Sitting behind the reception desk at the International Institute of Minnesota (IIM), Hibo Khalaf displays both poise and professionalism. However, it was not too long ago she stood on the other side of the desk. When her family first arrived here as refugees five years ago, they needed IIM to help with their adjustment to American life. Now as Independence Day looms, Khalaf feels a stronger connection to her adopted homeland. Any day now, she will be sworn in as a US citizen. MORE »

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s stamp is all over Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s announcement today that she will leave office at the end of the month. Media reports (video) aren’t failing to note the parallel to Pawlenty’s decision last month not to seek re-election. Palin and Pawlenty were reportedly the two finalists for the Republican vice-presidential slot in last year’s election, and both governors are said to be gunning for the top of the GOP ticket in 2012.

Want to see Palin’s presentation live — rambling from lame duck governors to supporting our troops to what we can learn from Trig to basketball to her parents’ refrigerator magnet? Check out the video at Daily Kos.

Since 1978, sixth-grade students at St. Anthony Park Elementary School have participated each spring in an essay contest that was started by neighborhood resident Robert Hahnen. The winners ride in the annual Fourth of July parade on Como Avenue and read their essays at Langford Park. Here are this year’s four contest winners. MORE »

Near the beginning of Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza, a large number of grinning men and women in festive, ambiguously ethnic dress come hopping out with their arms spread wide, performing flips and pirouettes as a multitiered bandshell rolls forward. Brass blares, drums thump, and lights flash wildly as a shapely singer winds her hips and sings ecstatic praises in nonsense syllables. It’s a convincing dramatization of the reception President Bush expected American troops to receive when they arrived in Baghdad. MORE »