Skip to Content
Opinion

Start Your Labor Day Weekend Off Right With This Friday Open Thread

Let's talk about work! Or let's not!

9:17 AM CDT on September 1, 2023

How we put Racket together every day

|Arron Choi via Unsplash

We're taking Labor Day off here at Racket and we hope you've got the opportunity to do the same. But before we all go our separate ways, we wanted to use this week's open thread to talk about (sorry!) work.

So this week's prompt is labor related. What was your first job? Your worst job? Your weirdest? What do you do now?

Since it's only fair that I answer those questions myself, here goes. I was a paper boy as a kid, but my first regular job was at a Roy Rogers, a fast food chain I don't think they have out here. My worst? I left my job as music editor at City Pages in 2001 to edit the review section for the new music mag Blender in New York—and got canned after a month. My weirdest was probably working in a warehouse using a labeling machine to seal bags of potpourri.

And this, of course, is what I do now.

Anyway, feel free to chat about any of this, your Labor Day plans, or anything else that crosses your mind. And see ya next Tuesday.

More Stories

Freeloader Friday: 127 Free Things To Do This Weekend

Fall fests, Oktoberfests, and a party in Hamline Midway.

October 2, 2026

Watch Becca Good Speak Publicly for the First Time About ICE Killing Her Partner Renee Good

Plus multiple St. Paul dramas, student test score databases, and new LGBTQ+ mags in today's Flyover news roundup.

October 1, 2026

On the Big Screen This Week: The Heights Turns 100, Spooky Season Begins

Pretty much all the movies you can catch in the Twin Cities this week.

October 1, 2026

Stargazer Becomes Stelline, New Skyway Sushi, and Goodbye to Good Times Pizza and Seward Cafe (for Now)

Plus Laune Bread, Stelline Italian Kitchen, and Martiya all open (or reopen) Thursday, October 1. Hey… that’s today! It's the September Racket Restaurant Roundup.

October 1, 2026

Hell Yeah, Bob! Duluth Movie Theater Saved Just Under the Wire.

Plus Xcel's billing is a mess, data crunching U of M numbers, and the Borealis line stays awesome in today's Flyover news roundup.

September 30, 2026