On University Avenue, around Western, sit a cluster of stores with a very distinct purpose. They sit aside other things around them, despite being in the middle of Saint Paul, for one very important reason – they serve different customers than the big stores further down by the Snelling off-ramp. This is the part of the city that has yet to achieve a strong name or definition on its own despite its different nature, a part of the city more likely ignored than given a name like “Little Asia” or “New Vietnam”. Anyone who pledges to care about the future of University Avenue, or especially Saint Paul, should spend some time getting to know this world. A good place to start is the grocery store called Ha Tien.
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Steel in the Street
As February winds down, a deadline may be passing for the Central Corridor LRT line in Saint Paul. It’s unclear if earlier statements that the lawsuits this plan has generated still have to be settled in order to proceed to final design now that the Federal Government has given the project $45 million through a back door. What we can be sure is that the project is in some trouble. This, along with the Legislative bonding session, has generated some new cheerleading to advance the project. Some of it is far more enlightening than the writers intended.
Storytelling
A fellow poster on a chat service had a very important problem that he was asking for help solving. His son, an adult, is developmentally disabled and the programs that the family has come to rely on to create for him something like a normal life were being slashed. When this poster tried to explain the situation to officials and others who might help, their eyes glazed over and they lost interest. What can he do?
The answer was a simple one: he had to learn how to tell a story. He had to make the people listening want to care and get involved.
In Motion
The daylight is short, and shorter yet when the clouds hang low and thick all day. The grey and oppressive weight of time has to be carried through the mechanics that mark this time of year – a scurrying, constant motion to get everything done that we are supposed to. Yet for all the obligations that keep us going there is still just one thing that makes sense of all the holidays and traditions of this season – a time to simply sit down and take it all in. A day to relax is all we really need.
Outstate
A little time spent with family outside of Bemidji is a good thing. They’re not my immediate family, so to me the stories are just what’s going on in a world I normally don’t think about all that much. For this day after Thanksgiving, I only have a few random thoughts about this world which is only a 4 hour drive from our imagination.
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 