Creative, low-cost insulation project warms a cold church basement in Lauderdale 

• Thirteen 12-inch clear plastic salad bowls: $104 
• Yards of recycled 2-inch foam insulation: $200
• Seven 30-by-40-inch sheets of plastic with a mirror finish: $28
• Hearing the words “It’s warm in here” when people head into your church basement: Priceless
 
Pastor Dave Greenlund describes the 100-member congregation at Peace Lutheran Church in Lauderdale as “a creative bunch.” That ingenuity was tapped recently as church members found a way to insulate the cold, concrete basement of this 57-year-old building by using some recycled materials and a little chance inspiration. 

The St. Paul Senior Chore Service ended on Saturday, Dec. 31. This community-based program has aided senior citizens by providing free or low-cost lawn care, snow shoveling, housekeeping and other chores since 1988.

By Anne Holzman

By Judy Woodward

Who says there are no second acts in American lives? More than 20 years ago, classical cellist Laura Sewell turned her back on the musical major leagues to return to the Twin Cities, where she planned to start a family. A graduate of the Julliard School in New York City, she was a member of the prestigious New-York-based Lark Quartet when she decided that she “didn’t want to have kids in New York City” and “didn’t want to go on tour with a baby.” 

By Judy Woodward

Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish holiday that commemorates the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem after its defilement by Antiochus of Syria, begins Dec. 20. In this month’s Voice, Mary Ann Barrows Wark talks about a personal Hanukkah ritual that has become central to her enjoyment of the holiday. A resident for many years of University Grove in Falcon Heights, Wark is a philanthropist and an educator. She is the author of We Tell It to Our Children: The Story of Passover (St. Paul, Menschmakers, 2002).

Mary Ann Barrows: My favorite thing about Hanukkah is a puppet show that I do. It’s based on a story by [Yiddish author] Isaac Bashevis Singer called “Zlateh the Goat.” It’s Jewish, but it’s secular. I call it the Jewish equivalent of The Nutcracker Ballet. 

 Photo by Lori Hamilton

By Adam Granger

My family was small, overly intellectual, reserved and a bit melancholy. My dad was hired to teach English at the University of Oklahoma in 1953. My parents, with my older brother and me in tow, moved into a little frame house in Norman. They lived there for 40 years and just sort of wore that house out, never replacing, repairing or painting anything. They weren’t unaesthetic—quite the opposite; they were just so busy trying to keep their heads above the troubled waters that seeped from their emotional baggage that they had no energy left over to maintain their physical environment.

   Adam Granger's boyhood advent calendar: Scotch-taped and ready for another season.

Yule celebrants see return of the light as time for reflection, healing

By Kristal Leebrick
 
The winter solstice—the shortest day and the longest night of the year—is Thursday, Dec. 22, and if all goes to plan, Teisha Magee will stay up through the night with her husband and four children, exchanging gifts, eating favorite foods and waiting for the sunrise.

Teisha Magee      

Photo by Kristal Leebrick