Uncategorized Archives - Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship

A Reading & Conversation with Erin Sharkey and Michael Kleber-Diggs

Posted on March 20, 2023March 22, 2023

What are the politics of nature? Who owns it, where is it, and what role does it play in our lives? Does it need to be tamed? Are we ourselves natural? Erin Sharkey and Michael Kleber-Diggs will discuss, A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing from Soil to Stars, a collection of personal and lyric essays in conversation with archival objects of Black history and memory. The collection explores stories spanning hundreds of years and thousands of miles, traveling from roots to space–finding rich Blackness everywhere. Together we will consider the significance of nature in our lives and on the role of nature in the lives of Black folks.

When: Monday, April 3rd 4:30-6:00PM

Location: Hagfors 150 & Zoom

Erin Sharkey Bio: Erin Sharkey (she/her/hers) is a writer, arts and abolition organizer, cultural worker, and film producer based in Minneapolis. She is the cofounder, with Junauda Petrus, of an experimental arts collective called Free Black Dirt and is the producer of film projects including Sweetness of Wild, an episodic web film project, and Small Business Revolution (Hulu), which explored challenges and opportunities for Black-owned businesses in the Twin Cities in the summer of 2021. Sharkey has received fellowships and residencies from the Loft Mentor Series, VONA/Voices, the Givens Foundation, Coffee House Press, the Bell Museum of Natural History, and the Jerome Foundation. In 2021, Sharkey was awarded the Black Seed Fellowship from Black Visions and the Headwaters Foundation. She has an MFA in creative writing from Hamline University and teaches with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop.

Michael Kleber-Diggs Bio: Michael Kleber-Diggs (KLEE-burr digs) (he/him/his) is 2023-2025 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow and a poet, essayist, literary critic, and arts educator. His debut poetry collection, Worldly Things (Milkweed Editions 2021), won the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize, the 2022 Hefner Heitz Kansas Book Award in Poetry, the 2022 Balcones Poetry Prize, and was a finalist for the 2022 Minnesota Book Award. Michael’s essay, “There Was a Tremendous Softness,” appears in A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing from Soil to Stars, edited by Erin Sharkey (Milkweed Editions, 2023). His poems and essays appear in numerous journals and anthologies and he teaches Creative Writing in Augsburg University’s low-res MFA program. Michael is married to Karen Kleber-Diggs, a tropical horticulturist and orchid specialist. Karen and Michael have a daughter who is pursuing a BFA in Dance Performance at SUNY Purchase.

This event is part of Earth Month 2023. Visit the site to learn more about other events happening during the month of April to celebrate and engage in Environmental Stewardship at Augsburg.

Campus Cupboard keeps our community well-fed and thriving

Posted on February 16, 2023February 16, 2023

Written by Imogen Page, MSW Intern with Campus Kitchen

On the ground floor of the Anderson residence hall, the Augsburg Campus Cupboard is buzzing with activity. A student worker reminds fellow Auggies to grab a box or a bag for their free groceries, and around 15 students are shopping in Augsburg’s free food cupboard.

Today, there is plenty of fresh produce – salad greens, apples and pears, onions and potatoes in addition to fresh herbs and berries. A refrigerator stands full of milk, yogurt, cheese, and dairy alternatives, and a freezer contains frozen chicken, ready-to-eat meals, and tortillas. The week before, the cupboard distributed a shipment of halal beef, goat meat, and salmon. Students browse canned goods, fresh bread, dried beans, pasta, and rice in addition to coconut milk, oil, vinegar, ketchup, fish sauce, Tabasco, and salad dressings.

“These condiments literally kill, dude” one student says to his friend as they choose from the shelves.

This is all part of the daily routine at the Campus Kitchen, where a team of student workers, interns, and staff operate the Campus Cupboard six days a week. We’re always busy – whether unloading boxes of produce from our trusty old van, stocking shelves, distributing hot meals and groceries to our neighbors, or cooking together in the food lab.

Abi Hilden at the Augsburg Echo recently covered Campus Kitchen’s work, interviewing student worker Heldon Centellas about the cooking workshops, grocery distribution, SNAP application help and other work we do in our community.

