portrait by Blaine Garrett
Eighteen years ago today, July 2, 2007 (nearly to the hour as I type), my flight landed at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport.
Despondent, yet excited, I was slightly tickled by the newspaper headline decrying the local traffic problem while displaying an image of (to my fresh-from-Los-Angeles eyes) a sparsely populated section of highway.
No doubt, I was in a new world.
I moved here under duress. A sudden loss of employment had me facing homelessness. Rather than become unhoused, I accepted an offer of respite in Northeast Minneapolis from a once dear friend.
I’d no intention of staying longer than two years.
I found employment rather quickly, though not quickly enough for my once dear friend, who kicked me out as soon as I announced I got the job.
I moved to Saint Paul to be closer to work. Less than a year later, I moved back to Minneapolis to be closer to a social life.
Anyhoo… a two-year plan has become nearly two decades. “Minnesota: Who Knew?” is a phrase I’ve uttered many times over the years.
It has not been easy. It has not been all fun. But it has been … continues to be … A Blessing.
This year, for my Minnesotaversary, in no particular order, I present: 18 Things
- The Ladies of The Lakes
- Walking alone after a heavy snowfall
- The 19 Bar
- Riverhaus
- Minneapolis Public Schools
- Knowplace
- Dakota & Ojibwe
- Daddy Rox
- White Castle
- The Mississippi River
- KRSM
- Peninsula Hainanese Chicken
- Having Met Ian Lehman
- Apple Dumplings next to The Eco-Experience at the State Fair
- Steve Clark, Lea Schuster, Brian Nutter, Albert Elmore
- Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport
- The Blue Nile
- Bailey, the Best Dog Ever
jamezicarius 