The phrase “world class soccer in St. Paul” is a new one, but the product behind the slogan has been around for 18 years. The Minnesota Thunder came from humble beginnings, completing a season of only six games in its inaugural season of 1990.
The term streetwear is not easily definable. It’s not hip-hop fashion, but it is inspired by the music. It’s not luxury wear, but it pushes the prices and exclusiveness of luxury brands. Its shoes of choice are Nikes, yet most of the clothing companies are independently owned. Whatever the definition, the streetwear scene in the Twin Cities is about to see some major changes.
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Wading waist deep in a chilly northern Minnesota lake, a shirtless James Snapko moved forward with only camera in hand. His crew stood by and watched his patience in catching the sun glare off the moving water, his patience in becoming a full-time director.
One year ago, Alex Maki was about to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Minnesota-Duluth. He liked his major, and he had experience working with people who have mental health disabilities, but he was not sure what career path to take.
Continue reading "AmeriCorps program provides transition year for recent grads" »
At an elementary school in St. Paul, Minn., students from various backgrounds come together to study math, history and science. But this school is different. Hispanic, Asian, black and white students are listening to lessons, speaking and writing in the most commonly spoken language in the world – Mandarin Chinese.
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Living green is an acceptable lifestyle today, but its advocates do not rest easy on past victories. Nowhere is this more true than at the level of state and local politics, where environmental issues are often as contentious as any.
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In a picture on the bulletin board behind Dan Gjelten’s desk, a man and woman stand in the Pacific surf, wearing race T-shirts and finisher’s medals for the Nike Hood to Coast Relay.
The couple is Gjelten and Lisa Burke, taken a year after their plans to participate in the 197-mile relay were scrapped by a head-on car crash, sending them home with morphine pumps instead of medals.
“This is where we wanted to be in 2006,” Gjelten said, pointing to the picture. “It just took us a year to get there.”
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In the gritty boxer-producing town of Bayonne, N.J., Frank Kroncke was born into a popular Irish-American myth: The first-born son carries out the family name, the second son is disobedient and the third enters the Catholic priesthood.
A person lay dead in a house in the southern part of Owatonna. The shooter asked to speak to the sheriff.
Sheriff Bill Hildebrandt and his deputies knew the gunman too well. He was a repeat offender in the county, and he was assumed to be mentally unstable.
On a Sunday morning in early spring, Fernando Peña drives lap after lap in his Porsche 911 GT3 at Mid America Motorplex outside Omaha, Neb., trying to get faster. He spent his Saturday doing the same. Come Monday morning, Peña will forget suspension settings, tire wear and brake fade and will replace that knowledge with bones, muscles and tendons.
Blackhawk helicopter pilot Capt. Andrea Ourada of the Minnesota Army National Guard never shies away from a challenge.
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The father-son duo of James and Mike Thomas are the second and third generations of Thomas men to own and manage the historic establishment that is known to neighbors and wine connoisseurs as Thomas Liquors.
The store, nestled in the Mac-Groveland neighborhood of St. Paul, has developed from a keg shop into a premier wine store. In 1922 the building housed a pharmacy owned by a Mr. Munch, where Clarence Thomas worked. In the late 1920’s Munch passed away and Clarence bought the building from his widow. When Prohibition ended in 1934 a small liquor department was added in the back of the store (James, Clarence’s son, said during Prohibition alcohol was prescribed by physicians, primarily to heart patients). In 1951 Clarence closed the pharmacy, began selling alcohol and renamed the building Thomas Liquors.
Since, the store has become home to the Thomas men – providing support, allowing for growth and creating memories. During a recent Saturday afternoon, between wine-tastings and a steady flow of customers, James and Mike bellied up and shared their stories.
The pavement outside Heimie’s Haberdashery is a dichotomy of neatly arranged, aged brick pavers fused with recent slabs of imposing bland concrete. In a world of e-mail, hybrid technology and multi-tasking, Heimie’s itself is a dichotomy – a throwback to the era of leisure, attention to detail and time to kill.
In 2007 the University of Minnesota Boynton Health Service issued a report stating that 38.4 percent of Minnesota college students are overweight or obese; now schools are trying to find new ways to combat the problem.
A child in a black snapsuit that says, ‘It ain’t gonna change itself’ runs past Todd Turfler at the mall. Turfler gives the child a thumbs-up sign and says, “cool shirt dude.” The mother of the child nods appreciatively and tells Turfler it gets a lot of attention. Turfler says he can only imagine but makes no mention of the fact that he is both the creator and muscle behind the clothing.
An idea planted itself in Lisa Nicholson’s head 17 years ago. A tomato plant, to be exact.
The rattling of glasses, high-pitched whine of machinery and chattering of patrons filled the shell of an old car dealership in downtown Cannon Falls, Minn., on a recent February day. These are familiar sounds in what is now Cannon River Winery when owners John and Maureen Maloney throw a bottling party for one of their wines.
When my great-grandpa came from Sweden to work in the Iowa iron mines in 1916, it only cost him a couple cents to write home.
Ninety-two years later it costs 90 cents to send a letter to Sweden, something that is becoming increasingly rare as letter writing is replaced by e-mail. As Americans lose contact with their cultural heritage I try to keep an element of my “Swedishness” alive by sending frequent letters to friends and relatives in Scandinavia.
“With ‘Swedishness’… we mean Swedish thought, Swedish will, Swedish dreams, which we have brought with us as our essential wealth. We mean the planting in American soil of the seed we have not only brought with us, but which we are,” wrote David Nyvall, a Swedish immigrant to Minneapolis in his 1921 pamphlet “Svenskhetens bevarande," published the same year my great-grandpa brought his family to the United States.
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