“During the summer and fall months on Saturdays, we glean leftover produce from local farmers at the Mill City Farmers Market and redistribute it to our neighbors at Riverside Plaza! On Fridays during the majority of the year, we help distribute free produce to our neighbors there!” shares Centellas. In addition to these seasonal efforts, Campus Kitchen “[has] a community garden for people to grow their own food behind the Hagfors building, meal deliveries to Ebenezer Towers and Bethany Church, serving warm food at the Brian Coyle Center, provide assistance in SNAP applications, host giveaways, have open Food Lab hours, offer Cupboard online orders, and more!”

Our work at Campus Kitchen is possible because of support from Augsburg’s community. With growing food insecurity in our communities and the rising price of basic essentials, we need your help to keep providing nutritious food in our community. Your donation today helps to keep our community well-fed, healthy, and thriving. You can give here, and designate your gift to “Campus Cupboard.”

100% Clean Energy Bill signed into law!

Posted on February 8, 2023February 8, 2023

Last night, Governor Walz signed the 100% Clean Energy by 2040 bill into law. It requires Minnesota utilities to provide 100% carbon-free electricity to customers by 2040 taking great steps to combat climate change and expand clean energy jobs in the state. This is an exciting moment for Minnesota in furthering its climate action goals and has great potential to expedite Augsburg’s climate mitigation efforts.

In 2007, Augsburg University became a charter signatory to the Second Nature President’s Climate Leadership Commitment to actively reduce its carbon footprint and set goals to become carbon neutral. Over the years, the Augsburg community has advanced these goals and been a quiet leader in this work, particularly in regards to electricity generation and consumption. In 2018, Augsburg began to purchase solar offsets for its energy consumption, helping its utility company Xcel Energy further prioritize carbon-free electricity sources. More recently, Augsburg has also worked to lower its electricity consumption through the campus-wide installation of LED light bulbs. Students understand the urgency, so through Day Student Government climate resolutions, they have championed and lobbied for Augsburg to generate its own renewable energy through the installation of solar panels onsite.

Although we as a community are advancing clean energy usage and lowering our energy consumption, Augsburg’s carbon neutrality goals cannot be achieved in isolation nor on our own. Utility companies like Xcel Energy, play a vital role in Augsburg’s and Minnesota’s shift to carbon-free energy sources. We at Augsburg, especially our students, know this. Many on the Environmental Stewardship team have been champions for climate legislation through marches at the State Capitol, discussions with elected officials like Attorney General Keith Ellison, and community organizing work with community-based groups like ISAIAH’s Young Adult Coalition. Last week, senior and Environmental Studies major, Zoe Barany, was a co-author for this Commentary piece in the Minnesota Spokesman Recorder where she and peers from universities across the state advocated for the very 100% Clean Energy legislation that Governor Walz signed into law yesterday evening.

In 2021, 51% of Xcel Energy’s electricity generation came from fossil fuels, like coal and natural gas. With this legislation, 100% of Xcel’s electricity, and thus Augsburg’s electricity, will be generated from carbon-free sources like wind and solar! As our state sees less and less ice on its lakes and more rain in January, this is exciting news for our state and thus our university. These climate mitigation changes can’t come fast enough!

Day at the Capitol 2023

Posted on January 20, 2023January 31, 2023

Join us for Day at the Capitol 2023 where you can advocate for increased funding for education. Your legislators need to hear from you about the Minnesota State Grant program and other causes that are important to you.

What happens at Day at the Capitol?

You’ll attend a Minnesota State Grant advocacy and lobbying training with student advocates from Augsburg and other Minnesota private colleges. Then you’ll meet with legislators (we’ll make appointments for you in advance) and have lunch at the Capitol. The Minnesota Private College Council will host a Q&A session with public policy experts and policymakers and will provide everything you need to be a successful advocate.

Wednesday, March 1, 2023 from 9:15 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

When signing up for the 2023 Day at the Capitol, you can also join Advocates for Minnesota Student Aid to receive occasional (a few times a year) legislative updates and action alerts on important issues facing Minnesota and federal financial aid.

The group from Augsburg will take the light rail to and from the Capitol together. There will also be an optional pizza night on Tuesday, February 28 to meet other advocates from Augsburg and get ready for your day of civic engagement.

Apply now for the 23/24 Sabo Scholars

Posted on January 13, 2023January 16, 2023

Martin Sabo in the U.S. capitol — Representative Martin Sabo

The Sabo Scholars are juniors and seniors who have an interest in and a commitment to engagement in the political process, public policy, and/or careers in public service. This application is open to students who will be juniors or seniors in the 2023-2024 academic year.

