Letter from the Editors
Makenzi Johnson
Emily Rossing
Practical, not passive
M
akenzi doesn’t know how to change a tire. If she were to end up in her red Nissan Rogue pulled over along the side of I-94 with a flat tire, or even worse, a tire that suddenly popped, she wouldn’t know what to do. She’d probably sit in the driver’s seat in shock for a couple of minutes, then start crying because of panic and then call her dad. He knows how to change a tire, but what good will it do to simply call him when he isn’t there with me to actually help?
In the pages that follow, you’ll meet people who aren’t complaining about problems, but are getting their hands dirty and finding ways to fix them. They aren’t trying to make a solution, they’re embodying it. You’ll meet a pastor who couldn’t sleep in her warm bed at night knowing there were people within a mile who were shivering in the cold. So she did something about it.
Emily had a close friend lose her dad in the past year. To suicide, actually. It was unexpected, and Emily didn’t have a clue how to console her — she doesn’t think she did a good job. She wishes there were more she could do, but she doesn’t know how without sounding cliché or suffocating her friend. It’s a hard thing to watch, and left Emily stuck, not knowing how to handle the dilemma. For Makenzi’s tire changing problem, she could do a quick Google search or watch a Youtube video tutorial. That would solve it. For Emily’s friend’s problem, bigger solutions are required.
You’ll meet an artist who looked at America and saw a consumerism problem, so he found ways to make art with trash. You’ll meet a healthcare provider who took a courageous leap to work less in a pandemic because she had to prioritize her mental health. You’ll meet a gardener and a bird caretaker, a former baseball star, an ASL teacher and more. All of these people share one thing in common, besides area of residence: an internal need to do what they can for their community. These are people living out their talents. They are noticing the issues in their neighborhood and going beyond “Minnesota nice.” They are redefining this phrase to mean being practical, not passive. They are teaching us that when problems arise, big or small, we don’t just find solutions, we become them.
The Twin Cities face real, systemic and hard problems. The past few years have brought a national spotlight to the Minnesota metro area regarding healthcare, racism, environmental issues and more. After the CNN and FOX cameras are gone, we as the Twin Cities citizens are left to deal with the aftermath. It’s up to us to figure out how to deal with our problems.
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