Meet Afra, and your life may change
from Theoblogy by Tony Jones
When Courtney and I decided to sponsor a child after I was asked on this trip to Sri Lanka, I opened the World Vision website and asked Courtney to choose a child. She flicked through a couple pictures of boys, and then a girl popped up. A Muslim girl. And a girl the same age as my youngest child — in fact, exactly one week older than him.
Her name is Afra, and I got to meet her today.
Connecting, conversing and celebrating cultural diversity at Faribault festival
from Minnesota Prairie Roots by Audrey Kletscher Helbling
DESCRIBING AN EVENT like International Festival Faribault within the confines of a blog post or two seems daunting. How do I adequately convey the essence of this fest celebrating the cultural diversity of my community?
Beyond Duluth flood, Minnesota legislature must address quieter everyday disasters
from Wry Wing Politics by Joe Loveland
Every day, “bad things” quietly happen to ordinary Minnesotans. Every day, Minnesotans go untreated, undertreated, homeless, unprotected, undereducated, abused, underemployed and unemployed because of “a bunch of politicians bickering at the Capitol.”
Bly at Blue Mound
from Macaroni by John Toren
On August 25 Robert Bly gave a reading at Blue Mounds Interpretative Center in the southwest corner of the state as part of a year-long series honoring the 100th anniversary of novelist Frederick Manfred’s birth. I reserved a walk-in campsite at the park, stuffed the backpack with the bare necessities, and was on the road by eight, hoping to reconnect not only with Bly but also with that relatively untouristed part of the state.