Janet Zweig's Small Kindnesses, Weather Permitting is a set of more than 40 metal containers, or kiosks, attached to the heated waiting shelters in 11 of the Hiawatha Line's stations. Managing Editor Jon Spayde heard from a friend that while many people pulled the levers and turned the wheels that activate the kiosks back when they Hiawatha Line was brand-new, most riders seem not to notice them these days.

He thought that unfortunate, and braved subzero temperatures with videographer Kevin Obsatz to play with a few, in the hopes that more light-rail riders will discover these little gems of storytelling, song, and standup comedy. Pull a lever and you might get a full-color video of Fancy Ray McCloney, "The Best-Lookin' Man in Comedy," or a recording of legendary Minnesota poet and chronicler Meridel Le Sueur, or an account of some long-gone Minneapolis institution.