To begin, two gentle photos and then, photos of a community and nation under seige- and reaction in photos and words.
I live in Minnesota and we are under seige. An authoritarian takeover is upon us. The corrupt federal government seeks to undermine the world order and threaten our historic allies. We march, protest and stand up for our neighbors. Personally, we are donating food and money to people afraid to leave their homes. We support businesses under seige. We pray for those murdered at the hands of ICE and those injured and jailed.
Tomorrow, Jan 23, a local, national- even global- protest will occur. ICE OUT NOW!
Just a few thoughts and images to share…November 2025 is special to me as we continue to find ways to support communities under threat and make personal choices to find a spiritual centeredness.
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde (Bishop of Washington National Cathedral, Washington, DC) visited my church, https://stjohnsstpaul.org/ to do a reading from her new book, We Can Be Brave (https://bookshop.org). Of course, no post would be complete without Sophie! And, I was received into the Episcopal faith on Sunday, November 23rd.
Book arts and book binding are thriving in St. Paul, MN! One talented practitioner is Steve Prokop, proprietor of http://www.specialbindings.com.
Steve has restored treasured books, many of which are family bibles, since 2002. He notes that he is essentially self-taught in binding technique and has grown his skills- and amassed an amazing array of tools- to complete a myriad of projects over the past 23 years.
I first met Steve in the parking lot of our local co-op grocery. Observing that his license plate translated to “book binder”, I asked if he restored bibles. As he noted in a 2008 article in the Highland Villager, “Restoring family bibles makes up about half of my business. The oldest I restored was a Swedish bible that dated back to 1727.”
Indeed, I was looking for someone to restore my mother’s family bible. A very weighty book- and in quite bad repair- I was thrilled that Steve took on the project. After several weeks of dedicated work, the bible is now home- complete with a sample of the horsehair that was used to create a padded cover.
Steve can be reached by email: postmaster@specialbindings.com or phone: 651-698-1477
West Seventh Freelance 
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