Successful candidates for the Sabo scholarship will:

Be a junior or senior in the Fall 2023
Describe their career aspirations in community or public service
Demonstrate their interest in politics or public policy
Demonstrate financial need (as verified by Student Financial Services)
Provide the name and email of a faculty member who will serve as a reference if we have questions.

The scholarship for 2023/2024 is $3,500 and is renewable for one year.

Please submit your application by March 5, 2023.

Support Augsburg’s Campus Cupboard to address food insecurity

Posted on November 14, 2022November 14, 2022

The Sabo Center’s Campus Kitchen program invites you to support our 2022 Giv e to the Max fundraiser. This year, we are raising funds for two important initiatives: The Augsburg Campus Cupboard and food access programming in Cedar-Riverside.

First, the Campus Cupboard provides free groceries to Augsburg students. Campus Cupboard use has rapidly expanded in the last three years, in response to increased food insecurity among Augsburg’s diverse student population. In 2019, an average of 50 students visited the Campus Cupboard to pick up free groceries each week. By September 2022, that average increased to 220 students per week. We regularly receive feedback from our students that the groceries we provide make a huge difference in their ability to access high-quality, healthy foods. Many students and their families now see this service as a critical piece of meeting their basic food needs.

In order to expand this work, we are raising funds to purchase culturally appropriate food items for our diverse student population. With your support we will be able to offer a wider variety of foods, providing our students with the specific staple foods they request regularly.

Second, we are seeking support for our food access and education work in our surrounding community of Cedar-Riverside. The Campus Kitchen program provides free meals, fresh produce, and cooking programming for our neighbors in Cedar-Riverside. A $60 donation covers supplies needed for one cooking class for neighborhood youth. Your donation will make a significant difference in our ability to meet the growing and diverse food needs of Augsburg’s student body and our neighbors in Cedar-Riverside.

Please support this work with a donation here.

Thank you for your generosity.

Auggies Vote!

Posted on October 19, 2022November 8, 2022

Tuesday November 8, 2022 is election day and the Sabo Center is here to help you get registered and make a plan to vote. There are no classes at Augsburg on election day so you’ll have time to do your civic duty and have your voice heard.

Need help?

Need help getting registered or learning about what’s on your ballot, finding information about candidates, or making a plan to vote? Sabo staff and student election volunteers will be available in the lobby of Christensen Center during the following times.

Tuesday, October 25, 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Wednesday, October 26, 10:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Tuesday, November 1, 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 pm.
Wednesday, November 2, 10:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Monday, November 7, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Keith Ellison on Campus November 1

Want an opportunity to hear directly from Minnesota’s Attorney General? Keith Ellison will be visiting Augsburg on Tuesday, November 1 at 11:30 in the Christensen Center’s East Commons. Come hear from Keith, get your election questions answered, and grab a cookie.

Write a note to legislators to support education funding

The Minnesota State Grant program provides financial support to nearly half of all undergraduate
Minnesota residents attending college in our state — including Augsburg students. To make sure the State Grant program continues, your legislators need to hear from YOU!

Augsburg and the Minnesota Private College Council invite you to write a short note to
your legislator to help ensure you and future generations of students continue to receive this
crucial support. We’ll provide everything you need.

Christensen Center Lobby on November 1, 10:30 am. – 1:00 p.m.

September 17th is Constitution Day

Posted on August 18, 2022January 25, 2023

Happy Constitution Day!

235 years ago the Constitution of the United States of America was signed on September 17, 1787, and nine months later it was ratified and became the official framework of the US government. When the Constitution was signed, the United States population was 4 million. It is now more than 332 million. The Constitution was signed in Philadelphia which was the nation’s largest city at the time, with 40,000 inhabitants.

The National Constitution Center is hosting a Constitution Day Celebration on Se Constitution Day 17 September graphic with flag and capitol building image. ptember 16 and 17th. Some of the events include:

A live-streamed reading of the Preamble
A Congressional conversation on Common Ground and Compromise
A virtual walking tour of historic Philadelphia
and much more.

Make a plan to vote on November 8.

Midterm elections are coming up and Augsburg has made election day a holiday during which classes are canceled so that all eligible voters have time to vote. The office of the Minnesota Secretary of State has sample ballots and information about voting. If you have questions feel free to reach out to the Sabo Center staff, we’d love to help.

