Kazoua Kong Thao
2009
The third Hmong American to serve on the Saint Paul School Board of Education, Kazoua Kong Thao has made an impact on how we learn today.
Minnesota RollerGirls
2009
The door to the legendary Roy Wilkins Auditorium doesn't even open for an hour, yet eighty people are waiting as my wife and I step into line. In another half hour, the line will double and then double again, until the RiverCentre staff will ask the RollerGirls to open the doors early. A line of over three hundred people messes up the flow of the public through Saint Paul's convention center and to the Xcel. The hits, the falls, the brilliance are real. The players of the Minnesota RollerGirls have resurrected a dead sport and redeem it—game by game—from the depths of 1970s late-night television hell.
Halwa’s Story
2008
My name is Halwa Abdulkadir Hussein. I was born in Somalia in the town of Hargeysa in 1989. I grew up in Somalia. I am Muslim. I have four brothers and a mom. My father died in 1994, and at that time I was young, so I moved to Kenya. I came to the United States of America on June 6, 2006.
David C. Martinez and Trinh Ngo
2008
The following two stories are written by adult learners of English as a second language in Saint Paul. The stories are from Journeys: Stories and Poems to Open Your Mind, an annual collection of student writings compiled by the Minnesota Literacy Council.