Although there are probably people who still think of the Twin Cities as 99 percent Scandinavian, we've been an ethnic mosaic since the days of the Native/white mixed-race fur traders and merchants who first owned land here. Our earliest diversity was European--Germans, Eastern Europeans, and Irish made as big a contribution here as the Swedes and Norwegians. The foundations of our Jewish, Arab, African-American and Asian communities were laid in the 19th century, and in the 20th we welcomed immigrants from around the world, particularly refugees from war: Vietnamese, Hmong, Cambodians, Ethiopians, Oromo, Eritreans, Somalis, Liberians. Mexicans and other Latin Americans are bringing new energy to our neighborhoods, to retail and the professions, as are West Africans, Indians, Pakistanis, and many others.
Jon Spayde
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
In A Line or Two, I'll be sharing some of my discoveries as I make my way around the Twin Cities--an intriguing upcoming event, a great restaurant meal, a new art gallery, a conversation with a forward thinker, or a web site you should know about. Call it an editor's-note-as-blog-entry. (And I take the photos--Bill Kelley is guiltless.) This time: a return to the marvelous, and still undiscovered, restaurant Filfillah, where you get the lunch your mom made for you if you grew up in Ankara.
Elizabeth Millard
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
For hopeful food entrepreneurs, it can be a long, hard road from cooking a tasty treat to creating a viable business around it. That's where the North Side's innovative food-business incubator comes in.
Jon Spayde
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Often, says Concordia University economist and biz-school dean Bruce Corrie, our minority and immigrant communities are seen solely through the "problem" lens. Their struggles are real, but their contributions to our prosperity and potential for growth are greater than most majority Minnesotans realize. And Corrie's got the figures to prove it.
Jay Walljasper
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Most of us in the Twin Cities are aware that we've become a great town for bicycling in recent years, but urbanist and author Jay Walljasper--an avid biker for decades--has been digging into the trend to find out the what and the why behind it. In this adaptation of an article he wrote for Bikes Belong, he fills in the story and gives us some impressive facts about the sheer scale and promise of our new two-wheel era.
Elissa Cedarleaf Dahl
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Muralist, public-school teacher, and MCAD professor Elissa Cedarleaf Dahl has a big idea for Minneapolis: a mural program that would engage at-risk kids, create beautiful public art all over the city, and celebrate our neighborhoods and the people who live in them.
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