Arthi Subramaniam

Oct 31, 2024 | startribune.com | Arthi Subramaniam

Wesley talked about why he needs to be a jack-of-all-trades, personal grief and the most important thing family members forget after a cremation. The interview has been edited for length and brevity. Tracy Wesley says being a funeral director is a 24-7 job because "when death happens we have to work." On a busy day, he embalms three to five bodies. (Leila Navidi/The Minnesota Star Tribune)Q: What is most misunderstood about your job?

Sep 24, 2024 | startribune.com | Arthi Subramaniam

In Their Shoes is a series about jobs Minnesotans do and why they do them. Many jobs can at times be performative at times, but bartending is all about the show. “Think of bartending as a performance,” says Amanda Layer. “An emotionally draining, eight-hour act.”As manager and bartender at Town Hall Tap in south Minneapolis, Layer’s duties include scheduling the front of the house, developing recipes, stocking the bar with syrups and juices, keeping the menu up to date and pouring drinks.

Sep 6, 2024 | startribune.com | Arthi Subramaniam

Lead animal control officer Susan Baker double bags small deceased animals that she picks up from the streets of Minneapolis. She calls herself a community servant who tries to do her job in a respectful and mindful way. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii)Is there job satisfaction in picking up dead animals? Picking up deceased animals is not a negative. It really isn’t. I see it as a service we provide, and the community deserves that.

Aug 23, 2024 | startribune.com | Arthi Subramaniam

Q: What is something people don’t realize about the job of long snapper? A: People don’t understand the amount of mental work and thinking that actually goes into being a long snapper. We not only have to know what we call a box [the number of players, which can range from six to 11, who are an immediate threat to block the kick]. But also we have to know the type of rushes we are getting — is he a bigger guy or a skilled professional player?

Apr 24, 2024 | startribune.com | Arthi Subramaniam

She says raag, taal and gamak. He says raga, tala and gamaka. But when Kaushiki Chakraborty and Ambi Subramaniam come together onstage they converse only in one language — music. Whether it's for their individual compositions or jugalbandi (a duet of two solo musicians), the Hindustani singer and Carnatic violinist use harmonic scales, rhythmic cycles and stretched ornamented notes to convey the structure of the two genres of Indian classical music.