Feburary 2022
From Kris Rongstad
I recently finished reading The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate (2020). It's a novel based on the actual "Lost Friends" notices that were printed in Southern newspapers after the Civil War as freed slaves sought to find family members who had been sold.
From Tina Meckel
"The Island of Sea Women," by Lisa See is a fictionalized account of the real women divers who live on Jeju Island off South Korea. The women on Jeju are the breadwinners for their families, and their incredible physical stamina and economic self-sufficiency have led to a society with strong matriarchal features. The book also explores the changes that come to Jeju island with modernity as well as Japanese and American occupation in the 1940s and 1950s. It has me dwelling on the many amazing ways that human communities develop, the inevitability of change, and the tragedy of human conflict.
From Jen Baker-Trinity
Since the beginning of the year, I’ve tried to up my reading game. For fiction, I highly recommend Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng and for non-fiction, No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler and Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. I’ve also been reading Sylvia and Aki by Winifred Conkling with my daughter and wished I could have encountered this book in the 4th grade.
From Paul John Rudoi
Brittany, my spouse, and I love a wide variety of foods, including Thai and Indian cuisine. We’ve been working hard at finding local establishments that we can put into a “date” rotation, allowing us an excuse to take some time to ourselves while supporting local businesses, such as Bay Leaf Indian Cuisine in Eagan, MN. What we didn’t realize is that we would end up spending time conversing with several workers there, speaking about the difficulties and celebrations around owning and working a restaurant that opened shortly before Covid-19. But we dug deeper, finding out that their children have to deal with bullying around race, language, and more. This is already a difficult time for children in particular, but the thought of this continuing a systemic trend of deeply-rooted bigotry is distressing. We’re looking forward to finding ways to combat this through volunteering or supporting anti-bullying organizations, but in the meantime, we will continue to support these wonderful people by returning and celebrating their incredible cuisine.
From Beverly Tipton Hammond
Sharing two pieces of art created by my husband and I. The first one is called "Brothers" by A Drew Hammond.
Also from Beverly Tipton Hammond
This second is a collage I created called "Descendants of Queens".
From Meredith Samuelson
I've been challenging myself to read more fiction featuring main characters who are different from me in some capacity. Two of my favorites in the fantasy genre so far: 'A Song of Wraiths and Ruin' by Roseanne A. Brown which is grounded in African mythology and folklore while utilizing a Western storytelling framework. And 'Girls of Paper and Fire' by Natasha Ngan which is its own creative world that particularly illustrates issues of race, class, and sexuality.