Douglas McGill, Writer
A former reporter for The New York Times, and a London and Hong Kong bureau chief of Bloomberg News, Doug McGill now writes from a home base in Rochester, Minnesota. Doug says, “I’m a journalist in Rochester, MN who is trying to practice my craft in a way that helps me and my fellow citizens understand our place in the wider world.”
Eritreans in Minnesota weigh a dream gone mad
The following headline popped up last week in my email alerts set for Eritrea, a tiny nation bordering the Red Sea in the Horn of Africa: “Eritrea Shuts Christian Students into Shipping Containers.”
Shipping containers? What on earth is happening in Eritrea?
I know Eritrea is small, but Georgia is small, too. In such small places we often glimpse our fates and futures. MORE »
Why I Write About Ethiopia
ROCHESTER, MN—“Why the hell are you messing with my country’s political affairs?” goes a typical e-mail from the dozens I’ve received this summer from readers living in Ethiopia, from immigrants living in Minnesota, and from throughout the Ethiopian diaspora.
And this was among the milder messages to ping my inbox. MORE »
An Ethiopian politico barnstorms Minnesota
When Bulcha Demeksa, an opposition member of the Ethiopian Parliament, feels compelled to denounce the Ethiopian Prime Minister, he doesn’t bother to organize a political rally in Ethiopia or search for journalists eager to publish his rhetorical thunderbolts.
That’s because opposition rallies are banned in Ethiopia, and the press is government-controlled down to the last pixel and drop of printer’s ink. MORE »
A Son of Minnesota Returns as a Worldly-Wise Monk
Jim Reynolds began his 40-minute talk to a group of Mayo Clinic physicians and health care workers MORE »
From Oromia to Minnesota, with love and coffee
Joe Riemann bestowed one simple name, and in return received overflowing blessings and a beautiful name for himself.
The name he received from members of a grateful immigrant community in the Twin Cities is “Jalata,” meaning “One who loves.”
As for the simple and single name that he bestowed, bear with me, this will sound implausible but it is absolutely true. MORE »
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