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

There was no joy in Mudville. Of course, they had that year where their baseball team showed promise, but then in the final game of that season, the one that could have made them town heroes, Casey struck out in the bottom of the ninth. Moundville, though, was worse.

There’s an awful lot of talk about the news lately, but not, unfortunately, the sort of constructive conversation that promotes critical thinking and engages people with their neighborhoods, their country, or their world. No, what people are talking about is the media, or, more specifically, and more onerously, the business of media. The Star Tribune is losing readers, pages, and staff.