Shawna and Rick and Marvin and Caroline: they're just like me. Only they can act and sing and — oh, yes — some of them have known firsthand what it's like to be homeless. I haven't.

The Minnesota West Book Club just won four tickets to "An Evening with Mark Twain: The Trouble Begins at Eight." Next prize drawing coming Monday, Nov. 23.

Sunday marks the 46th anniversary of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, a transitional political figure who captured the imagination of a nation and, in the process, became an iconic pop-culture symbol.

Ondi Timoner's film "We Live in Public" is as important a piece of cultural history as has come down the pike in the last 10 years.

Described as a showman "first and last," the colorful theater impresario ran for mayor of Minneapolis in 1933 — and won.

Arts Arena: Finally, Shubert to break ground by Camille LeFevre

I went to Nicaragua as a poet, with the question of how poetry could matter in a place where the people who write poems are often the only ones who can afford to buy books.

As an avid reader, there are certain websites I visit regularly to stay connected to Minnesota's literary community. These sites keep me informed about literary events and local authors and publishers. Here are some worthy local links to check out.

We already have two Book Club Club prize drawings coming up in late November. But we just got another donation -- and it’s too literary to pass up.

Enjoy these provocative Short-Shorts by masterful Minnesota writers -- and get ready to write one yourself.

Come along for a stroll down the Street of Lost Lyrics, which is littered, unfortunately, with the abandoned introductory lines of some of the greatest creations in the Great American Songbook. And then test your musical skills.

A couple weeks ago, I asked readers to write in about their book club splits. I received several telling anecdotes about ditching groups and ousting members.

We have two literary prize drawings during November -- and each drawing will have two winning clubs. Happy Thanksgiving times four.

“To maintain the powers of the mind into old age, you must risk the contempt of your younger acquaintances and freely admit that you read detective novels.”

International Tongue Twister Day is as good an occasion as any to revisit some of the most memorable examples of tongue-tied political remarks. Two of them, by the way, involve Minnesotans.

It’s not quite up there with some of the cosmic controversies of our time — nature vs. nurture? And Betty or Veronica? — but it’s an appropriate seasonal debate, particularly with all the new attention to the 70th anniversary of the classic film “The Wizard of Oz.”

Saturday night/Sunday morning, Prince, now 51 years old but preternaturally forever young, tore it up over three hours like a cutting-edge artist who now seems content to operate as the best retro-funk band leader on the planet.

TORONTO — Tonight the pair engage in a dialogue at the Walker. "A Serious Man," the Coens' 14th feature, opens at the Uptown soon — and the other 13 are in the Walker's Coen retrospective, "Raising Cain," which runs through Oct. 17.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former Vice President Walter Mondale last night offered pointed advice to President Obama as he attempts to prod Congress on health care and a plethora of politically difficult legislation: Push harder. And Mondale acknowledged that he agreed with former President Jimmy Carter, who recently said that racism was behind some of the criticism of Obama.

NEW YORK — In Minneapolis, Osmo Vänskä gets bigger applause just walking onstage than most conductors do when leaving it. Now, after concerts with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, he's getting kudos in New York.

Wy Spano, usually seen in public places neatly dressed in a gray suit, is looking shabby these days. Known for launching political initiatives (the Politics in Minnesota newsletter in 1980, and the Master of Advocacy and Political Leadership program at the University of Minnesota-Duluth in 2004), he's playing the role of a homeless man in a Fringe Festival play this week.

Picture it now. Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau and Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller and Rep. Phyllis Kahn spinning and twirling and singing to a golden-oldies collection put together by Sen. Don Betzold, a bespectacled DFLer from Fridley.

Mick Spence, a local entertainment and copyright attorney, took in every second of the trial of a Brainerd woman who downloaded and shared songs on Kazaa. Spence assesses the jury's decision to award the music industry $1.92 million in damages.

HIBBING — Dozens of people rallied in Hibbing on Tuesday, protesting Hibbing Community College's decision to not replace its theater-department director, who is leaving for the Twin Cities. Last season featured 10 plays, which drew audiences from all over the Iron Range and beyond.

Penumbra Theatre Company, the largest African-American theater in the country, is struggling because of the recession, cutting its general operating budget by 24 percent and postponing some shows.

The Minnesota Historical Society is opening a huge, semi-permanent exhibit Saturday at the History Center in St. Paul. "What we've tried to do is look at the entire life of this generation, from birth to legacy," said Project Director Randal Dietrich.

The huge Upper Mississippi Forest Project and a tripled Arts Board appropriation are part of the legislation that lays out how $481 million in new sales-tax revenue will be spent over the 2010-2011 biennium.

The Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment approved last fall calls for 19.75 percent of the income from a state sales-tax increase to be spent on "arts, arts education and arts access and to preserve our history and cultural heritage." But potential recipients are jockeying for the "cultural heritage" money.

Boris Eifman, the world-renowned Russian choreographer whose "Eugene Onegin" opens Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg's latest U.S. tour tonight at Northrop Auditorium, talks about his work, his interpretations and plans.

Anyone who follows the Twin Cities arts community is well aware of all the pay cuts announced in recent months by nonprofit organizations ranging from the Loft Literary Center to behemoths like the Guthrie Theater and the Minnesota Orchestra. The latest is the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

The theater will gain national attention with its two-month tribute to Tony Kushner, regarded by some as the pre-eminent American playwright of our times. The events include the premiere of his new play, other stage performances — plus a plethora of seminars, classes and workshops and two "Extreme Kushner Weekends" that involve marathon theater packages.

Filmmakers Dawn Mikkelson and Melissa Koch have put four years of unpaid labor into "The Red Tail," a stirring new documentary named for the distinctive part of a Northwest Airlines plane. I talked with Mikkelson and Koch about the movie and its making.

The pastor of Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Dassell, Minn., explains how Scheffer's 1851"Christus Consolator" turned up in a storeroom and what led the congregation to give the valued work to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Initial reports of Natasha Richardson's tragic skiing accident, which led to her death yesterday, were perplexing: How can someone tumble down a beginner's ski slope, appear fine, and yet within hours be fighting for her life in a hospital's ICU? It's not as unusual as you might think.

Minnetonka High School graduate Dmitry Chaplin, a dancer known for being a top-10 finalist and a choreographer of the reality show "So You Think You Can Dance," will partner, starting tonight, with Holly Madison (who is replacing Jewel) in "Dancing With the Stars."

Matt Desmond of Minneapolis has created or revived more than 50 fonts. He's one of only a few "font cowboys" who make their living designing specialized fonts.

Ever wonder what day-to-day life is like in Bosnia after its ethnic war or in today's secretive Iran? Or, if protests over the Highway 55 reroute in Minneapolis made any kind of lasting impact? You'll find answers in the films in the 16th annual Women with Vision festival, opening today at the Walker Art Center.