Augsburg LEAD Fellows Explore Equity and Justice through a Virtual Lens

Posted on March 25, 2022April 4, 2022

Augsburg students and staff posing in front of the REM5 studio backdrop.

This year the Leaders for Equity, Action, and Democracy (LEAD) Fellows have been reflecting critically on social issues of justice and equity, and discovering how they can use their own agency to organize and influence change. In the fall of 2021, the students engaged in organizing to raise voter participation and civic education on campus, and connected with Minneapolis City Council members to grow their understanding of community issues and policy.

This Spring the LEAD Fellows ventured off campus to REM5 Virtual Reality Labs to experience the ways that REM5 and partners at RFTP (Rooftop) are using storytelling through technology in order to create learning experiences and build awareness.

Upon first sight REM5 is a large, warehouse-looking building. As you enter the space you are drawn in by an array of different technology- from big screens to small QR codes that transport you into augmented reality through your phone’s camera- which makes it a very creative space. The group started out by participating in a VR experience using REM5’s headset technology, the experience is titled “Traveling While Black,” and transports participants to different places to better explain what it is like to travel as a Black person in the Jim Crow-era (and beyond) in the US. The experience references the Green book: The Black Traveler’s Guide to Jim Crow America, a publication that referenced safe establishments for Black travelers.

Traveling While Black is an immersive experience that takes participants into well known establishments like the historically popular Ben’s Chili Bowl in Washington DC, sitting them right across the table from people giving accounts of their own travels across the US. Students were able to reflect on what it means to be able to walk into restaurants and shops without fear of discrimination and physical violence, and the fact that the spirit of such discrimination and violence is still very much alive today in many spaces and systems.

A group of students sitting in a circle of chairs, each student is wearing a virtual reality headset.

The VR experience was paired with a live storytelling session with RFTP, a consulting group that creates space for deep reflection through storytelling, active listening and group dialogue. RFTP facilitated discussion about how we view safety in different areas in our lives, and how we all have a responsibility to not only proclaim the spaces we hold and create to be safe, but to intentionally change our environments so that when people enter spaces they actually feel safety, belonging and protection, physically and psychologically.

“The more you are able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes the more you are able to understand and connect with others. This makes other people feel welcomed and understood, makes them feel heard and that makes them feel safe. That is why it is always important to hear what others have to say and listen with an open heart.” – Barbara Sabino Pina (’23)

Students were invited to explore other VR games and activities offered inside the REM5 studio. Below are some of the responses students gave when asked about future topics they would like to see addressed through this platform:

“Success while dealing with trauma, healing from the sociological trauma within BIPOC community, how to cultivate generational wealth with real estate, stocks/bonds, ntfs, etc.” -LEAD Fellow, class of 2023

Hope Kannare (’23) sitting, wearing a virtual reality headset, is engaged in a VR experience.

“Mental health and mental disorders. Understand better the perspective of a person who is differently abled.” -LEAD Fellow, class of 2023

The LEAD Fellows look forward to continued learning and integration of technology to leverage social justice.

Happy Constitution Day ~ September 17

Posted on September 15, 2021January 26, 2022

Happy Constitution Day!

Every September we celebrate Constitution Day to learn more about the Constitution of the United States of America and understand its importance in history and our lives today.

“The Constitution acted like a colossal merger, uniting a group of states with different interests, laws, and cultures. Under America’s first national government, the Articles of Confederation, the states acted together only for specific purposes. The Constitution united its citizens as members of a whole, vesting the power of the union in the people. Without it, the American Experiment might have ended as quickly as it had begun.”

Did you know that 2021 is the 50th anniversary of the ratification of the 26th Amendment, which lowered the national voting age to 18 and banned age discrimination in voting?

This is just one of many issues that are covered in this country’s founding document. Voter discrimination and voting rights are critically important issues in our democracy today, just as they were 50 years ago. To learn more about the 26th Amendment, join the Students Learn Students Vote coalition on Constitution Day — Friday, September 17 — with a virtual celebration of the 26th Amendment hosted by the Center for Youth Political Participation at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.

Constitution Day 2021: Fulfilling the Promise of the 26th Amendment

Friday, September 17, 2021 12:30 PM CT Register here

Lastly, if you live in Minneapolis, make a plan to vote on November 2.

The League of Women Voters hosted a Mayor Candidate forum on September 13, you can watch a recording of it here. If you need help with registration or figuring out where to vote, contact us at the Sabo Center. You can find out more about what’s on the ballot here.