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Karen Sandness

Minneapolis, MN
Commenter for
5 years 18 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 06/14/13 at 04:01 pm in response to War in Afghanistan: What you see when you only look in the mirror

In March 1978, a group of homegrown Marxists overthrew the existing government of Afghanistan and set about trying to modernize the country. For all their faults, Marxist governments are very good at two things: promoting universal literacy and promoting women's rights, so these were priorities with the coup leaders.

However, they ran up against the conservatism of some of the tribal men. No daughter of theirs was going to go to school with boys! No son of theirs needed to know...

Posted on 06/06/13 at 07:31 pm in response to Questions remain about fiscal performance of Minnesota Orchestra's board, management

We'd like to know what these people said to you about your proposals.

Posted on 05/14/13 at 09:56 am in response to Bottineau LRT: Tiny step closer — but nowhere near a done deal

it makes it possible for people to avoid congestion.

Tokyo has what is probably the world's best public transit system, and yet its traffic is terrible. But when I've been there, either as a visitor or as a resident years ago, there has always been a surface train, a subway, or a bus that lets me leave the driving to someone else. Always. I have never driven in Japan and only rarely ridden in a private car or even a taxi.

When I lived car-free in Portland, people used to say...

Posted on 05/10/13 at 05:42 pm in response to Should the U.S. get militarily involved in Syria?

are the people who see the world entirely in terms of "American interests" and "projecting American power in the world."

Such people are unlikely to remember that other countries have legitimate interests, that internal divisions arise for very good reasons, that a government leader who is "a friend of the United States" may be bad for his country, that a government leader who is "anti-American" may be good for his country, and that interventions cause huge messes and harm America's...

Posted on 05/07/13 at 03:35 pm in response to Sense of urgency being felt over Minnesota Orchestra plight; local bands to play Target Field

the musicians are upset about changes to the mission statement, which moves focus away from the orchestra and talks in generic terms about "music," without specifying what kind, as well as a proposals to take hiring authority away from the music director and give it to management (unheard of in a field where music directors strive to choose players who work together well and can produce the desired sounds) and to cut back on community and educational outreach and hire the orchestra out for...

Posted on 04/30/13 at 10:28 am in response to Hostile reception greets Dayton at first metro-area ‘Meet with Mark’ session

on AM radio and Fox News for the past thirty years, and propaganda works, especially if the propaganda outlet either has a monopoly (as in dictatorships) or tells its audience that no one else is to be trusted.

American right-wing propaganda has a single purpose: to take people's justifiable anger at what is happening to this country and direct it away from those responsible for the mess and toward scapegoats whom the audience is predisposed to hate.

In the right-wing...

Posted on 04/26/13 at 04:00 pm in response to The only path to settlement: Orchestra musicians, board members must negotiate

(the forgotten stakeholders, the people for whom the orchestra plays) are on the musicians' side.

I wonder if any board members were in the nearly sold-out O'Shaughnessy Auditorium last night when the musicians received repeated standing ovations. Now their performances were excellent, as always, but the real message in these ovations was that the audience members love the musicians and are frustrated and angry at a board that seems willing to destroy a world-class orchestra just...

Posted on 04/23/13 at 04:39 pm in response to Are all higher education sabbaticals worth the taxpayer cost?

Many professors take sabbaticals financed by government, corporate, or foundation grants. Such grants may be the only way they can take a sabbatical if their research requires expensive equipment, research assistants, or travel to distant countries.

Furthermore, regulations about sabbaticals vary from institution to institution. At the private college where I spent most of my academic career, one could receive full pay for a semester or half-pay for a year. There was no such thing as...

Posted on 04/24/13 at 05:24 pm in response to Talking with the taxman about poetry — and deductions

1) A professional musician in any genre, at any level of success, who never tours.

2) A poet who can afford to quit his/her day job.

(I know Lynette and Venus, and they don't deserve this harassment.)

Posted on 04/17/13 at 05:07 pm in response to We need to look again at what makes us fat, science writer argues

1. Over-consumption of sugars and other simple carbs, available in serving sizes that were not available in years past.

combined with

2. Lower activity levels in everyday life.

In countries with low levels of obesity, people walk or cycle or ride public transit instead of driving everywhere. Personally, I started gaining weight when I moved from Portland, where I didn't have a car, to Minneapolis, where it's impossible to live a full life without one.