The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

Every morning, I get up all bleary and I pour my coffee and I sit down with my laptop and I tell my little stories. Character, plot, narrative, theme. I think I have a handle on these things. Most days, I feel competent.

Then I read or see something like The Syringa Tree, which is playing at the Jungle Theater until March 9, and everything I know about how to construct a story seems hopelessly naive.

I'll admit it's not a big sacrifice on my part — my consumption of Junior Whoppers and Spicy Chicken Patties works out to about one sandwich a year. But after reading Eric Schlosser's op-ed piece in The New York Times about the giant fast food company's refusal to pay an extra penny a pound for the tomatoes harvested by migrant workers in Florida, I'm taking the pledge — no more BK until they do the right thing.