From Amy:

My friend Jillian Rae has done this thing twice while we've posed for a photo, once at her album launch, once at my book launch: Jillian points to me and makes a face as if she can't believe her luck to have encountered me personally. And yet, Jillian is a bonafide rockstar.

I use that term rockstar broadly, because Jillian refuses to fit into a clear genre. She plays at venues all over town, in many roles, with a wide range of musicians, and she's kinda famous in China.

So then who am I in this picture?

I am Jillian's former student who dabbled with violin lessons when my kids were young. Here I thought I was learning an instrument I admired, as a mom who needed creative escape from my real life. Jillian wasn't a rockstar YET when I met her. I remember clearly when she texted that she was appearing onstage at Prince's beloved First Avenue in Minneapolis, and we should get our butts over there. That first performance, Jillian played backup fiddle for a headliner whose name I no longer remember. I have no idea how often she's played at First Avenue since.

I don't even know how many of Jillians shows I've attended or how often I've heard her on The Current, our local MPR music station.

To me, Jillian Rae is the person who first convinced me to drive in to Minneapolis regularly on weekdays. When my kids and I were taking violin lessons from her in one of those suburbs, Jillian co-founded the Music Lab in a walk-up near Lake Nokomis. Suffice it to say, I wouldn't have chosen that neighborhood for my kids' music lessons, forty-five minutes from home in rush hour. But Jillian has vision like nobody's business.

During our lessons, we talked about Jillian's work and her career... and my aspirations to be a real writer and whatever the dream was that I'm living now. I've honestly translated so much of what Jillian taught me into my business, because every time I showed up in her private studio (never having practiced, because that was part of my deal with her, though I did learn some fiddle tunes decently well, and even Pachelbel's canon) I got to be the feral Gen X child I once was, learning from my friend Jillian to see my creative gifts through the eyes of a Millennial.

I have long understood that were it not for Jillian, I would never have understood what being a real-life creative looks like for me.

When I think about this podcast (this episode and more broadly), I understand that not everyone can meet my friend Jillian personally, or other real-life creatives like her that I encounter ongoing. And that did start for me in Minneapolis. Since then, I've made a practice of talking and writing about Minneapolis, so much so that many people think I live there. I do not. Or shall I say, that's not where my house is. And yet.

All my lineage travels directly through Minneapolis, on all sides. So you weren't entirely wrong if you thought I was from there.

Indeed I was born in a Minneapolis hospital building that is currently occupied by the federal government, so I hear from reliable sources. Throughout my childhood, I visited the city with family for special occasions.

But I know the city best as a grown-up.

If you don't know a city that well, and have no reason to go there, it's easy to believe horror stories that the media serves you and forget the everyday people who live there. In the years since Ronald Reagan eliminated the fairness doctrine (that said you can't publish lies) media corporations have made it their business to further exacerbate bias, divide us with scary demographics, and consolidate profits.

That's the false narrative that Minneapolis is actively refusing, and many of us in the Twin Cities Metro and Greater Minnesota recognize, though some white Minnesotans believe they aren't safe in the city. Which didn't happen by accident.

Deliberate semantics games misrepresent one big idea: THESE PEOPLE ARE OUR NEIGHBORS.

And as I see it nowadays, my neighbors. That's a pretty good thing.

I love to drive the long way home from Minneapolis, one neighborhood into the next, one suburb into the next, awash in memories, never using a freeway until the bridge across the river. That's how well I know the city these days. I know all the places you've heard about in the news.

But when I want to talk about what life's been like in Minneapolis I defer to people who inhabit these neighborhoods.

That's why I invited Jillian Rae to speak to her own, lived experiences.

It's going to take a long time to heal from the willful damage inflicted by ICE and this administration. You need to know that it's still going on. Furthermore, I don't see how a "kinder, gentler" (more stealthy for optics) invasion is going to stop all the harm being done. Intentionally.

Jillian's graciously allowing me to share her new single, "Fuck ICE," at the end of this episode. You can purchase the salty or the sanitized version to support Twin Cities people. Pretty sure that song title clarifies where she stands. Jillian's one of my heroes AND a dear friend.

At the beginning of the episode, we reference Jillian's single "Silence," a precursor to "Fuck Ice" in many ways. Watch the video here.

Which makes me realize one more connection: If I didn't know so many beloved people and places in Minneapolis personally, I don't know what I'd be thinking right now. Maybe I'd think these people were heroes, but their struggles aren't mine. That they are somehow separate from me. Instead, I am finding plenty of ways to fight the good fight where I am. I'm asking you to think about how you can address evil, in solidarity, where you are too. Because make no mistake, this does affect you. Even if the connections are being obscured. You need to see them.

Please listen. And then take one simple step you can take to speak up. And the next. And the next.

Travel safely, dear friends.

Love, Amy

About Jillian Rae:

Lauded as a “triple threat on vocals, fiddle, and composition” (Star Tribune), Jillian Rae is a fiercely unique spirit who cares more about making authentic music than about conforming to expectations. The Minneapolis-based, classically trained violinist has made a name for herself as a top-notch fiddler and a singer with a powerful stage presence. Heading up her own critically acclaimed band, she performs an original mix of Americana, rock, and pop. She also performs regularly with her traditional folk band Corpse Reviver and has toured extensively, backing up Grammy-winning acts like The Okee Dokee Brothers. Jillian is an in-demand producer and session player, known for her soaring string orchestrations, arrangements, and fiddle parts. Along with her partner/co-producer Eric Martin, she operates The Clubhouse Recording Studio, where they produce Jillian's music as well. As a music educator, she has kept a studio of private students for more than two decades.

Jillian is available for live performance, virtual streams, recording, and production work. All inquiries can be made at booking@jillianraemusic.com.

Get Jillian's single and support Twin Cities mutual aid organizations at https://jillianraemusic.bandcamp.com/album/fuck-ice.

Amy Hallberg is the author of Tiny Altars: A Midlife Revival and German Awakening: Tales from an American Life. She is the host of Courageous Wordsmith Podcast and founder of Courageous Wordsmith Circle for Real-Life Writers. As an editor and writing mentor, Amy guides writers through their narrative journeys—from inklings to beautiful works, specifically podcasts and books. A lifelong Minnesotan and mother of grown twins, Amy lives in the Twin Cities with her husband and two cats.

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