Looking California, feeling Minnesota: Homegrown style at Cal Surf by Bruce Cochran, Uptown Neighborhood News • You wouldn’t guess it by looking at him, but Scott Cheschnick gave up Stanford to run a snowboard/skateboard shop called Cal Surf. When he was younger he completed some career testing that told him he should become a forest ranger, marine biologist or professional athlete. But the board “spoke” to him.
Burkinabé sculptor makes magic with metal by Helen Kinuthia, Mshale • West African artist Rabi Sanfo has found a home for his metal sculptures in Minneapolis. His art has been on display across the Twin Cities in colleges, museums, art exhibits, and very recently at the Minnesota State Fair. Born and raised in Burkina Faso with his eight siblings, Sanfo’s venture into art began with welding when he created wooden furniture at a factory where he worked.
Assessing a Listening Session by Mary Thoemke, TC Daily Planet • Billed as a listening session, the Central Corridor meeting was actually a post-it-note brainstorming session geared to members of the business community and property owners around the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit (LRT) line in Saint Paul. It was not about discussing the pros and cons of the light rail line, and it was not a question and answer session. Rather, it was to collect information and data that will compiled into a report that will be given, unedited, to city and county officials, to the Met Council and to the non-profit organizations that are part of the partnership.
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ARTS ORBIT | Top ten Dwight Hobbes quotes by Jay Gabler • I enjoy reading the work of all our writers, but no one is as consistently quotable as the pithy and prolific Dwight Hobbes. Here’s a collection of my favorite quotes from Dwight’s articles this year.
THINK FORWARD | African immigrants finding a home in rural Minnesota by Ben Lilliston • Minnesota has always attracted new immigrant populations. The wonderful movie Sweet Land tells the more traditional immigrant story of the Minnesota plains and the culture clashes of the 1920s. Over the last decade, the state has become one of the country’s most popular destinations for African immigrants, now estimated at 80,000 people. Minnesota also hosts the largest Somali population in the United States.
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