Yeah. We lived almost to Elko, south of the McStop on County Road 70 and 35.

Me and my dad on Halloween 1978. I am dressed as a witch and eating something. I am on my dad's lap. Dad is wearing a green long sleeved T-shirt with a white print of a woman. He has big glasses and shoulder length hair.

What's wild to me (Prince wasn't famous so that isn't the wild part), is that my dad was having big enough & welcoming enough parties in a barn in Lakeville in the '70s to attract a bunch of black kids from North Minneapolis.

Prince played in my family's barn in Lakeville in August 1977. My mom was pregnant with me. He didn't go by Prince then. My dad mentioned this to me in an offhand way one day like it was super normal.

And, he's so humble that I knew him for almost a decade before I learned about his activism! I learned more about the amazing things he's done from other people saying good things about him than from him.

Commissioner Jeben-Singh shaking Brian's hand at the podium at the Ramsey County courthouse. Lots of people clapping.

He did pioneering work in LGBTQ foster care & adoption, worked to ensure Black & indigenous families were heard in child protection, & more.

He also is a gay rights pioneer doing critical activism in the height of the AIDS crisis, for gay marriage, & for gay teen rights. I am proud to know him. Fin

I get really dopey & emotional about the value of public service. Today is Brian Theine Day in Ramsey County & we should celebrate because Brian exemplifies excellent in public service & living a life with aligned values & actions.

Brian is retiring from a 30 year career in social services. 🧵1

My costume group is going to a few all dolled up in our historic finest

There are two bills to have the state bear these costs, but they are looking less & less likely to pass. So, call your state senator & urge support of SF4612, particularly if they are on the Senate Finance Committee who hears the bill Thursday. Unless you want property taxes to skyrocket. Fin(4)

In Minnesota our human services system is state supervised/county administered so this means counties will bear these costs. That means levy property tax increases to the millions of dollars. The mandate to provide SNAP doesn't change, just the costs. 3

HR1 shifts that to 75/25 with states or counties paying the greater share. That starts 10/1/26. The second is a benefit cost shift with states/counties paying between 0% (like now) to 15% of benefits based on the state's payment error rate. This starts 10/1/27. 2

There are many things in HR1 (the Big Beautiful Bill), but a few that haven't been getting much attention are funding shifts for SNAP. Currently, SNAP administrative costs are shared 50/50 between the federal government & states or counties. This is things like staff salaries, computers, & rent.🧵1

Well, I married a farmer and he is great at making all kinds of connections. I find richness in the nuance of people's lives.

Andrew or Bryan

My 14 yo watched The Breakfast Club for the first time this weekend. It seems to have made a deep impression. Found fan art of the characters with "My God, are we going to be like our parents?" written all over it.

If you see this post something orange from your gallery.

And, wholesale acceptance of an idea is the opposite of an actual classical education.

My kids go to a classical school & I would argue that the people quoted in this article have a deep misunderstanding of what a classical education is. Concepts of grammar, rhetoric, & logic are meant to critically question & can be applied to any subject matter.

Positive, but dissonant moments in rural Iowa:

* 20 yo nephew in a Buchanan County Republicans T-shirts telling me, "You liberals sure kicked the ass of those federal thugs. Good job."

* Talking EVs & solar with a farmer who runs his farm off solar who in same conversation praised Trump.

Mary is having her adult grandkids mail here memes as she lost her Facebook password and can't get back in.

It's alright if you want to sit on Billy's lap. I know newlyweds like to do that.

None of that family was given brains. That's why he rides a bike and can't get a date. (Referring to a man in his 60s)

If I want to buy something on the Internet I call Lori because she has that PayPal.

We didn't ask him to help but he did anyway. Then he thought we should pay him so he gave Mary those rock flowers.

Things my 85 yo farmer father-in-law said today. 🧵

I know you aren't really listening but I am going to talk anyway.

A three quarter moon sun catcher with a flower design with a cat with angel wings sitting on the moon. It is hanging in a window with a parking lot in the background.

A grey card with a cat on a cloud on it next to a red vase with pink wooden flowers in it.

My coworkers gave me this goofy sun catcher, card, and wooden flowers today. It is nice to have caring people to work with.

It needs some repairs, but you can come look at it.

No, seriously, want a used mini golf course?

We had our hot tub next to the homemade swings that allowed you to jump from the swing onto the in ground trampoline.

I have a used mini golf course you can have.

The History of the Americans started pre-Columbus and is on like 180 episodes and not even to 1700. It is all chronological. It's a commitment.