasn’t always been gay. The bar began as a supper club for a straight crowd. It opened in the 1950s and the name was a reference to an earlier decade, the 1890s.

Then, in 1975, the vibe changed in a big way. The owners of the Gay 90s bought a disco ball, hired DJs, and turned the 90's into a club catering to gay men.

In this episode, we share an original KFAI documentary, “Fly Robin Fly: The Story of that Disco-Crazed Moment when the Gay 90s Came Out of the Closet and Embraced Its Name,” by KFAI's Todd Melby. You'll hear a history of the bar featuring some of the people who worked, danced and connected at the Gay 90s.Support for the MinneCulture Podcast on KFAI comes from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

When George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police on Memorial Day, pain and anger blasted like a shock wave across the Twin Cities and the world. Floyd’s death was followed by a week of protests, marches and sometimes destructive unrest. In this episode, KFAI’s Melissa Olson takes us to the intersection of 38th and Chicago Ave, where Native jingle dress dancers offered a ceremony of healing. We also hear from Twin Cities hip-hop artist Tall Paul, who recounts his experience patrolling south Minneapolis and protecting local businesses during the uprising. Then we take a gritty walking tour of unsanctioned artwork, hosted by graffiti artist Peyton Scott Russell.

We’re still social distancing and we’re still making stuff. Some artists have changed what they make. Others have changed how they make it. KFAI’s Barb Abney hosts from home and shares an uplifting interview with Twin Cities hip-hop artist Nur-D, who just dropped an EP recorded entirely from his bedroom. We also hear a tender, slightly gloomy audio diary from Minneapolis poet Ed Bok Lee, who discusses skeletons and shares knock-knock jokes with his young daughter. It’s adorable and, you guessed it, poetic.

Hear stories of Minnesota artists making it work in this time of social distancing. Barb Abney hosts the Season 4 launch from her daughter's bedroom while social distancing at home. In an audio diary, Haitian dancer Djenane Saint Juste fields a robocall from a bill collector, shares intimate scenes sheltering in place with her mother, then hosts a series of boisterous dance lessons in her apartment. We make a house call to Hmong chef Yia Vang who looks to his parents' experience as refugees to guide him through the pandemic.Support for MinneCulture on KFAI comes from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. This podcast was produced by Nancy Rosenbaum with Anna Stitt and Emily Bright, edited by Ryan Dawes and Melissa Olson.

Minnesota's oldest auctioneer reflects on rural life, the Kim Loo Sisters face discrimination in the jazz scene during the 1930s and 1940s, and a rusticly bunking historian sheds light on the history of slavery in Minnesota. The episode was produced by KFAI's Emily Bright.

For some artists, sickness can fuel their creativity. But for others, illness can drain the inspiration right out of them. In this episode, musician P.O.S and radio producer Katie Thornton discuss the ways chronic illnesses has affected their lives. This episode was produced by KFAI's Sophie Nikitas.

In this episode, we meet Minnesota musicians that take old music, and put their own twist on it. Host Jumondeh Tweh goes backstage at a Saint Paul jazz club with Debbie Duncan who’s known as the Twin Cities’ “First Lady of Song.” We travel to South Minneapolis, where Minnesota’s oldest African American drum corps is keeping an old musical tradition alive. And we hear from some passionate classical musicians at the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra about the album that won them a Grammy in 2018.

Immigrants are spicing up Minnesota food. In this episode of the MinneCulture podcast, host Jumondeh Tweh gets cooking tips from his Liberian mother and listens in on stories about Hmong and Somali food. KFAI's Emily Bright produced this delicious audio treat.

In Minnesota, freezing winters and big snowfalls come with the territory. But three feet of snow on Halloween? That was a day to remember. In the premiere of Season 3, Jumondeh Tweh plays a documentary produced by Britt Aamodt about the Halloween Blizzard of 1991, which remains one of the largest and most memorable storms in Minnesota history.

Fresh Fruit is the longest running queer radio program in the US. It has aired on KFAI Community Radio in Minneapolis, Minn. for over 40 years. MinneCulture host Jumondeh Tweh speaks with KFAI’s Dixie Treichel, who produced a radio documentary on this legendary radio show, tracking down former hosts and gathering the history of Fresh Fruit.

Mike Sawyer fell in love with old folk music in his 20s, picking up the banjo and playing at festivals and jams around the state. But after a while, he began to wonder why nearly all the songs he and his fellow musicians were playing came from Appalachia and the South. What happened to early musical traditions from Minnesota?

Now, Mike’s on a mission to uncover the roots of Upper Midwest folk music and keep it alive for future generations.

This documentary was produced by Britta Greene and James Napoli, and edited by Julie Censullo. Special thanks to Jim Leary and the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for sharing many of the audio recordings included in this piece, including from the Down Home Dairyland recordings. Additional thanks to Rob McGinley Myers, Nancy Rosenbaum, Sophie Nikitas, Cris Anderson and members of the Upper Midwest Folk Fiddlers.

