Graphic Memoir
2015
THE ARTIST PATRICIA OWEN worked for the Peace Corps in Senegal. “They give you a mission, and when you get there, you find one for yourself.
Deliverance
2015
Rain obstructs the windows And scatters the light from street lamps Into illuminated circles on the sidewalk.
The Restaurants of Frogtown
2015
Left everything. Left Laos in ’78. Followed a husband following Vang Pao.
The Spot
2015
We called it “The Spot.” You could sit and look at the sunset, watch trains crossing the Mississippi, rounding the eastern shore of Pickerel Lake.
Worms Eat My Garbage: A Saint Paul Love Story
2015
“You look like yesterday.” Margaret set her crossword aside and smiled warmly from the bench outside Northwestern Hall at Luther Seminary.
From Somalia to Kenya, to Somalia to Minnesota
2015
I am Hamda Ahmed Essa. I am twenty-two years old, I am single, and I live in the Twin Cities. In 1991 when I was a little girl in Somalia my family and relatives had to run away from the war.
Memory Care Unit
2015
Words don’t mean much here. Take Ida, who is excited to hear: there is a phone call for her! She turns to the window to pick up her glasses.
Fabel’s Shoe Store
By David Unowsky ● 2015
On Saturdays when I was a kid, my friends and I took the streetcar—later the bus—to downtown Saint Paul. Sometimes we went to the library, where the wise librarians knew how to help active boys find books that would hold their interest and keep them coming back for more.
We Were Fine, Thank You
2015
Kwame McDonald, an African pillar in the Saint Paul Rondo com- munity, was working on his autobiography when he transitioned into ancestorhood.
Niam, Ua Koj Tsaug Thank You, Mom
2015
People ask me, “What is Hmong?” Hmong is not just an ethnicity, but a definition of who I am. Hmong is a tradition, a culture, and a belief. Above all, being a daughter in a Hmong family is both a gift and a curse.
Praises
2015
MAY LEE BEAMED when I praised her fennel. Mhonpaj’s Garden is the first organic Hmong Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in the U.S.
Miss Decides She’s Had Enough
2015
I’ve been here for ages, my power formed this land right, all curves and banks, low countryside and limestone bluffs.