Minnesota Voices

Minnesota Voices is a TC Daily Planet feature that highlights individuals from many different places in our community. They are not just the usual voices who are quoted in news stories and appear on editorial pages (though those people may appear from time to time), but artists, business owners, community organizers, teachers, and more.

Minnesota Voices stories are, above all, interesting and personal. These stories are NOT dry, formulaic, or the same old, same old message that a lobbyist or advocate has given sixteen times already. Minnesota Voices focuses on who people are and what they do in the world, and on what motivates their lives. For information about writing a Minnesota Voices article, click here. 

MINNESOTA VOICES | Ramón León connects business and justice

By Lisa Peterson-de la Cueva, TC Daily Planet

Growing up working in a family-run furniture business in Mexico, Ramón León learned from his parents that social justice is paramount to running a good business.

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MN VOICES | Jack Reuler and Mixed Blood Theater

By Jane Biliter, TC Daily Planet

Photo by Steve Wewerka, Steve Wewerka Photography, © 2009. Photo courtesy of the Saint Paul Foundation.

In the converted old firehouse that the Mixed Blood Theater calls home, audiences can see diverse ensembles collaborating for a common purpose: To perform high quality, socially conscious theater.  But much of Mixed Blood's programming happens offstage. They also hold performances in schools, churches, offices, and juvenile detention centers. It's all part of founder Jack Reuler's vision that theater can effect powerful change when it is part of a collaborative, grassroots effort. Reuler's activism earned him a recent nomination for the Facing Race Ambassador award, which honors those "who excel in creating opportunities for people of all races to understand the impact of racism."

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Ken Porwoll: St. Paul barber with “a consistent and caring presence” honored by McKnight Foundation

By Mary Thoemke, TC Daily Planet

Photo by Mark Luinenburg. Copyright The McKnight Foundation

Ken Porwoll is 89 years old.

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John Poupart: Work on strengthening American Indian communities honored by McKnight Foundation

By Jaclyn Evert, TC Daily Planet

Cutline: (Photographer: Mark Luinenburg / Copyright: The McKnight Foundation.)

“Our oral history defines who we are. Our language comes from the Creator as a gift to us as a people, and we are the original people of the Western Hemisphere.

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MN VOICES | "We need to end child prostitution": Mayo Clinic's James A. Levine, author of "The Blue Notebook"

By Colleen Callahan, TC Daily Planet

Photo courtesy Random House

Think slavery is history? Think again. Right now, in 2009, there are more slaves in the world than ever before in human history—an estimated 27 million.MORE »

MN VOICES | Artist, activist Ricardo Levins Morales

By Sheila Regan, TC Daily Planet

Ricardo Levins Morales (Photo by Sheila Regan)

After 30 years, the Northland Poster Collective is closing its doors, ending a rich history of using art to create political change for soMORE »

MN VOICES | Poet Mark Nowak evokes the mortal hazards of coal mining

By Dwight Hobbes, TC Daily Planet

Above: Mark Nowak, photo by Lisa Arrastía. Below: photos by Mark Nowak and Ian Teh. Courtesy Coffee House Press.

Coal, the world’s most abundant fossil fuel, is, to state the obvious, a vital resource for energy.MORE »

MN VOICES | Louis King and HIRE

By Mysti Strege, TC Daily Planet
Created only foMORE »

MN VOICES | Francisco Segovia makes his mark in El Salvador and MN

By Lisa Peterson-de la Cueva, TC Daily Planet

“Don’t just sit down and keep the seat warm. Do something.” That was what a high school teacher told Francisco Segovia, director of the Waite House Community Center in South Minneapolis.

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MN VOICES | MayKao Hang talks about Hmong culture, clans and women

By Deb Pleasants, TC Daily Planet
On the day MayKao Hang married, her father told her she was no longer part of their [the Yang] clan. She now belonged to the Hang clan—her husband’s clan.MORE »
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