You can find more of Mike’s research and recordings on his websites: Upper Midwest Old Time and the Midwest Fiddle Tunes Project.

Season 8 of MinneCulture is hosted by John Gebretatose and edited by Julie Censullo. Support for MinneCulture on KFAI is provided by the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.

It wouldn’t be a Minnesota podcast if we didn’t take you outside. It’s cold outside, baby, with rabid Minnesota Wild fans and anglers who won’t let a little ice get in their way. The MinneCulture crew bundles up and hits the ice to tell the unfrozen stories of the cold, bold North.

Despite the sizable Somali community in Minneapolis, Somali art hasn’t broken through to the mainstream. Known as a “nation of poets,” those who seek out the oral traditions of Somalia through poetry and music are greatly rewarded. Meet Nimo Farah, a Somali poet and activist, who is working to keep Somali oral traditions alive in America. In this episode, you’ll hear from Somali poets—in both English and Somali. We also bring you the music Dalmar Yare, a big deal musician in the Somali community where he’s highly sought after to sing at weddings and other social celebrations.

Forget the Spoonbridge and Cherry—these are landmarks that have secrets to tell, even when they’re gone. In this episode, we explore one that fell to the forces of urban renewal; one that closed because of the owner’s health issues; and one that is stuck between a rock and a hard place of history and gentrification. Host Jumondeh Tweh checks out Minneapolis’ nearly forgotten Skid Row, the recent loss of Arnellia’s (“the Apollo of St. Paul”), and Al’s Breakfast, a Twin Cities landmark withstanding the test of time.

What does it mean to “break the mold”? A hard-boiled lesbian detective breaks through the lavender ceiling, a Sudanese model refuses to lighten her skin to fit in and an Ojibwe rapper wants to be the spark that ignites the fire in his people. Nyakim Gatwech is the “queen of dark,” a Sudanese model in Minnesota with unapologetically dark skin. She has a major Instagram following, too. Ellen Hart is the author of a series of (24!) mystery novels about lesbian detective Jane Lawless. Her work on the series won her an Edgar Award in 2017. She is the first openly gay writer to receive the award. And Baby Shel, an Ojibwe rapper from the Red Lake Reservation, doesn’t care if he becomes the most popular rapper in the world—he just wants to open the door for people like him.

How has immigration, migration, and connection to the rest of the world shaped the sights and sounds of Minnesota? Meet Siama Matuzungidi, a Congolese soukous musician. He moved to Minnesota in the late 90s after having a prosperous career in Congo, Uganda, and Kenya. His life and music flow like his native Congo River, and today, the Mighty Mississippi. Doug Little and his band Charanga Tropical bring the traditional music of Cuba to Minnesota. Charanga orchestras are mainly popular in Florida, New York, and California. But Minnesota is home to one of the only Charanga orchestras in country.

Andrew Moore’s front yard used to host an enormous political art installation. His front yard installation was steeped in political turmoil and showed images of poverty, police brutality, and racism. But it cost him over $38,000 in city fines, his renter’s license, and eventually, his home. But he’s he didn’t let it strip him of his artistic identity; now he wears it. Moore’s installation work may be lost forever, but he continues to express himself and his views through clothing he makes from items found at thrift shops.

Why do people dress a certain way? What does dress say about who we are, and what connects us? People pick their uniforms for various reasons, but often it’s to fit in to a group. For the Minnesota Dandies—a group of sharply dressed black men—it means dressing for success and respect. For one Minnesotan women during the Civil War, it meant disguising herself as men in order to serve her country. Host Jumondeh Tweh looks at why uniforms matter—and what it says about how we express ourselves.

When is love an art form in and of itself? Like art, true love comes in many forms. A Congolese couple, separated by the ocean, sing to each other over the phone to stay connected. An all-grrrl punk band sing through a telephone (repurposed as a microphone) to the community that supports them. Corrie Harrigan (drums), Laura Larson (bass), and Liz Elton (vocals), are Kitten Forever. The three-piece punk band blazes minimalist dance punk in their underwear, trade off on instruments frequently, and love each other.

Every year, people on a canoe trip to Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA) need to be rescued from a dangerous situation. In modern times, the call for help can come from a cell phone, a satellite phone, or an emergency beacon like a Garmin inReach. But it wasn't always this easy to help people who recreate across the canoe-country wilderness. In this story from KFAI producer Joe Friedrichs, we learn about the history of search and rescue operations inside the most visited wilderness area in the nation, the Boundary Waters.

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MinneCulture is hosted by John Gebretatose and edited by Julie Censullo. MinneCulture is a production of KFAI. Support for MinneCulture has been provided by the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.