Over March 24-27, I drove down to Chicago and soaked in this magnificent city. First was some unexpected nature shots. Ice storm in Wisconsin the day before + crawling freeway traffic = an opportunity to take these pictures out the window: …and I took this trip to enjoy city living! Later this night, I got…
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Giselle Mejia is a dance instructor and performer in the Twin Cities. She’s also an avid traveler and writer. In this passage, Giselle shares her recent experience skiing in Montana. Taken from her journal, she expresses what it was like to be up there in the quiet stillness of the stunning, white mountains. *** March 8th, 2016…
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These days we’re seeing all sorts of popular movements responding to the problems in our country: presidential campaigns, Black Lives Matter. Sometimes they inspire solutions; sometimes they motivate vandalism and violence. I wrote in the Star Tribune in February about groups in Minneapolis solving the problems of inner-city struggle. Today, the website Transformation is Real published my…
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In 2009, Jana Dvořáková did what many Americans dream of: traveled to her ancestral homeland to connect with the culture–and distant relatives. While away, she sent emails back home to family and friends in Minnesota. Last week, we enjoyed the first story of this series arranged from these emails. This week, we enjoy Part 2 from her…
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There is a long history of news as a tool for gossip and agenda promotion. These tendencies, however, seem to be the driving force behind a growing body of media. We don’t complain. We either cheer it along, consuming our favorite partisan news. Or we’re neutral, unaffected as we don’t know the people targeted. But…
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Ever since she was a girl, Jana Dvořáková had an interest in her heritage and international ventures. Her grandfather’s death in 2006 woke her up to the reality of how short life is–and thus, motivated her to pursue the things she had dreamed about. In 2009, Jana went to the Czech Republic to see distant family and to learn…
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This week we head back on the road for our reader-contributed story. This one is sent in from Minnesotan Torry Swedberg: Torry shares about his experiences last October volunteering with handicapped children in Abkhazia. South of Russia, north of the Middle East, Abkhazia exists in an overlooked region of the world known as the Caucuses. Torry Swedberg, himself having spina bifida, learned about…
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In response to my story in the Star Tribune about fatherless youth in Minneapolis, a reader sent me her own story of growing up in a single-parent home. Teresa was one of nine kids who her mom cared for in the 1950s and 60s. Combined from two letters Teresa wrote to me, please enjoy her touching story of…
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Sunday morning I went to church, where my new niece Emery was baptized. “Rise again to life,” said the pastor, “a pure gift of a new beginning.” Sunday afternoon I went to a memorial service, where my dear friend John was remembered. “Gracefully enter that temple,” I read aloud to family and friends in attendance,…
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“While reading I kept thinking ‘I wish there were more ways to support and to help these organizations who are trying to make a difference.’” -Dianne My article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune last Sunday drew a lot of attention to the great work being done by area nonprofits helping inner-city residents make a better…
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