Creative Leadership : Buzz

Recently, Brad Conley, a student at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College, was recognized as a member of the All-USA Community College Academic Team and a New Century Scholar, representing the state.  
 
He’s one of 20 students selected from a pool of 1,700 nominations that came from around the country to be part of the team, according to school information.
 
On April 23, Conley was recognized for the achievement at a convention in Orlando, Florida, and he got a shout-out in USA Today.
 
The honors come with $4,500 in scholarship money.
 
“The New Century Scholars program and the All-USA Community College Academic Team honor outstanding community college students for their grades, leadership, extracurricular involvement, and volunteerism,” MCTC materials read.

Source: MCTC
 

 

Fox News included Summit Maibock, a type of beer from the locally based Summit Brewing Company, in its list of the top-ten spring beers from U.S. and German breweries.

The piece provides some background on this seasonal style of beer, which usually comes out in April or May.  

Considering Summit’s Bavarian roots, “it's only natural that they honor that heritage by brewing their own Maibock,” the article states.

Summit’s Maibock “is fermented at slightly warmer temperatures than other lagers to coax more spicy aromas from the hops. As for its flavor, Moravian 37 and Munich malts and Saaz and Mt. Hood hops combine for a toasted sweetness with a subtle spice and peppery character.”

A story from Yahoo! about “America’s Most Creative Food Trucks,” features the Twin Cities-based Chef Shack.

Yahoo surveyed the country’s “quirkiest cuisine” delivered on wheels.  

It found that while the popular Chef Shack may seem to offer a random menu at first, with everything from bacon beer brats to beef tongue tacos, everything is sourced from local family farms and coops.  

“Chef Shack operators Carrie Summer and Lisa Carlson switch up the menu on a regular basis, tailoring it to the season's prime ingredients. This means that your taste buds are guaranteed a flavorful punch no matter which dish you order,” it states.

Venture Beat mentions the local CoCo coworking space and Project Skyway business accelerator in a story about the coworking trend.

Skyway is an example of the kind of collaborations that can come out of coworking, it expains.

For the vast majority of startups, coworking may be a better alternative than the traditional business incubator, it argues.

“Co-working shifts the startup mentality away from the tunnel-vision focus on getting funding, and onto the 'first-things-first' task of growing a company culture, developing ideas, and most importantly, nurturing support networks,” it states.

In a recent article on the benefits of mentoring programs, Minneapolis-based public relations professional Tameka Davis shared her insights on how a mentor helped her to succeed.
 
As reported in the Wall Street Journal, Davis chose a mentor in the interactive and social media field, and found numerous benefits with the arrangement. She developed a five-year career plan, improved her networking skills, and learned to work better with clients, the article noted.
 
The story went on to include tips on maintaining an effective mentor-protégé relationship.
 
Davis says, "It's just good to be able to talk to someone who has been there and can help you navigate your career."

In a Bicycle Times story titled “The surprising rise of Minneapolis as a top bike town,” local writer Jay Walljasper describes the city’s affinity for bicycling.

Minneapolis' goal is to make biking an even bigger part of the transportation system, he states.

Mayor R.T. Rybak is quoted in the story, saying to a group of out-of-towners, “Biking has become a huge part of what we are,” adding, “It’s an economical way to get around town, and many times it’s the fastest. I frequently take a bike from city hall across downtown to meetings.”

Jeff Stephens, the executive director of the Columbus advocacy organization Consider Biking, also visited the city. “It was exciting to see what they’ve accomplished in Minneapolis, which is a city that seems a lot like Columbus.”

Livability.com recently put together a list of the top ten music cities in the country, excluding Nashville, New York City and Los Angeles. Minneapolis wound up in second place.

Athens, Georgia, topped the list.

First Avenue in Minneapolis’s Warehouse District is an important music venue, according to Livability.com.

“Most remember it from the Prince movie Purple Rain,” and the building’s decorative stars make up a who’s-who of artists who have played there, it states. The wall includes such big names as U2, B.B. King, Death Cab for Cutie, Wilco and many more, notes the article.

Also, the nearby Fine Line has drawn artists such as John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, The Black Keys, Lady Gaga, Ben Harper, and Buddy Guy over the past two decades.

The New York Times recently featured Minnesota's statewide “museum month,” which is coming up in May.

It’s the first celebration of the sort to spring up nationally, according to the newspaper.

Several local museum administrators came up with the idea, the story states.

