MN Stories is on holiday break until January 2008.

The site has been serving up fresh Minnesota-themed videos nearly every weekday since July, 2005. This is video #541. Check out the other 540 and comment if you have any favorites. Thanks to everyone who contributes, comments, and otherwise makes this pioneering community videoblog a great success.

Meanwhile, visit the many fine Minnesota videoblogs in the sidebar and find me over at The UpTake and my my personal blog.

"The entire city is a free speech zone." So says St. Paul mayor Chris Coleman in this Huffington Post article by MInnesota-based writer Peter Smith, with video from The UpTake.

CHUCK SEZ: If you're in Ramsey County, you can vote for school board today. Kevin Riach should be on your radar. He's an upstanding chap going to law school, a former teacher, and a fine drummer. What's the connection between those three things? I already told you: It's Kevin Riach. Now more than ever.

DISCLAIMER: I don't live in Ramsey County, don't know much about schoolin' or lawyerin', and received no moneys or coercion for posting this video. I can spot a good drummer, though.

The "Food vs. Fuel" debate hits close to home for Corn Guy when he's forced into a confrontation with Taco Lady. But Corn Guy is willing to do just about anything to set the record straight, including - well, you'll see.

Disclaimer: Corn Guy is a paid spokescreature, given life to battle the many myths surrounding ethanol.

Sex is more fun when you share! That's the motto of Midwest Teen Sex Show, produced right here in the Minnesota area (which includes Wisconsin, and is nowhere near the "swimsuit area.")

Warning: This particular video about Syphilis, recommended by our friend Honey Bunny, is scarier than most Halloween cable movies. Hats off - and shirts off, too!

Robbinsdale Area Schools Alumni put together a video promoting their upcoming referendum. Learn more about the referendum.

Go outside at night and listen closely. You'll notice it especially in the fall before the freeze... tiny sounds, crickly-cracks, secret life bristling in the ground. That be the sound of earthworms coming alive, otherwise known as nightcrawlers if you're a fishin' grandpa. And it drives our cat Jasmine nuts. The very ground is teasing her... over here! No, over here! Our entire yard becomes a Confuse-a-Cat.

MUSIC: Under Feather, Runaway Train (Presumably no relation to the Soul Asylum song.)

This video first appeared on MInnesota Stories in September, 2005.

A Mad Scientist makes makes a political monster with 1 part comedian, 1 part author and 1 part Minnesotan. The result is Al Frankenstein...Feared on the campaign trail. A new classic vid from Steve Barone of MinnieIndie.

The revolution will not be televised, but it will be uploaded.

One by one the barriers to creating your own mass media have been coming down. First blogs let anyone publish their own newspaper, then podcasts let anyone publish their own radio show, now online videos let anyone put out a TV show…if you have the equipment and technical know how. Cameras and editing software have become less expensive and easier to operate. But creating and distributing your own video news story can still be a complicated and frustrating proposition.

The UpTake is stepping in to get rid of that last barrier.

This weekend The UpTake has scheduled its first video citizen journalism class. It’s free and open to the public (registration is required ahead of time through Wellstone Action). The class will cover the impact video citizen journalism has had and can have, cover story telling techniques and some of the nuts and bolts of shooting and editing video.

Video produced by Mike McIntee.

John Comazzi, a University of Minnesota Architecture professor, goes Cool Hunting around several superstar Minneapolis landmarks, including the Walker Art Center, new Guthrie, Weisman Art Museum, and even the ol' IDS Tower.

You know - clown diving? Beats me. The description from TedPCA: Masters Clown Diving at Masters National Diving event 1999 in Minneapolis.

Citizens!

Lay down your ePods and cyberPhones for a moment, and take up the cause of citizen journalism. The health of our democracy is on our hands, and we must pick up our cameras and find the truth(s) out there ourselves. That's what The Uptake is all about - but we need your help. Why? We want to train and equip a legion of citizen journalists to cover events happening in our communities, all leading up to the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention.

Please come down to our fun[d]raiser at the 331 Club on Saturday, Oct. 20, from 3 - 6 PM. You'll get a couple of free beers, good company, citizen videos, and maybe even your own press pass. There's never been a more vital time for us to "be the media."

DONATE ONLINE HERE if you're not local or unable to attend. Thank you so much.

ALSO: Come on down to Solutions Twin Cities on Friday night. It promises to be a night of mind-expanding possibilities. I'll be making a very strange 7-minute presentation about citizen journalism, with some audience interaction. Don't miss it.

Nick Bain directed this short documentary on his grandfather, Neil Bain, in 2006. It focuses on his experiences during the Great Depression. This film was exhibited at the Minnesota Historical Society and is now part of their permanent collection.

From Michael Bischoff:

Malcolm Gladwell, the author of The Tipping Point and Blink, comments on the future of crime and justice in Minnesota.

These are excerpts from Gladwell's speech in Minneapolis on 10.9.07. The full speech is available here. The report that he commented on is available at: crimeandjustice.org.

Gnome on the run! Aaron's lawn gnome, that is. Here he is stumbling upon a magical town full of gnomes in Minnesota:

I continued walking West today and stumbled upon a town called Dawson. What happened after that isn't all that clear to me. I just know that I don't remember the last time I was so excited. It must have been such an overwhelming experience that my brain doesn't know how to categorize what I went through today. Simply put, I met a town full of gnomes!

Read more about this crazy tale on Aaron's blog.