“The rich history of Minnesota’s museums invites such a focus,” says the Times, citing the 1849 founding of the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul.

The Walker Art Center’s chief of operations, Phillip Bahar, is quoted saying, “There are stories that we each try to tell individually, whenever a special exhibition is happening,” but “What we want to do is tell the stories that we don’t have the opportunity to tell very often, about the broader community of museums across the state.”

An episode of the Food Network TV show “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” this week spotlights Pizzeria Lola, a popular pizza joint in Southwest Minneapolis.

Pizzeria Lola, which features wood-fired artisan pizzas, is known for a creative menu that includes everything from a Korean barbecue-style pizza to the “Sunnyside” pizza, which is topped with an egg.

The neighborhood eatery is a favorite of chef and TV/radio personality Andrew Zimmern, according to a summary on the show’s website.

Another part of the episode takes viewers to a destination diner in Georgetown, Texas, with actor Matthew McConaughey.

The Huffington Post includes the Twin Cities in its recent list of top 10 places for bicycling.

It recognized cities of over 100,000 residents that “feature an abundance of great rental shops, municipal bike racks, exciting trails, and dedicated bike lanes,” the story states.

“The Twin Cities' emergence as a bike-friendly superstar coincided with a general plan to make the area more livable,” according to the story.

In Minneapolis, the Nice Ride bike-sharing program has seen plenty of use, while bike-friendly events are abundant.

Last year the city “added 37 miles of bikeways, installed hundreds of bike-specific street signs, and created a citywide bike map," says HuffPo.

Minneapolis is among the top 10 U.S. cities to make a comeback in population terms after the recession, according to Forbes.

The magazine used IRS data to draw its conclusions.

It looked for “counties that were losing population in 2005 but that were either gaining in 2010 or losing far fewer people,” the story states. “Every city on this list saw more people move in 2010 than in 2005, so we aren’t merely recognizing cities that have already lost all of their mobile population.”

Demographer William Frey says in the story that places such as Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Washington, D.C., have a strong group of people he calls “windfall stayers” or those “who otherwise would have moved out either to their own suburbs, or to more economically vibrant places,” plus others making a return move to the city.  

In Minneapolis, “inbound migration has grown, attracted to a region whose diverse economy has kept unemployment low throughout the recession, and to a vibrant city center.”

A recent Men’s Health study finds that St. Paul drivers are among the safest across the country.

The magazine analyzed accident rates in 100 of the country’s biggest cities, tallying up fatal and nonfatal crashes along with how many of those involved speeding, alcohol, or a hit and run. Numbers for seatbelt use and cell phone law observance also came up.  

St. Paul is the sole city to get an A+ safety grade. Lincoln, Nebraska, follows with an A-. Next in line are Boston, Buffalo, and Reno. At the bottom of the list is St. Louis.    

Minneapolis received a B-.  
 

In a review of the film's release on DVD, Pop Matters points out that Minneapolis is one of the stars in “Stuck Between Stations,” which stars Josh Hartnett.

The couple upon whom the film centers “may or may not love each other, but they clearly love their city,” it says.   

Minneapolis becomes a character in the movie, and its “signature characteristics are on display: its art, its architecture, even its bicycling culture,” while local bands are also featured.

The author also praises the film’s cinematography, which shows “visually stunning” views of the area.

Director of photography Bo Hakala, who lives in Minneapolis, demonstrates his “love for his home city and its visual appeal manifests itself gloriously on screen.”  

 

A recent USA Today story highlights the makeover of the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Minneapolis.

As a part of a $25 million project that started in December 2011, the hotel charged its designers with creating a “sleek, new look with an eye towards all things “local”--including Red Wing Pottery,” the story states.

Michael Suomi, design chief for Stonehill & Taylor, which came up with the architectural and design plans, is quoted saying "We had a specific goal of bringing as much of the manufacturing and sourcing back to America to promote job growth, increase speed to market and celebrate American craft"--adding that this way, “we saved money!"

The Walker Art Center blog features artist Aaron Draplin’s graphic map, called, “100 Things I Love About Minneapolis.”

The image shows a map of the state, which is filled in with words and illustrations that touch on everything from the iconic Grain Belt Brewery sign to the common phrase, “You betcha.”

It includes landmarks along with bits and pieces of pop culture. Among the destinations it pictures are the Ideal Diner in Northeast Minneapolis, Ax-Man Surplus store in St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis skyways.